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THE 


Railway Conductor. 

r> 

VOLUME XI. 

1894. 

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, 


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H. . 

INDEX. 


n 

About Two Worlds 574 

Abuse of Confidence, An -- i8 9 

After Many Years 62 7 

American Railway Union, The 3°7 

Are Receivers Paramount ? x 35 

Are the Brotherhoods a Failure? 74 

"Arthur Crossan, In Memory of M 661 

A R. U. and Great Northern 241 

Assessment Notices — 53. 106, 159, 213, 272, 329 
384, 448. 504, 559. 618, 669. 

"At Rest ” 499 

Attack on Prest. Gompers, The 647 

Attorney General Olney on Organization 610 


Construction for '94 - - 49 

Contributed...!, 55 . xo 9 . 2I 5 . 2 77 > 33 *. 3»7 
451. 507. 561. 621. 

Copied 74 . i 83 . 63S 

Cui Bono 481 

Curious Man, A... 6 35 


Decision in the Union Pacific Case, The 209 

Dementia Singletaxiocis, and its Cure 34 & 

Directory. ..January, February, April, July, 
September. 

Discipline Without Punishment 183 

"Down Brakes” - 281 


E 


"Belated Violet, A" - - - 6i 7 

‘ ‘ Between the Lines’ * - — 543 

"Bicycle” Electric Roads. 37 6 

Bill, to Prevent Train Wrecking. A 84 

Bill, to Prevent Interference with Trains, A. 83 

B. of L. E. Convention 3 2 7 

B. of L. F . Fourth Biennial Convention... 525 

Boatner Bills, The. - 3 8 3 

Borrowed Opinion 30. 87, 141, 193 - 2 53 - 358 

419, 483. 54 °> 594 . 650. 

" Bravest Battle, The” 78 

Bread's Bonds 1. 55 *09, l6j > 2X 5 

"Brothers All” - X 3 X 

B. R. T. vs. P. & R..-- 6 4 x 

By the Wayside - 3°3 

By the Way Side - 2 55 

c 

Capital and Interest 4 01 

Charity and True Friendship 487 

Civil Service Reform 4 60 

" Claim Everything in Sight” 250 

Claims Proven 2 44 

‘ * Clover Leaf ” Case. The 79 

“Clover, The”. 5°3 

Coal Miners' Strike, The 3 X °. 355 

Collapse of All Civilizations, The 5 X 7 

Comment 28, 86, 138, 192, 251, 313. 357 » 4 1 ® 

482, 538, 592, 648. 

Committee’s Report, A l8 7 

Conciliation and Arbitration in Canada 5 

Conductor for 1894, The 


•Easter” and "Form” x 47 


Economic Dreams... 

Editorial 23. 79, 

475 . 529. 585. 1 

Eight Hour Day 

Essence of Robbery. 
Exchanges. 46, 100. 
666 . 


132. 185. 241. 304. 353 . 


224 

411 


The 

M3 273 373. 434 


312 

226 

498. 608. 


False Social and Economic Remedies . . .513. 577 

Few Old Letters, A 47 1 

Fin de Siecle " Fake. ” A 233 

"Fisherman and the Stream, The” 37 2 

Fraternal 32, 96, 150, 202, 260, 318, 364, 424 

490 , 54 6 . 599 . 657 

G 

Garment Makers’ Strike 534 

Government By Injunction 5*9 

"Governmental Ownership” a Menace to the 

Railroader 475 

Governmental Ownership, Inter-State Com- 
merce Commission’s Report 5 2 9 

Grade Crossing, The 357 

Greed Rewarded x8 9 

« 

Help Each Other 4 M 

"Heredity” 6 4 ° 

"Her Speechless Agony” 3^3 

" Home at Night” 42 

"Home Forum” Decision, The 616 


Veteran, An 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR 


I 

Impeachment the Only Remedy Si 

Inconsistent Reform Movements 566 

Indiana Co- Employe Law igi 

• Individual Action" and “Sympathy” 411 

• • In Dreamland 664 

In Mid Ocean >. 503 

* In Sacred Memory”... 431 

Insurance.. 585 

Intellectual Anarchy 458 

In terest-ing Story. An 404 

International Federation . . 185 

Is it Beneficial ? 91 

Is it Just ? _ 592 

Is Socialism Practicable? 171 

J 

Judge Jenkins’ Decision 208 

Judge Jenkins Reversed 536 

Judge Ricks Brought to Book 648 

L 

“ Laborer Worthy of His Hire, The” 589 

Ladies. -39, 91, 145, 194, 255, 316, 360, 421, 485 
54*. 595. 651. 

Legal 43, 89. 275. 377, 432, 496, 606, 665 

“ Le Roi est Mort ” 52 

Lost Bride, A 387. 451 

Lost His Job 568 

M 

Make it Clear 312 

Malice. Ambition or Ignorance? 531 

“May”. 273 

McCarthy’s Clothesline, Mrs 391 

Mentions. . . 50, 103, 157, 207, 270, 326, 380, 435 
301. 556. 610. 667. 

" Michigan” 541 

Miscellaneous.. 1, 55, 109, 161, 215, 277, 331, 387 
451, 507, 561, 621. 

Misdirected Leadership. ..... 24 

Mixed-Up Moral Perceptions 409 

Month in Review, The 23 

“My Iowa” 474 


Mysterious Forest, The.. 6, 59, 113, 167, 220, 293 
336. 393. 45G. 5” 

N 


Need for Restricted Immigration 413 

Nervy Conductor, A 277-331 

New Jersey Law on Organization Membership 328 

New Laws for the Firemen 590 

New Year Greetings 40 

New York Letter, Our — 20, 72 , 129, 182, 239, 301, 
350. 407, 465. 522, 582, 632. 

New York Meeting. The 304 

Northern Pacific Men Not Strikers, The 537 

Northern Pacific Settlement, The 135 


Northern Pacific Situation, The 26 

o 

Obituary — 54, 107, 160, 214, 276, 330, 385, 449, 


505, 560, 619, 670. 

OBITUARY. 

Barger, Chenoweth, Clark. Collins, Naylor, Stanton 54 
Benson, Boyce. Fitzgerald, Fletcher. Kelly, Sayre, 

Sellers, Webb 107 

Boylan, Cannon, Daly, Galvin, Heath, Joyce, Justice, 

Mabie, McDonnell. McKUvey, Printz, Vaughan 108 

Addington, Cosgrove, Hillhouse. Penney, Ronan, Sage, 

Taylor, Wilson x6° 

Corliss, Debray, Gilbert, Johnston, McLean, Mullin, 

Rainey, Stamper, Wright 214 

Bean, Bell. Buller, Cowan, Hays, Heiden, Ingling, 
Linsley, O’Bryan, Righards, Snider, Sullivan, Tam- 

blyn, Usher 276 

Dewer, Gordon, Granger, Hill, Hitchcock, Joyner, 

Roosa, Rowland, Tabler 330 

Green, Iverson, Nichols, Nunn, Tilton, Wilkinson... 385 
Corya, Dedman. Foley. Goodwin, Johnson, Marsh, 

Milan, Smith , 386 

Deyoe, Houseworth, Larash, Oyster, Rosenbarger, 

Ross, Wadsworth 419 

Carnahan, Hawkins, Little, Munn, Nye, Smith, Sul- 
livan 450 

Crasson, Cutting, Dursse, Norton, Rowe, Tretheway, 

Winters 505 

Boylan, Connelly, Goggin, Nelson, Van Vleit 506 

Boylan, Brown, Cunningham, Gibson, Kalihur, Sam- 
mons, Starkeman, Stone 560 

Bathurst, McMahon. Norton. Sanders, Stone, Tan- 
nery, Tannyhill f»i 9 

Crossan, Dixon, Draper, Johnson, Thompson, Wade. 

Wallace 620 

Eaton. Gifford, Haggerty, Lull, McGetrich, Minear, 
Reed, Sommers, Wampler, Warren 670 

One-Sidtd Legislation 24 

Organization an Inherent Right 610 

O R. T. Convention 328 

• ‘Over Her Grave” 259 


P 

“Passing of Day, The” 375 

Paying the Penalty 186 

Pay Your Fare or Get Off 353 

Perplexed Reformers 291 

Pleasant Jaunt, A. . 507 

Pleasant Surprise, A 42 

Poor Old Reading 250 

Practical Policy 535 

“Prayer, The" 375 

Problem of the Unemployed, The 13 

Progressive Though*, A 311 

Proposed in Canada 356 

Public Ownership of Railroads 396 

Pullman Boycott, The 380 

Q 

Question of License Again, The 479 

R 

Railroads- 48, 102, 156, 376, 500 


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4 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Railroad Y. M. C. A.. The 134 

Railway Management 268 

Reading Again. The 591 

* ‘Reason and Ignorance" 124 

Reform in Progress, A 80 

"Regret" 200 

Rejoinder to Mr. Borland's "Socialism and . 

Liberty." A 69 

Report of Postmaster General 646 

Report of the Nat'onal Strike Commission. . 642 

Result of an Investigation 248 

Right of Property in Land, The 283 

Robbers of Labor, The 126 

“Roll Away" 38 

8 

Safety Appliances 529 

Sample of Corporate Logic, A. 356 

Seen Through Different Glasses 246 

Seniority — 266, 269, 586. 

Single Tax Theory, The 62 

Single Tax Vagaries 173 

Single Tax vs. Socialism, The 295 

Situation on the Union Pacific 186 

"Sleighing" 131 

S. M. A. A Convention 327 

S. M A A , The 414 

Sociability 256 

Socialism and Liberty 15 

Social Reconstruction — 10, 67, 118. 

“Song of a Serenade 584 

"Song of the Golden red, The" 372 

St. Louis Meeting, The 354 

Strikes — Legal, Illegal 638 

Strong Endorsement, A 313 


Sufficiency of Economic Rent, The — 338 

Sunday Rest 191 

Systematizing Work 257 

T 

Tawney Arbitration Bill, The 415 

Taxation of Land Values 120 

Taxing Power, The 626 

Tell the Whole Truth 417 

Tenth Plank, The 644 

Thoughtless Injustice 25 

Ticket Brokerage 132 

“Times Lapidary" 484 

" Tis Winter, Love" 131 

Told Between Stations 352 

To Succeed the S. M. A. A 480 

Total Collapse of the Single Tax Argument, 

The 467 

“To the Ladies'' 485 

Trade vs. Profession 309 

u 

Uncanny Footsteps 488 

Undigested Thoughts 344 

V 

"Valentine, A" 13* 

w 

Wages Question, The 17 6 

What is a Scab? 477 

"Where Are We At?" 140 

Why Do We Maintain State Governments?. . 561 
621 

Y 

Young Wife's Soliloquy, A 653 


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« 


The Railway Conductor. 


VOL. XI. CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, JAN., 1894. NO. 1. 



CONTRIBUTED. 

BREAD’S BONDS. 


BY FRANK A. MYERS. 


chapter i — in secret. “You don't smell any brimstone, do you?’ 

The light cast a pale, yellow, flickering glare smiled George P. Wilmer, an original soul, with- 
over a company of sturdy men, assembled in a ou * the first shadow of compromise with wrong in 
back, unoccupied, up-stairs office in Marshal, Illi- ^is m ental make-up. He was seated upon a box 
nois, one night in the early seventies. It was a anc ^ did not arise. 

dingy spot. The dust of ages had apparently set- '*1 ra profoundly conscious, Mr. Wilmer, that I 
tied over everything like a mold of decay, and have not yet moved up into the king-row, for the 
there was not a single attractive or inspiring feat- aroma we sniff here is not from the fabled ambro- 

ure to be found within the walls. The gloom of s * a die gods.” 

desertion rested like a pall over the illy ventilated, "D, you expect the joys and sensualities of the 
illy lighted, narrow room. The desperation of si- Arabian paradise, when you shuffle off this mortal 
lence lingered within like a secret presence from c °d — eh?” Robinson enjoyed Wilmer’s jest, 
the shades of night. The smell of decay filled the “Is it not a laboring man's inalienable right — 
little space like the death-damp of a vault in a the only one he has on God’s foot-stool — to expect 
cemetery. The echoes, bold in their new liberty, the very best things there are in heaven when he 
fell upon the sensitive ear like murmuring com- dies?” said Robinson, very much in earnest, and 

plaints from the demon soul of Avernus. But no very much like a man uttering an eternal truth as 

better place offered for a secret meeting of the he conceived it. 

character of this one, and these hale, sober, in- “His labor calls for more than he gets here in 
dustrious, overworked laboring men were driven this heartless world, where a man is but an ani- 
by stem necessity to assemble there. mal working for a soulless corporation, that kicks 

“God, I'm a Hessian, if this is not a fit spot for him out when he is old and puts fresh young 
the denizens of gall and bitterness,” observed blood in his place,” said Wilmer, arising in his 
William D. Robinson on entering and beholding earnestness and gesturing with his right arm. **lf 
the dim, evil -suggesting light. He looked around he don’t enjoy the riches of his imagination here 
with a proud contempt upon his intelligent face, below, there's little else he gets to enjoy. What 
and audibly sniffled the filth-laden atmosphere, slaves we are to circumstances and money and 
His remark, so distinctive and characteristic of power, things entirely beyond our control V* 
the broad-souled man, provoked a smile upon the shook his head and hissed these last words through 
faces of the three or four others who were present his closed teeth. It sounded like a bitter wail of 
and seated upon broken boxes for chairs. despair and hopelessness from the very depths c 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


his inner consciousness. Robinson, casting a 
glance at the dim light and in his poetical soul 
construing it as significant of the light generally 
surrounding the laborers of the world, sat down 
upon a box and for a mqjnent was absorbed in 
deep, reflective, silent thought. Then he said sug- 
gestively, as he turned his eyes toward the smutty 
ceiling, scarcely visible in the poor light: 

‘'Fortune favors the brave. There is a way to 
burst the fetters, to emancipate ourselves. In 
union is strength. Co-operation is a law of our 
being. We must agitate, we must agitate, or we 
must perish by our own prosperity. Never say 
die! Never surrender! Make way for liberty. 
Fight till the last armed foe expires. Never lay 
down our arms — never! never!” 

The fire-flash of intelligence in this stirring ap- 
peal could not be mistaken. His deep, piercing 
eyes glowed like living coals of fire. The soul in 
the burning words that fell from his lips stirred 
every mind in the room to animated responsive 
sentiments. There are men who can awaken 
echoes in other hearts that the dreamy souls had 
not imagined were there before. There are men 
who can arouse the combative feeling in others 
till they want to go forth and exercise their ex- 
cited passions upon the first slight opposition that 
appears. There are men who can move dead 
men, so to speak, to quickened action. Robinson 
came very nearly being that kind of a man. But 
his sentinel of profound reason never allowed him 
to go beyond the limits of justice and eternal fit- 
ness. Wilmer was not so guarded in his thoughts. 
He was bold to a fault. Inspired by Robinson’s 
bold words in impassioned tones, Wilmer de- 
clared : 

"We have rights, or should have, but they have 
been forcibly and unjustly wrested from us — 
squeezed into nothingness, as we have been — we 
who are slaves to a hoard of petty tyrants, rich in 
watered railroad stock, strong in money might, 
cruel in the desire to be rich, and if ye dare to call 
for justice to be answered by another twist of the 
thumb-screw. We are but animals to a soulless 
corporation, and worth only so much labor, and 
when we die or are kicked out, another human 
animal is hired in our place. Flesh and blood 
and soul and feelings are nothing to them. They 
do not employ feelings, only muscle, and there is 
nobody in the soulless corporation to know you. 
Sympathy has fled from the world in shame. 
Men are no longer men. Why have we assembled 
here in secret like a pack of thieves? Where is 
our manhood? We dare not meet openly and 
hold up our heads. We are ground down into the 
dust until we are afraid to say our lives are our 


up the dark back stairway, and slipped through 
back alleys to get here, our devoted heads would 
pay the penalty, and we would not be kept’ on the 
pay-roll one hour longer. We would be branded 
as cowards, traitors, agitators, bent on the de- 
struction of the universe. If we ask for bread, 
they hurl a stone at our heads. I hate the unde- 
fined, impalpable, supreme power over me that 
crushes out my manhood. I hate the tendency of 
the times that centralizes money and defrauds me 
of all fair competition and just returns for my 
time and brain and muscle. I hate the combina- 
tion of money interests that makes Czars in the 
business world. I hate the supremacy of money 
kings and the apotheosis of gold above intelli- 
gence. Men are worth no more to railroads than 
if they were so much rolling-stock. But I’m talk- 
ing — speechifying before the meeting begins.” 

"Go on — go on!” cried all the others together. 
Their urgent cry was a compliment that words 
could not convey. It is impossible, dear reader, 
to portray to you the vim and the enthusiasm and 
the deep-toned sincerity manifested by his forci- 
ble little speech. It was an unstudied, impromptu 
thing, but it was for that all the more effective. 
It electrified the others, and the last man who en- 
tered stood spell-bound against the closed door. 
The gestures he used unconsciously added incal- 
culable power to his words. All stood up in their 
enthusiasm when he concluded, and knew it not. 
Indeed, for a moment it was a scene in that sooty, 
dimly lighted little room that has occurred very 
few times in all the history of oratory. William 
D. Robinson, who was the rudder to the meeting, 
was the first to recover himself. 

"Let’s be seated, gentlemen, and proceed with 
this meeting,” he said, as one making a gentle- 
manly request, and sat down himself as an exam- 
ple to be imitated. Everyone sat down, 

Robinson was unanimously placed in the chair 
to preside over the meeting. There was no pomp 
of parliamentary tactics in this deliberative meet- 
ing, but it is very doubtful if any gathering more 
successfully attained its object than this one. 

The chair stated succinctly that the assembly 
was not a "tea-party,” though it was that in a 
sense, but it was one for the purpose of discussing 
measures of relief for the laboring man and for 
making propositions for the special alleviation of 
the oppressed condition of railroad engineers. 
They have to work too many hours in the twenty- 
four, and in consequence of the dullness and stu- 
por that follows such times of overwork, human 
lives entrusted to their care are endangered. And 
still further, often faithful men are dismissed 
from their positions from trivial causes, and, as a 


own. Why, if the company knew we had stolen consequence in many cases, are reduced to ex- 

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. THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


treme hardships. Their wives and children suf- 
fer for the necessaries of life, and they are humil- 
iated to the degradation that follows rags. Mr. 
Robinson, a great-souled being, wanted in some 
way to extend a helping hand to his suffering fel- 
low laborers and remove as far as could be the 
possibility of such hard lines falling on them. 

The little secret assembly was a strong and 
healthful one in intellect, not dominated by selfish 
interest in money nor swayed by morbid theories 
about public affairs. They were all new. The 
sickly dim light that fell over them was no light 
to their feet nor guide to their understanding. 

They met in secret, like unhung scoundrels, 
because their bread and butter depended on ac- 
quiescence to the 'powers that be. Every man of 
them would have been discharged without a hear- 
ing, if it were known that he was meeting with 
other laborers for the purpose of redress and mu- 
tual aid. The sentiment of railroad magnates 
was very clear and pronounced against all assem- 
blings of employes for any purpose whatever. In- 
deed, that sentiment was almost a threat, and cer- 
tainly needed no catapult to beat it into the 
minds of shrewd and bright-witted laborers. 

Wilmer arose in the meeting and said fluently 
and with convincing force: 

"Wake up — wake up, ye men of toil. It is high 
time we understood that if we would maintain 
our rights, that have been abstracted one by one 
till to-day we are almost slaves, we must stand by 
each other. There is no other way under the 
shining sun than this. As brother Robinson has 
well said. In unity is strength.’ ” 

Every man present threw in his mite of wisdom, 
and a number of feasible and suggestive schemes 
for self-help were proposed. As a result they 
bound themselves together by a solemn promise 
to stand by each other and help to obtain full and 
satisfactory redress as far as practicable when in- 
justice had been done to one of their little band. 
A committee was selected to draft a constitution 
and by-laws and present the same at the meeting 
the next week. 

The positive forces in this little assemblage 
were apparent in the result attained. An organi- 
zation had been quietly effected that was destined 
to become a mighty power in the land, that would 
develop some distinguished men, and that would 
exercise a wonderful and wholesome influence 
over a great number of honest, sober, industrious 
wage-workers. 

This is the origin of the great Order or Brother- 
hood of Locomotive Engineers 

Exercising the caution of prudence, one by one 
they stole down the old rickety stairs, crept slyly 
along the alley in the darkness, and dispersed to 


3 

their several homes. They builded better than 
they knew. They had unconsciously hitched their 
wagon to a star. Justice was on their side, but 
might was on the other. It is an eternal verity 
that no unjust thing shall stand forever. This 
grand, consoling truth lay buried in their hearts 
on that memorable evening, waiting for angels to 
roll away the stone that it might arise to a new 
life, but no one there had the divine afflatus 
within him at that time to give it new creation. 
It is the unexpressed things in our hearts that 
give echo, when some one touches the dormant 
chord of thought by verbal expression. The ex- 
perience of this great order in after years rolled 
away the stone from the tomb in their minds and 
resurrected this eternal truth: "No unjust thing 
shall stand.” 

Robinson and Wilmer lingered and were the 
last to leave the little, old, smutty, sour-smelling 
room. As they slowly descended the creaking 
stairs upon the outside of the wall, they dispas- 
sionately discussed the outlook. They were 
pleased with the evening’s work. 

"Good work has been done to-night," said 
Robinson, talking over his shoulder to Wilmer. 

"I think so,” answered Wilmer. 

"This is bread cast on the waters, and we’ll 
hear from it in the future.” 

"I’d be glad to see it spread and fill the whole 
earth,” returned Wilmer, enthusiastically. At 
. each remark they descended a step, until at last 
they stood upon the pavement. 

"I hope it has been founded pn a rock, not 
upon sand, ” said Robinson, whose idea was be- 
gotten by the fact that they had touched terra 
jirma . 

"I don’t think it will go to pieces. I hope it 
has more life in it than that." 

"It must be founded on eternal justice and 
truth,” said Mr. Robinson, "or its vital force will 
be consumptive and short-lived.” 

"It will be said it is in opposition to the rail- 
roads, but it is not,” observed Mr. Wilmer. 

"Of course they will fight it with a lie — that is 
their style-^if they find out what we are up to,” 
responded Robinson. 

"It is said a lie can travel from Maine to Cali- 
fornia. while truth is putting on its boots, and I 
believe it,” remarked Wilmer, cutting off a chew 
of navy tobacco. 

"Yes, a lie travels in seven-league boots.” sub- 
joined Robinson, striking a match on his hip to 
light a cigar. The flame of the match on the 
darkness looked like a breathing sprite for a mo- 
ment and then went out in absolute darkness, and 
nothing was seen but the red end of the cigar. 

"We’ll have to stand it. But we must never 
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V 


4 THE RAIL WA Y CONDUCTOR . . 


surrender and quit what has been so favorably 
begun — never throw up the sponge. But they — 
the company, whoever that may mean — must not 
know who constitute this unnamed organization." 

"If they did, the company’s guillotine would be 
set to work and our heads would be cut off into 
the basket," said Robinson, feelingly. 

“Waste-basket," corrected Wilmer. 

“Correct. I accept the amendment." 

While they stood at the foot of the stairs in the 
secure darkness they discussed the discharge of 
Millard Hooney, one of the most faithful engin- 
eers that had ever been in the employment of the 
Vandalia road. Hooney, having been for thirty 
hours without sleep, under the daze of a sleepy 
stupor ran his engine through a switch upo* the 
main track, and was almost run into by the fast 
night mail. His thirty hours of faithfulness were 
forgotten, and for his single mistake he was given 
the “grand bounce." These two men succeeded 
in working themselves into an indignant state be- 
fore they dropped the matter. 

Have you ever seen .the distinguished founder of 
the Brotherhood of Locomotiv e Engineers and its 
first chief? He was a man with a moderately good 
physique, medium height, black hair and eyes, a 
thin, Cassius-lighted countenance, and a very 
prominent forehead. His nose and lips signified 
great understanding, and his square chin an un- 
yielding perseverance. He was a noble man as a 
friend, and a glorious hater when due cause pre- 
sented itself. He was a great lover of poetry, 
particularly Byron and Goethe’s Faust, and often 
delighted his friends by quoting long passages 
from these authors. A man of large, companion- 
able qualities, he was almost infinite in jest, and 
when occasion demanded he could condense more 
satire in a sentence than any man the writer ever 
knew. A man of positive convictions and vivid 
impressions, he knew what he wanted to say be- 
fore he uttered it Flattery provoked his sneer, 
and yet he loved to appear well to others. As a 
matter of fact, he was tasteful and neat in dress. 

Wilmer was much younger than Robinson, who 
was forty years old and a man of family. Wilmer 
was twenty-four and single, but the two men were 
eternal friends. The younger man was handsome 
and of fine physique. Indeed, he was a ladies’ 
man, and his sweetheart believed there was no- 
body in the world like George P. Wilmer. That 
solid, magnetic frame and tender, glowing eye 
and healthful, smiling countenance, caught the at- 
tention of everybody at once. Outwardly and in- 
wardly he was a manly man. of more than ordin- 
ary strong sense, but with no extensive course of 
reading. The exigencies of his life precluded 
much attention to books, though he was a diligent 


devourer of Jl^wspapers. \He always dressed 
well. T 

The. Wo men moved awa^ from the foot of the 
rickety stairs and passed albng the stinking, dark 
back alley. 

CHAPTER II — A SURPRISE. 

As these two^men emerged upon the poorly- 
lighted street they saw. a dark, human figure steal 
furtively from a dark nook at the entrance to the 
alley and hurry away up the street. Both com- 
prehended the situation in a moment. 

“We have been hounded by a foolhardy spy 
and discovered," said Wilmer, in a tone tinged 
with anger and revenge. There was a spice of 
spap in it. and his clear, smooth voice, though 
pronounced in a low. guarded key, showed youth- 
ful impulsiveness. “Now watch me overtake 
the fellow." 

“Go." said Robinson, profoundly interested, 
and fearful lest the sneaking dog would escape. 
The shadowy form was fast vanishing in the 
darkness up the street. 

Bending forward on his toes in order to muffle 
his running footsteps, Wilmer bounded forward 
like a hounded deer. The fleeing shadow now 
took to swift flight, and it was soon apparent to 
Wilmer that it was to be a race in which the one 
with the most endurance should win Robinson, 
who did not care to join in the pursuit, followed 
leisurely and contentedly along behind. He 
knew that Wilmer would return after a while, 
and relate the whole circumstance 

With fleet foot Wilmer kept the human shadow 
in view. The feet of the fleeing form patted re- 
soundingly along upon the pavement, and the 
echoes came mockingly back from the silent, dark 
walls like sneers from the god Nox. The meet- 
ing had continued late and the streets of Marshal 
were entirely deserted. 

Redoubling his exertions, after he believed he 
had chased the figure until he was growing weary, 
Wilmer began to gain perceptibly upon him. 
The fellow saw it and dodged into a dark alley 
that was partly shaded by heavy-leaved trees, in 
the hope of eluding his pursuer In the shad- 
ows of the trees he hoped to evade Wilmer suc- 
cessfully. He knew who was after him, and 
knew Robinson still better. He could easily slip 
through a hole in some dilapidated old wooden 
stable, where a plank might chance to be off, and 
escape that way. He well knew he had been de- 
tected in disgraceful espionage, and he strove 
hard to conceal his identity. Besides, he feared 
a just trouncing, if caught by the Harry Hotspur 
after him. 

Before Wilmer could reach the alley the fellow 
had gained the shadow of the trees. Into tbe 

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narrow, unfrequented alley Wilmer dashed and 
rushed right forward beneath the trees. But the 
man was lost. Not a sight or sound of him could 
be observed anywhere. Apparently the spy had 
successfully evaded him. Right there at the trees 
he seemed to have been as completely swallowed 
up as if the earth had yawned and received him. 
Wilmer knew he could not have escaped at the 
other end of the alley, for in that event he would 
have seen him. Therefore he must have hidden 
himself in the neighborhood of the trees. 

Wilmer paused, drew one long breath and lis- 
tened. If the fellow had been a murderous vil- 
lain. he could have shot his pursuer at that criti- 
cal instant and no one would ever have found out 
who did it. But he did not, and hence the writer 
is spared the labor of recording such a shocking 
event. 

He heard nothing. It was Wilmer’s positive 
conviction that the fellow was within a few feet 
of him at that very moment, and he drew another 
deep, heavy breath, while his heart beat a merry- 
tattoo in his bosom, and hasty thought tripped 
their heels in his mind. There is nothing equals 
careful method in emergency. 

With intense, penetrating eye^ he peered all 
about. Then he walked to the trunk of the big- 
gest tree, which was quite large enough for a man 
to hide behind, and was scarcely prepared for 
what happened. The unexpected always hap- 
pens when we are unprepared for it. That is, a 
man is got always, if ever, master of his circum- 
stances. He may wink at misfortunes, but he 
cannot escape them ; and on the other hand, by 
parity of reasoning, he can no more escape the 
joys of existence. 

There was a hasty movement behind the tree, 
the crushing sound of a hurrid foot, like one who 
had received a very urgent summons, and the 
sudden dashing away of a dark human figure. 
The discovery had come sooner than he had ex- 
pected, and for an instant — but only for an instant 
— he stood undecided. The next instant he was 
in hot pursuit of the retreating fellow, and down 
the alley they went pell-mell, running with all 
their mights. At every jump Wilmer gained on 
the fleeing spy, and as they reached the street, 
the fellow seeing the uselessness of further flight 
stopped suddenly and surrendered. 

“I'm fairly caught," he said, between panting 
breaths, scarcely able to articulate. Wilmer 
caught him by the shoulder rather roughly. “I 
beg you will not assault me," insisted the fellow 
in timid tones. 

“You dirty spy! You deserve it," said Wilmer, 
sharply, giving him a quick, violent jerk, that al- 
most reversed the fellow end for end. “Stand up 


5 

here, or. I’ll kick you for falling down, just for 
luck. I despise a spy, Sam Carey, and you have 
fairly earned a good beating. I’ve a mind to wipe 
the earth up with you." Wilmer was real angry. 
He despised a spy, as he said. 

“I beseech you, Wilmer, not to hurt me." 

“And a coward is as bad as a spy." 

“I have no defense to make. I, too, despise a 
coward and a spy." He trembled all over like an 
aspen leaf in the breeze. 

“You puny minded thing!" To call him a 
“thing” was the bitterest irony Wilmer had in his 
cyclopaedia of words and facts and experiences. 
“You are but a hireling, and here you set your- 
self to watch others so you can report and stand 
in with the bosses and build yourself up by tear- 
ing your fellow hirelings down. That is, you 
think yourself better than the rest of us." Wil- 
mer still held him securely by the shoulder. 
Carey was a thin fellow, and not nearly as large 
as the perfect manhood that confronted him. 
There was need of apprehension, for the impetu- 
ous Wilmer to decide to do anything was an easy 
matter. 

“No, not better. I’m free to confess it is an 
evil desire in man to wish to advance himself by 
fair or foul means." answered Carey. 

; ‘In man! — in you," growled Wilmer, giving 
the trembling fellow another shake. 

Sam Carey was an office clerk for the railroad 
company, and being partly devoid of that high 
sense of honor and justice that characterizes high- 
grade gentlemen, he was not able to see to the 
fullest extent the moral obloquy that attached to 
his action. Voluntarily he constituted himself a 
spy upon these laboring men, for the purpose of 
reporting the same to the company and proving 
his fidelity to its cause and interests. He hoped 
to win promotion and favor by being the first to 
convey this astonishing news to the corporation 
about the secret meeting and the persons who 
took part in it. By accident he stumbled on to 
the fact of the meeting, and thought himself 
happy in his splendid exclusive knowledge. He 
saw a dim light in the window, and then he 
caught an enlarged shadow of an arm upon the 
murky-like glass. This drew him into the alley 
out of mere curiosity, and then he recognized 
voices. In a little while as he stood in the black- 
ness beneath the dark, rickety stairway, the 
whole truth was revealed to him. It filled him 
with elation. How the company would be de- 
lighted to receive his information! Already 
bright visions of promotion crossed his mind. To 
be quite certain of the last ones to leave the 
dingy little office, whom he suspected ..ns being 
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leaders in the movement, he lingered a little too 
long at the head of the alley. 

A good clerk, neat in his dress, proper in his 
general deportment, at the age of twenty-three 
just starting fairly into the great unexplored fu- 
ture before him, he was able to improve with ex- 
perience and make a man of himself. Sam was 
not irrevocably bad, but he was indiscreet and in- 
experienced. 

Much more passed between Wilmer and Carey, 
and some of it was vigorous United States Eng- 
lish, but finally the captor had cooled off enough 
to reason about the case. Then he Jed Sam 
Carey back for the purpose of having him con- 
front William D. Robinson. They trudged wear- 
ily back, talking as they went, but Sam was in a 
most unpleasant frame of mind, all the result of 
his own unwise course. 

They finally met Robinson, coming leisurely 
along, and to him Wilmer explained the facts. 
Sam stood silent, ashamed, self-debased and over- 
whelmed at his own folly. The words of Robin- 
son fell upon his overwrought sensibility like a 
trip-hammer. He exclaimed in measured tones: 

“Sam Carey, you are a fool,” 

“Have you nothing to say?” asked Wilmer, in 
sharp, querulous tones. 

“No," he answered, sullenly. 

“You betray your friends to your enemies," re- 
buked Robinson, “and when they have done with 
you what claims have you on their friendship? 
They may use you as long as you will be their 
willing, submissive tool, but your walking-papers 
are liable to be written out any day, and then 
where are your friends?" 


“Rather who are not your enemies?” supplied 
Wilmer, with some acerbity. 

“Gentlemen,” at length Sam spoke up,” 
“friendship cannot be compelled. I am a man, 
and therefore may be persuaded.” 

“That being true, there are lively hopes for 
your reclamation, my young friend,” said Robin- 
son, diplomatically. 

In the darkness of this unlighted, unfrequented 
back street they talked long and earnestly, but 
Sam would not promise to join them or to keep 
his -exclusive knowledge a secret. The fact that 
there had been a secret meeting of the employes 
would be sufficient information for the company, 
Robinson and Wilmer well knew this. After a 
dutiful lecture to Sara they set him free, but with 
this parting threat from Wilmer: 

“If anything happens, we'll know perfectly 
well where to locate it.” 

While this was true, it was impolitic to utter it 
at that time and place. It made Sam indignant, 
but in the presence of his captors a silent tongue 
was discretion, and he seemed not to notice the 
accusation and the lack of confidence. He was 
one of those singularly constituted chaps, who, 
when suspected, could go on and commit the very 
thing he was suspected of in order to wreak re- 
venge for the lack of confidence in him. 

The three men separated, each to his own 
home. No one was perfectly satisfied with the 
events of the evening. Sam had not been persua- 
ded from his purposes, and they felt aspired of 
it. And Sam thought Wilmer handled him too 
roughly for him ever to be his friend again. He 
thought Robinson a gentleman. 


TO BE CONTINUED. 


THE MYSTERIOUS FOREST. 


A SOCIAL ALLEGORY. 
BY H. P. PEEBLES. 


CHAPTER I. 

Once upon a time — all true stories commence 
in this way — there was an immense forest, so 
large, so dense, so little explored, that no man 
knew where it ended. On the edge of the forest 
were many paths and well-traveled roads ; but as 
one went further into its depths, the paths be- 
came indistinct, and the venturesome explorer 
found himself wandering through a trackless 
waste of swamps and tangled undergrowth, among 
giant trees that were so large, and grew so thick 
that it was always dark. Many men, yes, hun- 
dreds and hundreds, had entered the forest, and 


had never returned ; and it was strange that of 
those who came back after a short journey into 
its depths, no two told the same story of what 
they had seen. In consequence of this, the for- 
est was a mystery to all men. 

There were many points upon which men dif- 
fered concerning this great forest. Some wise 
men said that the forest was becoming smaller, 
and was much easier to explore than ever before. 
They pointed to the beautiful farms on its bor- 
ders, and said: “Only a few years ago these 
were covered by the wood, now. see, the land is 
well cultivated, and supports^ happy and pros- 
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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


perous people. Leave the forest alone, and in 
time it will be all cleared away " Others said 
this was a foolish thing to say, as they claimed 
the forest was growing larger all the time, and 
was constantly encroaching upon the cultivated 
lands, and that, moreover, in its deepest and 
darkest depths, could be found many ruins of a 
past age, showing that land which was once 
thickly settled had been covered with swamps 
and impassable undergrowth. Many books were 
written on the different sides of this controversy, 
but the truth of the matter no man was able to 
prove There was much dispute, also, as to the 
name of the forest. Some called it the Forest of 
Social and Industrial Customs, others the Forest 
of Ignorance and Human Mistakes. Some even 
said that it was sinful to attempt to explore or to 
improve the desolate waste, as the Creator had 
planted it, and man had no right to interfere. 

As I have said, at the edge of the wood were 
many well-made roads, which were always crowd- 
ed with people, who generally passed the time in 
disputing one with another as to the cause of the 
forest's growth, how it should be explored, and 
the best means of clearing it. But if any one 
more bold than his fellows, determined to leave 
the well traveled roads and really explore the 
depths of the forest, the others were angry, and 
mocked him ; and if he returned, claiming to 
have acquired any new information, they called 
him evil names, -derided his account, and many 
cried out. *' Stone the reformer !” 

Now, it was known that within this dark forest 
a certain good-natured giant had been bewitched 
by those who most grievously oppressed him, 
taking advantage of his strength, and making 
him work for them, while they starved and tor- 
mented him Even on this point men differed. 
Some said it was right for those who profited by 
the work of the giant to hold him in subjection, 
since they were wiser than he ; and that it was 
well to starve him. as, otherwise, his strength 
would become so great that he would arise and 
kill his masters. Others said that those wha op- 
pressed and misused him were not to blame, as 
they only acted as their fathers had always done. 
Many professed pity fpr the sufferings of the 
giant ; but if asked to go into the forest and help 
to release him. they shook their heads, and an- 
swered : "Those things must be left to an over- 
ruling Providence; it is not for us to interfere.’’ 

One morning two men, who had penetrated far 
beyond the well-beaten roads, reached together the 
end of the furtherest path that extended far into 
the untrodden gloom of the forest. They were 
good, honest, sincere men who had left home 
and friends to explore the most hidden depths of 


the woods, and discover some means of freeing the 
giant from his sufferings. Both had been laughed 
at and mocked by the wise men when they had 
signified their intentions, and had not desisted, 
even when they had been called "reformers" and 
taunted with the fate of other explorers. 

The first day of their jouyney had been very 
pleasant. The road was open and well traveled, 
flowers bloomed by the wayside, and shady seats 
were placed here and there upon which they could 
rest themselves. Besides, the way was thronged 
with people who greeted them pleasantly ; but 
who frowned and rallied at them when they sig- 
nified their intention to explore the inmost recess- 
es of the forest, instead of wandering about the 
well traveled outskirts. 

As our travelers had journeyed onward amid 
the merry throng, every now and then they heard 
a deep groan that seemed to come from the hid- 
den depths of the forest. When this was heard 
the crowd would cease their laughter and merry- 
making and listen. While the groaning lasted, 
some would look frightened and put their fingers 
in their ears as if to shut out the sound ; others 
would shake their heads, draw near to each oth- 
er, and whisper together ; others paid no atten- 
tion to the sound and appeared as if they had not 
heard it. But the moment the groaning was 
silent, all would resume their pleasures. A few 
would smile, and say, * ’Listen, the groans have 
ceased, there is no .danger now!" Then one who 
had been apparently frightened while the dismal 
sound lasted, would reply, "You are an alarmist; 
there was really no danger at all !" 

Our travelers asked many what these sounds 
meant ; but people only looked at them as though 
they had asked a foolish question ; some even 
laughed in their faces, and told them that they 
had surely been dreaming, that no groans had 
been heard, but these hurried away as though the 
subject was a disagreeable one. Finally, they 
asked the question of a serious old man, who sat 
apart from the others, and he looked mournfully 
at them and answered : “Surely you know that it 
is the groans of the afflicted giant, Labor, who is 
confined in yonder forest ; the people hear it and 
are frightened, because they know that they have 
treated him unjustly. Woe to them if he escapes 
from his oppressors !" 

Now the travelers had journeyed far beyond 
the beaten paths, and almost the next step would 
take them into the unknown darkness. If they 
went on, they must make a path for themselves 
through the underbrush. But they were men 
who had counted the cost of their venture, and 
would not return until they had accomplished 
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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


their purpose; so without a sign of fear they 
pushed on through the trackless wood. 

CHAPTER II. 

Their onward way led through a dark thicket 
of heavy underbrush, where the trees were so nu- 
merous and tall that their branches interlaced 
above them, forming a roof through which the 
sunlight vainly struggled in an effort to lighten a 
path for our travelers. They were surrounded by 
noisome weeds, and at every step a trailing vine 
caught the foot, as if a network of ropes had been 
laid to entangle and trip the step of the unwary 
traveler. The sound of the merry makers had 
died away, and the rustling of their footsteps 
among the brush and fallen leaves seemed to des- 
ecrate a silence that should reign eternal. There 
was no song of bird, no hum of insect, all the mel- 
odies of nature were silent; and over all there 
hung a sense of gloomy mystery. 

Our two travelers seemed to feel the spell, and 
for hours they struggled on without exchanging a 
word; a whisper even seemed an outrage on the 
silence of the gloomy woods, and a gesture or 
wave of the hand was all that passed between 
them. The everlasting twilight at last faded into 
the darkness of night, as overcome with fatigue 
they sought a dry spot at the foot of an immense 
tree. Their simple preparations for food and rest 
were completed in the darkness. After starting a 
small fire they unstrapped the bundles from their 
backs, and wrapping their blankets around them 
they slept the sleep of complete exhaustion. In 
the depths of the dense forest there was no morn- 
ing sun to awaken the sleepers, but the twilight 
of the coming day softly enveloped them, seeming 
to come from all directions at once, and they 
awoke to their first day of real investigation. 
Water was found in a little stream that flowed 
through a small valley on the right, and with 
much stretching, groaning and good humored 
complaints of stiffened and paining joints, they 
prepared their morning meal. 

These men, we may here explain, were not old 
friends, but had met for the first time on the edge 
of the forest. Instinctively each had recognized 
the other as a "real reformer,” each had said to 
himself, "this man is good and sincere" — such is 
the strength of honesty of purpose that it draws 
good men to each other. 

While the silence of the previous evening still 
continued, our travelers had to a great extent 
overcome the sense of awe, that had prevented 
speech, and now talked cheerfully to each other; 
and as the one related the causes that led to his 
strange journey, and told of the many doubts and 
surmises that had so long tempted him to remain 


actly the same experiences. I have had ttie same 
thoughts." In fact they found so many things to 
hold in common, that at frequent intervals they 
would stop and shake hands congratulating each 
other on the happy chance that had led them 
together. 

During this friendly interchange of experiences, 
one of them spoke of the fact that many of his 
former friends had endeavored to dissuade him 
from taking the journey on the grounds that no 
good could result even if the forest was explored 
and the exact suffering of the imprisoned giant 
was fully known. To him his friend replied: 
"Friend Socialist (for this was the name of the 
first speaker) I am reminded of the opinion of a 
neighbor of mine whom I begged to accompany me, 
but who declined, saying that it would only make 
the giant impatient and fretful to even endeavor 
to relieve hipi; that he would probably rise and 
kill some of his oppressors. His name is Ortho- 
dox Churchman; he claims that Providence will, in 
a future life, repay the sufferer with happiness pro- 
portionate to his grief in this life; and he counseled 
me to beseech the giant to be patient, and endure 
all things in the hope of this coming reward. He 
even called on me the morning of my departure, 
and told me that he had passed the entire night 
in thought and prayer, and had almost decided 
that my journey was a sinful act, that it was 
wrong to interfere in the things that Providence 
had evidently ordained, or at least had so long al- 
lowed. The last that I saw of him he was 
mournfully gazing aftei me and shaking his 
head." 

"I have a neighbor, friend Onetax," replied the 
other, "that is a distant relative of yours, with 
whom I talked long and earnestly concerning this 
journey. I knew that his heart was deeply moved 
by the reports of the sufferings of the giant. At 
times I felt certain that he would accompany me, 
or rather that I expected to meet him in the for- 
est; for he was prepared to make the journey, but 
insisted that I had planned to take the wrong 
path. It was mainly on this point we differed, 
and we could not travel in company; yet I would 
not be surprised to meet him anywhere in the 
forest.” 

"Tell me. I pray you. the name of your neigh- 
bor,” said Onetax, "for l met with one on the 
edge of the forest, who had been waiting there for 
days fearing to enter, the way seemed so dark 
and dangerous." 

"It was not he.’ answered the other, "for he 
is as bold as a lion, and would not turn back when 
he had once started. His name is Sincere 
Christian ” 


quiet at home, the other would say. "I had ex- 


"Surely you must be mistaken.' said Onetax, 

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"I have always been told that this man died long 
ago. I have heard many mourn his death; surely 
all could not have been deceived. Nevertheless, 
if he really lives, I know many that will sincerely 
rejoice, and will truly welcome him as one from 
the dead/' 

"I have heard him say that since he had re- 
moved from the neighborhood of his relative, Or- 
thodox Churchman, he had been called upon to 
deny rumors of his own death; but I am cer- 
tain be lives, and feel positive also, that he is 
even now somewhere in this very forest." 

"Hold! hold!" said the other, as he grasped his 
companion's arm," "Did you not hear that groan 
and cry of agony?" The other replied not, but 
both remained silent and alert, waiting for a rep- 
etition of the sounds that had so suddenly dis- 
turbed them. In a moment their attentive ears 
heard not only groans but sharp and loud sounds 
of distress. Such is the power of trained reason- 
ing faculties that without a word or even a look 
of consultation each one of our heroes recognized 
the fact that some one was suffering, some one 
was in distress. But their real greatness, the real 
proof of their sincerity as "real reformers." was 
that without a word they instinctively turned and 
sought the spot from which the sounds proceeded. 
Ordinary reformers wonld have considered- their 
fall duty ended if they had talked over the sounds 
of distress while continuing their journey, though 
some of the more enthusiastic might have consid- 
ered it a duty to have stopped all they might 
meet and talk over the sounds with them, giving 
and asking opinions as to the cause. 

chapter m. 

Guided by the sounds of distress the travelers 
pushed their way through the thicket. To their 
great surprise they soon found themselves on the 
edge of a well defined opening, or rather clearing, 
as it was oval in shape, and undoubtedly of arti- 
ficial creation. The thick underbrush, the weeds, 
the trailing vines had been carefully removed, 
and before their eyes was a luxuriant lawn of 
beautiful grass. Paths, seemingly of marble, 
formed a network of glistening white lines, bor- 
bered by flowers of every hue and shade of color; 
statuary and fountains added their charms to the 
natural beauties of the place. An involuntary ex- 
clamation of wonder escaped them at this unex- 
pected scene of harmony and beauty; but every- 
thing went to prove that human hands had exe- 
cuted what human brains had planned. 

In the midst of the park-like beauty, apparent- 
ly in the exact centre, stood a strange pile of 
rongh, unhewn stones. It was not a heap of rock 
promiscuously piled together, but seemed a solid- 
ly bnilt monument constructed for strength and 


9 

endurance rather than ornament. The rough, 
uncut granite contrasted almost painfully with 
the polished walks, the well kept lawns and the 
general air of elegance that enveloped the place. 

While they gazed in bewilderment — forgetting 
even the cries of distress that had guided them — 
a deep groan seemed to come from the solid mon- 
ument before them. They hurried to it, but a 
close examination revealed no opening. The 
strange structure was square with the roof slight- 
ly oval, but there was no door, window or open- 
ing of any kind. During the examination Social- 
ist noticed some peculiar characters cut into the 
stone, but so carelessly and roughly done that he 
doubted whether they were natural flaws, or rude 
attempts at lettering the wall. After much effort 
he read the words "ESTABLISHED CUS- 
TOMS." With the aid of his companion the in- 
scription on ano’ber wall was deciphered as 
"VESTED RIGHTS," on the third was found 
"LEGAL AUTHORITY,” and on the fourth 
"HEREDITARY PRIVILEGES." Upon So- 
cialist insisting that similar marks were on the 
roof, Onetax assisted him to clamber up, when 
he read "ENCLOSED BY IGNORANCE." 

It must not be supposed that during this long 
examination the calls of distress had been forgot- 
ten by the explorers. Each had instinctively be- 
lieved his ears had deceived the other senses, and 
the sounds could not have come from the pile of 
solid masonry. As Socialist exclaimed: "This 
surpasses belief, where could the sufferer be 
hid?" # 

He was answered by a voice that came from 
the monument, "Heaven help me, more 
reformers!" 

The genius of the "real reformer," the strength' 
of mind of the real philanthropist, came now to 
the assistance of the two good men. Without a 
word of discussion, without wasting a moment in 
debate, the same question came from both. "Are 
you the imprisoned giant, Labor?” 

"Oho! you are wiser, then, than others who 
have stood there and preaehed to me that I am 
really free!" 

After waiting in silence, hoping that the speak- 
er would continue, Socialist finally asked: "How 
long have you suffered in this gloomy cell?" 

"How long ! Date the time when man learned 
how to build a cell! With me civilization means 
imprisonment — except when taken out in chains^ 
Different generations, different stages of civiliza- 
tion have builded different cells. At times the 
walls grew thin through decay, even a little 
blessed light shone in, but when hope began to 
whisper, other builders were at work, the walls 
thickened and utter darkness came again. Thou- 
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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


sands have sought to free me, thousands have 
dashed their heads against the walls in vain, 
thousands have planned, but in execution have in- 
j ured me. Some have bid me endure, with patience, 
and in a future world due recompense will be 
made. I am weary of it all; and have sworn to 
destroy all who interfere with me, whatever may 
be their intentions, good or ill. Therefore,” he 
added, raising his voice, "begone!” 

Our travelers had listened with the deepest in- 
terest to this address, and the moment the voice 
ceased had a hundred questions to ask. The un- 
seen prisoner made no answer, but, sustained by 
the nurity of their motives, the two continued. 
At length the patience of the listener seemed to 
give way, and in answer to the repeated inquiries 
as to how and what he suffered; and if he could 
give no directions how they could assist him, he 
broke into a torrent of exclamation and invective. 

"Cease, cease idle and inquisitive fools! I suf- 
focate, I hunger and I thirst. Away! I have but 
to complain to my good keepers and they will 


punish you as meddlers with heaven appointed 
laws,” and he ended with a bitter laugh. 

Now our friends were not only good, well- 
meaning men, but they were wise, and for this 
reason many had refused to call them reformers. 
They recognized the futility of attempting to tear 
down the solid walls with their naked hands. 
Stains on the walls showed that others had shed 
their blood in that vain sacrifice, As wise, sen- 
sible men they would do nothing until they had 
determined what to do. and how to do it, and 
what might result. 

The reader will doubtless now deny the claim 
that our friends were reformers. As the humble 
recorder of this history % I must still insist upon 
giving them the title, confessing this conduct is 
much against my claim. Reformers to reason, 
reformers to turn away, refusing to act until a 
sensible plan should be. resolved upon, reformers 
to act as wise men! Yes, I insist upon it. With- 
out prejukice I would even take an oath upon it. 
And I am prepared to give one of the results of 
their deliberations in the succeeding chapter. 


TO BE CONTINUED. 


SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 

BY JOSE GROS. 


NO 

It sounds very fine to talk or write about Social 
Reconstruction, but the question is — on what 
lines shall we proceed? We will find that almost 
everybody is willing to have some kind of recon- 
struction Even the most retrogressive men 
would like to reconstruct, backwardly. of course 
If to-day we were willing to have social questions 
reorganized by those who call themselves the na- 
tives, because coming from the oldest American 
families, and having a good share of wealth, we 
would find that their plan of social reconstruction 
would be to vards monarchical forms, restriction 
of the suffrage so that only property holders could 
vote, a large army and navy, and some other re- 
forms of that character. The writer ought to 
know what he is about on the subject, because he 
has long lived among such people, and good peo- 
ple. too, the cream of the nation \n many re- 
spects, but not exactly the kind of cream we need 
for a civilization resting on human rights as 
preached by that friend of the poor and the op- 
pressed, the friend of the honest worker, The 
Nazar cue ! 

Leaving aside the classes we have referred to, 
and the mass of people still clinging around them 
through the force of old traditions, remnants of 
feudalism and militarism, we find what we may 


. i. 

call the discontented, that is, groups of men who 
dare to show their discontent by asserting that we 
do need a great increase of popular rights before 
we can claim to be a free nation. Because we 
have two classes of discontent, the inward and 
the outward, the silent and the spoken one. the 
conscious and the unconscious discontent. Even 
our domestic animals are discontented when 
treated very badly. And there is a great deal of 
the animal in men. Hence we can notice two 
forms of discontent among men, corresponding 
to our above indications, and thus exhibited 
through different manifestations. 

Man is satisfied with his mere animal jneeds as 
long as the higher aspirations of the soul remain 
dormant under the action of primitive surround- 
ings and the absence of higher revelations through 
social reformers. As soon as the latter commence 
to diffuse their teachings among the masses, a 
new form of discontent springs up. Men then re- 
alize that they should have not only what is abso- 
lutely necessary to the animal man. but that 
which God means we all should have for the evo- 
lution of the full man. 

It happens, in our days, that most men have 
reason to be doubly discontented, because, in 
great many cases, modern civilization fails to give 
to quantities of workers even what they absolute- 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Iy need to perform the work required from them, 
and yet keep alive in mere animal forms. Be- 
cause, remember that we require a great deal 
more from our wage slaves than was expected 
from the old serfs or chattel slaves. Besides, our 
workers to-day are supposed to be able to dis- 
criminate between such and such political condi- 
tions and to directly or indirectly shape the desti- 
nies of the nation. Do they do that? Do they 
do it in any satisfactory manner? Hardly. The 
very perplexing problems around would show 
that we have not yet evolved the intelligent citi- 
zen, Not even among the intelligent classes can 
you find any great abundance of intelligent citi- 
zens. 

Suppose that we try to illustrate the above as- 
sertion through that old bone of dissension among 
us in the whole course of our national life — the 
blessed tariff. We have tried all kinds of tariff 
for over 100 years, and we have not come to any 
agreement on the subject. We are just as much 
at sea as ever about the kind of tariff we need, or 
if we need any at all. There are but two small 
grouos of men in this nation who have precise 
conceptions on the specific results brought about 
by a tariff Neither of the two groups may ex- 
ceed over ioo.ooo men. One of such groups is 
formed by the wholesale monopolists and large 
^employers of labor. The other group is composed 
oS single-taxers. The former group is always and 
forever working for high tariffs. That alone 
ought to be sufficient for the workers of the na- 
tion to realize that tariffs are the greatest enemies 
of labor. Only, the higher the tariff the worse 
for labor. Far from that, even most reformers 
to-day are dreadfully perplexed on the whole 
question of tariff or no tariff. 

It is one of the most ridiculous facts in human 
history, the tariff superstition of this nation of 
ours. And it is not localized among the ignorant, 
but it permeates the most intelligent classes of 
society. Yet. stop for a moment to think at the 
idea of raising wages by taxing what labor is to 
produce and consume; the idea of protecting the 
workers by burdening them with taxes! To pro- 
tect the workers, the producers of all wealth, by 
taking from them a portion of the wealth they 
produce! What a perversion of national percep- 
tions all that involvesl What are wages but pay- 
ments ia exchange for personal labor or services 
sold to the one willing or needing to buy such 
services or labor? If so, the law of supply and 
demand shall be the regulation of wages, as it 
happens in the buying and selling of cabbages, 
etc. And what is it that can make the supyly of 
labor exceed the demand for labor? Land mono- 
poly, that splendid human contrivance through 


which we disinherit the many and force them to 
beg for labor. That alone shall regulate wages. 
The greater the extent of land monopoly, the 
greater the number of people in need of selling 
their services to some one enabled to employ 
somebody, because directly or indirectly controll- 
ing more land than he alone could place to the 
best use, and so the lower the wages, tariff or no 
tariff. 

Only a few days ago the writer, in a conversa- 
tion with some friends, and highly intelligent, 
too, was told: the fact that foreigners are glad at 
the idea of a reduction in our tariff, that is 
enough for me to see that it will hurt somebody 
among us. The writer said: of course that a tariff 
reduction would hurt somebody. Many of our 
large manufacturers who have'now a monopoly 
in certain lines of goods, will stop making 30 or 
40 per cent, interest on their capital, and will 
have to be satisfied with a moderate interest, as 
their brether manufacturers on the other side. 
Do you know the sally that that brought from our 
bright friend? But then our manufacturers will 
enploy less people, and will have less money with 
which to pay high wages! So the American em- 
ployer is a philanthropist who tries to rectify the 
mistakes made by our Father in Heaven. That 
Father, in His infinite recklessness, shovels piles 
of people on earth without any resources what- 
ever to make a living with, and leaves them at 
the mercy of our American employers. The em- 
ployers are made rich by the grace of God, not 
by employing people and taking from them a 
large portion of what they do produce. The 
wages are not part of what labor creates; oh, no, 
they are ... a fragment of kindness that 
our masters, the monopolists, are willing to lavish 
on their slaves, the landless workers of our land 
of the free? 

All the above is but some of. the logical infer- 
ences from the absence of logic of our numerous 
friends, the tariffites, in love, some, with a tar- 
iff for revenue, others with a tariff for protection, 
and a few here and there with a tariff as an Amer- 
ican institution, without which our republic would 
go to pieces. 

Let us now try to rise a little higher in this tar- 
iff question, a little above the sordid view of dol- 
lars and cents, if the object is to keep our precious 
home markets for our own selves, lest the foreign- 
ers flood the country with goods and thus keep 
our workers out of work. We have just now a 
sad illustration of the results that then would fol- 
low. We are in the Dresence of a dreadful busi- 
ness paralysis. Why? Because of about 3,000, - 
000 of men out of work who cannot buy anything 
or mighty little. Don’t you see then that it would 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 




be to the interest of our foreigners not to send 
any more goods than those we could buy and pay 
for at a fair price? Don't you see that that could 
only be accomplished by keeping our workers at 
work? Because a wholesale business stagnation 
inexorably follows the course of absence of em- 
ployment with vast quantities of men in any 
nation. 

Then again, what is the object of commerce? 
What is it that makes commerce profitable in the 
long run, to any nation or group of men? To be 
always buying and never selling? To be always 
selling and never buying? Of course not. Com- 
merce means barter, the selling of products to be 
paid with other products. Did you ever come 
across a single sea captain who likes to take goods 
to any port from* which he will have to return 
with an empty ship, in ballast? 

Or do you imagine that foreigners are crazy for 
our own gold and care for nothing else? Beyond 
a certain point, the increase of their gold as 
money would simply lower their money standard, 
because even the price of money is subject to the 
law of supply and demand. 

What the foreigners want is the goods that we 
can produce cheaper than they themselves, be- 
cause of certain natural advantages in our nation, 
or because of our greater skill in producing cer- 
tain goods. And what the foreigners want from 
us is just what will set our workers at work and 
enable them to obtain good wages and buy freely. 
And we also want from the foreigners what they 
can produce cheaper than ourselves, in exchange 
for that which we can sell to them at a fair profit, 
and they are anxious to have because it is that 
alone which will be of some benefit to them and 
some benefit to us. Did you ever find that it pays 
to injure your fellow men in your trade with 
them? Of course not, my dear friend. Trade 
stops when trade ceases to be profitable. Do you 
suppose that God built up seaports for the fun of 
the thing? If international commerce was to be 
injurious, God would have surrounded every na- 
tion with a wall of flames! Why then forever 
keeping legislators busy so that to more or less 
interfere with international commerce, with 
God's laws in nature. 

Consider now the supreme aberration of a 
grand republic like ours, theoretically resting on 
freedom and yet afraid of free commerce! Can 
men be free without free commerce? Ab- 
sence of freedom in commerce means commercial 
oppression, commercial despotism. And all forms 
of oppression are the enemies of labor and the 
friends of aristocracies. You never saw any aris- 


tocracy in favor of commercial freedom. Do you, 
honest workers, sons of toil anywhere, do you 
need any better proof of the fallacy of protection 
through commercial restrictions, through tariffs 
concocted in legislative halls, controlled by the 
very men who pose as your friends and absorb 
the wealth of nations, the very wealth you do 
create, year in year out? 

In spite of all the above we realize the general 
timidity of most men, and bow they dread sudden 
changes. Therefore we say to all our brother re- 
formers: educate the masses about the ad- 
vantages of a low tariff as an object lesson to 
wards complete commercial freedom. Don't 
be afraid of a tariff because it may 
bring a deficit in the revenue. The 
greater the deficit the better, if the tariff rests on 
conceptions of freedom. The revenue produced 
by a tariff comes from the sweat of the laboring 
men. That makes the wealthy property holders 
smile, while he pats the back of that old donkey, 
the laboring man (he will not be a donkey much 
longer) by telling him: don’t you see how nicely I 
protect you, through the tariff, that human device 
by which we obtain taxes from the poor without 
their noticing it? 

It is with tariffs that we intensify national mo- 
nopoly, through its extension to the nations with 
which we deal. We thus protect our landlords « 
and large manufacturers from competition with 
those of other nations. We thus place our pre- 
cious home market under the exclusive despotism 
of our home monopolists. No wonder that each 
group of monopolists in each nation is in favor of 
tariffs high or low, as high as compatible with a 
certain degree of business activity. It is only in 
our nation that the folly of high tariffs has been 
carried to the extreme of pitching quantities of 
men out of work, and so into the abyss of despair! 

To our mind, no social reconstruction is at all 
possible, in this nation of ours, until the tariff su- 
perstition is buried into a grave from which there 
should be no resurrection. 

[to be continued.] 

A Big Surprise. — "Do you happen to have any 
money about you, Snagg?" said Manchester to 
his friend. 

"Sorry, Manchester," was the reply, "but I 
haven't a quarter of dollar to my name just 
now." 

"Then, " rejoined Manchester, as he produced 
a fat roll of bills, "then you will be glad to get 
back this tenner I borrowed from you a month 

ago." 

Snaggs fainted — Pittsburgh Chronicle. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

THE PROBLEM OF THE UNEMPLOYED. 


3 


BY W. C. B. RANDOLPH. 


The fact that we have among us any who are 
willing to work and cannot obtain it, indicates an 
absence of correct industrial conditions. We 
have been working in a way to bring about that 
which we complain of. It is not an accident. 
The helplessness of millions of idle workers is the 
direct result of antecedent causes. As cause pre- 
cedes effect, and like produces like, it follows that 
as present conditions are bad, the causes contrib- 
uting to that result must be correspondingly bad. 
No intelligent answer can be made to the ques- 
tions of what to do. until we trace far back into 
our present social and economic structure and ex- 
amine its laws from an ethical and economic 
standpoint. But of one thing we may be sure at 
the outset, and save ourselves much time and 
pains. This question cannot be settled by any 
temporary measures to bridge these unwilling 
mendicants over a rough place, for the unem- 
ployed have come to stay, or to stay as long as no 
fundamental change is made, providing for the 
surplus labor that is a natural product of our 
present industrial system. The great problem 
must be solved, not laughed down or sneered at. 
It cannot be dispelled by free music; it cannot 
be song or prayed away; it will not die if we pre- 
tend to ignore it. A critical analysis of the na- 
tore of our working contract will reveal a funda- 
mental error from which most of the social per- 
plexities radiate. It lies hidden in that contract, 
unobserved for ages, and is the poisonous thorn 
that rankles in the side. Let us keenly scrutinize 
the terms of the contract. A man, working for 
an employer, makes a coat for $i. The material, 
the cost of which is but another man’s labor, is, 
say $i. The employer sells the coat for $4. 
Then, the worker, in order to obtain one for 
himself, must make 4 coats. Now, as all workers 
are working under this same arrangement, it is 
obvious that they cannot buy back their own 
product, and all the goods made cannot be sold. 
This, of course, tends to cause manufacturers to 
limit production, for they can sell only to those 
who are yet able to buy. And by this restriction 
they need a less number of workers. Those 
thrown out of work will be less able to purchase 
than they were when they received some sort of 
wages. The large number of people who do not 
receive wages directly, as lawyers, physicians, 
artists, actors, hotel keepers, etc., do continue to 
purchase the diminishing products of labor, bat 
their own power to buy is on the wane, because 
their business is affected by a decline in the de- 
mand for their services by the workers, who must 


dispense with everything not absolutely essential 
to a bare existence, and who cannot, therefore, 
patronize the professional classes. This restric- 
tion acts and reacts throughout all branches of 
industry, a loss in one trade being followed by a 
loss in all others, and both business and profes- 
sional life become stagnant. 

The present industrial system is now arraigned 
for this basic fault. The working contract is in- 
equitable. It is manifestly unjust that a large 
majority of the world's population should be de- 
prived of any portion of the products of their la- 
bor, be that part large or small. That which a 
man, by his own life-force, creates is his and not 
another’s. 

If, as is done under this contract, he creates 
something and does not receive it, or receives 
something without giving of his own individual 
effort, an equivalent, the industrial equilibrium is 
awrack and the law of cause and effect brings dis- 
cord in the industrial realms. That discord is 
made objective by the presence of the enormous- 
ly rich and the awfully poor, the unemployed 
who have nothing and no prospect. We have 
now traced back to the first cause of the social 
evil. Can we logically hope to solve the problem 
without removing the prime factor? It is puerile 
to imagine that free soup or fresh air excursions 
will change the unjust character of the industrial 
contract. But, although we have seen the source 
from which these undesirable consequences flow, 
there are yet other minor causes of like nature 
undiscovered, that demand our attention. The 
paramount incentive to production under this 
present system is profit to the employer. And the 
greater difference between the labor cost and the 
selling price of an article, the more profit there is 
in it to him. Hence he is directly interested in 
every possible lowering of wages. This is done 
mainly in two ways: first, by competition between 
actual workers and surplus workers that tends of 
itself to bring wages down to a bare living, and 
second, by the use of machinery that displaces 
human labor, only because it adds more to profit. 
Machines ask no wages, have no will or opinion 
of their own to conflict with the individual pur- 
poses of their owners and will not strike; they 
are, in short, better and cheaper servants than 
the human ones. The machines are in possession 
of the employers, for the very good reason that, 
as has been shown, if the workers are unable to 
buy the necessities of life, they will, of course, 
not be able to purchase the machines, which, 
then, will ever contribute to the success of the 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


14 

employers and to the ill fortune of the workers. 
As improvement follows improvement, laborers 
will gradually but surely become a superfluity, 
and the mournful army of the unemployed grow 
more destitute and helpless. 

By virtue of the one sided nature of the work- 
ing contract, the employers, as a class, cannot 
fail to accumulate wealth, and must inevitably 
become richer and richer. So, having possession 
of the wealth already in existence, they can dic- 
tate terms upon which more wealth may be pro- 
duced, and the workers, who must live in some 
w^y, having no alternative, are forced to accept 
whatever conditions are imposed upon them. It 
will now be seen that the contract has nothing of 
freedom in it, so far as the workers are con- 
cerned, and is exactly opposite to every principle 
of justice. Indeed, it was conceived in economic 
ignorance and born in an unenlightened and 
primeval past, before the grand and benevolent 
principles of justice and equity were evolved in 
the human mind. The immense advantage that 
great wealth gives, in allowing time for education 
and for the whetting of the business wit, is used 
unscrupulously by the employing classes in mak- 
ing laws governing wealth production. Herein 
lies the secret of protective tariffs, corporation 
and banking laws and all class legislation. Laws 
made by the rich will, in their very nature, b^ 
for the benefit of the rich. And this enormous 
power, far more terrible than can be easily im- 
agined, is used to further accelerate the accumu- 
lations of the rich. Since their interests are op- 
posite, under a competitive system, laws thus passed 
will be detrimental to the workers, and their 
conditions will become more and more unfavora- 
ble. A discovery in mechanics, new methods of 
manufacture, advanced modes of transportation 
and communication, will always increase the ghast- 
ly hordes of the unemployed. This is evidence 
that the problem under consideration is far more 
serious and pressing than is generally realized. 
And now that the maze has been partially cleared 
away for a square look at the situation, let us ask, 
“What shall we do with the unemployed?” The 
answer is easy and natural. Employ them. Or- 
ganized society is responsible for the error in the 
industrial contract, and is, by the laws of justice, 
compelled to correct that error. Now, we have 
shown that the private employer has discarded 
human labor for the machine, never again to be 
resumed as long as profit is the object of produc- 
tion. It is obvious that, if the individual will not 
employ the idle, the state must, or they will re- 
main permanently idle. “But has the state a 
right to interfere in private matters?” Yes, and 
it does so now by providing schools, libraries, 


parks, courts and police, all of which were once 
in private hands. If the state has a right to do 
anything at all, that thing must be that which is 
the most necessary to individual existence. The 
state now makes it easy for the individual to get a 
drink of water. Is water any more essential to 
life than bread? The state furnishes books and 
papers to the individual through public libraries. 
Are they more necessary to life than food and 
clothing? Indeed, the idle are of the state and 
have a right to employ themselves / The life of 
the individual is protected by the state from an 
invasion from without. Is there not as much 
reason for a protection from a more subtle and 
dangerous foe within? The two propositions are 
logically the same. And since the state has the 
right, it is charged with the obligation and re- 
sponsibility and should assist the unemployed in 
creating for themselves that which they need the 
most. 

But what is that — parks, roads or clean streets? 
No; they are suffering more from a dearth of 
bread, meat and clothing. But the alarm of the 
tax payer is raised by a fear that it would increase 
their burdens, if not bankrupt the government 
outright, to support the unemployed. This is a 
probably excusable error, but error it certainly is. 
The idle are willing and able to create by their 
own labor — support themselves — and at no ex- 
pense to the state beyond a working capital, and 
for which it could soon be reimbursed. It is true 
that a policy of public almsgiving would be open 
to that objection as it would be onerous to the 
working population and would in no wise stop the 
breeding of the unemployed. It is for a solution 
that we now seek, not a palliative . It may be 
urged that such employment would compete with 
private producers and cause fresh trouble. This 
is also incorrect. The unemployed cannot pur- 
chase and must not be considered as an available 
market. If they were allowed to produce what 
they consumed it would not affect private enter- 
prise either favorably or unfavorably, and putting 
men to work in this way, society would correct 
the basic error of the wage system by giving the 
producer the entire product of his labor, minus 
operation expenses. The law of eternal justice 
demands this of society, who must, if she would 
retain her integrity, obey. 

This new field of employment would present an 
attraction incomparable to the present wage 
scramble and as rapidly as places could be made 
for new workers, the ranks of wage labor would 
be depleted and public employment would grow 
proportionately. Producing for themselves, they 
would, for the first time, be able to buy back all 
of their own product and over production would 


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THE RAILWAY 

be an impossibility. By the use of machinery 
their labor would be rendered more efficient and 
they could, having no opposition, reduce working 
hands without lessening their income or creating 
another class of surplus laborers. If the state 
were to do this the individual worker would have 
a choice and discussions of the freedom of con- 
tract between a wage worker and an employer 
would then be in order. If he did not like the 
terms offered him by a private employer, he could 
enter public production. If private employment 


CONDUCTOR. 1 5 

suited him best, he would remain there. Gar- 
dening, coal mining, lumber, the reclamation 
and cultivation of arid land, the manufacture of 
the common necessities of life, the building and 
operation of railroads and telegraphs, would be 
first engaged in. Payments to be made in legal 
tender paper currency, issued against labor per- 
formed. Other lines of industry would be intro- 
duced as fast as a due regard to a thorough sys- 
tem would permit, and the problem of the unem- 
ployed would be solved. 


SOCIALISM AND LIBERTY. 

BY W. P. BORLAND. 


One of the prime essentials of freedom in gen- 
eral is freedom of demand; the right of the indi- 
vidual to apply his income to the satisfaction of 
his wants in his own way; the right to procure 
for himself and his family all those things he has 
need of — provided, in doing so, he infringes no 
natural right of his .fellow man — entirely free 
from the dictation or influence of any superior 
authority. The socialists recognize this. Schaf- 
fle calls freedom of demand “the material basis of 
freedom" (Der Brotkorb der Freiheit.) His 
language on that point is worth quoting: 

“Freedom of demand is a first essential of free- 
dom in general. If the means of life and of cul- 
ture were somehow allotted tor each from without, 
and according to an officially drawn-up scheme, 
no one could live out his own individuality or de- 
velop himself according to his own ideas; the 
material basis of freedom would be lost. It is, 
therefore, important to determine whether or not 
socialism would annul individual freedom of de- 
mand. If it would, it is dangerous to liberty, op- 
posed to the growth of individuality, and hence to 
that of moral culture generally, and has no pros- 
pect of satisfying the most unconquerable instincts 
of man." 

After examing this question at some length, 
Schaffie comes to the conclusion that ' ‘There is, 
therefore, on the whole, no reason why, in a sys- 
tem of united collective production, the wants of 
individuals should be regulated by the state or 
limited by its officials. It is specially important 
to emphasize this, as we must insist that if social- 
ism did deny the freedom of individual demand it 
would be the enemy of freedom, of civilization, 
and of all material and intellectual welfare. This 
one practical fundamental right of the individual 
to spend bis private income according to his own 
choice is not to be sold for all possible advantages 
of social reform, and therefore, socialism must, to 


begin with, be brought to a clear understanding 
on this point. If it unnecessarily gives to its 
principle of production such a practical outcome 
as shall endanger the freedom of the individual in 
his own household arrangements, it becomes in- 
admissible, whatever countervailing advantages it 
may promise, and even really offer; for the pres- 
ent liberal system, in spite of all its accretions, is 
ten times freer, and more in the interest of cul- 
ture.” 


The point is here well stated from the point of 
view of socialism itself. We shall be able to de- 
termine the value of the above conclusion by ex- 
amining it in connection with some of the una- 
voidable consequences of socialism. It must nev- 
er be forgotten that socialism implies the com- 
plete elimination of private capital, of private in- 
terest in the productive processes. Production 
would be an affair in which all would have aa 
equal interest; it would be carried on by col- 
lectively owned and publicly managed capital. 
Necessarily, then, only those forms of production 
could be carried on which received public sanc- 
tion. The demand for any special product must 
be of sufficient importance to receive public recog- 
nition as a necessary social demand before it 
could be satisfied ; necessarily so, as private pro- 
duction would have wholly ceased and it would 
be needful to bring a certain amount of public 
pressure to bear on the social administration to 
induce it to. or endow it with, the requisite auth- 
ority to engage in any form of production. The 
consequences of this on the freedom of individual 
demand will be sufficiently apparent to those who 
will take the trouble to do a little thinking from a 
practical standpoint and who are not blinded by 
their contemplation of the glittering generalities 
of socialism. We cannot suppose, for instance, 
that the petition of some five or ten thousand per- 
sons, out of a total population of eighty or ninety 


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1 6 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


millions, would have sufficient weight with the so- 
cial administration to induce it, without any 
further authorization, to apply a portion of the 
collective capital to the manufacture of some new 
or previously little used product. Yet, private 
interest, in many lines of production, has under- 
taken the manufacture of some special products 
upon the assurance of much smaller patronage 
than that; and if the demand of these five or ten 
thousand persons could not receive adequate satis- 
faction, what becomes of freedom of individual 
demand under socialism? Let us consider the 
matter from a negative standpoint. I must here 
produce one other very appropriate quotation 
from Schaffle: 

"It would no doubt be in the power of the state 
to check entirely all demand for what seemed in- 
jurious by simply not producing it; the vegetar- 
ians, Balzer for instance, lean towards socialism 
for this reason. But to keep the whole communi- 
ty free from adulterated and pernicious goods is 
no small advantage, and the task of guarding 
against the abuse of this power (for instance, by 
unreasonable temperance men) could safely be 
left to the strong and universally developed sense 
of individual freedom " 

When we consider this admission in connection 
with some legislation that has been enacted 
among us in quite recent years, the consequences 
of socialist production become absolutely terrify- 
ing. It is certainly an advantage to keep the 
community "free from adulterated and pernicious 
goods but who is to decide what is * 'pernicious?” 
Manifestly, those who are in control of the ad- 
ministration, the government, the state, at the 
time being. "The strong and universally devel- 
oped sense of individual freedom” has not been 
sufficient to protect us, even under present condi- 
tions, from the enactment of Draconian laws, in 
some of our states, calculated to encroach upon 
the freedom of individual demand, and it is quite 
conceivable, with us at least, that those "un- 
reasonable temperance men,” of whom Schaffle 
speaks, might secure such an influence in the so- 
cialist administration as to absolutely put an end 
to the production of malt and spirituous liquors. 
This might well be considered an advantage from 
certain points of view, but, with our present 
knowledge, it is not conceivable that such a 
measure would meet with universal approval, 
and, all the means o$ production being under 
public control, what becomes of the freedom of 
those individuals who protest? And, again, the 
principle being admitted, it may be easily carried 
into the many other categories of production. It 
might, for instance, so happen that the argu- 
ments of the vegetarians would prevail with the 


majority in the socialist state, in which case there 
would be nothing for the socialist administration 
to do but shut up the meat markets and discon- 
tinue the raising of cattle and hogs for food pur- 
poses. The majority might also be convinced, by 
high scientific authority, that the wearing of cot- 
ton clothing was a sanitary evil, and decree that 
nothing but woolen clothing should be manufac- 
tured, whereupon the production of cotton cloth- 
ing must cease. This might well be considered 
no hardship; it might well be to the benefit of the 
whole people, but what answer would the social- 
ist be able to make to the person who demanded 
cotton clothing and could not get it* when he 
complained that his liberty to wear any sort of 
clothing he pleased was being infringed? These 
are not at all fantastic and impossible supposi- 
tions; they are inevitable consequences of the 
principle of collective production, and it is utter- 
ly impossible for socialists to give any positive 
assurance that such consequences would not make 
their appearance. The zeal with which partisans 
of peculiar ideas pursue their ends, and the man- 
ner in which they ignore the rights of others, are 
circumstances with which We are all familiar. 
We have no assurance that such persons would 
not strain every nerve to gain a commanding in- 
fluence with the socialist administration, as a 
means to carry out their ideas * and we 
have no assurance whatever that they 
would not sometimes succeed; in which cases 
production would be carried on according 
to their ideas of the eternal fitness of things, and 
no others. In short, it is utterly impossible for 
the socialists to give us any positive assurance 
that the minority in the socialist state shall be 
able to secure adequate satisfaction of their 
wants, should they happen to want something not 
included in the productive scheme of the admin- 
istration. It is, of course, not contemplated to 
give such an undue extension of the principle of 
collective production as would deny the right of 
any individual to apply his labor directly to the 
production of anything he wanted for his own 
use. Socialism does not condemn individual pro- 
duction, per se y it only condemns individual pro- 
duction for profit, and there would be no author- 
ity to prevent the individual from producing such 
articles as were not included in the official scheme 
of production, providing he wanted them bad 
enough to do so, and providing, too, he produced 
only to satisfy his own wants, or to give freely to 
others, and not as a means of income. There are 
many things which the individual might supply 
himself with in this way; he might, for instance, 
brew his own beer or raise his own meat, but 
there are others, again, — products dependent 


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17 


upon the employment of complicated machinery, 
for instance — which he would be utterly unable 
to secure in the event of the state’s refusal to pro- 
duce them, and. with respect to such things, the 
state’s refusal to pioduce would amount to an ab- 
solute refasal of the right of the individual to ap- 
ply bis income to the satisfaction of his wants in 
his own way. We might admit, for the sake of 
the argument, that it would be an impossibility 
for the latter contingency to arise, that the indi- 
vidual would have no difficulty in supplying him- 
self directly with all those things he desired and 
which the socialist administration regarded as not 
•’socially necessary” products; still the individual 
would not be relieved from the necessity of per- 
forming enough “socially necessary” labor to pro- 
cure labor-checks sufficient to exchange at the 
public storehouses for the other things he stood in 
need of, and it is quite conceivable that the ne- 
cessity of supplying his wants directly, which was 
thus forced upon him, would transform his life 
into one of as great drudgery as anything which 
the capitalist system presents to our view. And, 
again, he would most certainly be deprived to a 
great extent of the benefits of the social co-opera- 
tion which socialists make such a strong point of. 
But, if the socialist administration wished to pre- 
serve the integrity of its programme, it would find 
It necessary to take some practical steps not now 
contemplated by socialists. If it wished to en- 
tirely suppress profit production it would find it 
necessary to deny the right of the individual to 
produce anything "whatever for himself, and de- 
cree that the state should, absolutely, be the sole 
and only producer. We can quite easily imagine 
a case where there might be a dozen or two, or 
more, persons in the same community who were 
united in their desire for a certain article not pro- 
duced by the state. By a very natural process of 
reasoning these dozen or two persons might come 
to the conclusion that it was to their mutual ad- 
vantage to, instead of producing of this article 
each just enough for his own needs and devoting 
the balance of his productive energy to the “so- 
cially necessary” labor, have one of their number 
devote bis entire time to the production of this 
article, thus producing enough for the wants of 
all, the others paying him for the portions of his 
product which they required to satisfy their needs, 
with the labor-checks which it was necessary for 
him to have in order to satisfy his other wants. 
This would be profit production; it would be il- 
licit, no doubt, but smuggling is illicit to-day, 
which circumstance does not prevent the same 
from taking place % There would be no possibility 
of the socialist administration coming to any* sort 
of a compromise with such schemes as this. Such 


schemes would represent the thin edge of profit 
production, and the principle once admitted the 
entire socialist structure would stand in danger of 
destruction. Therefore, in very self-defense, the 
socialist administration would be compelled to 
deal very harshly with them, and would find itself 
under the necessity of limiting the freedom of in- 
dividual action in directions not now contem- 
plated. The problem is well stated by Herr Con- 
rad Wilbrandt — Vide % “Mr. East’s Experience in 
Mr. Bellamy's World" — as follows: “The organs 
of the socialistic government must fulfill their 
task in such a manner that . . the wishes 

of the people, proceeding from personal inclina- 
tion. are gratified, while retaining due regard for 
what individuals demand without consideration 
for others ” We may follow the idea which is 
here briefly outlined, throughout all the diverse 
categories of economic demand, and we invariably 
approach the same result — no compromise be- 
tween liberty and despotism, socialism forced to 
deny liberty in order to preserve its ideal of 
equality. Unless we can conceive of administra- 
tive socialism as being immaculate, and at the 
same time infallible, it is hard to see how social- 
ism shall be a*ble to escape one of the most seri- 
ous faults of the present economic system; that of 
compelling individuals to sacrifice their liberty to 
their necessities. The socialists are, of course, 
able to allege that government, and, therefore, 
administrative methods, would be something en- 
tirely different than at present. It is true that 
there may be no just rule of comparison between 
ideal social democracy and the actual capitalist 
democracy. They stand in antithetic relations; 
the one is for the benefit of the few, the other is 
for the benefit of all, and it is quite to be expected 
that vast changes would occur in the organic 
structure of government; it is to be expected that 
administrative details would be subjected to closer 
and more intelligent scrutiny than now, and that 
the machinery of government would respond more 
readily to the popular will and work more in the 
interest of the people. But, there is no conceiva- 
ble form of popular government that admits the 
possibility of a minority, either large or small, 
being able to override the will of a majority of 
the people, and satisfy their desires in opposition 
to the majority’s dictum; and this is, positively, 
what must come to pass in order to permit free- 
dom of individual demand under socialism. This 
is a necessary consequence because of the central- 
ization of all industrial capital and its administra- 
tion by government: there is no manner in which 
a minority of the people may satisfy wants which 
are dependent on the expenditure of capital, 
when it so happens that a majority of the people 


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1.8 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


are opposed to the expenditure df capital in the I 
production of things which wmild satisfy those ’ 
wants. We can endure considerable restrictions ' 
oh' individual liberty through the governmental 
processes when the recognteed' duty of govern- 
ment is confined to the protection of life and 
property, the collection and distribution of rive J 
nne, and such like functions; but when 1 it comes 
t6 the determination of stich questions as what the 
people shall eat, drink and wear, why, “that is 
another story," as Kipling would say. The lib- 
erty of the press is something which we are dis- 
posed to make rimrih of, and it does not seem ‘ 
clear' how it shall be preserved under socialism. 
The government would be the Only printer; there 
would be no such thing ari getting a book or an 
essay ^fiiited except at a government printing 
horise, as private printing houses wonld 1 have 
ceased td exist. Therefore, printing, like 1 every 
other form of production, would become a ptiWic 
function carried on under the eye of the admiriis j 
tratlon’ There is a great deal of matter printed 
nowadays that is bad; much that is indifferent;’ 
arid an immense lot that ii E good rind Which the 
world : Would be much ’ the loser 1, td : 
bd 1 without. In addition to the matter,' 
gobd, 1 : bkd and -indifferent; that 1 is piffit- 
ed, ’thfere IS a Vast mass of stuff’ which 1 
is Written* for pnbHcaf ion but Which never seeS 
thh’light; From' t lie yv* f>on rV-f’bf matter 1 that 
ii written, private interest selects 1 that Which ? 
promises to appeal sufficiently to the ! tastes r Of’ 
the various fehisSes Of readers td afford 1 ** profit. 
The tesult is’ a mass of literature, good, bad and 
iridiff^renf; ! reflectlny all shades of bpirflori arid 1 
catering to an tastna, everi’?f some of those tastes' 
ard' vitiated ones.’ Private "interest sometimes’ 
re)0ctk that which is good; 1 but the author* need" 
nof despair . one publisher does not 1 'accept His 
wbrk there are Others he can appeal’ to, and even 
if he is repulsed by all publishers he still has an 5 
alternative Ifeft; he may publish his' work ’on his 1 
own account 7 if he has ttte ; means to pfay for it. 
Htiw Wbhld ftiarttefS work with government ’the 1 
ottiV'^firifer'f 1 Obvidrisly, t'he’gOvernmerit ’ Cduldf 
no' iWOre' undertake' the task of pHnfing every- 1 
tfiiri^ that' is 1 'Written than ban private parties.' ’ 
ThetefOreTt would have ‘to’ discriminate;' mrike’ 
seiedtiOh^r exercise d Censorship of fttefrita‘re. ,/ 
Id ‘fcirtaiU difeCtidrik this 1 'censorship might db* 
good 1 , the gbvferrtfrient 4vOUfd 1 trriddub tedly ' refuse 1 

to ; ^Hh , t'thn r *^tst i maskOf ( trashy. ; biood ''and thnh - 1 

der tiresWBtWndWOOrrupttHe minds of our yotitb’, 1 1 
and’^iami'tb cWtafn<that no , one i 'wduid ,, be n rhe K 
'thereby ; -btit* how about' the goOd 1 litem^ure?" 

might suppose a case : suppose the government 


bad been in charge Of all printing houses a few 1 
yerTs ago when the very holy Mr . WaoamakeT 
was in charge of oUr pbstoffice department; ‘ 
would our people have had the benefit of the 
greritmoTal lesson taright by Tolstoi's '* Kreutrer 
Sbnata?" 1 do riot betidve it! 1 The advent Of 
socialism would not put an end to the convention^ 
alfsts of (He ComktOck^Wahamaker type;- they 
would be as active as ever, arid probably more 
so, because of seeing the merit! S of' putting their 
ideas into practice so 4nuch simplified, and -at 
the same time strengthened. What warrant ik 
there that these conventionalists would not ob- 
tain control of the censorship Of literature? In 
which case we should be able to* read only those* 
books which Were patterned after their own nar- 
row and bigoted ideas. What show would a - 
Rabelais or a Bateau stand with siich people? 

I faricy they might also give Us a Uew edition of 
Shakespeare’s works, freed from the contam- 
ination df^Troilos and Cressfda,*’ *• Pericles, ,f 
and *• Venus arid Adonis " ' We might also get 
an edition of Byron, minus the ‘‘Don juan ° 

T fanCy, tbo, that a £ola, or feveh a Helen Garden- 
er, would have Some difficulty in passing m lister : 
befoTfr such censors. Arid what fetnedy would 
remain to "the aUtboT whose Work 1 was rejected? 
None whatever. The government being the only 
printer, 'whatever h rejected would stand tlo 
show of ever Coming before llte eyes of the ’ pub- 
lic, because there would be no private Capital to 
undertake’ the work. Nothing is more Certain 
than that the triumph of socialism wOuld be 
the death trf literature. Hbwever good the in- 
tention of the socialistic gbvethriiedt with respect 
td literature, rhe necessity of rejecting a. part 
of the rriass ’that Was offered for publication 
would entail ori Tt the obligation Of placing the 
task of disCrifhittatidn in charge of persons who 
were rricbghiied as competent for such duties.’’ 
This Would’ introduce the personal element, arid ' 
the consequence 1 WOnld inevitably follow that, In- 
stead of baking ari original literature, satisfying’ 
to people Of all tastes and drffefent schools of 
thought, M W^ should havd ri riarroW, artificial, ’ 
hlde-botrhd'lUefaiure, reflecting only the persOnrir 
ideris* Of the public jridgPS. This; because we 
cannot suppose that there Ts ‘ariy Occtflt power'! 
iri' ioriialisfrt Which shrill 1 tnrilte thrift infallible 1 
And so of ttiri driimri. !< The* drritriaric artist Who* m 
fiddri'hiis Work Vejected iri one quartet' mriy nOW J 
apply elsewh^te: if brie party baS a poor oplhibtf 1 
of hfs w'oTk Vhrire rirri btheris WhO M ma ( y riOt' thiriV * 
of ) it lt ^T?gktiy. >) Hfe M rimy” go ; the ’tritihds,' J pre- ; 
sdhHn^ , hfs , prodridtlbri’ here "arid 'there, 1 aha) 1 
e^erituaiiyl’by hdok&t b^ttoiu/ 'if’his wdrR is of 
any value the public benefit of it. But 

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bow different it would be ohde^ The 

dramatist, must then produce, a drama. ^with the 
*oto:purpoie te ,»iiafy r the judgment, of the , dca- 
maUccrwicsof the administration ; if they dis- 
approved* he.wo-uld bave no alternative but sub- 
(ftnaioct; he wo i)ld: be compelled to write finis to 
bialiope*, and the public would never have the 
opportunity to iodge of. thp merits of his pro- 
duction, And who can believe that the newspa- 
pers of the: country would reflect as many differ- 
ent ahades of ppinion as they do £|t present ?, ;Is 
it conceivable that .thtt socialistic, government 
w$nld plaqeauy part of the public capital. at the 
disposal , of an editor who occupied himself with 
making fitter attacks on its administrative policy? 
(Would the public due liable to get an unbiased 
statement of all sides of the social and economic 
question^ of interest to the country,, through the 
medium of newspapers which were absolutely 
under tbe conttOl and directioti of go veVri merit 
functionaries? Those who believe : tiiat the 
socialistic administration would not find means to 
favor, and extend the circulation of those papers 
that supported its policy, while limiting or sup- 
pressing — even if it permitted them, tp he printed 
at all— the circulation of those papers opposed to 
it must be dreaming. * It may be said thatit is no 
worse— or even better— to have our newspapers' 
under the control, and published in theinterests 
of -a government of * the people, than to have 
them published in the interests ; of^ and controlled 
by a class of capitalists representiug ,but a small 
pact of the people; We .might admit that ; st*U 
H would uot follow that socialism was the proper 
remedy for the latter eWh. and there is an old 
adage concerning the dangers of getting oneself 
-“out of the fry ing-pan into the fire.’’ Haw would 
socialism operate in the field of invention ? It 
has been well said that ‘"every fool invents;" if 
is«ne means could be found whereby the mass of 
ideas’ .of all thdse persons who consider thenr- 
selves inventors could become tangible realities, 
we should b£ swamped with a such multitude of 
useless contrivances as would make the . head reel, 
nnd the amount Of capital that would be abso- 
lutely thrown away is inconceivable. Private 
interest picks out from all these crudities those 
contrivances which promise to be useful and 
gives them to the public with a view to personal 
profit ^ thole which are not useful fail to appear. 

It often happens that mistakes are made concern- 
tile utility of novel and original ideas, and pri- 
vate capitalists refuse to advance (the means for 
their introduction, in which cakes it is a. hard 
straggle for the inventor, if; he is without means 
him9elf to get his idea before the public ; if he 
had the means of his erwd, and the confidence in 


CONDUCTOR. 19 

hikideks fflat inVfcfitors generally have, he need 
not be discouraged at the condemnation of oth- 
ers* but may go-aheafl and demonstrate the prac- 
ticability. of his invention, when hip (reward, is 
assured, ,In, the vast majority of cases 4hose in- 
ventions which are realty useful eventually, are 
placed at the service of the public, the inventpr 
who has not the ip®»ns of his own to introduce 
his idea generally succeeding , in imparting suffi- 
cient enthusiasm to some capitalist to induce hiuj 
to adyance the means <fpr its introduction. . Now. 
with respect ..to ioyentiona., there would be twp 
t courses open for the * socialist go vem men t . tQ ; pur- 
sue; it must either accept; and give , a trial to 
every jdea : that was offered^ or, it must discrimi- 
nate, makei selection s, with theview. of separating 
.the useful from the useless -and, preserving the 
former for the ssryice of the publiG, The ; first 
course is mot practicably; the government that 
attempted it would find itself launched upon T a 
sea of chimeras that would render it ludicrous, 
and the neoessary dissipation , of capital which 
such a course would entail would not long be tol- 
erated. Therefore, the only thing for the gov- 
pjen^ tp do would be to reject all ideas that did 
dot promise td be useful. This would, again, 
necessitate the .-introduction of the personal ele- 
ment tntoitheJaff air and place the public interest 
in inventions absolutely under* the control :0f 
those persona w hom it would be necessary to have 
to decide upon? the merits of the different ideas 
that were offered.. 

The inventor whose idea was rejected by the 
public functionaries. Would see the end of his 
hopes; his idea mtfst perish ,t since there would be 
no way of preserving it except with the aid of the 
public capital, which, aid; would be denied him> 
He would not even have the , poor satisfaction of 
demonstrating the practicability of his idea in op- 
position to the opinion of the government agents* 
since such demonstration would requite the .Use 
of capital • and ; he, would have no capital at 
his disposal.* Can. it , be supposed that 
such conditions Would ber encouraging to the in- 
troduction of useful and original inventions? Lt 
may be said that the: functionaries who, passed 
judgment upon the different ideas offered would 
be learned and expert -scientists, selected with e&- 
pecial reference to their fitness for the performr 
ance of suoh duties. Very good, but those scieth 
tists would still be fallible; and is it not a matter of 
record that most of the great inventions of our 
age have been introduced in direct opposition to 
the teachings of expert scientists? We should 
never have had the ocean steamer, nor the Atlanf 
tio cable, if the introduction of those things had 
been dependent on the judgment of the expert 


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20 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


scientists; and who is able to predict the wonders 
of invention that are yet in store for the human 
race, which wonders shall utterly disprove the 
most important teachings of contemporaneous 
science? Science is notably conservative; inven- 
tion is radical; it ignores science; it dissipates 
contemporaneous scientific dogmas and prepares 
the way for science to mount to higher levels. 
Invention is the parent of science, not the child. 
How ridiculous, then, to place the parent in lead- 
ing strings to the child! We might carry our 
analysis further, with results no more favorable to 
the socialistic theories, but enough has already 
been said to show that socialism would produce 
stagnation and retrogression. There is nowheres 
a golden mean for socialism; wherever it takes 
hold it must trample upon and stifle some of the 
most sacred and beneficial instincts of humanity 
in order to preserve its doctrines intact. That is 
not the way to attain a higher civilization. It may 
be said that the objections presented refer to triv- 


ialities with which the main idea of socialism is 
not concerned, as the introduction of the main 
idea* may be expected to render the influence of 
these trivialities, practically, of no account. Oh, 
ye socialists! no just person shall ever contest the 
impregnable truth of your main idea; but must 
we, therefore, ignore the influence of the trivial 
incidents of life in order to give it standing room? 
Where is your boasted reliance on the teachings 
of history? It is just in defense of these triviali- 
ties that men have fought, and bled, and died, in 
all ages of the world. It is not so much the dis- 
putes over great principles, but the disputes grow- 
ing out of the trivialities which arise from the ap- 
plication of great principles, that have caused 
men to pour out oceans of blood, and expend 
billions of treasure in tearing each others’ hearts 
in times past. Man can not be wiser than bis 
generation. In the words of Victor Hugo, "it is 
not sufficient to destroy abuses, but morals must 
also be ’modified. Though the mill no longer ex- 
ists, the wind still blows.” 


OUR NEW YORK LETTER. 


Christmastide at the close of a panic year has 
always something depressing about it, even 
though the worst effects of the panic may have 
passed away before the holiday season comes 
around, the mere memory of the panic being 
scarcely conducive either to "joy unconfined” or 
to the extra outlay which Christmas means so 
largely. But it is doubtful if any Christmas since 
that of 1873 has been so deeply tinged with blue 
as is that of the present year, in New York at all 
events. It would seem as if we were paying for 
the comparative immunity from the worst ex- 
periences of the past summer, which, as has been 
previously noted in these columns, was enjoyed 
in New York. The great bazaar which extends 
over the square mile between Grace Church and 
and the Stewart Mansion is not deserted, of 
course; but the swarm of shoppers is hardly 
more dense than of an ordinary Saturday after- 
noon, the provision of pretty and useful things 
laid out to tempt them is made with so little snap 
that hardly any of the shops are open in the even- 
ing, as is customary; while outside the shopping 
district proper, there is almost none of the usual 
holiday bustle and air of preparation for the com- 
ing festival, but little of the shortening of busi- 
ness hours to hasten away to the selection of 
gifts, and little even of the carrying of tell-tale 
packages on the ferryboats and suburban trains. 

That this should be so is not strange; for as the 
months roll by, the broadening of the effects of 
the general stoppage of industry is bringing home 


their share of the loss to thousands who, in the 
beginning, were only scared and not yet really 
hurt. With the actually necessitated economy on 
the part of many has come an utterly unnecessary 
economy on the part of many others, whose in- 
come has not really been reduced, but who have 
been educated to believe that they are performing 
a meritorious duty to the public as well as them- 
selves, in restricting their expenditure in times of 
general disaster; an idea which springs from the 
utterly fallacious one that a whole community can 
economize — that there is any such thing as ac- 
cumulation of material things. In reality, by 
virtue of a most beneficial law of nature, stated 
centuries ago, by the Master whose nativity we 
celebrate on Christmas Day. what we lay up here 
is only that which moth and rust will corrupt ; for 
the inevitable processes of decay quickl) destroy 
any of the products of man which man finds to 
promptly consume. One may lay by the right to 
command other men’s services by lending them a 
portion of that which he produces by hand or 
brain, or more surely still, by possessing himself 
of some portion of the land upon which all men 
must labor, and waiting until the demand for it 
grows so pressing that he will be well paid for its 
use. But so far as anyone simply refrains from 
consumption, whether of necessity or of choice, • 
he only compels his fellow beings, whose products 
he would otherwise consume, to likewise refrain; 
and the world, as a whole, is poorer, not richer, 
as the result. 


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21 


We have our special local reasons for feeling 
depressed, too; chiq| among which is the resur- 
gence of Dr. Parkhurst from the obscurity to 
which it was to have been hoped at one time he 
had been relegated, by the universal disgust at 
bis revellings in filth under the guise of social re- 
form, So prevalent is the love of humbug in the 
human mind that he is being written up for the 
information of good people throughout the coun- 
try —by men who would recoil instantly from a 
proposal to personally imitate his methods — as 
quite a hero in the cause of political and social 
purity. As a matter of fact, every step that he 
has taken has been characterized by either ignor- 
ance or injustice of the most flagrant kind; and 
his whole course has been such as to warrant the 
charge that it is dictated solely by an insane love 
of notoriety. It is the same spirit which has sad- 
dled on the community the various societies for 
meddling with and regulating other peoples’ af- 
fairs; of which those that have done most harm 
have been Elbridge Gerry’s for assuming dictator- 
ial authority over the children of people who are 
too poor to assert themselves, and the gang of 
blackmailers headed by Anthony Comstock. 
These last are a positive danger to the communi- 
ty; and while the chief does not indulge in direct 
blackmail, as it is perfectly well known that some 
of his subordinates do, it is clearly evident to any 
intelligent observer that his spasmodic activity in 
the suppressiou of vice (or more often, of quite 
innocent things which he chooses to call vice) is 
carefully directed along such lines as will stir up 
the interest of those from whom his backing 
comes, and who supply him with the means to 
conduct his campaigns and incidentally to furnish 
him with a capital living. Of course there is 
much that is hateful and depraved in the things 
that Comstock and Parkhurst attack, as there are 
often grave evils' involved in the management of 
children or animals by incompetent or cruel 
parents or owners; but the world should surely 
have learned by now that no man or set of men 
are qualified to unerringly determine the compe- 
tence of other men, that only nature can correct 
natural faults through the long and painful pro- 
cess of educating generations to better things; 
and that the aggregation of people called society 
has no rights over its individual units other than 
to protect them from mutual aggressions, and 
never to force them into virtue against their will, 
except so far as their vices are offensive to their 
fellow men. 

Yet these tyrannical, bigoted, usually more or 
less hypocritical societies have their pronounced 
advocates, some of whom in this way wash their 
hands of personal responsibility to lead the world 


to be better; by example and precept; and others 
who find this an easy way to have their work done 
(though perhaps in a style that they may not 
altogether approve) which they are interested in 
but have not time to look after themselves. 

It is the same tendency to delegating matters to 
other people which gives our politics in and about 
New York such peculiar features. Ever since 
the metropolis got too big not only for the 
townmeeting but even for the senss of per- 
sonal responsibility to their neighbors which 
acts as a corrective on the officials of smaller 
cities, we have fallen into the way of hir- 
ing one organization or another to attend to our 
municipal administration and also of the political 
machinery through which it is made responsible 
to the people For the most part Tammany has 
been the organization in which the plain, honest 
people of the city who really, form the majority 
of its votes, have had most confidence; and it has 
therefore held the contract Bad as it is, it is a 
much better plan than the way they have over in 
Brooklyn; of now and again getting into just such 
a terrible excitement as they did this year, rising 
en masse and putting one good man into office — 
and then going to sleep again. Much of this dis- 
position is due to the essential nature of a suburb; 
three-fourths of whose population know nothing 
whatever of its genuine local life and can there- 
fore be aroused to investigation and action only 
upon special occasion. It is owing to a dim per- 
ception of this fact that a sentiment appears to be 
steadily growing in favor of consolidating New 
York and all of its suburbs, except that large sec- 
tion which is unfortunately shut out by being 
across a state line, through which the homes and 
the workshops of the people being brought under 
our control, can perhaps be better regulated. How- 
ever this may be, it is much to be feared that but little 
aid to improvement will come from the sometimes 
mere meaning and sometimes self-seeking, but 
always ineffective body of reformers who chiefly 
pose in this attitude, and who are now once more 
displaying their inaptitude for affairs in the singu- 
lar fatuity with which they have confined their 
opposition to the comparatively honest and for 
the present impregnable fortress of Tammany 
Hall, instead of first attacking and conquering the 
thoroughly corrupt state machine, just now in a 
most crippled condition. 

Hum in nature is prone to take hold of the petty 
details and ignore broad views, however, as wit- 
ness the tremendous interest being worked up 
over the ridiculous Hawaiian affair, this and the 
Van Alen incident being really the most success- 
ful political sensations of the season, it is cer- 
tainly most strange how both leaders and masses 
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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR, 


are willing to become responsible for the perform- 
ance by which it was sought to trick our gov- 
ernment into lending its protection to the grab of 
Hawaii. We are inclined to speak somewhat 
apologetically of such points of our own pioneer 
history as bear a resemblance to the dispossession 
of the Hawaiian natives; but at least our forefath- 
ers took the Indians’ land from them to utilize to 
better advantage by their own labor; while the 
invasion of the Sandwich Islands has been one of 
a planters’ intent only, in which the natives have 
been gradually enslaved as they became 
landless and actual chattel slavery introduced by 
importing coolies. This was bad of itself, but 
when they tried to play on the buncombe kind 
of sentiment to protect them in their ill-gQttqp 
gains, it was a little too much for, raspeqt#Me 
people to swallow. j -] v r n, , | 

Something of this buncof»be, : bff. tbe way. was 
visible in the treatment of< .Van , Alen’s* apppmf* 


ment, and went far to help on the impertinent de- 
termination of our newspapers to run the govern- 
ment. Van Alen certainly showed in the manner 
of his determination that he had better stuff in 
him than had been generally supposed, and after 
all, when we get rid of heroics, there are some 
quite plausible reasons why a man should be ap- 
pointed to a foreign mission solely because ,l>e 
moves familiarly in fashionable society, so Ippg.^s 
he has fair common sense. The position . is nqt uq- 
like that of a traveling salesman, and a business 
housewill always prefer to employ a drummer wit^i 
good address and manners, othpr things being 
equals But it is, absurd beyond degree that either 
pjf f these events shpuld h?ye created, such fiirojf, 
laqd qertaiply to G ripped that, when congress je- 
as$<?fnbl^fi after the holidays, they will gqt , down 
.to ^vork ^?d giyn ps $qlid meat, to mentally digest* 
t in place of thqn* kicfobaws* , . i . , nt Ti , 

7 i 1 • I... .{; , • &9W- I. STRIVE*, ,, 


' t CM T ; . f 4 '< * I*. ' U - ■ • M ’ * M ■ 1 1 ■ . - ■ , r 

■ s ’ ■ ' * m -• ' ■ f, 1 «, - r rr j 

n 1 l< ; 1 An Horiored Veteran. 1 ’ '■ 


?• !) [ i vf ’ i : < i'll v.m t • v!.'.- ; v> 

1 ‘ n ? 1 9 } • . 9 1 «, • was the for ty- seven t h ( an n i ver - 
sary qf ( Cjj., p. ( ft. Moore, an employ^ of 
ttye Morris & E$spx raijroad, which ( em- 
plqymept |ias. been con^in\i6it^ with the 
qpception of three years’ f sickness, ’ a year 
and. a. half in the army, and ( three years as con- 
ductor pn the N r ,Jt B E- ^ajor Ephriam Beach 
wap the Chief £agip^r in ( ponstructing the line 
ftqrn Morristpwa tp Dover, i and he .gave Mr. 
,^Qore ( the position of axerqan on the first d^y of 
^Vpril, 1846, and he was put to work, at thejpoiqt 
pf, the njopntaip, below D^yer making stakes, ari£ 
^e drove the T first ^take v in frpnt q^ the academy 
£tj D^ver After the ,road wqs located for two 
piilpa east 1 of Dover t be contract w^s given to 
(pprfte,lins. ( pjickerson tp grhde the same. On or 
,about July, J, B. Bassenger pame from the west 
apd took charge as assistant ^chief engineer, and 
J$r< Moore was promoted , to rodman, aad from 
that to levejman,. and hq had charge of the grad- 
ing andjaying of the track, pritil its completion. ^ 

Mr. Mobre has filled many positions on, the road 
such as ’freight iu?eat ticket agent,: paymaster, 
buyer aiid inspector of ties, wood, etc, He was 
conductor of the freight train from Dover for 
three years and of the passenger train from Dover 
for four years, and when the road (was extended 
fo Hackett.down he had charge of the,m?tU train 
for, six or seven years. After that hpcame $p 
JNewark and was conductor of , poq of tbq Soutjh 
Orange trains for several years, and in April, 
1878, he took charge of one of the Danville ac- 
commodation trains, and has continued thereon 


^up to' the present time, a period of over fifteen 
years. t ' . 

At the tirpe cars were hauled by horses through 
ftro^d arid ‘Centre streets, to connect with the Tsf. 
J. ft. ft & T. fco,, Mr Moore had charge of the 
stable, stable-men hud drivers, and as it took from 
20 to 25 horses to do the work, fresh stock was 
constantly needed, and he, with a Mr. Robft 
traveled tt rough Peprisylvariia from time to time 
purchasing new horses. 

During the war Mr. ' Moore served for a year 
and five months in the army as assistant paymas- 
ter under Major Howell, but was compelled to 
resign oil account of sickness. He has now at feus 
borne a certificate from the general paymaster, 
'Major Dsher, giving film great credit for the matf- 
ri6r in which he discharged the duties of his Coal- 
ition.', - ■ •* . • '• • , 

I . Mr. Moore wiU, be seventy years of age pp Oc- 
tober 25th next, and is of remarkably good health 
and strength, making his runs without trouble, 
f krid fes Easily ate muob yodoger men. A remarka- 
ble, thing io connection with so manvyearsotcoa- 
,tinjupus service is- that the engineer of Mr. Moofi^> 
train, ,* 'Tip", Doty, w^sanold schoolmate, and 
the 1 fwb veterari^ work together as they formerly 
romped with one another in childish sport. Of 
the others whom Mn Moore kaew io years long 
since past but few. are left, only Watts Diy, en* 
gine dispatcher at, Port Morris; Thomas Keenan, 
of the M. and E. division, and John McG ivern, 
bf Nos. 1 and 2, being remembered; Smith Caf*- 
penter, Ellis Noe and others being numbered with 
those gone before. ( 

It is doubtful if there is another conductor in 
the union who can show such years of comibuous 
service, and it is certain that none are as well pre*> 
served as Mr. Moore. — Railroad Employee. 


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i 



Oat* readers who write to any of the firms advertising in these columns are requested to mention 

The Railway Conductor. ° 

£. E. CLARK and WM. P. DANIELS, Managers. E. E. CLARK, Editor-in-chief. i 

W, N. GATES, Advertising Manager, ag Euclid Avenue,. Cleveland,, O. - ! 


THE MONTH IN REVIEW. 


The reports circulated since the ending of the 
Lehigh Valley strike that the men were rebelling 
and refusing to report for duty, are all w-rong. 
The men have not only been prompt in reporting 
tor duty, but. with the exception of the Western 
Division, most of them have, been returned to 
ibeir positions At the time the settlement was 
made it was nqt expected to fully satisfy all who 
were concerned, but by far the greater portion of 
them now approve the action taken The old em- 
ployes are continually being taken back into the 
service. 

Many, complaints have been made of failures on 
the part of the Lehigh Comp my to comply with 
the provisions of the agreement entered upon in 
closing the strike. In most cases it has been im- 
possible to trace these complaints to any reliable 
source When the order for the discharge of en- 
gineers over 45 years of age, was brought to the 
attention of President Wilbur, heat once declared 
it to be the result of a misunderstanding, and the 
four men who suffered by it were promptly .rein- 
stated. 

The two State Boards of Media 1 ion and Arbi- 
tration, through whose offices a settlement \vas 
finally effected, are still interested in the m after, - 
and will willingly take up any complaint that’ te 
founded in fact or may be substantiated, and .pre- 
sent it to the general officers of the road with the 
view of exerting every possible influence in the 
direction of having the full spirit of the under- 
standing. under which the difficulty was ended, 
applied and lived up to. Some instances of what 
they believed to be violations of the spirit, or fail- 
ure to apply the full spirit of the agreement, have 


been called to the attention of President Wilbur 
by these boards, and they advise us that the Presi- 
dent disclaimed all knowledge of the violations 
presented and promptly applied the remedies 
sought. While our experiences before the strike 
were not of the sort to give exalted ideas of the 
disposition of this company to abide in good faith 
by its promises to its men, we must give the man- 
agers credit for too much shrewdness to alloW 
themselves to be placed on record as wilfully fail- 
ing to carry out an agreement, made through the 
mediation of the official Boards of Arbitration 
two great states, and one given so much publicity 
and attracting such general interest. The num- 
ber of wrecks resulting from the incompetence of. 
the men employed during the strike, and the ad- 
ditional fact that, while the volume of business 
on hand is by no means so large as it was before 
the strike, nor so large as it ordinarily is at thip 
season of the year, the company has been obliged 
to borrow engines from the P. & R. to move what 
traffic it has, justify the conclusion that very little 
of such service will be found to be sufficient. 

In a letter from a prominent member of our 
Order on the Lehigh Valley, who participated in 
The strike, we are informed that one of ihe Divi- 
sion Superintendents of that road, after the strike, 
met two of our members on the street and, as he 
sfyook their hands, said he liked men of their 
stripe, as he knew they would do as they prong^- 
ised. They had given evidence of this by stand- 
ing by their obligations to their associates through 
the organizations. Those who stood by the com- 
pany he regarded as unreliable, as he felt they 
could not be depended upon to stay on either 
side 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


MISDIRECTED 

Some features of 4he address with which the 
newly elected Grand Master of the Knights of 
Labor takes up his official duties might better 
have been omitted. Mr. Sovereign is destined 
to learn, before he has added many years to his 
life, that the most successful leaders of organized 
labor are not the ones who are constantly on the 
look'out for trouble. There was a time when 
nearly all the men who essayed such leadership 
felt that their most important duty was not ful- 
filled unless they had a fight in progress or in 
prospect all the time. But little experience was 
needed to show the folly of such a course and the 
strength to be found in more conservative meth- 
ods. Modern leaders who have demonstrated 
their fitness by holding their followers within the 
bonds of discipline, at the same time building up 
that following both in numbers and spirit until 
their organizations are to-day the most powerful 
exponents of organized labor in the world, have 
not accomplished this great work by empty 
declamation against capital nor by constantly 
seeking an opportunity for strife. They have not 
been eager to ferret out grievances nor rashly 
ready to put the dearest interests of their organi- 
zations to the jeopardy of a contest. On the oth- 
er hand, they have brought a cool and deliberate 
judgment to bear upon all differences arising be- 
tween their men and their employers, and have 
exhausted all known means to secure an amicable 
adjustment before appealing to force. Firm in 
their stand for principle, they have been ever 
ready to yield in minor matters when such com- 
promise promised to benefit the men most in in- 
terest. By consistently following this course they 
have not only won and held the respect of the 
outside world and of the men who represent the 
corporate interests, but have inspired their fol- 
lowers with a confidence in their judgment and 
discretion which doubly arms them in all times of 
trouble. 

If he may be judged by his salutatory address, 
Mr. Sovereign possesses none of these qualifica- 
tions essential to successful leadership. He 


LEADERSHIP. 

opens his administration with a bold declaration 
of war, making use of the following language: 
“A great struggle is being waged between two 
great forces— -organized monopolies, struggling to 
make slaves out of men, and organized labor, 
struggling to make men out of slaves. The in- 
terest is between the dollars of Shylock and the 
bone and sinew of the industrial masses; a con- 
test between organized land monopoly and the 
natural rights of God’s homeless poor — between 
the federated trusts and oppressed humanity.” 
This graphic picture of the terrible condition in 
which he finds labor is brightened by the follow- 
ing sweeping promise, indicating the beatific state 
into which this modern Moses proposes at once 
to lead his followers: "We will bring the great 
avenues of distribution within easy reach of the 
masses, elect all legislative, executive and judici- 
ary officers of the General Government, and take 
away the veto power of the President. Thus we 
will give to the world an industrial system 
menaced by no tramp at one end and no princely 
dude at the other.” The coolness with which 
this newly discovered prophet assumes the at- 
tributes of his Creator in undertaking to revolu- 
tionize not only all existing social and commercial 
conditions, but the moral natures of men as well, 
would be ludicrous were it not for the possibilities 
for evil his position opens up before him. To 
but few men is given such an opportunity as that 
bestowed upon Mr. Sovereign when elected to tie 
chief executive office of the Knights of Labor. 
‘He can restore that organization to its lost rank 
among the most powerful of all the reform forces 
of the world, or he can encourage and 
hasten its entire dissolution. All who are 
enlisted in the cause of the workingmen bad 
hoped for great things from his selection to this 
responsible position, but they find little of 
encouragement in his public utterances. They 
will continue to hope, however, that he may per- 
form better than he promises and that he mey 
bring back the organization, of which he is the 
official head, to all its old-time vigor and useful- 
ness. 


ONE-SIDED LEGISLATION. 


In his report to the Post Master General, re- 
cently published, General Superintendent White, 
of the railway mail service, recommends the 
adoption of the following bill by congress during 
its present session: 

Be it enacted, etc., That if any person or pier- 
sons acting in his or their own behalf, or as the 
agent or agents, or as a member or members, offi- 
cer or officers, or as the representative or repre- 


sentatives of any organization, or association, 
shall delay, obstruct or prevent the passage of 
any train on any railroad in the United States by 
which the mails are being transported by order 
of the Post Office Department, the same having 
been designated by the Post Master General or 
his authorized agent or agents, to carry the mails, 
for the purpose of aiding, encouraging or con- 
tributing in any way to the success of a strike 
against any railroad company whose trains are 
designated as above, or for any unlawful or 


THE RAILWAY 


CONDUCTOR. 


malicious purpose, shall be deemed guilty of an 
offense against the laws of the United States of 
America as represented in this act and, on convic- 
tion therefor, shall be punished by a fine of not 
less than $50 nor more than $500, and be impris- 
oned for not less than six months nor more than 
two years for each offense; provided that the pro- 
visions of this act shall not operate to protect any 
train on any railroad not designated to carry the 
United States mails, or any part of any such 
trains as may be added to said trains by the rail- 
road company for the express purpose of bringing 
such added part under the protection of this act. 

Those who remember the ease with which the 
Inter-State Commerce Law was recently distorted 
by a federal court to discipline men who dared 
assert their manhood, will at once see wherein 
this proposed measure might be made a powerful 
engine of oppression in the same hands. As is 
common to all such legislation, it is aimed only 
at the men and contains no provision looking to- 
ward the regulation of the corporations. Labor 
asks no special privileges, it is not continually 
besieging congress for the passage of laws in- 
tended to oppress capital, but it does demand 
common justice, and the time is not far distant 
when that demand will be heard and heeded. 
Let the bill in question be made to include a pro- 


25; 

vision requiring the railroads^ to- carry out their 
mail contracts under a forfeiture that will be col- 
lected in every case of failure, thus giving them 
something like equal reasons for fearing a strike, 
and the men will not be disposed to complain. 
No instance is on record where the men engaged 
in a strike interfered with the running of a mail 
train which was not being used to cover up pas- 
senger traffic or was not being used in some other 
way to bring about their defeat. There is some- 
thing of hope in the measure proposed by Con- 
gressman Hines, of Pennsylvania, looking to a 
thorough investigation of the Lehigh contest and 
its results upon the mail service and inter-state 
commerce. The measure promises absolute jus- 
tice, but so many others have done as much when 
presented and have resulted in nothing that the 
friends of labor will not build much upon it until 
they see it become law and its provisions en- 
forced by the courts. Place the railroads and 
their employes upon an actual as well as a the- 
oretical equality, make them both amenable to 
the laws for every violation, and the first great 
step toward the entire abolition of strikes will 
have been taken. 


THOUGHTLESS INJUSTICE. 


It is, perhaps, too much to expect that the men 
who recently carried the striice on the Lehigh 
Valley to a successful termination should be dealt 
with justly by the press of the country. The 
bonds of the corporate interests are too strong to 
be easily broken and evidences of their restrain- 
ing influence crop out frequently where least ex- 
pected. The Agent and Operator is supposed to 
be published in the interest of the workers, and 
bas generally shown a disposition to treat all 
classes of labor fairly, but in commenting upon 
the strike in question, it administers the follow- 
ing general reproof: 

An idea may be in order, however, and that is, 
why could not this difficulty have been settled be- 
fore the strike occurred as well as after, by the 
same means as were used to make the settlement. 
In other words, arbitration was used to settle the 
strike nearly a month after it occurred. The 
board of arbitrators made short work of a settle- 
ment when they went at it, so short that we can- 
not but believe a little of the same medicine be- 
fore the strike occurred would have had the same 
beneficial results. We believe in arbitration 
first, and when that fails, it will be time to talk 
strike. 

The sting of this is to be found, not in the 
statement itself, which is nothing but the truth, 
the whole matter should have been settled with- 
out even a thought of an appeal to force, but in 
the fact that it openly ignores the plain justice of 


the case and places the responsibility upon both 
men and company alike. If the writer had cared 
to know the truth, he could easily have learned, 
from the published correspondence of the officials 
of the road, that the men had endeavored, by 
every honorable means in their power, to do just 
the things he recommends. Time and again they 
sought a peaceful solution of the difficulty, only 
to be met, upon every effort, with a refusal, not 
only to do what justice demanded, but to even 
hear their grievances. Failing to secure a hear- 
ing as employes of the road, the Grand Officers 
of their respective organizations were called upon 
and they, in turn, sought, by every pacific means 
in their power, to secure a simple hearing for 
their men. They were ready at any time to sub- 
mit their case to arbitration, but the officials of 
the road sternly refused any mediation whatever, 
and it was not until forced by the immense losses 
incident upon a suspension of traffic, the disasters 
caused by the employment of incompetent men 
and the overwhelming tide of public opinion that 
they finally submitted to arbitration to sava 
themselves from an absolute surrender. The 
rocord made by these officials before and during 
the progress of the conflict is their own condem- 
nation, and must show conclusively to every un- 
prejudiced mind that the responsibility for every 
step taken, for every dollar s worth of property 
destroyed, for every life lost, rests upon them 
alone, and no sophistry can disgrace the men 
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26 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

- ’ COfjbfrCl'OR FOK f§94 


With the present number The Conductor en- 
ters upon its eleventh volume — with thin number 
it begins. its, plan of entering tbi horae.oLevery 
member of the order, and with it sends the heart- 
iest of the New Year’s greetings to -all of its 
friends The managers will, perhaps, be par- 
doned some d eg fee . of pride in the success 
achieved in, the past, as ranch of that pride 
arises from the kind commendation of our many 
readers who have followed every effort made for 
the betterment of the magazine with closest in- 
terest. Flattering as ha$ been this .approval 
from those we seek especially to. please, we realize 
dbere yet remains much , to. be done before Th£ 
Cqnductor becomes thoroughly representative 
^if aur ord^r. To make it such will, be pur espe- 
cial aim, and no effort will be spared to that end. 
In the future, as in tffe past, we will fearlessly 
champion the principles upon which we honestly 
believe rest all the hopes of organized labor. 
Our ^tand will always be taken upon our convic- 
tions of right, and once taken, will be upheld, 
.regardless of everything but the right. While 
we will assume no defiant or anarchistic attitude, 
we will exercise the right to criticise any effort 
which appears to be made with a view to unjustly 
extending the prerogatives of the judiciary, x>r to 
distorting the spirit or letter of any law, resorted 
4o in an effort, on the part of any corporation and 
the courts combined, to infringe upon the right's 
of the Organizations While our best efforts will 
ever be given to the building up of that organiza- 
tion of which The Conductor is the official or- 


‘■gad, bur sympathies are as wide asHhe 
of labor^ and a helping hand will nbvbr be witlj- 
haldfrom ^ny portion#! the; opnwn on 
For the hew year we promise our. readers not 
only a cbnslstent support of thbse principles that 
mean so much to them, but will furnish them 
yvitb an abundance of instructive and en,tertaii^ 
ing reading matter carefully selected with a 
thought to the preference of nil. Afftfr 1 consldet 4 - 
able trouble and no little expense promises of 
contributions, upon social and economic topics 
.have been .secured from, such well itnown and 
able writers as W. P. Borland, Jose Gros, \V FT. 
Stewart, and H P. Peebles, Those \vho ( are at 
all interested in thi$ line of thought, and aJl 
should be, will find its various phases not only 
ably but entertainingly discussed by these gentle- 
men throughout the year All who have read 
the stories from the pen of Frank A Myers will 
learn, with pleasure that he will continue to fill 
that department, his first contribution being a 
thrilling history of the dramatic incidents attend- 
ant upon the founding of the Brotherhood of Lo- 
comotive Engineers. Other aud equally able 
writers upl! discuss special topics for. ouy j;eadt;r6 
from time to time The various special depart- 
ments of the magazine will be maintained and 
interest added, in the hope that each number may 
meet the taste, and, beuejU every reader. , , In 
.short, nothing within the jpower of the manage* 
ment will be left undone- to make The Conductor 
what it should be, fujly representative of one of 
the greatest of all the labor organizations bn 
earth. ' * ' : . 


THE NORTHERN PACIFIC SITUATION. 


It would seem to an unbiased observer that the 
gentlemen now in charge of the Northern Pacific 
as receivers had entered upon their responsible 
duties with a determination to work out an inno- 
vation. No one, who is thoroughly conversant 
with the situation will believe that the reduction 
in the pay r f the men ordered by them was an 
absolute necessity, or at least, if it was a neces- 
sity, there could be no shadow of an excuse for 
-cutting wages below the figures paid by competi- 
tors as well as a further reduction as the result of 
the abrogation or amendment of rules relating to 
the pay for extra or unusual services. It was 
matural that the men should protest against such 
reduction, and that protest was made in the same 
friendly spirit as that which actuated them when 
the viohted agreement was made. As soon as 
this protest was made, however, the receivers 
took up a course of action which could not blit 


force bad feeling bn the part of the men. it they 
of had any remnant of self respect remaining One 
these gentlemen openly declared th.it the employes 
would strike and boasted how easily their places 
would all be filled, all before a strike had been 
mentioned or hinted at bv them Then fob. 
lowed the restraining order, intended to prevent 
interference with the ; property of the company 
and to prevent the’ men from striking, issued ih 
the face of ihe fact that no strike had been com- 
menced. no threats even of a strike had been 
made, and if a strike had been under way the 
property would have been safe so far as the pres* 
ent employes of the road are concerned, and the 
receivers and the judge who issued the order 
knew it. It was worse than a mistake, it was a 
direct insult, unnecessary and uncalled lor. If 
it is good and constitutional law that restrains a 
man from leaving a service at a time when tbg 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 27 


cortipen&ticm prioritised him Is materially reduced 
because! tto- fdadii In Ktofc hands tif 'reeeiydrfc; it 
wdak! bfc equally good law 5 that svdtikl cotripel 
him to stay in such service against his will, even 
after his compensation had been reduced below 
the 'point of * bare living. When it,js necessary 
the federal government ought to protect receivers 
appointed ’by its own.cqurts, but a man has a 
right lo seek* Work where j he may desire, so long 
as he and ; his employer do hot differ, and be has : 
the same right to leave bis employment at will, 
that be exercised when be .entered upon it. 

It may opt be out of place to recdll at this 
point, the fact that these risamie ! gentlemen; upon 
whose petition tb«/Otder'm * quest ion was- issued, j 
have hem called before the courts to answer 
some^verfy' grave charge?, I On JDeoehiber 2 $ last, i 
a petition was filed before Judge Jenkins, author ; 
of the restraining order in question,, asking fox; 
the removal of Messrs. Oakes, Payne and Rouse 
from their positions as receivers of the Northern 
Pacific. In support of this request the petition 
sets forib that when the Oakes-Roi&ton manage- 
ment took charge they found the road' a paying 
property with all cohtingencies for several years 
amply provided for and abundant capital on hand 
to Conduct and properly develop its business. 
The petition then goes on t'6 say' that this board 
can aged to indrease the interest charges of the 
Northern Pacific cb rb pan y for branch lines from 
I26.000.000 to upwards of $80,006,' oooV all in one 
yeir, and for the acquisition of properties, no 
one of which, (except a small line costing less 
than ii. oo3, 000) ever has paid the cost of opera- 
tion and fixed charges,’ arid many of which do 
not even pay the cost of operation, and the peti- 
tfbri further bharges’thrit fri several instances and 
thds^ the most disastrous to the company, the 
officers and board of directors were themselves 
interested in selling the properties to the North- 
ern Ptfiffid 1 cbmpany at am efxorbitritat profit to 
themselveS; The story of the collapse of : the 
Norihttfh Paeiflc is then set out in great detail, 
nkming partteulariy each of ihe railr oridri which 
were acqhifed by the Nctrthrirri Pacific company 
arid which the bill deflates completed rriin 
witWtrbhe year of the Oakes-RdlStori board grit : 
ting into fcdwter. If th^ allegations' made in the 
pttitlob ^shbriid proVe to ! be trrie it will be Seen 
that ihedownfall o^- the 5 rttad i ^a^ tfauis^d by the 1 
worst J df ifcfiffiagerhent and rib t by the paying of 
exorbitant Wagek 1 to 1 ibs employed, ft would 
seetri’thiit audhlnsint^Uichs Wgatn^fthe fetiiployes 
aarife feori«i»orid f7 iri trhe : t*estrair(ing order Would 
bafrecoirie With better ferkbeJ from the^e riiferi iP 
they cleaned their skirts of ^he charges 


It is seldom that one federal jiidge is so sharp- 
ly rebuked by another as was the author of this 
vindictive and revolutionary order ; for it can J 
hardly be given a more dignified title?, when his 
action came up before Judge Caldwell, of Little 
Rock, Ark., for official sanction, judge Caldwell 
very 1 properly refused to. enter that part of the 
order of the Milwaukee court enjoining the. 
offioers of the labor organizations from ordering., 
a strike on the road or theemployesirom striking: 
on account of a reduction of wages. In a sub- . 
sequent interview judge Caldwell gave utterance*, 
to the following common -sense views upon that 
situation, and they will be most heartily endorsed 
by every friend of equal-handed justice, the: 
country over" . . 

' u If receivers should apply for leave to reduce 1 
the existing scale of wages, before acting upon 
tbeir petition I wgpld require t^era to give notice, 
of the application to the officers or representa 
lives of the several labor organizations to be 
affected by the proposed change, of the time and 
place of hearing, and would also require them to 
grant such officers or representatives leave of 
absence, and furnish them transportation to the < 
place of hearing, and substituting them while in 
attendance, and I would hear bo^h sides, in per- 
son or by attorneys, if they wanted attorneys to 
appear 1 for them The employes on a road in* 

the hands of a receiver are employes of the courts 
and as much i,u its service as the receivers them- 
selves, and as much entitled to be beard upon 
any proposed order of the court which would' 
affect the whole body of employes. 

“If. after a full hearing and consideration.! 
found that it was necessary^ equitable and best 
to reduce the scale of wages, I would give the 
employes ample time to determine whether they 
would accept of reject the scale. If they re- 
jected it, they would not be enjoined from quit- , 
ting the service of the, court either singly, or in a 
body; In other words, f would f not enjoin them 
from striking;- but if they made their election to ; 
strike I would make it plain to them that they 
must not, they quitting the service of the court, 
interfere with t he property or the operation* of 
the road or the men employed fb take their 
' places, • , !- . .< - ; v •* i 

'(A United States court can* very readily find 
the means to effectually protect the property in 
, its possession and tfie persons in its employ. I 
have, in one Or two instances; pursued the policy 
I have indicated, and the: differences were satis- 
factorily adjusted." : , T , 

If every couritjnlhe country ebuld be presided 
oterby m^n bolding such manly and straight 
forward views as these the laboring men would 
need no safer asyhirri. The contrast between 
them ind the views of Judge Jenkins, as ex- 
pressed through his order, is decided and shows 
how great is the menace to the rights of common 
people when men of mediocre talents and minds 
borind down by prejudice, are elevated to the 


set forth in this petition. 


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2% THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

The men on the Northern Pacific have shown kind. Not only the interests of the men they 


themselves to be reasonable, intelligent and con- 
servative, and will not suffer these attacks to di- 
vert them from their pursuit of justice nor drive 
them into hasty and ill-digested action of any 


Under the new conditions it will be necessary 
for The Conductor to go to press several days 
earlier than heretofore and we must ask our cor- 
respondents to have their letters in by the first 
•day of the month of publication, at the very 
latest. This applies especially to such comrauni- 
catioos as are used in the Ladies’ and Fraternal 
departments. All contributions intended for the 
Miscellaneous Department should be in by the 
15th of the previous month. In the matter of 
obituary notices correspondents will please re- 
member that our space is limited and only brief 
mention can be made of each death save in cases 
where such death was met in the performance of 


represent, but of the company and of the country 
at large, are safe in their hands, Judge Jenkins 
and the receivers to the contrary, noturithstand- 
ing. 


duty. Enough of the formal resolutions adopted 
upon all such occasions are forwarded to us every 
month to fill several pages of the magazine. 
They are all practically the same, both in word- 
ing and sentiment, and our readers will at once 
see the reasons for the rule excluding them from 
our columns save upon very special occasions. 
Correspondents will confer a favor by giving this 
rule attention. Make the obituary notices brief, 
giving only date and facts of death, concise life 
history and mention of near surviving relatives, 
leaving out all matters of pure form, such as the 
resolutions mentioned, and they will be given 
space readily under the appropriate heading. 


COMMENT. 


The employes of the Clover Leaf have adopted 
a novel and unprecedented plan to secure living 
wages. Since Receiver Callaway took charge of 
the road, last May, the wages of the employes 
have been systematically reduced until at present 
many allege that it is utterly impossible for them 
to support their families on the wages allowed. 
In this emergency, rather than take the chances 
of losing a strike and remaining out of employ- 
ment the balance of the winter, the employes 
conceived the novel idea of petitioning the Uni- 
ted States Court to allow them to receive living 
wages. The petition was filed December 22. It is 
the first action of the kind ever taken, and the 
outcome should be watched with interest by rail- 
way employes in all parts of the country. 

* * * 

The Railway Age, in its issue of December 22, 
presented a list of 123 roads, comprising a mile- 
age of 33,195. which were in the hands of receiv- 
ers. Since the list was published the Santa Fe 
has joined the procession with about 8,500 miles of 
road, bringing the total mileage up to 41,695, 
Making an approximation to the figures of the 
Interstate Commerce Commission, we might say 
that there are at least 200,000 employes on these 
124 roads, and if the court allows the petition of 
the employes on the Clover Leaf and assumes 
jurisdiction in the matter of their wages, it will 
have the effect to bring this entire army of men 
under the same jurisdiction and allow them the 
same recourse. 

# # * 

This is an extension of the principle of govern- 


ment control of railways, which many will view 
with apprehension of grave consequences to fol- 
low, while others, again, will undoubtedly see in 
it a step leading up to the realization of their 
fondest hopes. While extreme views in either 
direction may be unwarranted, one thing seems 
certain; and that is, if the federal judges assume 
the jurisdiction they are asked to, the adjustment 
of wage difficulties on receivership railways will 
be greatly simplified and strikes will come to an 
end. It is hard to see how the employes will be 
any the losers, and it may be that the Clover 
Leaf men, whether consciously or unconsciously, 
it matters not, have taken a step which will 
prove to be a long one in the right direction of a 
permanent solution of the labor problem on rail- 
ways. 

* » * 

After all there seems no good reason why the 
federal judges should not assume jurisdiction 
over the question of wages paid to all employes 
on receivership roads. They fix the wages of 
the receivers, and why should they not do the 
same with the other employes? A federal judge 
at Omaha has just refused the petition of the five 
Union Pacific receivers to be allowed salaries of 
$18,000 per year each, and the United States Court 
at Milwaukee now has under advisement the peti- 
tion of the three Northern Pacific receivers to be 
paid for the services also at the rate of $18,000 per 
year. When the federal judges decide such ques- 
tions as this, why should they not also decide 
what wages shall be paid to the engineers, con- 
ductors, brakemen, firemen, and all other classes 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


of employes on receivership railways? It is well 
that this question has been raised. It is hard to 
see how the court can avoid taking action, and 
it will be worth something to know what a federal 
judge considers as “living wages.” 

* * * 

After all has been said about the necessity of 
getting rid of Mr. Powderly, it does not appear 
that the Knights of Labor have much improved 
their status as a power in the labor world by the 
election of Master Workman Sovereign. The 
Knights of Labor, as an organization, was born 
within the garment cutters' union in Philadelphia, 
and throughout its rather checkered history, in 
prosperity and adversity, the garment wprkers 
have remained loyal, and literally formed the 
backbone of the organization. The main strength 
of the Knights in the east lay in Clothing Cutters’ 
Assembly 2853. of New York; 2904 of Brooklyn, 
and 6224 of Newark; and now, at a meeting of 
these assemblies. on December 23, at which over 600 
members were present, it was unanimously de- 
cided to renounce the Knights and join the Uni- 
ted Garment Workers of America, which organi- 
zation is affiliated with the American Federation 
of Labor. It cannot be doubted that this is a 
severe blow to the Knights. Some are inclined 
to regard it as a death blow, and it is worthy of 
note that, in setting forth their reasons for break- 
ing with the order, the Garment Workers allege 
dissatisfaction with Grand Master Workman 
Sovereign. 

* * * 

It may be that the course of this gigantic or- 
ganization is run; that it has performed its allot- 
ted task I should be loath to believe this, but 
whether it lives or dies, the principles upon 
which it is founded are correct and they will ulti- 
mately triumph. What the organization requires 
now is a genius at its head who is able to see far 
enough into the future to formulate a plan of 
action which will eventually reconcile the iso- 
lated trade union interests and the vast general 
interests of all labor and bring them into har- 
monious relation for cdmmon action. They 
want a Napoleon of labor — something which 
Powderly was not, and which it remains to be 
seen whether Sovereign is or not. If he is, he 
shall be able to snatch victory from the jaws o; 
defeat and lead the Knights to a place where, on 
the basis of their grand principles, they shall 
again take a commanding position in the labor 
world. If he is not, the order is bound to decay 
and die the death. But, whether it lives or dies, 
the final result will be the same; although the 
movement may be delayed, labor will, in the 
end, triumph. The labor movement is, in the 


29 

words of Professor Ely, “the effort of men to 
live the lives of men,” and the intelligence of 
man shall yet formulate a plan to work out its 
accomplishment Education is the salvation of 
labor, and it is becoming too generally diffused 
among workingmen to permit them to fall back 
into the slavery of the middle ages. 

* * * 

In his annual address Mr. Gompers says that 
“it is no exaggeration to say that more than 
three millions of our fellow toilers throughout the 
country are without employment ” Mr. Gompers 
has probably not overstated the case at all, rath- 
er under, I should judge, and he exhibits, con- 
siderable penetration when he states the causes 
of this deplorable condition as being improve- 
ments in machinery, and “the ownership and 
control of the wealth, of the means of production, 
by private corporations.” But he becomes child- 
ish when he says that “We, the representatives of 
the organized toiling masses of our country, offered 
the only reasonable, practical and tangible solu- 
tion to meet the changed conditions of industry.” 
This “solution" was the eight hour day, and Mr. 
Gompers devotes a large part of his report to it 
and the consequences which would follow its in- 
troduction. 

* * * 

It cannot be denied that the eight hours’ day 
would be of benefit to labor; it would relieve 
somewhat, the stagnation and reduce the reserve 
army of capital to somewhat smaller proportions 
it would be a palliative for abnormal industrial 
conditions, but to call it a “solution” is puerile. 
And when we consider the demand for progress- 
ive reduction in the hours of labor as a remedy 
offered to attain equilibrium in the industrial 
world, the “solution” becomes both intangible 
and unpractical. What is wanted to restore 
equilibrium in industrial conditions is equality of 
opportunity; the freeing of the worker from the 
tyranny of his necessities, so that he may stand 
before the employer a free man: actually, as well 
as tentatively, free to accept or reject terms of 
employment at will. No simple reduction in the 
hours of labor will bring about such a condition 
of affairs. As long as the ownership of the 
“means of production” remains with the class of 
employers exclusively, no reduction in the hours 
of labor shall suffice to apportion to the worker 
his proper share of the results of production; the 
number of those out of employment would be re- 
duced, but there is no guarantee that the larger 
number of workers shall be able to obtain any 
greater proportion of the product than did the 
smaller number. The principal disability under 
which labor suffers to-day is, not an excess in the 


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30 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR . 

hours of labor, but an economic trope in lutely esseotial to the permanence of our civiliza- 
the conditions of ownership of the means don th&t we establish a new basis for the right 
of production. When man is, industrially, of property; this is the only salvation for the 
a , free agent, he shall be able to work rights of labor, and sooner or later the fact must 
few or many hours as he so pleases, and era- be recognized. As long as one m a a may abso- 
ployers will have no power to change the facts lately control the material basis of another man *9 
for their own benefit. We have reached a period existence the other man must remain a slave, 
iri dur industrial development where it is abso- 


BORROWED OPINION. 


Labor anions are to-day, as they have ever 
been, the hope of those who toil They would 
strengthen , manhood and dignify citizenship. 
They stand for everything that would better the 
condition of mankind. The union laborer is the 
friend of progress and should be encouraged; the 
"ecab, " its enemy and can be spared. A proper 
estimate of his worth was given some years ago 
by a lawyer in one of the courts of London, when 
a union man was tried for intimidating a “scab’' 
from going to work in a strike. In summing up 
the.case the counsel for the unionist said; "Ac- 
cording to the unionist, the 'scab' is to his trade 
what a traitor is to his country, and though one 
may be useful to one party in troublesome times, 
when peace returns they are deserted alike by all. 
So, when help is needed, a 'scab* is the last to 
contribute assistance and the first to grab a bene- 
fit he never labored to secure; he cares only for 
himself, but sees not beyond the extent of the 
day, and for momentary and worthless approba- 
tion would betray his friends, his family and his 
country. In fact, he is a traitor on a small scale, 
who first sells his fellowmen, and is himself sold 
in turn by his employers, until at last he is de- 
spised by both and deserted by all. He is an 
enemy to himself, to the present age and to pos- 
terity. ” — Trainmen' s Journal. 

Organized labor has risen slowly, but with a 
calm, steady rise like that of a leviathan who, 
when risen, is not to be easily overthrown. It 
has not risen with a precipitancy that would 
argue that its basis was unstable and was not 
likely to endure the siege of capital and capital’s 
minions. It has arisen out of the very hearts and 
brains of the best and most earnest workers in 
the cause of labor that the world has ever pro- 
duced. It is not a vision or an erratic scheme. 
It is not a mirage in the desert of social freedom 
and brotherhood, but a reality that will bear good 
fruit and bring fresh, cool water to the lips of the 
wayfarers in the social half- world . — Xczu Era. 

When there is a real distress resulting from in- 
dustrial depression the first duty of every man is, 
obviously, not to increase the distress by dismiss- 
ing men and women from his service to swell the 
army of the unemployed. It is equally bis duty to 
continue his usual scale of expenditure, if his in- 
come will admit of it, because if he does not he 
will indirectly dismiss from service some who 
have been employed in supplying his wants. It 
is a sadly mistaken course of charity to dismiss 
some from employment in order to have more to 
bestow upon others who may not be willing to 
work at all, and may be wholly undeserving of 
charity. — Chicago Herald. 


A few weeks ago a train robber in Missouri was 
sentenced to twenty-five years’ imprisonment. In 
Texas four train robbers have just pleaded guilty 
and been sent to the state prison for thirty-five 
years each. . It is most encouraging to see law- 
breakers of this class dealt with so promptly and 
rigorously in the west and south. The Texas 
gang were disposed of within ten days after their 
crimes weffe committed. If the states deal with 
such rascals in this fashion there will be no need 
of making train robbery a capital offence, as has 
been proposed . — Xezv York Tribune . 


The development of the legal theory that em- 
ployment by a public corporation such as a rail- 
road differs essentially from employment by a 
private individual, which had its first enunciation 
in the celebrated Ann Arbor railroad injunction 
case, has been given marked impetus by the in- 
junction issued at the request of the receivers of 
the Northern Pacific railroad by Judge Jenkins 
of Milwaukee. This injunction prohibits the em- 
ployes of the road from "combining and conspir- 
ing to quit, with or without notice, the service of 
the road, with the object of crippling or embar- 
rassing its operation, and generally from interfer- 
ing with the officers and agents of the receivers 
or their employes in any manner by actual vio- 
lence, intimidation, threats, or otherwise.” 

It must be said on behalf of the men that some 
ground for dissatisfaction has certainly been giv- 
en them and that in any other business situation 
than the present depressed one there would be 
some justification for a strike. The Northern 
Pacific road has been wrecked by a succession of 
brilliant Wall street financiers, most of whom 
have retired from its management with comforta- 
ble fortunes. It is now in the hands of receivers 
who have chiefly signalized their administration 
of its affairs by demanding salaries of $18,000 a 
year apiece for their services. But when it came 
to fixing the salaries of the less exalted employes 
of the road the receivers showed marked thrift. 
In August all salaries were reduced from 5 to 20 
per cent, according to the amount of ihe individ- 
ual salary. In October further reduction was 
made. As railroad salaries are not, save in the 
case of a few very lofty officials, particularly lib- 
eral, it is natural that these radical cuts created 
widespread resentment and that threats of a 
strike were openly made. Taking their cue from 
the act of the officials of the Toledo & Ann Ar- 
bor railroad — action which, by the way, resulted 
in the bankruptcy of that road — the Northern Pa- 
cific receivers went into court and applied for an 
injunction, and have received it. 

To people of conservative mind the trend of 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


these legal decisions is alarming. If we accept 
the principle that two or three employes of a 
railroad h »ve not the right to quit its service by 
concerted agreement when provocation has been 
given them, or even without provocation, we 
must accept with it the accompanying theory that 
railroad managers have not the right to discharge 
large bodies of their employes when economy 
dictates such action. It is difficult to under- 
stand why, if the injunction obtained by the 
Northern Pacific receivers shall stand, the Penn- 
sylvania road, on whose lines, according to newspa- 
per reports of yesterday, wholesale discharges of 
employes are taking place, could not be restrained 
from such reduction of its force. There must 
be reciprocity in the relations of employer 
and employed or there can be no justice. Surely 
there is neither reciprocity nor justice in a legal 
view which declares that employes may not agree 
to relinquish their places while the railroad may 
rightfully discharge them without notice and 
without cause The fact of the matter is that fhe 
decision of the court is really a development of 
the theory that a railroad is a public servant. 
The flaw in the action of the court is due entirely 
to the fact that the public has handed over its 
rights and the management of this public service 
to individuals who utilize their authority for per- 
sonal profit alone. — Chicago Times . 

The strike on the Lehigh railroad was termi- 
nated, fortunately, early in December. The offi- 
cers of the company immediately proclaimed that 
it was settled without their concession at any 
points. So far as we can understand, however, 
the strikers won a substantial victory. It was a 
deplorable thing that the employes of the railroad 
should have gone out on strike at a time when so 
many hundreds of thousands of workmen are in- 
voluntarily idle through the paralysis of industry. 
But it should be understood that such conserva- 
tive bodies as the Locomotive Engineers, the Lo- 
comotive Firemen, and the other railway orders 
and brotherhoods, are not accustomed, *through 
their highest authorities, to sanction and conduct 
a strike, unless there are good grounds for it. 
These men do not enjoy strikes. We are inclined 
to believe that the moral responsibility for this 
particular trouble rests with the officers of the Le- 
high road. Agreements which had been made 
with the men months ago, and which ordinary 
good faith required should be kept, were disre- 
garded by the company; and representative com- 
mittees abundantly entitled to a hearing were re- 
fused an opportunity to present their case The 
State Arbitration Boards of New York and New 
Jersey intervened to effect a conciliation, and suc- 
ceeded in persuading the officers of the road to 
honor the rules and agreements of last August, to 
listen hereafter to grievance committees, and to 
take back the strikers as rapidly as possible with- 
out prejudice on account of their strike. Just why 
these officials could not have acted with ordinary 
courtesy and tact at the outset, and met with 
frankness a set of employes whose position was a 
fairly reasonable one — is a question they should 
be compelled to answer to the stockholders of the 
road. Moreover, it is a question that a discom- 
moded public has an equally good right to ask. 
High praise is due to the Chairmen of the two Ar- 
bitration Boards for their efficient interposition in 


behalf of all interests. This case well illustrates 
the value of conciliation aad arbitration as princi- 
ples. But the law should go further and in some 
manner, under specified conditions, compel inso- 
lent railway corporations to arbitrate labor 
troubles. — Reviczu of Revieivs. 

Four men who bear on their shoulders an im- 
mense amount of responsibility and bear it well 
are: Peter M. Arthur, grand chief of the Broth- 
erhood of Locomotive Engineers; F. P. Sargent, 
grand master Brotherhood Locomotive Firemen; 
E. E. Clark, grand chief conductor; S. E. Wilk- 
inson. grand master Brotherhood of Rail- 
way Trainmen. These men are all tried and 
true labor leaders — careful, conscientious and 
conservative The various matters of the re- 
spective orders which they represent are safe in 
their hands, and the members of the different 
lodges, as well as the public at large, all have 
confidence in their good sense, sound judgment 
and loyalty to the rights of capital, as well as the 
rights of labor. As long as these labor organiza- 
tions are represented by such able and conserva- 
tive officers, the country need have no fear that 
anarchy will get the upper hand inside these or- 
ganizations. or that expensive and exasperating 
strikes will be ordered just for the sake of strik- 
ing. These men are all a credit to the class of 
railroad men that they represent, and an honor 
to American citizenship. Their* efforts toward 
bringing the Lehigh strike to a successful ^md 
satisfactory termination would entitle them to 
the ^aimest words of commendation, even if 
their past acts did not fully justify the belief that 
they would at all times prove themselves the 
levelheaded champions of organized labor. — El- 
mira y N. V., Telegram. 

What the honest, needy people among us ought 
to be asked to give is not part of their labor in 
the future, which a debt would represent, but 
their labor now — something that can be given 
and something that every honest man is not only 
willing but eager to g ve. There should be no 
after-clap. Let the transaction be cleaned up 
and done with. We can take care of our own 
people here. Let us do it and let us do it in a 
way that will do the most good not only to those 
in need, but also to us who have the means to be- 
friend in rime of need. A work test is the thing 
to be applied, and at once and on every occasion. 
Instead of giving out food on promises to pay. it 
should be given out for the actual performance of 
labor to those who are able to labor. To those 
who are not able it should be g ven fre* and a 
benediction with it. — Indiana folis News. 

Two railroad wrecks, the Reading and the New 
England, make up the record of President Mc- 
Leod for a few months of the present year. 
There never before was a Napoleon who met two 
Waterloos within twelve months and came out 
with flying colors from both. This young man is 
a new study in Napoleonism. — Chicago Herald . 

The public interests demand that the courts 
which have been called on to protect the railroads 
make a most searching investigation into the 
causes of bankruptcy and hold to the strictest ac- 
countability every man directly and indirectly re- 
sponsible for these stupendous disasters. — St. 
Louis Chronicle. 


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Memphis, Tenn., Jan. 2, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Division 175 on Dec. 10th, 1893, held an elec- 
tion, and on £|ec. 31st, 1893. installed the follow- 
ing Brothers for the year 1894: W. B. Leonard, 
C. C.; A. J. Hogan, A. C. C.; J. B. Stewart, S. 
and T.; H. L. Dicinson, S. C.; L. L. Fairbinks, 
J C ; J. C. Perkins, I. S. ; G. A. Robinson, O.S. 
Board of Trustees: H. McDonald. Z J. Good- 
win, W. H. Sebring Delegate to Grand Divis- 
ion, W. H. Sebring; alternate, W. B Leonard. 
Division correspondent, W. H. Sebring 

We had a large attendance at our annual instal- 
lation, and as was expected all present en- 
joyed themselves. The good Sisters, of Ladies’ 
Auxiliary No. 29. were present in force and en- 
couraged us by their smiles and words of cheer, 
for be it known No. 29 of Ladies’ Auxiliary has 
more pretty women among their members than 
any other division in the United States, and their 
hearts are in the good work they have so nobly 
undertaken. God bless the noble woitfen of our 
order, wells from the hearts of every member of 
775 O. R. C. God grant that we may enjoy 
miny more of these pleasant yearly installations. 

In looking back over the year just taking its 
farewell there is much, very much to admonish 
us of our great responsibility and our duty to our 
fellow man. The year just closing leaves behind 
it many rocks that rise before us like huge moun- 
tains — lofty aspirations and cherished hopes have 
gone down into the vortex of hopeless failure and 
despair. Let all the past with good or of failure 
be a beacon light to guide us in the future. 

Great questions and momentous issues will 
confront our order in the year 1894, not only us 
but the whole of the laboring world. The pluto- 
crats of our country are daily growing stronger 
and more soulless, while labor is segregating 
and drifting apart as the Indians of North Amer- 
ica have done. Unless we, as laboring men of 
thought and reason, corns closer together and 
live upon a general platform of all for each and 
each fora//. I greatly fear th %t 1S94 will witness 
many a defeat for the laboring masses and 


a step upward and a stronger foothold 
gained for dishonest plutocracy. The hungry 
wolf may spare the lamb, but there is no 
record in heaven or on earth where thd 
sordid, selfish, grasping plutocrat ever gave 
justice to humanity only at the end of the law 
or to decoy the masses into their net for greater 
gains. Let the laboring people of America stop 
and reflect, and then l^t all get into line— get in 
close touch with each other, and all work for the 
betterment of humanity. Division 175 is enlisted 
on the side of right, and that for the whole of the 
war, nor will we give up the fight until victory is 
inscribed on our banner. Equal rights for all, 
special privileges for none, and justice for all. 
May the new year, 1894, open more propitious 
for the poor of our land, and may its closing re- 
cord more of joy and less of sorrow than the 
year 1893, just closed. 

Wishing our grand officers and our brothers 
of the order a happy and prosperous new year, 

I am. very truly, 

W. H. Sebring, Div. Cor 


Wilkes Barkb, Pa., Dec 21. 1S93. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Since writing my last letter the strike on the 
Lehigh Valley has been declared off, and that in 
the fulfillment of the hope I then expressed 
Truth compels me to admit, however, that all of 
the old employes of the system are njt thoroughly 
satisfied. Some of the boys do not. nor can you 
make them, understand why every man was not 
given his old place back at once. I am confident, 
though, that everything will come around right if 
we only have patience and are not too hasty 
Charges have been made against the grand officers 
by some of our city papers; even going so far as to 
accuse them of selling out, but the papers m iking 
those accusations are not responsible. Bro. Wil- 
kins was here on the 15th inst and fixed up the 
pay roll. On that date we had twenty-four con- 
ductors working out of thirty-three. 

In order to show just what a railroad official 
thinks of a "scab,” or puttiog it milder, “a Philo- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


pern/' (see Shehan's telegraphic C. C., 1892), I 
mast quote to you from the recent experience of 
two of our members. Shortly after the close of 
(be strike tb^y met a division superintendent of 
the Lehigh Valley who greeted them with a warm 
hand*shake and was in every way as cordial as 
though nothing had happened. During the prog- 
ress of the conversation the superintendent 
assured them he liked men of the r kind as he 
could depend upon their doing all they promised. 
They had given evidence of this honesty of pur- 
pose by standing by their obligations and by their 
brethren during the trouble just ended. The 
msu who stood by the company, however, he re- 
garded as no men at all, and felt that they were 
not to be depended upon, whatever might be 
their professions. If th?y did not have the maa- 
hood to stand by their obligations he could not 
rest in assurance of their good faith when prom- 
ising allegiance to the company and could never 
be certain of finding them where they were want- 
ed at any time during the strike. Ha always 
knew where to find those who took a manly stand, 
*uch as had the two Brothers with whom he was 
talking, and could not but respect them for it, 
knowing they would abide by what they thought 
was right without thought for the consequences 
to themselves. From this we can see what thanks 
a man gets for mak ng himself an object for all 
true men to point the finger of scorn at ; and 
allow me to say right here, that I for one can 
have no good thought, word or wish for any mem- 
ber who not oaly so disgraces himself but in so 
doing casts a slur upon the Order to which he is 
obligated. 

Perhaps I had better drop the strike business 
here, and confine myself to giviag the news from 
Division 160 I am more than glad to be able to 
report that we had oaly two " Philopenas ” 
among all our members. I was running baggage 
for Bro. H afford when the strike was ordered. 
We came out that morning to run an extra, but 
were delayed ten minutes in starting, on account 
of Bro. Hufford being that much late, causing 
us to miss all our connections. On coming back 
we had two hours for dinner and were then to 
go oat on our regular run. When I had the train 
ready and pulled down to the station I learned 
that Bro. Hufford had been suspended for being 
late in the morning, and that M. Gillespie (Philo- 
peoa) was there to take his place. When the 
strike took place they sent for Bro. Hufford and 
be went back to work, continuing until he was 
taken sick a few days after. He was told if he 
would stay away from work he would be put on 
the pay roll, but replied that when he was well 
he would report for work ; he did not care wheth- 


33 

er the strike was on or not. Bro. Marsden, the 
other member of our Division who "Philo- 
penaed," claims he was not notified we were to 
strike, or that he did not vote. He was the first 
man on this division who was asked to vote, and 
his excuse then was he would like to sea the engi- 
neers vote first. Now, ^Brother, I would like to 
have your opinion on the above in our January 
issue. 

[The editorial clipping from the Elmira, N. Y.. 
Telegram on the subject of "scabs,” given in the 
December Conductor, so completely answers 
Bro. Finley's request that we reproduce the most 
pertinent portions of it here; 

"If a lot man are out of work and there is an 
opportunity presented to secure employment dur- 
ing such a Labor upheaval as now exists between 
the Lehigh officers and its employes, it is perfect- 
ly natural, if not perfectly proper, that such men. 
bound by no previous voluntarily assumed obli- 
gation, are anxious to secure the situations thus 
made vacant. Self-preservation is the fitst law 
of nature, and it generally affects all human be- 
ings alike. But any man who will, of his own 
volition, join a lodge, order or brotherhood sub- 
scribe to its by-laws, take a solemn obligation to 
stand by his fellows, reap the benefits of the or- 
der during its days of prosperity, and then turn 
on brothers during the days of adversity, and re- 
fuse to strike, when a majority vote for a strike, 
is a dirty, stinkiag specimen of a half-baked hu- 
man being. A decent boss, clear down to the in. 
nermost depths of his own manly heart, hates a 
man of this make-up far more than he does the 
‘striker,’ who, though he may be opposing said 
boss's wishes, and interfering with said boss's 
financial and business interests, has the manhood 
to stand by his comrades, and the courage and 
conscience to respect the obligation of his own 
solemn oath. As we understand it. no compul- 
sion is used to induce engineers, firemen, conduc- 
tors or trainmen to join their respective orders. 
They join of their own free will, or remain out- 
side of the organizations, as they may each indi- 
vidually elect. But any man, after voluntarily 
attaching himself to any such order, who violates 
his solemn obligation, simply to retain his situa- 
tion, instead of standing up and taking his medi- 
cine, with the rest of his brothers, like a little 
man. is a sneak and a traitor, by the side of 
whom J adas Iscariot and Benedict Arnold were 
mere pigmies. " — Ed.] 

Our annual election was held on Djcember 17, 
and as a result the following officers will look 
after the interests of Division 163 during the 
coming year: W. H. Hubble, C. C.; S. D. 
Brown, A. C. C.; J. H. Keithline (Old Reliable) 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


S. and T. ; James Corrigan, S. C.; John Rooney, 
J. C ; John Keithline, I. S.; Tnomas Kelley, O. 
S. Trustees: James Finley, W. H. Hubble, 
John Taw. 

Wd have now a membership of abiut 85, but 
expect to increase to 100 during the next few 
months. I know the brothers will be glad to 
hear that our worthy brother, John F. Cava- 
naugh, has purchased a boot and shoe store in our 
city and will be pie ised to have all brother rail- 
road men call on him. 

Hoping that when you hear from me again all 
the brothers will be back in their ol i places, and 
the company will have regained its good old 
name of the 1 'always popular" Lehigh Valley, and 
wishing you and the order in general a merry 
Christmas and a happy New Year, I remain, 
Yours in P. F., 

Jambs Finley, Cor. Div. No. 160. 


Mobbrly, Mo., December 27, 1893. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Another year is almost numbered with the past, 
and how many brothers can say, “I have done 
my duty as a member of the Order ”? I hope all 
can, but I fear a great many cannot honestly say 
"I have done my whole duty." Let all make 
resolutions to give more attention to the work of 
our divisions in the years to come, and when they 
are past we will have no regrets. The kindness 
the Brothers met with from Brothers in the west 
on their trip to California is the topic here dis- 
cussed. You can hear them say, " Why is it not 
so here ?" It can be if we will endeavor to make 
it so. Division 49 is still holding meetings the 
first and third Sundays of each month, at Engi- 
neer's Hall, but I am sorry to say some of the 
members are not giving much attention to them, 
especially among the passenger men. It is sel- 
dom a passenger man is seen in Division room, 
and there is never a meeting day but there are 
some of them in the city. The coming year 
should be a prosperous one for Division 49. All 
the officers are on runs that have their "lay over" 
here on Sunday,' so that there will be no excuse 
for their not attending. They cannot, however, 
succeed without the assistance of the other mem- 
bers. Our officers for the coming year are : 
J. W. Canatsy, C. C.; W. A. Sours, A. C. C.; 
Claud Cushwa, S. C.; Mike Lynch, J. C.; H. H. 
Brewer, S. and T. ; H. E. Whittenberger. I. S ; 
Frank Mead, O. S.; Ed. Cory, R. C. Murry, H. 
S. Kratzsinger, Division Committee. 

I would call the attention of brothers to Sec. 5, 
Art. VII of the statutes. I di not think our mem- 
bers should wait for the divisions to enforce this 
section, but should of their own free will comply. 


There are members working here, and have been 
for years, who still belong to divisioos at a dis- 
tance. We also have members working on other 
roads who should be required to transfer Not 
that I wish their names taken from our rolls but 
for the benefit of the individual member and the 
Order in general. 

If Sec 3, Art. VII of the statutes is enforced 
the members will be a great deal better posted, 
and I hope to see it enforced to the letter in our 
division. 

Wishing Thb Conductor and all members of 
the Order a happy and prosperous New Year. 
I am 

Yours Fraternally, J. 


St. Paul, Minn., December 30, 1893. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

It has been some time since you have heard 
from St. Paul Division No. 40. It seems very 
hard to get any of our members to accept the 
dignified office of division correspondent, conse- 
quently there is no one to perform that duty, and 
that is why Division 40 is very seldom heard of 
through The Railway Conductor. It may in- 
terest some of our brothers in other parts of the 
country to know how we are getting along up here 
in the North Star state. Division 40 has a mem- 
bership of 225, and each year our roster increases 
in number. Our net gain in 1893 has been sev- 
enteen. Our sister. Minneapolis Division No. 

1 17, located 10 miles up the creek, has a member- 
ship of 130. So the twins, "Minnie and Paul," 
represent a membership of 355. These two di- 
visions can boast of having a team that is equal 
to any emergency whether it be in the state legis- 
lature fighting for the anti scalpers bill, or as 
delegates in the grand division, making laws for 
our order. I refer to Bro. J. D. Condit, of Di- 
vision 40. and Bro. Geo. M. Miles, of Division 
1 1 7. Everything they undertake is bound to 
succeed, and now the prospects are that both will 
go to Washington, D. C.. to aid in the passage of 
some bill by congress that will forever put a stop 
to the sale of scalpers tickets. I can just imagine 
Bro. Condit sitting in a game of draw with the 
Hon. "Buck" Gilgore, of Texas, raising before 
the draw on a pair of nines. I'll bet two to one 
on Condit every time. If anyone doubts the 
ability of Brother Condit I request him to corre- 
spond with Brother J. J. McMannus. of Division 
40, who served on the anti-scalpers legislative 
committee last winter with Brothers Condit and 
Miles. He can vouch for the correctness of my 
statements. Sunday, December 17, Division 40 
held their annual election of officers and served a 
little goose and turkey on the side. We bad 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


present about 150 conductors, and consequently 
the meeting was a grand success. Division 40 
has adopted the custom of serving refreshments 
each .year at the annual meeting, and I think it 
is money well spent, for it brings the members 
together and gives them a chance to discuss mat- 
ters that are of interest to us all. It creates a 
good fellowship that can't soon be erased from 
our minds. Several stories were related by 
Brothers Condit and Monty, which fully satisfied 
all present why the management of the Omaha 
system have adopted the rule of sending their 
passenger conductors over every line of the system 
instead of leaving them on their regular runs same 
as heretofore. Space will not permit me to go 
into details, but by sending a two-cent stamp to 
Brother Condit you will receive full particulars 
by return mail. Sunday, December 24. Minne- 
apolis Division 117 held their annual meeting and 
served refreshments. Division 40 was invited 
and all the hungry members were present. In 
justice to Division 117, I must confess that their 
spread was three degrees ahead of Division 40, 
but even with all this extra food and drinks (cof- 
fee and water) I am sorry to say there was noth- 
ing left on the banquet tables within reach of 
any members of Division 40. It is rumored now 
that io future invitations to Division 40 will only 
be given one day in advance, as that will limit 
the time for fasting. Members on the Duluth 
railway please take warning, and in future eat a 
little more lunch at Hinckley. In conclusion, will 
say that my intentions were to only write a few 
words so as to let all know tnat we are prosper- 
ing and moving along peaceably, although just 
at present there are several wir clouds hanging 
over us, but it is hoped that the officials and the 
different organizations will come to some agree- 
ment satisfactory to all concerned. 

Yours in P. F., 

M. N. Goss. 


Portland, Oregon, Dec. 21, 1893. , 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

As letters are scarce in The Conductor from 
our part of the country, I will send a few lines in 
the hope that they may encourage others to push 
forward the good work. On December 2 an ex- 
cursion train of six Pullman sleepers and one 
bageage car arrived from Chicago over the Union 
Pacific road, occupied by two hundred persons, 
including members of the Conductor's Mutual 
Aid and their wives and sisters. A jollier, better 
looking crowd, and, I will add, a better behaved, 
never visited the city of Portland The train was 
run by our old and esteemed friend E. B. Coman, 
who was wide awake to the wants and interests of 


his charge. The party was met out on the line 
by different members of our division here, who 
had old-time friends from the east or middle 
states in the party, and it seemed like a genuine 
reunion to see the greetings of all on board. 
Conveyances were in waiting to carry the party 
to the Portland Hotel, where they had previously 
arranged to quarter. During Saturday night the 
party visited the theaters, Chinatown, the ships 
in the harbor, and other places of interest. Sun- 
day was spent in writing letters, street car and 
hack rides, and almost the entire party paid a 
visit to our division hall in the Opera Block, 
where we endeavored to entertain them with 
music and speaking. A very pleasant affair was 
the presentation of a beautiful onyx clock to 
Brother Joe Flory, by the excursion party. The 
presentation speech was made by Brother Joe 
Kirchbaum, and though Joe says this was his 
maiden speech, we are inclined to doubt it. 
Brother Flory was almost too full for utterance, 
but managed to thank the donors in a happy way. 
The party left here for San Francisco at 6 P. 
M., Sunday. Dec. 3, all jolly and happy. While 
we cannot probably compete with the cities of 
Denver or Frisco in the entertainment line, we 
hope that all went away feeling that they were 
welcome at Portland. Conductor Mort Young 
had charge of the train from Portland to Ash- 
land, near the California line. This was my first 
acquaintance with Brother Flory, the president 
of the association and in charge of the party, 
and I must say I commend the good judgment 
of the members in selecting such an able man as 
its leader. 

In all my railroad experience, for the first time, 
I did not have to switch certain cars in certain 
places or turn cars in the train. They left here 
in the opposite direction from which they arrived, 
and, when asked about it, Brother Flory said, 
“We have railroaded and we have sworn too 
much at other people for the same thing. We 
are like a Baldwin engine, we work both ways." 

Below is a bill of fare specially prepared by 
myself, and was served at a banquet given the 
visiting ticket punchers here. 

MENU. 

SOUP. 

Draw Bar with Black Oil and Brass Filings. 

ROAST. 

Car Wheels— Chief Dispatcher’s Sauce (by wire). Ham 
Operators with Small Salaries (cut). 

FRICASEE. 

Coupling Pins with Dope Sausage, Tough. Air Hose 

No. 2 and No. 4, Stuffed with Gravel. Track Bolts, 
with or without Nuts, Hot. 

MORE ROAST. 

Chief Dispatcher’s Roast at long range, replied to by 
Operator's Sass at long range. 



36 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


OYSTERS. 

No. a Bridge Washers, served hot on shovels. 

J4ASH. 

Made of Brake Dogs and Throttle Valves, served to box 
car passengers at full speed. 

EXTRAS. 

Railroad Frogs, served on fish plates, charged extra. 

MORE SOUP. 

Monkey Wrench Soup, thickened with Railroad Spikes, 
served in dope baskets. 

DRINKS. 

Conductor’s Punch, with Raw Ice. 
desert. (Near Pocatello.) 

Switch Locks Wrapped in Waste. Hot Box, served with 
Horse Chestnuts, red hot. Ice Cream served on 
top of smoke stack, at full speed. Brake 
Beams, seived with tramps 
under cover. 

CAKE. 

Car Wheels smothered with Sand Burs. 

Yoirrs, 

Sam Stewart. 

The above is dedicated to Brother Flory. 


Waukesha, Wis., Dec. 19, 1893. 
Editor Rail iv ay Conductor : 

When the Lehigh Valley company reconsidered 
its refusal to treat with committees of its em- 
ployes, which refusal had precipitated the strike, 
a notable victory was gained for organized labor. 
There never was a hard fought battle in which 
both sides did not sustain loss, and that is true in 
this case. The men went into the struggle with 
their eyes open, however, and bore themselves so 
well as to not only triumph but to win places on 
the honor roll kept sacred for those who fight 
labor’s battles manfully. Every working man in 
the country will feel the beneficent influences of 
the principles they so gallantly sustained. Every 
effort which tends to increase the stability of the 
toiler’s position and to add to his selfrespect, ad- 
vances him by just so much, toward that inde- 
pendence for which we all are striving. Con- 
stancy of employment and contentment will, in 
turn, add to the working value of the laborer and 
thus the employer will be benefitted. In my 
bumble opinion the Lehigh Valley strike will, 
through the principles it has sustained, do more 
good, eventually, for both employer and employe, 
than a score of laws such as have heretofore been 
passed ostensibly for the benefit of work- 
ing men. It is to be hoped that rail- 
road managers will take at least a por- 
tion of the lesson to be found in the out- 
come of this strike to heart, and hereafter submit 
differences to arbitration before appealing to 
more costly measures, only to be defeated in the 
end. They may safely determine that no unjust 
claim will long be upheld by a majority of their 


Bedford, Dec. 29, 1893. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Your bumble servant having been appointed) 
correspondent for The Con»uctor from Division 
No. 303, New Albany. Indiana, will make bis 
bow by sending you a list of officers elected and 
installed at our last meeting, December 24, which 
is as follows: 

S. M. Mathers, C. C., 151 Bank street; H. A. 
Hening, A. C. £.. 389 East Elm street; G. T. 
Weddell, S. and T,, 38 West Market street; R. 
T. Hinton, S. C., 208 East Fourth street; C. W. 
Toliver, J, C., 204 East Oak street; T. B. Hnb- 
bert, I. S., 450 East Oak street, New Albany, 
Indiana; Geo. Underwood, O.S., 1 16 Court avenue, 
Jefferson, Indiana. S. M. Mathers, Cipher Cor- 
respondent; W. M. Deuel, Journal Correspon- 
dent. 

As you know our division started about one 
year ago with about thirty-five members — mostly 
from No. 89 and the old Huntingburg division— 
and to-day we have a membership of eighty, 
debts all paid and a nice little balance on the 
right side of the ledger, of which we are quite 
proud, these hard times. We meet every Sunday 
at the corner of Pearl and Market streets, and a 
hearty welcome always awaits any visiting 
Brother. Give us a call if you want to see the 
best work done by the best team we have had the 
pleasure of seeing, even in ^divisions of a 
great deal more pretensions. The circular rela- 
tive to scalpers’ tickets was not received here 
with enthusiasm a good many thinking we were 
going into something outside our line of business 
as conductors, but all have enthusiastic praise for 
the manner in which our chief represented the 
conductors in the Lehigh Valley strike, and 
think we have the right man at the head. Hop- 
ing you will accept this first attempt as a corres- 
pondent, I remain Yours in P. F. , 

W. M. Deuel 
— . • — 

Cleveland, Ohio, Dec. 25, 1893. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

A merry Christmas to all. As the year ’93 i* 
about past, how many of us can look back and 
say we have done our duty to our noble order? 
How many can say, with a clear conscience, that 
they have not let a single chance pass, where they 
could have done good, without making an effort 
to improve it? Do we do our duty when we stay 
at home on meeting day just because we do not 
feel like going to the division room? Your 
answer must be no, and by that simple word you 
condemn yourselves. How often, as we come 
out of the division room, or the same day at 


M. McClain. least, we meet some Brother who asks, ’"what 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 3 7 

did you do to-day,” and “who was up there?” regular annual election of officers to-day, and the 
All these questions should be answered as I following named Brothers will hold the reins of 
answered them not long since, “If you want to office for the ensuing year: C. C., J. L. Hocker- 
know why just come up and see.” There*is one smith; A. C. C., C. C. Molan;S. and T., Wm. 
thing noticeable about these stay-away Brothers, Lewis; Sr. C., Frank Crockett; Jr. C., Roths- 
tbey are invariably good kickers and can find the child Vanderbilt Carter; I. S., A. C. Wyatt; O. 
division room as soon, if not sooner than the other S., C. C. Medley. 

class, if they are in trouble or think they don’t If Division 133 proves as prosperous as its C. 
get their rights. To them I want to say right C.’s name is long, and as famous as the name of 
here, that getting your degrees,, paying your dues its Jr. C., well might we all feel proud of her one 
and not attending division meetings does not con- year hence. The name of the S. and T. does not 
stitute the duties of a member of the Order. It strike one as anything unusual, but you will al- 
ls his imperative duty to attend every meeting of ways find him at the roll call (for dinner), and I 


bis divi&ion and do his kicking on the floor, and 
not in the conductors’ room or yard office in front 
of a lot of outsiders. Brothers, take a fool’s 
advice, and during ’94 attend every meeting pos- 
sible and help the officers of your division make 
the division a success, for they alone can not 
succeed. They expect your help and you are 
pledged to give it to them, and the only way is 
for you to come up to the rack and take your 
share of the work and make the old machine 
howl. Now, one thing more, and I will not in- 
trude any longer. The country is full of good 
conductors who are not members of the Order. 
Now, why is this? It is not a hard question to 
answer, but, nevertheless, it is a subject that 
should be looked into by every member of the 
Order. If a man is a good, competent conductor 
and eligible, we want him, and in nine cases out 
of ten we can get him if we go at it right. Most 
men can be reached via the pocket-book route, 
and when you show them that they can carry 
three thousand insurance in the Order for just 
about the same they can one thousand in the B. 
of R. T. you are on the right route. Now, 
Brothers, let’s all put our shoulddrs to the wheel 
and see if each and every one of us can’t bring 
in one new member this year. Thefre is one 
more subject I must speak of and I am done, and 
that is our unemployed members. Are you using 
your influence in their behalf? If not, why not? 
Situations on railways are a good deal like the 
proverbial flea and none of us know how soon we 
may be out in the cold, looking for a situation, and 
if you extend a helping hand when you are on 
top you are sure to have the same extended to 
you if it is your ill-fortune to be down. My 
good old mother taught me this maxim. “Do unto 
others as you would they should do unto you ” I 
remain Yours in P. F., 

“Brick.” 


Bowling Green, Ky., December 31, 1893. 
Editor Raihvay Conductor : 

The members of Division No. 133 held their 


predict for him a record in which his division, 
133, may take pride. 

The men on the L. & N. System for the last four 
months have had to labor under many disadvan- 
tages. On September 1 their wages were reduced 
ten per cent with a promise of restoration Decem- 
ber 1, but the restoration failed to make its meet- 
ing point on account of orders from the 
general manager. 

We were glad to see the stand made by the L. 
V. men. and the honors gained, and are only 
sorry that they were not taken back in a body. 
There is no doubt in my mind that the lesson will 
prove of lasting good to organized labor. 

It is with much satisfaction we note the im- 
provement in The Conductor. May it go on 
until it stands at the head of the list as a labor 
advocate. It would be well for every railroad 
man in the country to read and ponder over the 
letter from S. E. F., of Minneapolis, in the Dec. 
Conductor. While there are many who are 
practicing his preaching, others would do well to 
turn the famous New Year’s leaf and commence 

If any Brother at Ashley, Pa., meets one J. W. 
Stebbins’ claiming to be a member of the order, 
with pad and pencil in hand, do not take him for 
a crank. He is only a reporter on a paper, and 
if he makes as good a reporter as he is a member 
of the order, he will be a hustler. He belongs 
to 133 and is A 1. 

With the hope that the year 1894 will be a 
prosperous year for the order, both numerically 
and financially. I am most respectfully, 

Yours in P. F . 

Rambler. 


Louisville, Ky., Dec. 18, 1893. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The charter of Monon Division No. 89 is again 
draped in mourning. That grim monster. Death, 
has invaded our ranks and claimed for his own, 
while yet in the vigor and prime of manhood, our 
much loved brother, Henry Adkins We have 
just returned from paying the last sad duty we 
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38 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


owe to the dead, and ere we return to busy life 
again, I will, in my humble way, tell you some- 
thing of the manner of his death. It was an acci- 
dent, and a very sad one. Brother Adkins in com- 
pany with his son, a lad of fourteen, left home 
last Saturday evening to go to the Mississippi 
Valley R. R. office to turn in his reports. That 
done they boarded a passenger train that would 
take them within a square and a half of home. In 
attempting to get off at Fourteenth Street and 
Broadway, Brother Adkins lost his balance and 
fell between the platforms, and both trucks of the 
sleeper passed over his legs above the knees, man- 
gling them horribly. This happened at 6:15 p. 
m., just forty minutes after he left home, and he 
died at eight o'clock. Brother Adkins was forty- 
fivp years old, a member of the Christian Church, 
a kind, loving father, a good citizen and a first- 
class railroad man. The remains were taken to 
Elizabethtown, Ky., this morning for burial, the 
funeral being in charge of Monon Division No. 
89 The C., O. & S. W. railroad furnished a 
special train free of charge to take those who 
wished to attend the funeral to Elizabethtown. 
The special was given right of way over all trains 
both ways. 

The train left Fourteenth and Broadway, which 
is only a short distance from the late home of 
Brother Adkins, at 9:45 o’clock. It wasin charge of 
Brother A 1 Crockett and Engineer William Curty. 
About fifty conductors with their families were on 
the train. 

The services were conducted by the Rev. T. B. 
Bottomley and the Rev. C. W. Hicks, of this 
city. At the grave the beautiful ritual of the Or- 
der of Railway Conductors was rendered under 
the directions of J. G. Harrison, C. C. of Monon 
Division No. 89. 

The pall bearers were Conductors Henry Mc- 
Kenney, J. J. Kerten, R. P. Carter and Jas. Con- 
nor, of the C., O. & S. W., and I. Wright 
and W. A Ross, of the Louisville and Nashville 
railroad After the interment at Elizabethtown 
the funeral party returned to this city Rest to 
his ashes, peace to bis soul. The boys of Monon 
Division will not soon forget the officials of the 
C., O. & S. W. for extending the courtesies of the 
road to the family and friends of our dead 
brother. 

Monon Division has suffered greatly by death 
and sickness in the last year, but we are still in 
ship shape and will begin the new year with 
plenty of hope and a cheerful spirit. Though we 
have five or six good brothers on the sick list, 
those of us whom God has blessed with health and 
plenty will take care of them. Business is pain- 


fully dull on roads leading out of here. All mar- 
kets are dull, even the matrimonial market. 

No one getting married, breaking into banks 
(theyareall busted), into penitentiary and but few 
into jail. The serpent of the still is the only thing 
that eeeras to be flourishing in this ' ‘hand made, 
sour mashed, copper distilled" country of ours, 
but bis snakeship must be feeling somewhat the 
dullness of the times from what I overheard one 
of his clients say the other day. He said: "You 
know times must be dull when a fellow can’t git 
a dime to git a drink with." I judged from that, 
that he expected the first dime, and if the "fel- 
low" happened to have two, why he might get a 
steak for the family with it. But, Mr. Editor, for 
fear I am imposing on your time I will bring this 
lengthy communication to a close by extending to 
you and all the Order the warmest of the season’s 
greetings. Yours in P. F., 

Short Lins. 


Roll Away. 

Roll your ball of snow, children, 

Roll your ball of snow I 

The more you roll your snowball up. 

The bigger it will grow. 

Roll a kind thought round, children, 

Roll it all around! 

Until it gathers all kind thoughts, 

That gentle hearts have found. 

— January St . Nicholas . 

* * 

# 

Going Him One Better. — Watts — "I had sup- 
posed that excessively high heels were out of fash- 
ion, but I saw a woman on the street to-day with 
heels on her shoes fully two inches high." 

Potts — That’s nothing. I saw a woman on the 
stage laet night, the heels of whose shoes were 
higher than her head. — Indianapolis Journal. 

V 

Actress — You are a divo ce lawyer, I under- 
stand ? 

Lawyer — Yes, madam ; I secure divorces with- 
out publicity. 

Actress — Urn — I'm io the wrong office. Good 
day. — New York Weekly. 

V 

The Way of a Mean Man. — Mrs. Suttle (insin- 
uating!) ) — John, Mrs. Swiftly's husband has just 
bought her a lovely sealskin cloak 

Mr. Suttle — I always said Swiftly had a wheel 
in his head — Chicago Record. 


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Chicago Jc., Ohio, Dec. n, 1893. 
Editor Raihvay Conductor: 

At our last regular meeting, held December 7, 
1893. we had our annual election of officers in 
Myrtle Division No. 25, L. A. to O. R. C., for 
the ensuing year. The choice of the division 
was found to be as follows: Sister C. A. Cross, 
President; Sister W. H. Budd, Vice-President; 
Sister D E. Hilgartner, Secretary and Treasurer; 
Sister J. L. Slagle, Senior S. ; Sister B. C. Lewis, 
Junior S.; Sister J. M. Wray, Guard: Sister J. 
W. Crooks, Cbairmanjof the Executive Commit- 
tee; Sister Jas. Duncan. Corresponding Secre- 
tary. 

The Order, in a general way, is in a 
flourishing condition, and we feel proud, as 
we have just moved into our new O. R. C. Hall, 
lam Very truly in T. F., 

Mrs. D. E. Hilgartner, 

Secy, and Treas. No. 25. 


Port Huron, Mich., Dec. 20, 1893. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

As it is sometime since anything has appeared 
in The Conductor in behalf of Michigan Divis- 
ion No. 32 L. A. to O. R. C., perhaps the 
friends generally, will be interested in knowing 
that we are alive and prospering nicely for new 
beginners, our division having been organized 
only since April 5 last, but under very efficient 
officers. 

Our meetings are held on the first and third 
Fridays of each month, in Maccabee Temple, 
which is one of the neatest and most commodious 
buildings in this city. At our last meeting the 
following officers were elected for the ensuing 
year: 

President, Mrs. Helen McIntyre; Vice-President, 
Mrs. Hannah Wilson; Secretary and Treasurer, 
Mrs. Minnie Woodward; Senior Sister, Mrs. 
Flora Heramingway; Junior Sister, Mrs. Aggie 
Davis; Guard, Mrs. Jessie Deforge; Chairman of 
Executive Committee, Mrs. Kate McCarthy. 

The installation of officers will take place on 
Friday afternoon, January 5, 1894, when the ap- 


pointive offices will be filled. I will now con- 
clude by wishing all a merry, merry Christmas 
and a happy New Year. Correspondent. 

Lima, Ohio, December 18, 1893. 
Editor Raihvay Conductor : 

It is with pleasure I write you from Lima Di- 
vision No. 27. We have not a very large member- 
ship, but our meetings are very pleasant. Our 
prospects are very encouraging for this, our sec- 
ond year. 

December 14 we had the pleasure of entertain- 
ing as our guests Grand President Mrs. J. H. 
Moore, of Toledo; Mrs. J. M. Sewel, and Mrs. 
T. B. Bussert, of Erie Division. Mrs. Moore 
assisted us in our election, which resulted in the 
choice of the following officers for the ensuing 
year : 

Mrs. E. H. Mattice, President; Mrs. A. L. 
Heath, Vice-President; Mrs. A. N. Ridenour, Sec- 
retary and Treasurer; Mrs. W. W. Arnstrong, 
Senior Sister; Mrs. J. R. Gunther, Junior Sister; 
Mrs. T. Mulcahy, Guard. 

In the evening all members accompanied by 
their husbands were handsomely entertained at 
the residence of our sister, Mrs. W. W. Arn- 
strong. The evening was pleasantly passed in 
music, cards, etc. Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. E. H. Mattice, Cor. Sec’y. 


Cleveland, O., December 15, 1893. 
Editor Raihvay Conductor : 

Bethlehem Division No. 1, L A. to O. R. C., 
being first on the list of the division directory in 
The Railway Conductor, is desirous also of be- 
ing among the first to report the result of the 
election of officers for the ensuing year. The 
election took place at our regular meeting De- 
cember 14, the officers-elect being as fjllows: 
Sister S. N. Pennell, President; Sister O. N. 
Pomeroy, Vice-President; SisterS. L. McCutchin, 
Secretary and Treasurer; Sister Frank Stone, Sen- 
ior Sister; Sister E. B. Blake, Junior Sister; Sister 
P. Raleigh, Guard; Sister Geo. Milliken, Chairman 
Executive Committee; Sister C. P. Hodges, Corre- 
spondent. 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


The above list comprises an entire new list of 
officers, with tne exception of secretary and treas- 
urer and correspondent, the latter leaving the 
president’s chair and taking her place at the 1 foot 
of the class" with alacrity and cheerfulness, for 
"The last shall be first and the first shall be last," 
you know. 

The election passed off very pleasantly inde°d, 
and all concede that a very able corps of officers 
will fill our chairs next year. 

The retiring officers, and especially the presi- 
dent, extend grateful thanks to the members for 
the kind support and consideration which has 
been tendered them during the past term, and 
feel sure the new officers will deserve and receive 
the same, 

Arrangements are being made for a,n entertain- 
ment in the near future, and judging by past 
events of this kind, everyone attending is assured 
a grand good time beforehand. 

As many others will no doubt wish space to 
make similar reports I will make this letter short, 
and hope the Ladies’ Department may be full to 
overflowing with good news and good cheer for 
our auxiliary. Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. C. P. Hodges, 

No. 5 Fairfield st., Cleveland, O. 


Memphis, Tenn., January i, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Bluff City Division No. 29, Ladies Auxiliary of 
O. R. C., at their last meeting elected the follow- 
ing officers for the ensuing year: 

Mrs. Sam Dustan, President; Mrs. L. Aucoin, 
Vice-President; Mrs. J. C. Perkins, Secretary and 
Treasurer; Mrs. G. A. Robinson, Senior Sister, 
Mrs. L. L. Fairbanks, Junior Sister; Mrs. Frank 
Downey, Guard; Mrs. Harry McDonald, Chair- 
man Executive Committee; Mrs. W. H. Sebring, 
Corresponding Secretary. 

Although our division is in its infancy, scarce 
a year old, we have about forty members and ac- 
tive workers. Our meetings are well attended, 
yet we might have larger gatherings, which would 
be greatly enjoyed as well as beneficial to our 
members. Our secretary and treasurer for the 
past term, Mrs. Sam Dustan, has been untiring 
in her duties. She, with other officers, wanted 
rest, so we made changes, but of places, not mem- 
bers. The best of good feeling prevailed. Our 
organization has done its share of charitable 
work. Truly there has been need of charity in 
these most disastrous times. Our prayers are 
that we may be able to continue all charitable 
works, but that with the new year will come 
prosperity and less need for such aid; that the 
prospects will brighten for our people. Less en- 


slavement of our working classes is also our hope, 
but with little or nothing to base upon. Still 
we shall pray God’s blessings upon our people, 
and particularly upon our band of Brothers and 
Sisters, and all loved ones. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. W. H. S. 


New Year Greetings. 

Toledo, Ohio. Dec. 18, 1893. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

So much has been crowded into the past six 
months, so swiftly have the days passed on, I al- 
most wonder where I am, and can hardly realize 
the winter is with us, but one glance is con- 
vincing. I realize, ere long, another year will 
have passed away. A new one, with all its hopes 
and fears, we are about to enter upon. As is the 
custom, and who does not respect the customs 
of the times in which he lives, as we begin the 
year let us cast aside all that will in aoy way pre- 
vent our starting the new year as we should. As 
an organization we enter upon the new year with 
much to encourage us. The prospects are, we 
will establish our work in many places where 
heretofore we were not known. So many ques- 
tions are asked in regard to the Ladies Auxiliary 
that I take this opportunity to state, the objects 
for which the association is formed are: to unite 
the interests of the wives of members of the 
Order of Railway Conductors for moral and 
social improvement; to secure to the members 
support and assistance in times of sickness and 
distress, and to co-operate with the Order of 
Railway Conductors in further extending their 
interests and membership. I urge upon divisions, 
and this means every member we have, the fact 
that our opportunities for doing better work are 
universal. The Fair and the panic both naturally 
detracted from our work. The new year ca Is 
for our best efforts. One of the true incentives 
to any work, is interest. The great interest that 
is now manifest in woman’s work surely meets 
the approval of all who have given the subject 
any consideration. Women who are interested in 
any particular line of work will find inspiration 
in associating with women whose naturd tenden- 
cies are in the same direction. This applies to 
our work. We are benefited in every respect by 
coming in contact and being associ ited with 
women of corresponding interests The trouble 
with us wpmen, in our attempts to establish our 
work, has been in the fact that we have not 
made a study of it. We do not as perfectly 
understand the good or evil which will result 
from certain proposed reforms as we should if we 
hope to work intelligently When we have pro* 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


411 


posed reforms they have become impracticable, 
why? Because we think too little of the possi- 
bilities they represent. The destructive force of 
individual greed and selfishness is at work in 
every organization. This power will sap the 
vitality out of the strongest order ever instituted; 
we should take measures to avert impending 
dangers resulting therefrom. An organization 
with selfish interests is hurtful. Let one of the 
hmdamental principles of our Order bt, "of the 
Order, for the Order, by the Order." 

If this Order is a benefit to the wives of rail- 
way conductors it has a right to exist even though 
it does not inure to the benefit of those not inter- 
ested Our methods compare favorably with 
those of like orders. It is not so much the oppo- 
sition we meet that retards our growth, as it is 
the indifference of our members. If every mem- 
ber we have begins the new year with a resolve to 
do some work for our cause this year, what great 
things we may accomplish. 

The “Dustan Medal,*’ presented to the Grand 
Division by Sister Dustan, Secretary of Division 
No 29. of Memphis, Tennessee, to be given the 
subordinate division which has the best record 
for the time it has been organized, is in my pos- 
session. When the annual statement of the Grand 
Secretary is submitted I will take pleasure in 
presenting the medal to the division entitled to 
it. The medal was made by the C. S. Hook Co., 
of Memphis, Tennessee. It is beautiful, indeed. 
It is the size of a silver dollar; its face represents 
our emblem, and on the back is inscribed, “Pre- 
sented to the Grand Division by Mrs. Sam Dus- 
tan. 1893" All divisions heard from in regard to 
the medal are enthusiastic and express a desire to 
be fortunate enough to capture it. The condi- 
tions are so considerate, being based upon the 
best report for the number of members, that our 
smallest divisions are given an equal chance to 
compete for the prize. Sister Dustan’s desire to 
increase the interest and further extend our 
work, ifieets the hearty approval of all. The 
many words of praise we are receiving for her 
are well merited, and our greatest appreciation 
of the generous gift will be evinced by earnestly 
striving to secure the medal. With a merry 
holiday greeting for all, I am 

Yours in T. F. , 

Mrs. J H. Moore, G. P. 


St. Louis, Mo., December 9, 1893. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

With the beginning of our new year of work 
St. Louis Division No. 11, L. A. to O. R. C., 
wishes to fall in line in the columns of The Con- 


ductor where we have heretofore had no repre- 
sentation. 

We meet regularly the first and third Thurs- 
days in each month, at Anchor Hall, corner 
Jefferson and Park ave., where any sister will be 
sure of a cordial welcome from one and all of us. 
Though we are in the midst of a great railroad- 
centre, in “this great city full, ” how few there 
are of us! But we are hopeful for the future. 
How many a homesick wife, who is necessarily 
left alone a great part of her time by her hus- 
band's duties, could be cheered and comforted by 
the warm words of greeting from - our Sisters, if 
they would but let us reach them; the husband is 
a member of his division, why is it not his duty 
to let some Brother who has a wife in the Auxil- 
iary know of the wife at home, who is, perhaps, 
“a stranger in a strange land?" Of course I 
speak as one in a city. In smaller towns strangers 
are not so inaccessible. 

One of our Sisters has proposed what we all 
think is a good plan to replenish our treasury, and 
also increase sociability among us. A tea is to 
be given once each month at the residence of 
some Sister, beginning alphabetically, each Sister 
attending to pay ten cents, and also try to bring, 
a non-member as a guest. If the menu is too 
elaborate the hostess will be fined one dollar. As 
gossip is prohibited it is hoped that each hostess 
will try and arrange something of a literary or 
musical character. We can alt read, some can 
sing or plaj\ How much pleasure and amuse- 
ment can be derived from the study of some good 
book, while fingers are busy with the many bits 
of work which all women delight in. We are all 
housekeepers and homekeepers as well, and to 
many of us, I know, an afternoon devoted to rest 
and entertainment, and entire absence from 
household duties, and the “cares which infest the 
day," will be of lasting benefit. Who knows to 
what heights we may yet attain? The first tea 
will be given on the second Thursday in January, 
by Sister Arnold, the originator of the idea, and 
first in alphabetical order. In this manner we 
hope to reach many conductors* wives, and also 
add to our funds. 


We have just passed through the ordeal of our 
second annual ball, which was a success socially 
if we did not come off with flying colors finan- 
cially. 

To those of us who had the benefit of the con- 
vention at Toledo, and met the many representa- 
tive women from all over the broad land, banded 
together for the mutual elevation and advance- 
ment of their Sisters, to us, as to them, it has surely 
been an inspiration and an incentive to mor^ 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


42 

earnest, zealous work; not only helping us, but 
our husbands and families. 

Though we may not have the least possible 
chance of securing the Dustan medal, much char- 
itable work is being done in a quiet way. We 
have no trumpeter to sound our good deeds 
abroad, but perhaps what is done is as effective 
because done quietly. 

December 7th the annual election of officers 
was held. Our worthy and efficient president, 
Mrs. Frank Gillan, was re-elected by acclama- 
tion. The subordinate officers were all changed; 
but if the new ones fulfill the duties assigned 
them as faithfully as their predecessors, we will 
have a good record for the coming year. The 
election passed off pleasantly with none of the 
heart burning usually attributed to the gatherings 
of women of whatsoever degree. 

As I have been chosen to represent our division 
in the columns of The Conductor I hope to ob- 
tain the privilege of a little space each month. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. Jno. B. French, 

Cor. Sec'y Division No. n. 


Denver, January 2, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

I thought as you had not heard from this Divi- 
sion L. A to O. R. C. for some time, I would at 
least send the information that we not only live, 
but are very lively and prosperous in spite of 
hard times, panics, railroad receivers; demonetiza- 
tion of silver and numerous other obstacles. Our 
Division, No. 23, thought we had just the best 
and most capable President, and that all our offi- 
cers were just suited for the positions they filled, 
but December 8th was the day for the annual 
election of officers, and as they all positively re- 
fused to serve any longer, we had to elect new 
ones with the following result; President, Mrs. 
J. J. Bresnahan; Vice President, Mrs. W. W. 
Hinkley; Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. A. M. 
Ladd; Senior Sister, Mrs. W. P. Ogden; Junior 
Sister, Mrs. M. B. Smith; Guard, Mrs. J. H. 
Myers; Chairman Executive Committee. Mrs. F. 
C. Shea; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. L. 
Greer. 

December 22nd was our next meeting and in- 
stallation of officers At the close of the meet- 
ing Mrs Kissick. our First President, was 
presented with a beautiful pin and badge, the 
emblem of our order, by the Division, Mrs. 
Bresnahan making the presentation speech. Mrs. 
Kissick was so taken by surprise that for a mo- 
ment she could not say anything, but quickly re- 
covering herself she was equal for the occasion, 
as usual, and replied in words of kind apprecia- 


tion. Then Mrs. Hinkley arose, and in a nice 
little speech presented Mrs. Graham, the outgo- 
ing President, with a beautiful, souvenir spoon, 
the gift also of the Division. Mrs. Graham re- 
plied with words of thanks. Then the formal 
proceedings closed and all the members and one 
visitor sat down to an elegant banquet, provided 
by the outgoing officers, presided over by Mrs. 
Kissick, who made us another fine speech. All 
did ju^ice to the table and enjoyed the social 
hour. We felt that the women were not behind 
the men in their ability to make speeches and 
know how to select officers, for we feel that we 
have a very capable set of new officers and know 
how to have an enjoyable time, and that 
we shall succeed admirably when we come to use 
our new privilege of citizenship. We are very 
proud of our Division, and think it one of the 
best, if not the best, in the land, for you know 
Denver is noted for being the best and having 
the best of everything and doing the best things, 
and Denver Division No. 23, of L. A to O. R. 
C., will not spoil that record. G. 

• 

A Pleasant Surprise. 

The Cleveland, Ohio, World , of January 3, 
contained the following that will be found of 
especial interest by the readers of this depart- 
ment: *‘A very pleasant surprise was tendered 
Mrs. C. P Hodges, past president of Bethlehem 
Division. No. 1, Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Order 
of Railway Conductors, on Saturday afternoon 
of last week, by a goodly number of the members 
calling in a body at her house, at 5 Fairfield 
street, and presenting her with a set of elegant 
solid silver spoons. All enjoyed the complete 
surprise, and by invitation of the hostess many 
remained to partake of a lunch which was hur- 
riedly set forth. The delightful gift, together 
with the assurance of the kind feeling existing, is 
much appreciated." 

■ 

Home at Night. 

When chirping crickets fainter cry v 
And pale stars blossom in the sky, 

And twilight's gloom has dimmed the bloom 
And blurred the butterfly; 

When locust blossoms fleck the walk, 

And up to the tiger lily stalk. 

The glow worm crawls and clings and falls 
And glimmers down the garden walls; 

When buzzing things and double wings 
Of crisp and raspish flutterings. 

Go whizzing by so very nigh 
One thinks of fangs and stings; 

O. then, within, is stilled the din, 

Of crib she rocks the baby in. 

And heart and gate and latch’s weight 
Are lifted, and the lips of Kate. 

— James Whitcomb Riley. 

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Mutual Insurance — Action on Life Certificate — 

Railway Employes Association — Evidence — 

By-Laws. 

In an action in chancery wherein complainant 
obtained a decree, defendant appealing, held. 

1. In such action against a mutual benefit so- 
ciety to recover for death loss, an unsworn cer- 
tificate of the doctor who attended the decedent 
in his last illness, to the effect that the de- 
cedent contracted the disease of which he died 
before he joined the society is inadmissible as 
evidence of that fact, even though the certificate 
was enclosed with or attached to the proofs of 
death served on the society. 

2. Where the constitution of a mutual benefit 
society provided that mortuary assessments 
would be made only by authority of the board of 
directors, and the by-laws made it the duty of the 
Monetary, in case of a member’s death, to submit 
the proofs of death to the board, ancf declared 
that with their indorsement and the approval of 
the president, an assessment should be made; 
Held, that these provisions did not leave the 
making of an assessment, in case proper proofs of 
death were presented, to the mere discretion of the 
board. 

3. That the fact that a membership certificate 
of such society contains no promise to pay mort- 
uary benefits does not relieve the society from the 
duty of paying the same, where provisions to that 
effect are found in the constitution and by-laws, 
since they are considered as part of the member- 
ship certificate. 

4. Where the first paragraph of a certain 
article of the constitution of such society provided 
that all claims against the society should be re- 
ferred to the board of directors, and be paid by 
the secretary upon approval of a majority of the 
board, while the second paragraph declared that 
it should be the board’s duty to examine all books 
and accounts of the society, know that its busi- 
ness is properly conducted, and "decide all points 
of dispute and questions of doubt that may arise; 
and their decision shall be final;” Held , that the 
questions on which the directors’ decision was to 


be final were those that might arise from examin- 
ation of its accounts and management of its busi- 
ness, and did not include the right to decide final- 
ly claims against the association for mortuary 
benefits. 

5. That such suits in equity must be com- 
menced in the county wherein the complainant re- 
sides, notwithstanding Chap. 73, Rev. Stat. 1891, 
declares that such companies are not subject to 
the laws of the state relating to fire and life in- 
surance, but shall comply with all the require- 
ments of the act, the intent of which is to exempt 
such associations from complying with the re- 
quirements of the general insurance law. 

Railway Passenger and Freight Conductors' 
Mut. Aid Ass'n v. Robinson , Ills. S. C., Oct. 27, 
1893. (Rehearing denied Dec. 21, 1893. 

Waiver of Forfeiture — Authority of Officers — 

Estoppel — Reinstatement — Concealment of 

Fact — Application — Family. 

1. The certificate sued on provided that a 
waiver of any forfeiture must be in writing, 
sighed by the secretary and one other officer, 
previously authorized, but no form of waiver was 
prescribed, nor was the authority required to be 
in writing. Held, that where the insured incur- 
red a forfeiture by non-payment of assessments, 
and afterwards paid the company's assistant 
cashier, taking therefor receipts purporting to 
have been signed by the secretary and cashier, it 
will be presumed that the officers signing and is- 
suing the receipts were duly authorized. 

2. When a mutual life association receives 
payment of defaulted premiums or assessments 
on a certificate of membership, and recognizes 
the insured as a member, it is afterward pre- 
cluded from claiming a forfeiture as for non-pay- 
ment of such assessments. 

3. Where insured was reinstated to member- 
ship of defendant association on the payment of 
defaulted assessments while he was suffering 
from the disease which eventuated in his death, 
without any inquiry by the defendent association 
as to his condition of health; Held, that in- 
sured’s failure to voluntarily disclose his condi- 


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44 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR . 

tion was not such a concealment as to avoid bis where it affirmatively appears that 30 days elapsed 
membership. from the time the injury was received before the 

4. Where he was asked in application for insured member was disabled so he could not at* 

membership, “What amounts are now ins* red on tend to his business; that he superintended bis 
your life, and in what companies?" and in answer business and did not abandon such superinten* 
failed to mention his membership of two associa> dence until the end of 30 days. The word “imme 
tions which entitled the beneficiary to mortuary diately" being preceded by the words “iodepen- 
. benefits on his death; Held* that, as benevolent dently of all other causes," is a word of time, and 
associations are not always regarded as insurance not of cause and effect, and the time which it in* 
companies, nor mortuary benefits as life insur- dicates is not the same as that which would be 
ance, failure to mention them was a conceal* indicated by the phrase, “reasonable time." 
ment of material facts and a question for the Williams v. Preferred Mut . Ace. Co. t Ga. S. 
jury. C., — 1893. 

5. Where insured was asked the number of 

his brothers and in his answer failed to mention Train Service — Ejection of Passenger — Frag - 
three half-brothers; Held , that the term “broth- ment of Coupon Ticket — Refusal by Conductor 
er" does not always include half-brothers; such — Damages. . 

failure to mention was also a question for the Where a ticket for a continuous ride over the 
jury. Judgment of dismissal reversed and new wh ole i ength o{ a railway and a connecting 
trial ordered. line was 0 f peculiar color and print, and wascoro- 

Spitz v. Mut. Hen. Lift Ass n. N. Y. C. P. C.. posed of two coupons, the upper of which was for 
Nov. 2, 1893. 

use on the connecting line, and gave the names of 
Accident Insurance— Provision as to Notice . its termini below, and the names of both lines 

1. Where an accident insurance certificate above; 

provided that notice of an accident for which a Held , that the conductor of the connecting line 

claim is to be made must be given in writing was bound to accept for passage an upper frag- 
within ten days from its occurrence, with full ment of the upper coupon, which gave the names 
particulars, etc., and failure to give such notice of the lines, on the assumption that the conductor 
would invalidate the claim. The insured was of the other line carelessly tore off the part giving 
missing, but his death was not known nor his the termini, in taking the lower coupon. That his 
body recovered until after the time, but within refusal to accept the mutilated ticket and compel!- 
ten days after discovery. Held \ a sufficient com- ing complainant to leave the train, though he had 
pliance with the condition; that the reasonable money to pay his fare if he had been disposed lo 
intent was that notice should be given when and do so, rendered the company liable, 
after the manner of death became known to the Rotiser v. North P. y etc.. Ry. Co ., Mich. S. C , 
party required to act. hence such time began to Nov 24, 1893. 
run from the date of the finding of the body. 

2. When such notice was retained by defendant Carriers of Passengers— Duties of Conductor 
without objection for forty days and furnished to Passenger. 

proof blanks, Action to recover damages for injuries to plain- 

Held, that conceding the notice was not served tiff, charged against the negligence of the condnc* 
in time, the condition was waived. tor in charge of the car in which she was being 

Tippc , admrx. v. Provident Fund Society. N. carried. 

Y. S. C., Nov. 28, 1893. Held , on appeal, that when a train stops Cot 

passengers to alight, if there is a rush of passen- 

Accident Insurance— The Certificate— Immediate ger s to get off, crowding and jostling each other. I 
Disability. it may t jj e diUy of the conductor to usereasoo* 

Under an accident certificate insuring one able effort to check it, to the end that passengers | 
against loss of time resulting from bodily injuries may not be injured or unnecessarily interfered 
effected through violent, external and accidental with in their getting off, but it is not his duty to 
means, which shall independently of all other assist specially any one of the well, able-bodied 
causes, immediately, wholly and continuously dip. passengers, unless he sees that one to be in special 
able “the insured from transacting any and danger, or in some measure unable to take care of 
every kind of business pertaining to his occupa- himself. 

tion," such association is not liable to the member Jarmy v. Duluth , etc. Ry. Co ., Minn. S. C . 
for loss of time resulting from a physical injury, Nov. 14, 1893. 


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THE RAILWAY 

Railway Service — Liability for Robbery — Con- 
ductors' Care for Passengers. 

In an action to recover the value of money 
stolen from plaintiff while a passenger upon de- 
fendant's trains, as well as a large sum in dam- 
ages for fright and shock sustained by his wife by 
reason of the traiD robbery, the court 
Held, through instructions to the jury, that the 
defendant company was not liable for the loss of 
more money than was necessary for traveling ex- 
penses, or more than a prudent man would carry 
with him, when he had other means of safely be- 
stowing it. 

Held , also, that while the company through its 
conductor and train men must care for the safety 
of passengers, it cannot be called on to insure 
them against loss by robbery nor to man their 
trains with force sufficient to repel robbers. Judg- 
ment for the defendant. 

Guy mars v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co., U. S. C., 
Wash., Dec. 27, 1893. 

Suit on Judgment— Mutual Benefit Insurance . 

Where the by-laws of a mutual benefit insur- 
ance company provided that losses should be 
paid by bi-monthly assessments, that each loss 
should be payable pro rata out of the next assess- 
ment after proof oL death, or if the claim were 
coa tested and judgment rendered against the as- 
ivcation thereon, the judgment should be pro 
'wxout of the assessment' next after rendition. 
A claim baying been contested and reduced to 
lodgment in another state, suit was brought on 
the judgment. 

Held, That the facts that the pro rata share of 
the assessment nsxt after the judgment would 
amount to less than the judgment, and that the 
company had disputed the claim, believing it to 
to unjust, constituted no reason for not paying 
the judgment in full, since the extent of com- 
pany’s liability was determined by the judgment. 

People's Mutual Benefit Society vs, Werner , Ind. 
S. C.. May xo, 1893. 

Accident Insurance — Notice of Injury or Death — 
Impossible to Comply — Liability. 

The membership certificate sued on contained 
t&e following provisions: "Notice of any acci- 
dental injury, for which claim is to be made un- 
der this certificate, shall be given in writing, ad- 
dressed to the president at New York city, stating 
the full name, occupation and address of the in- 
jured member, with full particulars of the acci- 
dent and injury, and failure to give such written 
notice within ten days from the date of either in- 
jury or death, shall invalidate any and all claims 
under this certificate." The evidence showed that 


CONDUCTOR. 45 

the insured did business on "P" street and was 
killed August 22, 1891, in a collapsed building, 
but his body was not taken from the ruins until 
five days after, and notice of death in the form 
required by the above condition was not served 
until September 2, 1891. 

Held, That as service of the notice on August 
22, was an impossible thing in the circumstances, 
the leg il effect of the condition was, that notice 
served within ten days after August 25, 1891, 
was within the time required, and the service on 
September 2, 1891, entitled plaintiff to recover. 

Trippe vs. Provident Fund Society, N. Y. S. C., 
May, 1893. 

Expenses — Liability of Members. 

Held, that the members of a mutual aid associ- 
ation. with a fluctuating membership, the officers 
of which are not authorized to pledge the individ- 
ual credit of the members, and the expenses of 
which are, under the by-laws, to be paid out of a 
particular fund, raised by setting apart a certain 
percentage of the monthly dues, are not liable for 
tbe salary of the manager, so as to authorize him 
to bring an action against the treasurer therefor 
under section 1919 of the code, civil practice. 

Georgeson v. Caffrey, Treas. Empire Mut. 
Union , N. Y. S. C., Sept.,- 1893. 

Change of Beneficiary — Vested Right. 

Where a person became a member of a Mutual 
Benefit Association, under an agreement with tbe 
person named and designated ia the certificate as 
beneficiary that the one so named should pay all 
the assessments, and that they were so paid by 
such person. 

Held, That the beneficiary acquired a vested 
interest in the certificate, and the member could 
not afterwards make another designation. 

Manard v. Vanderiverker. N. Y. S. C., Oct. 
12, 1893. 


The Michigan Central now hauls on its night 
express trains an arsenal car, well fortified for 
protection of the train. The cars made their first 
trip on Monday night. The train on which this 
arsenal car is hauled is made up of mail and ex- 
press cars only, there beiug eight or ten on the 
train in each direction. The arsenal car, as it has 
been christened, is hauled on the rear of the 
train, adjoining the express car in which the val- 
uables are carried. Other cars of the same type 
are to be constructed. Four cars will be required 
to protect these trains in both directions. — Pitts- 
burg Post. 


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That enterprising paper, The Chicago Dis- 
patch , remembered all of its exchanges with 
tasteful New Year’s cards. 

The Railway A r eivs Reporter celebrated the 
beginning of its ninth year with a mammoth edi- 
tion that was highly creditable in every feature. 

Locomotive Engineering commences the new 
year with a number of improvements, chief 
among which is an artistic cover which adds 
much to its appearance and will assist greatly in 
the preservation of the numbers. 

The Railroad Telegrapher for January comes 
to us so completely changed in form and general 
appearance as to be hardly recognizable. The 
change is for the better in every particular, and 
its managers are to be congratulated thereon. 

Webster was often, as we have seen, roused to 
great utterances on the spur of the instant by 
some immediate provocation, and no one could 
do grander things without preparation of any 
sort. He had really no methods or habits of 
preparation. Sometimes he wrote out before 
speaking. Sometimes he wrote out elaborately 
after speaking. Sometimes he had a long time 
for preparation; sometimes, as in the Hayne 
case, a very short time. One of his grandest ora- 
tions — perhaps the grandest of all — was the eulogy 
on Adams and Jefferson. They died in 1826, on 
the Fourth of July. A week elapsed before he ac- 
cepted the appointment to deliver the eulogy. It 
was delivered on the 2d of August. Three weeks 
of midsummer heat was all he had for that mag- 
nificent discourse. But I have reason to believe 
that his habit was always to make preparation 
for his efforts when there was opportunity for 
doing so. — From Webster's Reply to ffayne , in 
Scribner's Magazine for January. 

The most timely article in the January number 
of the Review of Reviews is upon relief for the un- 
employed in American cities. It is from the pen of 
the editor, Dr. Albert Shaw, and presents from 
data furnished for the most part later than the 


middle of December the steps which have been 
taken in a number of American cities for the spe- 
cial relief of the unemployed in the present win- 
ter. The article is divided in the following brief 
chapters: I, Baltimore’s Relief Organization; II, 
How Boston Approaches the Problem; III, Cin- 
cinnati's Admirable Arrangements; IV, The Situ- 
ation in Chicago; V, Efficient Measures at Den- 
ver; VI, The Plan in Vogue at Lynn; VII, Phila- 
delphia’s Provision for the Unemployed; VIII, 
Relief Work in St. Louis; IX, Private and Public 
Co-operation in St. Paul; X, Reports from Min- 
neapolis, Milwaukee and Cleveland; XI, Pitts- 
burgh Organized and at Work; XII, the Situation 
in New York. This article will be of the utmost 
value in all parts of the country for the practical 
information it compiles. 


There has been contributed to literature re- 
cently, by an American woman, a drama which 
gives a novel idea of hell. It represents a man 
in a dream talking with several of his departed 
ancestors. One of these told the man that he 
was in hell, though there was no such place as 
heaven or hell in the way in which these term9 
were commonly understood. This man's hell 
was a conditic n of feeling in which he had no in- 
terest in anything. He felt no enjoyment, no 
ambition, no pleasure, no passions, no desires. 
He could go to heaven, he said, if he liked, but 
he had no desire. He was not interested in any- 
thing he might find there or anywhere else. This 
condition is, to a certain extent, exemplified in 
club life, in society, and in the general lives of 
the rich and idle. They have exhausted every 
source of enjoyment and tapped all fountains of 
enthusiasm. New 1 schemes have to be constantly 
provided to stimulate even a little their appetite 
for pleasure. Hell, according to this writer, is this 
condition carried to its extremity. It is a condi- 
tion without hope, feeling, ambition, or desires 
— one of the most horrible states in which any 
man or woman could be placed. — From ** Recent 
Romances on Heaven and I fell f in North 
American Reinciu for January . 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 47 


Stepping ashore with a couple of boatmen, as 
though he sought a further interview with the 
sheik, Taba and the men advanced into the 
crowd. Then, quick as a flash, each seized a 
small child, dashed back to the rowboat, jumped 
aboard, and protected by their weapons, pushed 
off before the startled natives could realize what 
had been done. 

Arabs bav$ wild, fierce love for their children 
(though the poor little mites seem to us ill-treated 
and neglected); a love almost such as animals 
f^l for their young. The fathers and mothers 
of those kidnapped babies swam to the boat, and 
fiercely or piteously begged for their return. 
Then all the people of the village ran along the 
bank, abreast of the boat, screamed, wrung 
their hands, or, thoroughly cowed, dropped on 
their knees and prayed for the return of their 
children. Taba, stem as fate, standing cimiter 
in hand, ready to repel any effort of the swim- 
mers to board the dahabeeyah, replied that un- 
less every piece of jewelry was at once laid upon 
the river bank he would take the children to 
Cairo and sell them as slaves. Cairo— the end of 
the earth to those ignorant Arabs; slavery— a 
4 thing their free, lawless nature abhorred. Hast- 
ily men came from the crowd and laid the stolen 
articles on the sand; even the pious sheik slipped 
something into the hand of a boy, who, running 
to the shore, put with the others the last remain- 
ing article, a watch. Taba then rowed the chil- 
dren ashore, recovered the jewelry and returned 
to the dahabeeyah in safety and in glee. — From 
"Sketches from (he Nile Outing for January. 

It is really appalling to compare the enormous 
amount of game on this continent at the begin- 
ning of the century with the wretched remnant 
of to-day. At that time the American buffalo 
roamed the prairies in countless thousands, and 
was probably the most numerous large animal in 
the world, and now — but all Americans know the 
shameful story of its extermination. 

Little more than a hundred years ago great 
herds of elk swarmed in the Kentucky and Illi- 
nois hunting-grounds, and even as late as 1820 a 
few could be found in the district north of the 
Ohio river. To-day their fast-diminishing bands 

confined to the mountains of the northwest. 
The same sad . story of fast-approaching extinction 
ic true of tbe other game animals, the antelope, 
bighorn, mountain goat and the various kinds of 
deer, in fact, it is true of all our larger mammals. 
Hany persons living to-day will see their final dis- 
sppeaxance in a wild state. — From the “ Vanishing 
in the January Century . 


Since our last issue the initial number of The 
Midland Monthly has been given to the public. 
This publication has at least demonstrated one 
thing and that is, the west is capable of produc- 
ing a periodical in every way able to stand com- 
parison with those of other sections, hitherto 
supposed to hold the monopoly of all such tal- 
ent. Hurried as was the first issue of The Midland 
from the necessities of the case, it was filled to 
overflowing with excellent reading matter, 
fully equal in literary excellence to the contents 
of any of the great periodicals, and most attract- 
ively presented. Editor Brigham is to be con- 
gratulated upon the success that attended the 
commencement of his new venture.. It was 
thoroughly woo and, if the first may be taken as 
any criterion, there are many delightful surprises 
in store for the readers of The Midland. All 
who have an atom of interest in the literary de- 
velopment of the west will be deeply concerned 
in the success of this undertaking and should 
make it a point to give # that concern the direction 
of practical aid wherever the opportunity offers. 

The second edition of the December World s 
Fair Cosmopolitan brings tbe total op to the ex- 
traordinary figure of 400,000 copies, an unprece- 
dented result in the history of magazines. Four 
hundred thousand copies — 200 tons— rninety-four 
million pages — enough to fill 200 wagons with 2.- 
000 pounds each — in a single line, in close order, 
this would be a file of wagons more than a mile 
and a half long. This means not less than 2,000,- 
000 readers, scattered throughout every town and 
village in the United States. I'he course of The 
Cosmopolitan for the past twelve months may be 
compared to that of a rolling snowball; more sub- 
scribers mean more money spent in buying the 
best articles and best illustrations in the world; 
better illustrations and better articles mean more 
subscribers, and so the two, things are acting and 
reacting upon each other until it seems probable 
that the day is not far distant when the magazine 
publisher will be able to give so excellent an arti- 
cle that it will claim the attention of every intelli- 
gent reader in the country. 

The editors of The Locomotive Firemen" s 
Magazine are to be congratulated upon the de- 
cided improvement made in tbe appearance of 
that publication by its new dress and cover. 

Vol. 1, No. i, of The Railway Times , a neat 
semi-monthly publication devoted to the interests 
of the American Railway Union, has reached our 
pxchange table. 


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j£K«& 




Regular train service on the Ohio Southern be- 
tween Lima and Springfield was inaugurated De- 
cember 28th,’ last. 

* * • 

It is stated that several New York capitalists 
are soon to join in the construction of a railroad 
from Sait Lake to Los Angeles. 

* * * 

•The first through train on the Spokane & 
Northern left Spokane for Nelson, B. C.. on the 
doming of December 19, last. 

* * * 

It is reported that the Mexican government 
has granted concessions and a bonus for the 
btfilding of a road across Lower California to 
Yttma. 

t # * 

In spite of the action of the Chicago lines in 
limiting their divisions on local rates the Iowa 
Central shows an increase in its net earnings fcr 
November of $25,500. 

* * * 

According to late reports eastern capitalists 
have decided to build a new road in Oklahoma, 
running from Guthrie to a junction with the M., 
X. & T. in the Creek nation. 

• « * 

One of the new Pennsylvania engines recently 
hauled a train consisting of two baggage cars, 
two coaches and four Pullmans over the Chicago 
division at the flying rate of 100 miles in 100 min- 
utes. 

* » • 

Colonel Henry Lee is the author of the mot. 
* It is but three generations in this country from 
shirt-sleeves to shirt-sleeves" — the happy coinage 
of a conversation with Edward Atkinson as they 
were walking home from church in Brooklyn. — 
Boston Transcript. 

* * * • 

On December 24, last, the Illinois Central 


broke the New Orleans record by running a 
special train from that city to Chicago, 915 miles, 
in twenty-five and a half hours. This was four 
hours better than the best time ever made by the 
limited trains. 

* t * 

A Brilliant Intellect. — Teacher — Johnny, in 
what way did Noah display his wisdom? 

Johnny — Went in when it was rainin'. — C/uca- 
go Record. 

* * * • 

Contracts have been let for the building of the 
Chicago, Union City & Cincinnati road from 
Hnntington to Union City through the oil belt, 
striking Bluflton, Montpelier and Portland. Ind.. 
and it is to be completed by next August. With 
its connections this road will make an air line 
from Chicago to Cincinnati. 

* * * 

A dude while walking along the streets met a 
little boy. who asked him the time. “Ten min- 
utes to 9," says the dude. “Well." says the boy, 
“at 9 o'clock get your hair cut." and he took to his 
heels and ran, the dude after him. when turning 
a corner, the dude came in contact with a police- 
man, nearly knocking him down. “What’s up?" 
said the policeman The dude, very much out of 
breath, said: “You see tha young urchin runniog 
along there? He asked me the time, I told him 
ten minutes to 9, and he said At 9 o'clock get 
your hair cut"’ “Well," says the policeman, 
“what are you running for? You've eight min- 
utes more yet." — Good Xezrs. 

* * * 

The Bellefontaine bridge across the Missouri 
river was given an official test on December 
27, last. This and the bridge across the Miss- 
issippi at Alton, both built by the Burlington, 
will furnish a new link in transcontinental traffic 
and furnish a norther* outlet for St. Louis. It 


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► 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


is thought both of them will be ready for business 
by the middle of February. 

# # # 

Suit has been brought in the common pleas 
court at Cincinnati to have annulled the lease of 
the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Indianapolis, now 
held by the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, 
and to set aside the lease of the Indianapolis, 
Springfield & Decatur road, recently ac- 
quired by . the Cincinnati, Hamilton & 
Dayton system. The suit is based 
upon an alleged default of interest on the pre- 
ferred stock of the first of the leased roads, and 
other manipulations tending to burden these 
stockholders without return. 

* # * 

A Jacksonville, Fla , special, under date of 
December 2i f says: “It took just one spike to- 
day to make tbe Florida Central and Peninsular 
a great railroad system. That spike was driven 
shortly before noon on this side of the Altamaha 
river. It fixed the rail that connected Columbia, 
S. C.. and Jacksonville with a ribbon of steel. In 
fact it connects New York and Tampa and gives 
to Florida another through system. The Florida 
Central and Peninsular system now includes a 
line from Columbia, S. C., to Jacksonville, a line 
from Jacksonville to Pensacola, and another from 
Jacksonville to Tampa, altogether in the neighbor- 
hood of i.ooo miles of road, with many branches 
in this state. The Richmond & Danville has 
been selected by the government as the route for 
the “Great Southern Fast Mail," and by this new 
combination with the Florida Central and Penin- 
sular system the newspaper and letter mail of the 
great eastern cities will leave Washington at 11 
o’clock every morning, and be in Jacksonville the 
next morning at 9 o’clock, and all over the state 
of Florida many hours in advance of any other 
schedule now in effect. 

* * * 

Mrs. Tawker — 1 was at the theatre last evening. 
It was an awfully sad play about a man being 
thrown out of wojk and his family dying from 
starvation. I couldn’t keep from crying to save 
nay life. 1 don’t know when I have been so af- 
fected. 

Enter Servant-^Mum, there’s a woman at the 
door as wants some cold victuals. She do say her 
children haven’t had bit nor sup for two days. 

Mrs. Tavrker — Tell her to go away; that we 
don't give anything to b ggars. As I was saying, 
Mrs. Brown, it was a very sad play. Mr. Tawker 
says I ought not to witness such performances, 
they take hold of me so. He says that I am all 
heart — Boston Transcript . 


Construction for ’94. 

The year now closing having been memorable 
as a year of financial calamity, has naturally also 
been a period of comparatively small railway 
building, The country is not by any means yet 
supplied with all needed railways. Many hun- 
dreds of practical lines have been projected and 
will eventually be built, but capital has learned 
that railway investments are beset with many 
dangers and uncertainties, and so when hard 
times come new enterprises of this kind , are among 
the first to suffer from inability to raise money. 
Our records show that the new main track laid 
in the United States in 1893 aggregates 2,630 
miles on 222 lines in forty-three of the states and 
territories; also that in Canada 461 miles have 
been built on 16 lines, and in Mexico 99 miles on 
5 lines. The summary for the different states is 
as follows; 

Lines. Miles. Lines. Miles. 

Alabama 5 46. Nebraska a 32.70 

Arizona x 42.00 N. Hampshire.. 1 1.00 

Arkansas........ 6 36.51 New Jersey 1 1.12 

California- 9 64.57 New Mexico 1 . 2.53 

Colorado. 4 26.65 New York 8 36.14 

Florida 9 an. 70 North Carolina, g 78.55 

Georgia 7 173 00 North Dakota.. 2 194.61 

Idaho 1 5.56 Ohio 7 146.00 

Illinois 7 78.59 Oregon 1 10.00 

Indiana 5 aa.6o Pennsylvania.. .45 398.84 

Iowa x 4.00 Rhode Island... 1 5.21 

Kansas 1 18.39 South Carolina- 1 14.00 

Kentucky 5 26.15 South Dakota... 4 92.46 

Louisiana 5 2935 Tennessee 5 18.66 

Maine 4 115.40 Texas 10 166.47 

Man land 1 2.00 Utah 3 19.57 

Massachusetts.. 1 1.63 .Virginia 5 16.64 

Michigan 4 61.83 Washington 2 41.90 

Minnesota 8 86.46 West Virginia. .15 93.81 

Mississippi 2 9.50 Wisconsin 4 36.50 

Missouri 7 139-99 Wyoming 1 3.90 

Montana 1 27.50 

Total in 43 states and territories, 222 lines, 2,629.99. 

Lines. Miles. 

Canada 16 461.17 

Mexico 5 99.45 

The present railway mileage of the United 
States, according to our record, is 177.853 miles. 
It will require only an average increase of 3, 164 
miles for the next seven years to bring the total 
at the beginning of the year 1900 to 200,000 miles, 
while if the rate of the last twenty years is aver- 
aged the total will then be over 215,000 miles. — 
Railway Age . 

# * * 


Lost, about thirty ex-engineers and firemen, 
formerly from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, 
but discharged from thero because of drunkenness 
and debt, who were last seen on their way to the 
scene of the Lehigh Valley strike, where they pro- 
posed to become scabs for the “man>eth" time. 
If found please forward to the devil, as they are 
of no use to anyone on earth, and oblige, The 
Journal . — Trainmen's Journal . 


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The Secretary of Division No 217 would like to presenting him with a case of elegant silverware 
learn the addresses of Brothers J. C. Barr, S. B. as a token of their appreciation of his services 
Claney and J. F. Swarm. *»* 

* # * Henry Geitze, one of the robbers taken in an 


Brother J. E. Cunningham has retired from 
railroading and gone into business at 125 St. An- 
toine street, Windsor, Ont. 

* 

* * 

The net earnings of the C., B. & Q road dur- 
ing the month ending Nov. 30, were $585,645, an 
increase of $29,400 over the corresponding month 
for ’92. 

* * 

* 

Conductor Scott, who had charge of one of the 
trains in the wreck at Grand Rapids, Mich., last 
summer, has been exonerated by the Coroner s 
jury engaged upon an investigation of the case. 


attempt to rob a train near St. Joseph last Sep- 
tember, has been sentenced to serve two years in 
the state penitentiary for his crime. His light 
sentence was due to a flaw in the original indict- 
ment, which was compromised by a plea of guilty 
to common robbery. 

* * 

* 

The great Manchester ship canal, construction 
on which was commenced six years ago, was for- 
mally opened for traffic Dec. 7, last. It is 35k 
miles in length, and cost $75,000,000. or about 
$2,100,000 per mile. In the magnitude of the 
work and the difficulties overcome it must stand 
among the first of the engineering triumphs of the 


At a recent meeting of Britton Division No 138, 
resolutions were adopted expressing the sorrow of 
the members at the death of Master Mechanic 
George R. Ott. and their sympathy With the grief 
stricken family. 

V 

The Indianapolis yews has been able to win WO rk done, together with something of an 
prosperity despite the financial disturbances of out |j ne 0 f w hat may be expected during the year 
the past year. Its annual circulation statement tQ come Division No. 244 is to be congratulated 
shows a gain of 5.000 in the daily average of 1893 bgj n g so well served, 

over 1892, a showing of wlpch any similar publi- 
cation might well be proud. 

# # 


age. 

* * 

* 

The annual report made by Brother E j 
Woolheater, secretary and treasurer of Division 
No. 244, is a model in every way, and he deserves 
great credit for the care taken in making it. It 
not only shows every item of receipt and expen- 
diture for the year, but gives a careful review of 


Brother W J. Vanderpool, of Lowell, Wash., 
had the misfortune recently to lose two fingers 
from his right hand. His many friends will join 


* * 

# 

Brother O. D. Conklin, of Division No 31-1 
who was so unfortunate as to have a wreck at 
Shreve. Ohio, last fall in which several lives weic 
lost, has since been cleared of all responsibility 
by the courts. He wishes to return his heartfelt 


IrOlIl 1112$ U 5 U 1 uauu, * uy tuc wu* w, w * 

in wishing for him a speedy recovery and return thanks to the brothers and to the members of the* 

... • . 1 £ _ f V. a ,'c . .... ■ ■ • ...1 1 . _ _ J 


to those duties in the performance of which he is 
so thoroughly proven. 


# # 


At their meeting on Christmas Eve the members 
of Obrar Division No. 287 elected Brother L. W. 
Roberts to his tenth term as their Secretary and 
Treasurer, and further celebrated the occasio 

Digitized by 


Ladies’ Auxiliary who so generously supported 
him with their sympathy and material aid 
throughout his time of trial. 

* * 


The yews Dealer commends Superintendent 
Esser and other Lehigh Valley officials for secur- 
ng a withdrawal of the age limit order in the 

joogle 




THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


cases of Engineers Kelly, Hassel and Westley. 
All three are able and thoroughly experienced 
men who have served the company faithfully for 
years past, and they ought to be good for twenty 
years faithful service in the future. We are 
pleased that they are restored to duty. 

On the Central they play euchre, 

On the Eastern roads *tis whist, 

On the Western old Dom Pedro 
Is the first upon the list; 

In the South they play casino, 

And with the joker sweat and strive, 

But on the Lehigh Valley 
The game is forty-five. • 

V* 

One of the Pittston papers contributes the 

following regarding some of the practical 

workings of the “scab” system in that 

community: "Two scabs from oft the 

dilapidated Lehigh Valley railroad were 

paid yesterday and came down from Coxton 

to do up the town. They tried to have 

their checks cashed, but did not succeed 

until after numerous scraps were indulged in. 

They proceeded to the St. James hotel, when, 

owing to their intoxicated condition, they were 

rtfused drinks. To get square they tipped the 

itcrt* over in Mr. Connell’s office and came very 

nearly causing a conflagration. Mr. Connell 

called in officers and the men were arrested and 

placed in the borough lock up, a place suitable 

for scabs or hogs. Two others escaped after 

starting a fight on North Main street, and as they 

left town we have something to be thankful for.” 

* * 

* 

Under the new regulations The Conductor 
will be sent free to every member of the Order in 
good standing, commencing with the present 
number. By this change the support heretofore 
given by our subscribing members is taken away, 
but that should be made the means of increasing 
rather than lowering its revenues. This can be 
done if each member will only make it a point to 
secure at least one paying subscriber, and that 
can easily be done. In this way a fund will be 
placed at tbe disposition of the management 
which can be used for making the magazine as 
good as tbe best and thus at no expense to the 
Order. Every conductor should have a personal 
interest in having bis magazine fully equal to the 
best of its class published, and all must remem- 
ber that this cannot be done without united effort. 
Let each member determine to commence the 
new year by securing at least one paying sub- 
scriber, and rest assured this determination well 
carried out will result in placing The Conductor 


at the very head of all published labor advo- 
cates. 

*** 

The American Co-operative Library, recently 
organized in New York, undertakes to give to 
book readers, anywhere in the United States, 
better facilities than heretofore given them by 
the largest libraries in the leading cities, and at 
almost trifling cost. You order any book you 
want, suitable for general circulation, and it is 
supplied immediately ; you can order'either direct, 
or through your local bookseller, country postmas- 
ters or others actfng as local agents, One cent a 
day for a dollar book, proportionately for other 
values, is the general basis of loans, three cents 
being the least charge made. Thus "Ben Hur" 
costs four cents for three days, "The Prince of 
India,” five cents for four days for each volume. 
"Lorna Doone,” three cents for six days, “Uncle 
Tom s Cabin,” three cents for eight days, and so 
on. You deposit the price of the book when you 
order it, keep it as long as you please, and on its 
return get any other book you want to borrow or 
want to buy. There are some special advantages to 
book clubs. Thus at a cost of from $2.00 to $5.00 
a year one can have access to the whole world of 
current and standard literature. Does not this 
bring the "Literary Millennium” pretty near 
every home? Circulars are sent free on request, 
or a 160-page catalogue for 2 cents. Address 
John B. Alden, Manager, 57 Rose street, New 
York. 

# * 

# 

Dr. James R. Cocke pursues a little travelled 
highway in his interesting and suggestive paper, 
on "The Voice as an Index to the Soul.” As he 
states in tbe opening paragraph, owing to loss of 
sight when he was less than a year old, he has 
had an advantage in the way of studying the voice 
which few have enjoyed. Dr. Cocke is, I believe, 
the only person who, being entirely bereft of 
sight, has passed successfully through the same 
rigid schooling which those who see are compelled 
to pass in our leading medical institutions. He 
graduated with a remarkably high percentage from 
the Boston University School of medicine (homoe- 
opathic), after which he took a post graduate 
course in Harvard Medical School (allopathic). 
Few men have had a finer medical education than 
this brilliant young man, and, though deprived of 
sight, he has a wonderful touch, so sensitive as to 
enable him to diagnose disease with remarkable 
accuracy. A third paper by Dr. Cocke, entitled 
"Mind in Ancient and Modern Medicine,” will 
appear at an early date . — Notes in January 

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52 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


The following letter, signed by James Shannon, 
C. C., and T. J. McCarthy, S. & 

T., of Division No. 32, under date 

of Jan. 2, is self-explanatory: “On the morning of 
December 25th, The Tacoma Morning Union , 
The Post- Intelligencer , and The San Francisco 
Examiner , printed a special sent out presumably 
by their correspondents, but undoubtedly insti- 
gated by some jealous and evil minded persons 
who had a grudge against our Brother J. L. De- 
Force, saying that he had been sent to St. Paul 
as a representative of the Order of Railway Tele- 
graphers of the Northern Pacific Railroad, with 
instructions to federate with the other organiza- 
tions, who were assembled there waiting on the 
management of the Northern Pacific Railroad, in 
regard to the abrogating of their schedules and 
proposed reduction in salaries; and that he had 
returned from St. Paul refusing to federate as di- 
rected, thereby betraying his constituents, and 
disrupting the plans of the other organizations. 
As a matter of fact, Brother DeForce does 
not, nor ever did belong to the Order of Railway 
Telegraphers, and was not sent to St. Paul by 
that order, nor did he have anything to do with 
them whatsoever, but was sent to St. Paul with a 
committee of train dispatchers of the Northern 
Pacific Railroad, as their Chairman, to wait on 
the General Manager in regard to the perpetuat- 
ing of their schedule, and in regard to the ten per 
cent, cut that had been ordered against the dis- 
patchers to take effect January 1st, *94. What- 
ever the result of that conference, that committee 
was instructed not to federate with any organiza- 
tion. This Division, No. 323, O. R. C., of which 
Brother J. L. DeForce is a member, has taken 
the trouble to investigate these newspaper reports, 
and finds the facts as stated above. At a regular 
meeting of Division No. 323, O. R. C., January 
2nd, the Secretary of this Division was instructed 
to write to the editor of our Journal, requesting 
him to print the facts in the case in our official 
paper, in vindication of our worthy brother. 
We trust you will attend to this matter at once, 
as Brother DeForce feels keenly the odium cast 
upon him. 


proposed reduction is needless. At the time the 
road went into the hands of a receiver our former 
agreements were annulled, and we made new 
ones on June 23 last, in which we agreed to an 
annual reduction of some $23,000, this affecting 
engineers, firemen, trainmen and telegraphers 
At the same time we were well aware of the fact 
that the official force has been augmented, bm, 
wishing to bear our proportion of the road's 
trouble we cheerfully consented to the above 
reduction. This agreement was violated in many 
of its provisions upon the part of the company, 
and such further reductions made as resulted in 
some of the oldest men in the telegraph service 
receiving less than half of their former pay 
Under this agreement enginemen and trainmen 
have averaged $39, $41, $59 and $66 monthly for 
a period of over four months, Our evidence 
shows that while the reduction amounts to bul 
$21,000 per annum, there has been an increase 
over the old official force to the extent of $31,268 
per annum, and this with a smaller volume 0! 
business than formerly. We do not think it jnsi 
that we stand a second reduction within four 
months for the purpose of retaining an unneces- 
sary official force. " This case has been in the 
hands of Judge J. C. Suit as the representative of 
the employes, all the papers to a very recent date 
having been filed by him. A more exhaustive 
resume of the case will be given in the February 
Conductor. 


Le Roi est Mort. 

Behold a dying king! the hoary year — 

His garnered days are gathered in the 
sheaf — 

The glory, and the grandeur, and the 
grief 

Are ended now, and only death is here. 

Tread lightly and let fall, perchance, a tear 

For this poor King whose reign was all 
too brief, 

Whose splendor has become a withered 
leaf, # 

A flickering candle, and a waiting bier. 


Mr. W. H. Smith, secretary of the Toledo, 

St. Louis & Kansas City employes' committee, 
engaged in an effort to prevent a reduction of the 
wages of trainmen and operators in the service 
of that road, in a recently published interview 
gave the following succinct account of their ac- 
tion and the reasons backing it “ Yes, it is true 
that we have appealed to the courts, and we have 
no fear of the result, as we have a just cause and 

are prepared to present evidence showing that the 

r r Digitized by 


But hark, the stroke is on the midnight hour. 
See! he is clutching, gasping, he is gone! 
This infant at the door! wnat doth be 
bring? 

Ring out, ring out from every town and tower! 
Ring out the bells until the break of dawn, 
And shout, “The King is dead! Lo*g 
live the King!" 


—Outing for January, 1894. 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


S3 


ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OF AMERICA. 


MUTUAL BENEFIT DEPARTMENT. 


Cedar Rapids, Iowa, January i; Expires February a8, 1894. 

Assessment No. 275 is for death of W. Converse. Nov. 22. 


BENEFITS PAID DURING DECEMBER. 


±. 


Bea. 

No. 

Au't 

No. 

AM'T. 

FOR 

OF 

CAUSE. 

CERT. NO. 

DIV. 

611 

272 

$3 000 

Death 

R. W. Turney 

Tumor 

C2835 

*44 

612 

272 

3,ooo 

Death 

M. Ryan 

Heart disease 

C2497 

54 

613 

271 

3,000 

Death 

Ed Maroney 

Accident 

C2408 

48 

614 

271 

3,000 

Death 

W. S. McWilliams 

Paralysis 

C1702 

165 

615 

271 

1,000 

Death 

J. C. TenEyck 

Endocarditis 

A1713 

3°7 

616 

271 

1,000 

Death 

T. W. Watts 

Accident 

A3122 

7 

617 

271 

1,000 

Death 

Jacob Madison 

Diabetes 

A2430 

192 

618 

271 

2,000 

Death 

G. W. McElroy 

Accident 

Biooo 

285 

619 

271 

3,000 

Dis. 

John Fraser 

Loss of hand 

C3441 

104 

620 

272 

4,000 

Death 

W. S. Space 

Congestion , 

D238 

76 

621 

272 

1,000 

Death 

T. H. McIntosh 

Accident 

A3120 

285 


NUMBER OF MEMBERS ASSESSED. 

Series A. 4,334; Series B, 2,501; Series C, 4,949; Series D, 374; Series E, 100. Amount of as- 
sessment No. 275. $26,179. Total number of members 12,424. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 


Received on Mortuary Assessments to November 30, 1893 $1,402,174.50 

Received on Expense Assessments to November 30, 1893 25,995.00 

Received on Applications, etc., to November 30, 1893 24, 788.90 


$1,452,957 50 

Total amount of benefits paid to November 30, 1893 - $1. 395 * 37 ^- 00 

Total amount of expenses paid to November 30, 1893 - 55* 7^3-38 

Insurance cash on hand November 30, 1893 1,813.12 


* 1 . 452,957 5 © 


EXPENSES PAID DURING NOVEMBER. 

Postage. $119; Incidental, $103.29; Salaries, $481.67; Fees returned, $14; Stationery and Print- 
ing. *55- Total, $772.87. , . 

The above amounts were paid out during the month but items of postage, printing, legal; etc., 
often cover supplies and work for more than one month, and sometimes several months. 0-1 
includes salary of $100 for one member of committee. 


Salaries 


Received on Assessment No. 271 to December 20 $23,550.00 

Received on Assessment No. 272 to December 20 11,177.00 

Received on Assessment No. 273 to December 20 - 3,896.00 

Received on Assessment No. 274 to December 20 - 3*749 °° 


WM. P. DANIELS, Secretary. 


Digitized by GoogLe 










lltujlor. 

Brother D. N. Naylor, of Division No. 149. 
met with death while in the performance of 
* ' his duty at Water Valley, Miss., Dec. 21 last. 
He was standing on the rear end of his train 
when a sudden jerk, for which he was unpre- 
pared, threw him upon the track in front of 
an approaching switch engine. Before a mo- 
tion could be made to effect a rescue the engine 
was upon him, inflicting mortal injuries. 
Brother Naylor was among the best known 
and popular members of Division 149. His 
untimely death will bring sorrow not only to 
those who were endeared to him by fraternal 
ties, but to many outside the Order who had 
known his manly qualities. 

Collin*. 

At Hornellsville, N. Y., on December :o last 
occurred the death of Mrs. Rhoda C.. wife of 
Brother W. D. Collins, Past Grand Chief Con- 
ductor. in the 67th year of her age. Mrs. Col- 
lins had been ill for more than two years, but 
bore the attendant suffering with that Christ- 
ian patience and resignation which formed so 
marked a feature of her character. Through 
the prominence of her husband in the councils 
of the Order, and her own warm interest in it, 
Mrs. Collins grew to have a wide acquaintance 
among the members, every one of whom will 
mourn, her loss as that of a near and valued 
friend. To the bereaved husband will be ex- 
tended the sincere sympathy of the entire 
Order in his hour of supreme sorrow. Fit- 
ting resolutions were passed by Steuben Di- 
vision No. 225, at a recent meeting. 

burger. 

Brother George V. Barger, of Division No. 
19, died November 17th, at his residence, in 
Chicago, 111 ., from injuries received Nov. 7th, 
at Whiting. Indiana, while in the discharge of 
his duties as conductor of a suburban train 
running between Chicago and Whiting. Broth- 
er Barger was one of the many old employes 
on the Western Division of the L. S. & M. S 
R’y, having been in their service for the past 
twenty years.and was forty-three years of age at 
the time of his death. It is but a just tribute 
to the memory of the departed to say that his 
removal took from his brethren a friend and 
companion who was dear to all, a citizen 
whose upright and noble life was a standard 
of emulation to his fellows, a devoted, lov- 
ing and tender husband and father. 


(Cfjeitowetiy. 

Brother Russell Chenoweth. of Division No. 
58, died at Hot Springs, Ark., Sunday morn- 
ing, January 7. He had been in failing health 
for some months, and December 9 last, was 
given leave of absence to recuperate Accom- 
panied by his family he at once left for the 
health resort mentioned, and his home friends 
were s«nn gladdened by news of decided im- 
provement. This proved to be a delusive 
change, however, as the disease had become 
too firmly fixed in his system to be eradicated, 
and. being unable to bear up against a reac- 
tion. death soon followed. To but few men 
in this life is it given to win more true and 
lasting friends, than Jid Brother Chenoweth, 
and his death brought a personal sorrow 
wherever he was known. An upright, honor- 
able citizen, an able and zealous member of the 
Order, a thoroughly competent and trust- 
worthy railroad man, and a kind and loving 
husband and father, his death has left a vac- 
uum that may not be filled. To the grief bur- 
dened wife and family will be extended the 
sympathy of the entire community. The re- 
mains were brought to this city attended by 
Grand Secretary and Treasurer Daniels. Chief 
Conductor Francis and Conductor McCona- 
hay, and the funeral was held from the U. B 
Church at 2:30 p. ra. of the nth inst.. under 
the auspices of Division No. 58 O. R. C 

£«dattic*rt. 

Died at Cincinnati, O., Oct. 28. 1893, of stom- 
ach trouble, James R. Stanton, in the 43rd 
year of his life. James Stanton was born at 
Schuylkillhaven, Pa., Dec. 19, 1849, and began 
his railroad life as a brakeman in the year 
1865, entering the service of the Philadelphia 
& Reading Railway. On the following Febru- 
ary he was promoted to a conductor, upon the 
opening of the Centennial Exposition at Phil- 
adelphia. when he was made joint train mas- 
ter of the Central and Bound Brook Railway. 
After serving in that capacity for a number of 
years, he came West, and took service with 
the L:, N. A. & C. road as a conductor. In the 
year 1877 he took charge of a passenger run on 
the Ohio and Mississipni Railway, running be- 
tween Cincinnati and St. Louis. He leaves a 
wife and little daughter, and an innumerable 
host of warm friends to mourn his death. 

(£larh. 

Brother S. H. Clark, of West Farnham Di- 
vision No. 80, while walking in the yards at 
Nashua, N H„ Dec. 12, was struck bv a pas- 
senger train and instantly killed. Deceased 
was twenty-two years of age, and was regard- 
ed as one of the most promising you^g rail- 
road men in the employ of his road The 
remains were taken to West Farnham. Pa., for 
burial, a large number of the Brothers and 
friends outside the Order attending. Worces- 
ter Division No 237 was also well represented 
and the courtesies extended by i»s members 
will long be held in grateful memory by Divis- 
ion 80. 


oogle 



The Railway Conductor. 

VOL. XI. CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, FEB., 1894. NO. a. 



CONTRIBUTED. 


BREAD’: 


BY FRANK 

> 

CHAPTER III — A TRAITOR. 

The next morning Sam Carey did what was not 
exactly approved of by his better sense, and yet 
what he felt driven to do by Wilmer. There was 
a grinding feeling deep down in his heart, and he 
wanted to make somebody smart and suffer for it. 
The best way he knew how to gain a quiet re- 
venge was to inform the railroad company of this 
secret meeting against its best interests and gen- 
eral welfare by men who, Sara averred, made 
their duties a matter of mechanism, devoid of 
sympathetic attention. So, inspired by this un- 
holy, unmanly feeling, he wrote out his indict- 
ment against the men and sent it to the company 
— to Paul T. Manager, president of the railroad 
company at Indianapolis. 

His disgraceful letter created a little sensation 
in that railroad circle of officials, for Robinson 
and Wilmer were considered the most faithful 
men in their service, and they were loth to believe 
the report 

*'I don’t believe this fellow’s story,” said John 
M. Julius, the passenger agent, as he tossed the 
letter carelessly upon the flat desk and walked to 
a window. "There's something back of this, 
and it strikes me that this Carey wants to get even 
with somebody.” 

"Who is Carey?” asked Paul T. Manager, 
lounging back in his office chair. 


BONDS. 


k . MYERS. 

“Don’t know — some traitor, I guess,” said 
Julius casually. 

"We’ll send for him apd investigate this thing 
to the bottom. If there’s nothing in it, he sim- 
ply hurts himself ; if there is, he deserves com- 
mendation for his bit of detective work. The 
employes are restless, nervous, complaining at 
this time, and they may have had a meeting of 
that character.” Mr. Manager was in a consid- 
erate mood and inclined to act in a reasonable 
spirit, as it seemed to him. But evdry act and 
word of every man has an apologist in himself, 
and it is human nature to defend oneself against 
all the world. 

A telegram was sent to Carey by Mr. Julius, on 
request of Mi. Manager, asking him to appear at 
the general office at once. The telegram was 
also to be his pass over the road. 

On the next day Carey walked deliberately into 
the general office at Indianapolis. Under the 
positive, unsympathetic, business-like questioning 
which Mr. Manager conducted, he was a little 
nervous, but he told a consistent story, and by his 
disingenuous manner impressed the officials into 
a belief of the truth of his statements. 

With a touch of humor he described the race 
that Wilmer led him, and stated how he came to be 
discovered, as well as how he was terrified and 
subsequently released on his good behavior. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


56 

"I don't know now what'll be done to me, if 
they discover that I have been true to you and 
against them," remarked Carey, a little sadly, 
now that an after sense of justice and discretion 
had come to him like a delayed cash payment 
after the assignment has been made and a trustee 
appointed to cancel the liabilities with the assets 
of some estate. Carey had memory and opinions 
very pronounced, but he was a young man of 
rather feeble understanding, which accounts for 
the improper course he took in this matter. Carey 
said what he did, too, to remind them that some* 
thing was due him for this service, but he did not 
want them to know that he even thought of such 
a thing. This young man had the elements in 
him to be very disingenuous if he so desired; and 
there would follow no very painful accusations of 
conscience for such manifestly unfair and trouble* 
breeding conduct. 

“We'll take care of you," assured Mr. Man- 
ager. 

“Thanks awfully," said Carey, with a wink. 

When he walked out of the office and took the 
train back to Marshal, he wondered what Belle 
Grayson would think of him now — as a ' ‘traitor, 
of course." This self-reproach stung him. Most 
men can be touched from the side of love. 

CHAPTER IV— FEMALE SECRETS. 

That night Sam Carey sought an interview with 
Belle Grayson, the girl who was dearer to him 
than all the world besides — than the apple of his 
eye. 

“ I love her for her artless truth, 

I love her wi’ the heart of youth, 

When a’ the golden dreams o’ love 
Bring winged angels from above ; 

A stolen glance from Annie snares 
My heaVt away from all its cares." 

This was the song that was always running 
through his mind like a sweet incense from the 
sacred altar of love, like a perfume from the 
world of eternal gladness, like a hope of a deeper 
splendor and richer dream just ahead. 

Belle was at home. She received him very 
cordially, and was apparently charmingly delight- 
ed at his visit. Her very naivete exacted a cer- 
tain courtly manner from him, and he never could 
tell why, save that he. loved her to distraction, to 
madness, to unquenchable fury. As he had read 
once about the hero of one of the old novelists, 
he was willing to go to the farthest extremities of 
the earth, brave every danger, and endure any 
pain for her sake — save absence from her sweet 
presence. 

For her sake he would confide anything to her. 
She could wind him around her finger like a cot- 


ton string, and she knew the power of her femi- 
nine charms over him, and she chose to exercise 
them. 

He proudly spoke of his having visited the 
officials at Indianapolis, and boastfully announc- 
ed that he anticipated a promotion and perhaps a 
removal to Indianapolis. He foolishly imagined 
this would be an inducement to Belle to consider 
his visits to her in the light that some day she 
might be Mrs. Carey and the mistress of a happy 
home in this great flourishing city. And Belle, 
just nineteen and in the imaginative period of 
life, hoped such a thing might come to pass. 

“ vVhat did you go to Indianapolis for V* she 
inquired earnestly, rocking back and forth in the 
lamp light a little harder. He could not resist 
the confidence this invited from him. 

“ I’ll tell you, but not another person on earth." 
he said. Belle and Tillie Dillingham had been 
school chums together, were about the same age. 
and were fast and confidential friends. What one 
knew the other knew — a sort of Siamese-twin 
friendship. Friendship is not always discreet. 
“ I wouldn’t tell another person on earth but you. 
Belle. It is a secret as profound as the grave, as 
deep as the sea — or mud in the spring time." 

“Yes," smiling sweetly and persuasively at his 
abruption. The way she said “yes" and the 
lotus-like air in which she reclined in her chair 
struck a deeper chord in his breast than human 
words can paint. He was very susceptible to the 
“sweet and tender influences." 

“Well, you see the railroad company don’t 
like for its employes to meet in secret meetings 
and work themselves up into a spirit of discon- 
tent and a fury of opposition. It leads to bad 
results. I got onto such a meeting here in Mar- 
shal the other night, and as a matter of duty 
and faithfulness to the company that keeps me 
on its pay-roll I wrote to the chief officers at 
Indianapolis and explained the whole business. 
They sent for me to go up there and explain the 
meeting more fully to them. That’s how I came 
to be at Indianapolis." 

Belle looked resolutely at him for a moment. 
It is not clear what passed in her mind then. A 
shadow passed over her face, but was gone again 
in the next tick of the clock. Iris inferred that 
she did not approve of his base falseness to his 
friends and to honor and right, and that she de- 
tested a traitor. But the sun of her cheerful 
nature shone through the gossamer cloud of im- 
pulsive discontent and concealing her chagrin 
she asked : 

“What makes you think you will bepromoted 7 ' 
There was something in this question that made 
him uneasy. He began to suspect he bad played 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


57 


(be brute, in some way not just plain yet. The 
playful smile vanished from his face like a light 
gone out, and he stared hardly at her. He sat 
bolt upright. The Aladdin -like glories of the 
room all at once took on a very practical appear- 
ance. 

■•Well, you see, they said they’d take care of 
me for my kindness to them," he replied, most se- 
riously. 

’ But I don’t see.’’ 

‘Well, they will; you’ll see.” 

"How?” % 

"By promotion.” 

All in your eye.” she remarked, cunningly. 

"What makes you say so?” 

'Tin ashamed of you, Sam Carey,” straighten- 
ing up and speaking pointedly and designedly. 
Sam was struck as a ball hits the pins in a bowl- 
ing-alley and knocks them all down at once, and 
be could not recover. 

"M— m— me!” he blundered, dumbfounded. 
‘For — for — for what?” His consciousness was so 
completely overwhelmed that he knew not what 
he said. And ever afterward he remembered 
nothing but his confusion. She saw his mental 
torbulence. but she was not carried off her feet by 
her sympathies. 

"Yoq have played the spy and traitor both.” 

"1 was true — true to — to the company I worked 
for." he stammered, meekly. 

"But not to the men you worked withy” em- 
phasizing the word "with.” Neither was angry. 
He felt the justice of her reproof. 

‘*1 did it to — to — to save them from trouble in 
—in the — the future," he said, irresolutely and 
without confidence in his idea. 

“To make them trouble,” she asserted, bravely. 

"Never thought of making them trouble — 
would not for anything in the world.” 

"Thoughtless, short-sighted mortal, don’t you 
see that is just what will happen?’’ Belle spoke 
with a fiery animation, that had the flash of a me- 
teor in it. 

"No. Belle, it won’t.” 

Don’t you Belle me till you purge yourself of 
this sin — this crime against your brothers. I’m 
mistaken in you. You are not the young man I 
took you to be. true and brotherly. I am free to 
confess, Mr. Carey, I hoped better things of you.” 

"Don’t get angry at me,” he pleaded. 

’I'm not mad; I'm only sorry. I thought you 
was a man with a deep and broad and bigh sense 
of honor, but here you inform against your broth- 
ers You have said by this you are not one of 
them, that you will have nothing to do with them, 
and that yon will oppose and destroy them if you 
can ' 


"Belle, Belle!” 

"That’s the soul of your action. I don’t like it. 
I am for the side of toil, of muscle, of sweat, not 
soulless corporations, not cruel money, not crush- 
ing capital.” 

"You ruin me, Belle.” 

"Until you change your tactics, I cannot receive 
you any more as a friend ” This was so positive 
he could not mistake it. The whole difference 
came on him with the resistless crushing force of 
an avalanche. He was thunderstruck. He looked 
blank and frightened. This is what his faithful- 
ness to the company had done for him. His un- 
faithfulness to his fellows had brought an awful 
cyclone over his fairy love-world and fairly swept 
it out of existence. Belle's determined face was 
apparently as immovable as the stone features of 
the Sphinx. / 

"Am I to go?” he sighed, like a milksop. 

"Till you can come back as my friend.” 

"I’m that now. ” 

"Prove it by act.” 

"How?” 

"Confess to the men you have wronged, and 
join them in their movement.” 

"That will ruin my chances for promotion.” 

"On the other hand, it will raise you up a host 
of the best friends on God’s footstool." 

"Is that the ultimatum— the price I'm to pay 
for your love? It’s as hard as Shylock’s bond.” 

"Mr. Carey, I must have better report of you, 
or this is the end. This is my fiat. Don’t come 
again till your name is enrolled with theirs.” She 
was firm as the rock-ribbed hills, as immovable 
as the buttes of the Rockies. Sam saw it. 

"You shall hear better of me,” he said, taking 
up his hat and going out the door. 

"I hope so.” 

"This last hope was like a golden promise. 
Visions of love danced all around and through it. 
He went away reflecting. 

Belle sat long alone. 

The next day she went straight to her one dear 
trustful friend, Tillie Dillingham, and told her 
the whole story in all its details, even repeating 
the conversation word for word and depicting her 
decisive animation and Sam’s crestfallen air — hid- 
ing nothing. Tillie heard in astonishment, but 
without criticism. Her eyes daoced in joy at 
Belle s righteous course, and she showed her ap- 
proval by word and look and act. 

"You did perfectly right,” approved Tillie, as 
she went up to Belle and put her arm around her 
in a consolatory and assuring manner. The reve- 
lation of the plot against Wilmer, to whom she 
was engaged, alarmed her, and already she began 
to project schemes in her mind to defeat Carey's 


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Google 



THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


58 

treachery. The earth held no person dearer to 
her than George P. Wilmer. She was true as 
steel, and would wade through fire for George. 
Tillie was a noble, sweet, beautiful girl, and pos- 
sessed of rare instincts of justice and right. 

*'I hope so,” answered Belle. She had relaxed 
in her intensity, and tears started to her gray 
eyes. 

"I despise an emissary, Belle, but Carey has 
the elements in him to redeem himself, I am per- 
fectly sure.” This was certainly comforting to 
Belle, who felt then as if she had driven Sam 
away from her forever. "He will do as you com- 
manded and come back to you a better young man 
and a truer lover than ever.” Tillie stroked her 
light hair tenderly and trustfully. Both were in 
tears. 

"I hope so,” sobbed Belle, making an effort to 
control herself. 

Then they talked it all over alone, and took 
counsel what to do in the emergency. Tillie de- 
clared her intention to tell George all that Carey 
had done, and perhaps tbd brewing trouble could 
yet be breached over. But she was a child in the 
ways of ruthless companies that have no sympa- 
thy, nor regard for personal feelings. 

After this these two brave, firm, true girls were 
almost always together. Their interests were mu- 
tual, and as confidants their love-lives ran together 
like two streams. 

That evening Tillie lingered at the depot watch- 
ing and waiting for George, looking ever up the 
line of the two glistening rails, expecting every 
minute the blow of the whistle of his engine. 
People passed and repassed, came and went, but 
she noticed them not. At length in the dusk of 
the evening, right on time, his engine whistle 
blew, and her heart leaped in gladness. When 
he stepped down from his engine, grimy and 
sooty, he was agreeably surprised to meet her. 
His fireman ran the engine into its stall, and he 
walked away with Tillie. Before he did this, 
however, he removed his greasy, black overalls 
and cap and left them in the cab. The great mat- 
ter that weighed so heavily on her mind was im- 
mediately broached to him. They walked quietly 
along the street. Now and then some passer-by 
turned to look after them out of curiosity. 

"I have something to tell you, George," she be- 
gan, looking up into his expressive face. He gazed 
into her blue orbs tenderly and assuringly. 

"I know it must be important, or you would 
not have come ovt to meet me and tell me,” was 
his kindly response. His words and voice always 
restored her to her proper self and her best 
feelings. 

"It is. Sam Carey has been to Indianapolis to 


inform the railroad authorities of your late secret 
meeting.” She did not know whether he would 
flinch at this news or not. 

"That settles it," he returned. She did not 
know how to interpret this vague remark. 

"Settles what?” she inquired, with feminine in- 
nocence, never forgetting to keep pace with him 
as he stepped. 

"That Carey is a black-hearted, white-livered 
traitor. I'll explain." And he told her the story 
of the race, and the capture, and his release under 
request that he would not disclos^tbe knowledge 
he had of the secret meeting. And she told him 
all that Belle Grayson had related to her about 
Carey and his dismissal from her presence 

He is a young man of so little fixed purpose — 
but perhaps Belle can redeem him," said George 
with a dubious inflection in his tone. 

"Belle will make a man of him." observed Til- 
lie, confidently. She recollected Belle’s tears 
There is a virtue in feminine tears that saves the 
world. 

"We shall see whether he apologizes and offers 
to join us in our cause," replied George, still dis- 
posed to hold a reservation in his mind against 
the unrepentant offender. He had no faith in the 
unstable fellow. As George viewed him there 
was no bow of promise in his nature. 

"If he does that, he is all right," suggested 
Belle, who could see nothing but the hopeful side 
Her hand was resting on George's arm 

"That will save him to us, but the compaoy 
will not trust him any more It puts him in a fix 
But he has put the fat in the fire, *and now we 
will have to pay the piper. I mean, the company 
knows the secret now, and some of us, me especi- 
ally, will have to walk the plank; that is, they 
will give me the grand bounce. But like the 
Salem Quakers, I'm ready to seal my opinions 
with my blood." 

"Do you mean that the company will dis- 
charge you from its service?" 

"That's just what I mean." 

"That would be cowardly mean." said Til- 
lie, half angrily, but trying to conceal her displeas- 
ure in a forced smile. She glanced into his stern- 
knit, manly-woven features on an expedition of 
discovery, and saw firmness and resolution ruling 
supreme. There was more genuine manhood in 
him than she ever dreamed of before, and a thrill 
of pleasure entered her heart. To such a manja 
defeat was not an absolute overthrow and total 
destruction. 

"I cannot blame the company so much as f 
blame the traitor who informed against the cause 
of labor and liberty " 


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"B«t if he repents, you must forgive," urged 
TiUie, in a lovely feminine spirit. 

"Death-bed repentances and enforced compli- 
ances are on a par — without merit, save the ele- 
ment of fear in them. For you know it is said: 
‘He that complies against his will 
Is of lys own opinion still.' 

Carey may be playing a part in a real drama 
merely for love’s sake." 

"No; if a young man will not for love’s sake do 
the right thing and correct his mistake, there’s 
nothing in him at all. We must have faith in or- 
der to strengthen him, to redeem him, and to hold 
him op in his weakness." Tillie was an angel, 
but she did not know it. And that was the glory 
of it. Too many know they are angels, and that 
spoils them. George had the good sense to see 
that he was supremely blessed in the grand love 
of such a girl so far above the mediocre in the 
talent of genuine, pure, exalted affection. His 
hand was placed confidingly upon hers upon his 
arm. What a sweet bliss! 

"I'll brave all the world combined for you," he 

TO BE CO 


59 

burst forth, "and whatever comes I’ll conquer it 
for your sake. There is nothing on earth I would 
not do for you." He pressed her hand. She was 
happy. How grand life was! 

They were so absorbed in each other that they 
saw no one pass. Sam Carey observed them as 
he chanced to meet them on the street. But he 
spoke not. 

"It is good in you to say so," returned Tillie, 
modestly, not knowing just what was the most be- 
coming return to make, the most conventional and 
fitting answer to give him. From the lumber of 
hei mental warehouse she rolled out the first bun- 
dle of words she found. She did not know that 
such a course was the secret of true eloquence 
and preeminently the fitting thing to do. There 
is no guile in true love, no tarnish of musty 
tomes upon' unrestrained and simple earnestness. 
True love has no desire for the tawdry of fine 
words. It is real, it is human, it is emotional. 

They said many dear, sweet, soul-ravishing 
words to each other before they reached Tillie’s 
door. 


THE MYSTERIOUS FOREST. 

A SOCIAL ALLEGORY. 

BY H. P. PEEBLES. 


CHAPTER IV. 

The beautiful park suddenly became hateful to 
them, the well kept lawns, the glistening paths, 
the nodding flowers, the murmuring fountains, the 
graceful statuary, all kerned to mock the impris- 
oned one, who from the darkness of the stone 
cell could enjoy none of them. Without a word 
they resolutely turned their backs and sought, as 
a place for thoughtly meditation, the semi-dark- 
ness and wilderness of the pathless forest. Art, 
culture, knowledge had been used to improve 
nature, but to imprison humanity. 

There were no paths leading through the woods, 
and in a few steps from the enclosure, all traces 
of it disappeared, and they were again in the 
midst of an untrodden, trackless waste, over- 
grown with ail the wild luxuriance of neglected 
nature. An hour of pushing and struggling 
through the underbrush and vines found them 
exhausted at the foot of an immense tree. A lit- 
tle stream murmured past and a little clearing 
invited them to rest. Socialist said: "Here, 
friend, let us stop, in this place from the artificial 
beauties that oppressed us, let us work out the 
plan for relief." The other made a gesture of 
assent. Both recognized the futility of discus- 


sion. at least until a plan of action had been out- 
lined by thought. 

The rest of the day passed in absolute silence ; 
as’ night approached they prepared their frugal 
meal, after which they spread their blankets and 
night wore away without a word having been 
spoken by either of our friends. 

The next day, the next and even the next passed 
in the same silence. The only sound was an oc- 
casional groan from the sufferer. At such times 
our friends would look inquiringly at each other, 
mournfully shake their heads and resume the ap- 
pearance of deep thought. 

It was the afternoon of the fourth day when 
Socialist spoke; "I believe I have outlined the 
plan." • 

A few moments afterwards Onetax sprang to 
his feet, waved his hands above his head and 
shouted triumphantly : 

" I have it now. Listen ! I have thought the 
matter over carefully. I see where the primary 
trouble is ! I know now how his oppressors cheat- 
ed him into slavery. I know how they keep him 
under subjection ! It is summed up in the one 
word ‘air,’ that is what he needs ; air is essential 
to all men, air is the free gift of nature; and he is 


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shut off from this great gift of God. Open a crevice 
in that thick wall, allow the free air of Heaven to 
bathe his limbs with its healing virtues, let him 
breathe freely of the natural atmosphere and he 
will be happy and contented.” And” he added, 
after a moment's pause, * 'he recognized the fact 
himself; don’t you remember he said he was suffo- 
cating ?" 

"Aye, trail y I do,” answered his companion. 
' ' but I remember also that he was ahungered and 
athirst.” 

Onetax looked severely at his friend as he said 
slowly and emphatically: "You must admit that 
air is necessary to comfort and even life, that 
man cannot exist without it ; also, that it is a cre- 
ation of nature and that no man should deprive 
another of the free use of it,” and he looked tri- 
umphantly at his companion. 

"Admitting all this,” said the other calmly 
" how can access to air give him food, water and 
freedom. I will work on no half-way plan, he 
must have absolute freedom.” 

Onetax looked at the speaker with surprise that 
rapidly gave way to indignation, and clenching his 
fist he passionately exclaimed, "and is this the 
man whom I thought was a calm and honest reason- 
er? I find him an impious iconoclast who would 
destroy all the natural laws that benign nature 
has imposed upon humanity.” 

Socialist considering himself abused, answered 
that Onetax was a narrow-minded bigot and a 
foolish fellow. 

The angry passions of both being now aroused, 
they proceeded to pummel each other with all the 
energy that their prolonged fast and vigil had left 
them. 

A disinterested spectator would have known at 
once that they were reformers. The incident 
proves that "real” reformers are liable to lapse 
fnto the arguments used by the ordinary kind ; 
and that real goodness, sincerity and honest in- 
tentions are not perfect shields against the estab- 
lished form of debate. 

The fight continued, with every blow — and 
they were rained upon each other with astonish- 
ing rapidity, as each was more anxious to injure 
his opponent than to defend himself — there were 
exclamations such as: "That for your fanati- 
cism!” "That for your bigotry!” "That for 
your ignorance !” 

The unseemly battle continued until both sank 
exhausted, and lay panting side by side on the 
sward. 

Onetax was covered with blood from a cut on 
the face, and with swollen nose and puffed cheeks, 
presented the appearance of a reformer at the 
conclusion of an interesting debate. Socialist, 


with eyes almost closed, with blood flowing from 
nose and mouth, showed, also, that be bad re- 
reived some telling arguments. Slowly and pain- 
fully he raised himself to his feet. The instinct- 
ive courtesy of his nature acted, and he tenderly 
raised his companion to a sitting posture, express- 
ing the hope that he was not badty hurt. There 
was something so incongruous in this naive ac- 
tion, the real goodness of the man was so appar- 
ent, that when their eyes met a smile of reconcil- 
ation sparkled on both faces. 

Herein the true nature of both shone out 
Their late debate had been a contribution to the 
inborn instinct of reformatory humanity. 

Socialist smiled — as far as his swollen counte- 
nance would allow — as he said : "I wonder how 
much benefit has resulted to the sufferer from our 
debate ?” 

Had this remark been made and acted upon 
before the conflict it would have been genius, at 
this stage it was tact. So narrow is the line that 
divides the two. Said before a debate it repre- 
sents reason, said afterwards it most frequently 
represents chagrin. 

cha*>ter v. 

The following morning found our travelers 
stiff and sore. It was resolved to wait patiently 
until they recovered from the effects of their late 
controversy, before renewing their discussion 
concerning the imprisoned giant. 

Socialist was bathing his swollen eves and in- 
flamed face at the little stream, while Onetax was 
attempting to close the cut that disfigured his 
countenance, when a loud "hallo there !” came 
from the bushes before them 

The two looked at eaclr other with astonish- 
ment. What could it mean ? They were sur- 
rounded by a dense thicket and had with the 
utmost difficulty pushed their way to the spot 
through briars, clinging vines, underbrush, 
through pathless swamps and under dense over- 
hanging foliage, and now a human voice hailed 
them. 

Onetax was the first to recover himself, and 
answered by a prolonged "hal-lo.” An answering 
shout was heard. Presently they saw the agita- 
tion of the tail bushes, the rustling of leaves was 
heard, and two men emerged from the under- 
growth on the opposite side of the stream. Our 
travelers beckoned them to approach. They 
waded across the stream, and apparently exhaust- 
ed threw themselves upon the blankets that bad 
been left spread upon the ground. They were 
ragged and hatless, with faces and hands torn 
and bleeding from the thorns of the brush. The 
elder of the two in response to the looks of in- 
quiry finally raised himself painfully, but Onetax 


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61 


gently pushed him backwards, while he said, 
"We were lost in this waste and are without 
blankets or provisions, and—" both interrupted 
him by insisting he should rest until they pre- 
pared food and hot coffee. The younger seemed 
already asleep as they turned away, while the 
other continued, "We are brothers, our family 
name is Anarchist." 

Our good friends hurriedly rebuilt the fire, and 
prepared food for their unexpected guests. On 
their return, however, both were soundly sleep- 
ing. Onetax gently shook the form of the young- 
er, and called him to awake and eat, with no 
effect beyond producing a frown on the face of 
the sleeper, and the murmured word "g’way.” 
Socialist met with the same signs of complete 
exhaustion on the part of the elder. 

"Let them rest," said he, "they need sleep 
apparently more than food. Poor fellows ! It is 
still chilly and cold, let us wrap them in the 
blankets. " 

While doing this kind office, Onetax said. "I 
can see no family resemblance between them." 
Hearing no reply from his companion he turned 
and was surprised at the intent and serious ex- 
pression on the face of Socialist, who was sitting 
by the side of the elder sleeper gazing with a 
rapt look on the face of the stranger. Haggard 
and worn as the face of the sleeper was, the ex- 
pression was calm and placid. Onetax playfully 
toQcbed the arm of his friend as he said : "Wake 
op. and tell me. I pray, what dreams of weight 
has that sleeping face aroused ?" 

Socialist smiled, but with none of the playful- 
ness of the other, while he replied in a serious 
tone. 

"Listen, then," he continued speaking earn- 
estly, with eyes still gazing on the face before 
him. 

"This is a face that attracts children, a face 
that shows nobility and gentleness, a face that 
says to all, 'nature has made me good, in doing 
evil my possessor violates my instincts.' A man 
in trouble would instinctively turn to it for sym- 
pathy, a beggar would follow it for miles, even 
the genius of despair would gather hope in its 
smile 

Happily such faces are found on earth. They 
are God-given proofs that brutality has not crush- 
ed out all that is divine in humanity. They are 
more than inspirations, they are volumes of hope, 
for as long as such are found, man will plan for a 
coming millenium, when the leaven will leaven 
the whole and all men shall learn of them." 

"Not that nature so rarely stamps the divine 
on the human face, but its development is rare. 
In early childhood, unstained with passion, un- 


marred with evil deeds, unmarked with human 
experience, such faces are the rule. Divinity 
marks the face of childhood, humanity sears that 
of age. Oh ! divinely guided words, words that 
fall upon deaf ears, words that could save the 
world ! * Except ye become as little children, ye 

shall in no wise enter the kingdom.' *’ 

Onetax had gazed with astonishment at the rapt 
expression of his friend, whose countenance shone 
with the light of exalted inspiration. He had not 
been prepared for such an earnest reply, and his 
eyes wandered to the face of the younger sleeper, 
which was working convulsively with marked ex- 
pressions of wrath and anger. The brows were 
contracted with a malignant scowl, the lips part- 
ed, and he seemed to be delivering a curse on a 
mortal enemy. The face was in such marked 
contrast to the glowing elogium that Socialist had 
delivered on the other, that he involuntarily 
could not repress a smile which soon changed 
into a distinct laugh. 

Socialist, who had never raised his eyes from 
the contemplation of the serene face before him, 
and was indeed scarcely conscious of his listener, 
started to his feet with a look of pained surprise 
at this interruption. But his eyes followed those 
of his friend, who was yet watching the face that 
now pictured the passions of a very demon of 
iniquity. In a glance he recognized the incon- 
gruity and understood the cause of the misplaced 
merriment Noting this, Onetax exclaimed . 
"Pardon, friend, if involuntarily I took the one 
step that divides the sublime from the ridiculous. 
Look,” he added seriously, "this face proves your 
claims as well as the other. These men are broth- 
ers. Doubtless in childhood their expressions 
were alike. One cultivated the divine, the other 
let the weeds of passion grow unchecked. But 
let us not judge from the features; only a good im- 
pulse could have brought one into this pathless 
waste. Nature’s stamp is often counterfeited. 
Nature gives the ‘general,’ the individual works 
out the 'particular.’ Nature gives the model ; but 
man can gild it with gold, silver or copper, can 
make it base or noble.” 

The day passed on. and the watchers silently 
prepared their evening meal, but the strangers 
still slept. The elder quieted; the younger, with 
starts and exclamations, would often raise his 
arm with clenched fists, then sink down as if ex- 
haustion conquered. The friends would then 
quietly arrange the blankets around him, but 
made no effort to awaken him. 

The two had spoken but little since the discus- 
sion that the face of the elder had aroused. Since 
the unfortunate argument of the preceding day, 
both had avoided the one subject that laid near- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


est the heart. Socialist had aot yet given his 
companion an inkling of the conclusions he had 
arrived at during the four days of silent thought. 
He had only said that his plan provided for com- 
plete freedom and emancipation of the giant from 
all the claims of his oppressors ; that short of 
this nothing could satisfy his desires. 

It must be confessed that the assertion had 
surprised and pained Onetax. He was sincere in 
regarding it not only as absurd but even wicked 
and unnatural. It was a shock to the prejudices 
caused by his education, his surroundings and 
the influence of general society. The most singu- 
lar and peculiar fact in the history of this unex- 
plored forest and the victim imprisoned in its 
depths was the position of general society regard- 
ing the mysteries it contained and the claims of 
the giant. No subject of conversation was more 
interesting, nothing was more common than mild 
expressions of sympathy for the sufferer; a lec- 
ture or public discourse on the giant would fre- 
quently draw forth exclamations of pity, and 
even tears from the most indifferent. One who 
claimed to have made a short journey into the 
depths of the forest or to have witnessed the suf- 
ferings of the giant, would be followed by many 
admirers ; but if he claimed the forest should be 
destroyed or the giant set free he was mocked 
and stoned. No pleasure excursion was so well 
attended as those to the edge of the forest, where 
the crowd would listen to eloquent appeals on the 
necessity of exploring the hidden wastes — but 
here. also, the speaker must not go beyond gen- 
eral expressions of mild sympathy; on no subject 
were so many learned books written. 

Yet under all these surface indications there 
was an instinctive belief that the forest should 
not be fully explored and that the giant should 
be kept under some subjection. It was generally 
allowed that his sufferings should be mitigated. 
But it was claimed that his oppressers had always 
fed him and should be benefitted by his strength. 
A few openly claimed that the forest and the 

to bb o 


position of its victim resulted from the decrees of 
Divine Providence, and man should not interfere. 
That this prejudice was hidden in the heart of 
general society was amply proven by the fact that 
if any demanded, strict " justice" should be ap- 
plied to the giant and his masters ; they were 
regarded as disturbers of the peace, were hated 
and despised, yes, even stoned and imprisoned. 
This is one of the incomprehensible traits of hu- 
manity upon which reason bruises its head in 
vain. It is a prejudice that laughs at justice, 
openly derides morality and mocks at knowledge . 
crushes in its iron hand all the noblest instincts of 
humanity and makes a delusion of the holiest 
precepts of the founder of Christianity. 

The religion of Christ is the religion of human 
ity; as such its destiny is to conquer the world . 
but the great and final battle of conquest must be 
fought on this ground. The banner was unfold- 
ed nineteen hundred years ago, the rallying cry 
for all time was given when the golden rule* was 
uttered. For almost two thousand years creed, 
dogma and theology have obscured the truth, and 
the teachings of the man have been lost in the 
worship of the God. 

Socialist was attempting to reason on the great 
problem of right and wrong regardless of inborn 
prejudices and established theories. It is doubt- 
ful if it is within the power of man to overcome the 
influence of false impressions that in early youth 
moulded his opinion of right and wrong. He 
may, with all sincerity, endeavor to do so. may 
think even that he has done so ; but a self ex- 
amination will convince his own conscience that 
they still color his ideas. 

Onetax equally as honest, equally as well mean 
ing, had never seriously endeavored to reason on 
the problem outside and beyond the prejudices of 
his early education. For this reason the expres- 
sion of Socialist of attempting to give absolute 
freedom to the giant not only surprised but shock- 
ed him. 


THE SINGLE TAX THEORY. 

BY W. P. BORLAND. 


There is a great deal of vagueness connected 
with the current expression of the idea of the dis- 
tribution of the product of industry, and this 
vagueness begets a tautology in the use of econo- 
mic terms that is fatal to sound reasoning. A 
portion of the product is distributed to labor under 
the name of wages, while the remaining portion — 
by far the larger — is distributed to those who own 


the means and instruments of production, and 
who perform the work of management, under the 
names of rent, interest and profit. The socialists 
synthetize this latter portion and place it under 
the general designation of surplus value, asserting 
that, as a whole, it represents nothing other than 
a robbery of labor, and must be abolished. In so 
far as the term, surplus value, refers to that por- 


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don of wealth abstracted from the total product 
without an equivalent rendered, the conclusion of 
(be socialists must be accepted, but, in so far as 
it refers to the whole portion of wealth not now 
comprehended in the term wages, the conclusion 
is errooeons. The orthodox economic definition 
of labor, and its resultant, wages, is not broad 
enough to cover all that the terms really imply, 
being used merely to indicate physical or bodily 
exertion and the reward for the same: and, while 
the socialists recognize this fact in a general way, 
they give it no prominence in their analysis of 
surplus value. This begets confusion. ’ To the 
laborer the whole of his product" is a sentiment 
easily endorsed, but then arises the question, 
what is the whole of his product? That it is more 
than what is included in the present terra, wages, 
is certainly a fact, and because it is a fact the la- 
borer is robbed, but that it is the whole of pro- 
duced values is not a fact. (It must be understood 
that I here use the term, laborer, in its commonly 
accepted sense.) The term profit, which is one of 
the elements going to the make up of surplus 
value, is an indefinite and inexact term, and it 
ought to be rejected by those who desire to arrive 
it correct conclusions on the problem of distribu- 
tion. It can mean nothing which may not be in- 
cluded in the terms rent, interest, wages, and, as 
it is generally used, it but tends to confusion by 
repeating factors that have already received ade- 
quate expression in another term. That portion 
of profit coming under the designation, ‘wages of 
superintendence. " is clearly the reward of person- 
al exertion, and should find its expression under 
“wages." The receiver of profit is to this extent, 
certainly, a laborer and the receiver of wages. It 
is not correct to say that this portion of profit 
represents a robbery of labor, and its inclusion in 
surplus value is an error. This portion of profit, 
when considered in its proper sense, as the re- 
ward of labor, may be exorbitant when compared 
with the reward of other labor, but it is none 
the less the reward of labor and should be ex- 
pressed as wages; and it is certainly not correct to 
say that that portion of wealth which represents 
the reward of labor is a robbery of labor. Apply- 
ing this definition to the terms '‘laborer" and 
'wages," and it is the really proper one, they are 
broadened so as to include what they properly sig- 
nify, and what remains of surplus value is only 
what is exacted for the use of capital proper, and 
for the use of natural opportunities for the crea- 
tion of wealth. Besides “wages of superinten- 
dence." the term profit includes payments for the 
use of both land and capital, whether the receiver 
of profit is the owner of same or the hirer, it mat- 
ters not, and. as these payments receive adequate 


63 

expression in the terms rent and interest, the 
term profit is worse than useless; it means noth- 
ing definite and should be rejected entirely. 

It is not my intention to enter here into a dis- 
cussion of the question of whether or not interest, 
by which I mean payment for the use of legiti- 
mate capital, constitutes a proper charge upon 
produced wealth. There are considerations to be 
observed in the discussion of such a question that 
preclude the possibility of giving the subject ade- 
quate attention within the limits of my space, and 
my present purpose is to show the proportion 
which rent bears to surplus value proper. It is a 
very common criticism directed by socialists 
against the single tax theory that the removal of 
labor exploitation through the factor rent would 
be but a small step in the direction of the full 
emancipation of labor. They admit that the com- 
plete application of the single tax would practi- 
cally bring about common property in land and 
secure to all men free access to our common heri- 
tage, but they assert that this would be of little 
benefit since rent constitutes but a small part of 
surplus value, and a productive system that rec- 
ognizes the legality of interest and profit must in- 
evitably tend to the robbery and enslavement of 
labor. As to profit, the fault in their reasoning is 
sufficiently clear; as to interest, much of that 
which is now denominated as such is in reality 
rent; and as to rent, its position in the term sur- 
plus value, and the relief that would be experi- 
enced by labor by its abolition as a charge on the 
product of industry, will be best understood by 
reference to some concrete illustrations from ac- 
tual fact. Taking our industries as a whole, it is 
not easy to separate the rent charge from the sev- 
eral other charges for purposes of comparison; 
the charges are so jumbled together that it is not 
easy to assign each to its proper place with any 
degree of accuracy. But there are some indus- 
tries where the factor, rent, stands out clear and 
distinct, unobscured by the ambiguity of the term 
profit, and by casting a side light on these we 
shall be able to form an idea of the potential 
power of rent as a whole, and the extent of the 
robbery which labor suffers by reason of its exis- 
tence in its present form. These are the mining 
and lumber industries, where men exact a portion 
of the product without having taken the slightest 
part in the business of production themselves, and 
solely by virtue of their title as land owners. 
These charges are known as royalties in the min- 
ing industries, and stumpage in the timber, being 
solely payments made for permission to go upon 
the land for the purpose of extracting mineral 
or cutting timber. They are computed upon the 
basis of a ton of mineral or a thousand feet of 


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timber, and constitute the surest kind of a fixed 
charge against the product. They are rent 
charges in the purest form in which they appear 
in ntodern industry. Taking the coal, iron ore, 
and timber industries in the United States for the 
year 1889, the total value of their product was 
$1,101,198,301. Of this, the total cost of produc- 
tion, including wages of labor, cost of maintain- 
ing animals, clerk and office hire, and all such 
miscellaneous expenses as are necessary to the 
•conduct of the business, is given as $574,067,197. 
the total capital profit is given as $75,972,992; and 
the royalties paid to land owners amounted to 
$451,197,596. This is, approximately, thirty per 
cent, of the value of the entire product, and it is 
paid to land owners merely for the privilege of 
being allowed to work in these industries. Tak- 
ing the United States as a whole, we get the fol- 
lowing: 1 

Average royalty on 1,000 feet lumber, board 


measure $3 02 

Average royalty on one ton of coal .15 

Average royalty on one ton of iron .59 

Average cost of 1.000 feet lumber, board 

measure $3 .50 

Average cost of one ton of coal .90 

Average cost of one ton of iron 1 47 


Taking the three states of Michigan, Wisconsin 
and Minnesota, for the year 1890, the average 
cost per thousand feet of lumber to the market 
was $6.69 The total expense was $3.12 per thou- 
sand feet The difference is represented by 
stumpage and profit, $3 11 for stumpage and 46 
cents for profit. The pine timber product of 
these three states is stated by the census bureau 
to equal one-third of the whole pine product of 
the United States. For the state of Michigan the 
timber industries are divided into three classes, 
and the official report from which 'I quote pre- 
sents the following figures for these classes. 

LOGGING CONDUCTED BY MILL ESTABLISHMENTS. 

1st class 2nd 3rd 

Estimated stumpage value per thousand 

feet, board in a*ure $4.49 $2 41 $2.75 

Wages cutting and preparing 1,000 feet 

to transport to mills 1.96 1.84 1.9: 

Average cost in transporting 1,000 feet 

logs to mills 1.25 r.57 1.72 

Wages cost in transporting 1,000 feet 

logs to mills 0.35 0.46 0.69 

Other cost in transporting i.o3o feet logs 

to mills 0.90 1. 11 1.03 

Total cost of 1,000 feet logs, board mea- — 

sure, at mills 7.70 5.52 6.38 

LUMBER MILLS. 

Value of 1,000 feet, board measure, at rst 2nd 3rd 

mill of finished piodnct Sz 1. 54 $10.24 $10.31 

Miscellaneous expenses in $100 of fin- 
ished product 7.24 4.48 4.25 

Wages in woods, transportation, and 
in mills, and salaries in $100 of 

finished product 29.54 36-57 26.86 

Expenses in ke p of animals and in 
transportation cf $ico of finished 

product ... 11. 01 13.83 14.02 

Royalty or stumpage value in $ico of 

finished product 4003 23.59 27.24 

Total cost in $100 of finished product 87.82 75 47 70.37 


Commenting on these figures, the report say» 

' 'First class mills and establishments are those 
which cut more than 5,000,000 feet for the year, 
and were all engaged in the production of pine 
lumber. It is a very noticeable feature of the re- 
port that no sales of standing pine timber have 
taken place for ten years at so small a stumpage 
value as $4.49. In many cases the owners of 
standing pine could not be found, as they live in 
other states or in foreign countries. The second 
class establishments include those in producing 
cedar and hemlock with the lowest stumpage 
value. The third class establishments were prin- 
cipally engaged in producing such lumber as is 
worked up into furniture, carriage stock, spool 
stock, staves and heading, with a somewhat high- 
er stumpage. The stumpage of $3 11, as given, is 
all, however, much below the market value. The 
value of saw mill and lumber mill product is the 
net value and represents the product when ready 

for the market The stumpage value 

is that returned by the establishments who cut the 
logs and who owned the land upon which the tim- 
ber was cut, and is at least $1.50 per 1.000 feel 
below the market value of stumpage for the year 
1889 or 1890; but low as it is, it shows that timber 
royalties are as great a charge against the consu 
mer as all the labor cost in lumber production. 

Summarizing results for the three states of 
Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin for the year 
1890, we get the following: 

Total cost of raw material for all establish- 


ments reporting for Mich , Wis.. Minn. . $44,506,167 

Stumpage cost 22,203,511 

Other cost 22,302,6® 

Labor cost per 1,000 feet $ 2*93 

Other cost per 1,000 feet — 1&1 

Total cost per 1,000 feet, except stumpage 3.124 

Stumpage cost per 1,000 feet 3 -** 

Total cost per 1,000 feet 6.134 

Selling price per 1,000 feet ... $6.69 

Profit per 1,000 feet 0.46 

For the United States, we get . 

Total number of feet produced 7. 13 ^* 749 *°°° 

Stumpage in $1 ot product $0-464 

Capital profit in $t of product .068 

Cost in $x of product 4W 

Total cost of production $424. 160 

Total stumpage 421,245,6^0 

Total capital profit — 61.608, .60 

Total product 907,6*3,000 

Stumpage is N; 4 - per cent, of profit. 

Capital profit is 13 per cent, of protit. 

Total profit was $482, 853^40 


These figures give one a clear idea of the propor- 
tion which rent bears to the total product, and 
how largely it enters into the surplus value of the 
socialists. Of the coal product, the total product 
of bituminous coal in the year 1890 was 95.629,* 
026 short tons. The value of this product at the 
mines ready for shipment was $94,346,809 The 


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average value per ton was 99 cents, and the aver- 
age cost per ton of mining was 81. 1 cents. The 
land value of the capital invested was 67.26 per 
cent, of the whole capital . As in every other in- 
dustry connected with the procuring of raw mate- 
rial in manufacture, land value by far exceeds all 
the other investments in the enterprise, conse- 
quently royalty is the principal share of the profit. 
Taking the United States as a whole, we find the 
following results : 


Average cost per ton of mining 81.1 cents 

Labor cost per ton of mining 72.9 

Profit per ton of mining ...17.9 

Royalty per ton of mining __ .11.03 " 

Capita) profit per ton of mining 5.87 " 


Taking some of the results by states, we get the 
following: 

PENNSYLVANIA BITUMINOUS COAL. 


Labor cost in $100 of product $74.10 

Other cost in $100 of product 8.53 

Royalty in $100 of product 12 44 

Capital profit in $100 of product . . 4.93 


There were mined 36.174.089 short tons, valued 
at the mines at $27,953,315. The total cost of 
production was $23 132,033. The total profit was 
$4,821,282. of which profit $3,444,605 wasroyalty. 
Royalty was 71.45 per cent, of the total profit. 
Average wages per day for all employes was $1.84, 
and for miners alone $1.93. Total labor cost in 
ooe ton of coal 57. 3 cents. 

PENNSYLVANIA ANTHRACITE COAL. 


Price per ton at mines $1.44 

Wages cost per ton.... .90 cts 

Other cost per ton .14 " 

Profit per ton .40 “ 

Royalty profit per ton -258 '* 

Capital profit per ton .142 “ 


Royalty profit was 64.5 per cent, of total profit. 
Total spot value of the product was $65,721,578*; 
total capital invested was $161,784,473; of which 
$104,415,702 was land value capital, and $57,369,- 
771 other capital — buildings, machinery, etc. 

Labor cost in $100 of product at the mines. $62. 44 


Other cost in $100 of product 9.72 

Royalty profit in $100 of product 17.92 

Other profit .. 9.86 


ILLINOIS BITUMINOUS COAL. 


Average value per ton of coal at mines. 97 cents 


Average cost ‘ ‘ '* " " “ '* -.79.8 

Average labor cost per ton * 1 ..71.8 

Average profit per ton '* ..17.2 

Royalty profit " '* '* . . 9.6 

Other profit “ " ** “ -.7.6 


Royalty was 56.1 per cent, of profit. Land value 
5 &.i per cent, of investment. Average wages of 
miners per year was $250.46. 


OHIO BITUMINOUS COAL. 

Av. val of one ton of coal at the mines. 94 cents 


65 


Total cost per ton 79 8 cents 

Labor cost per ton 738 " 

Total profit per ton 14.2 " 

Royalty profit per ton 9.1 

Other profit per ton 5.1 


Royalty was 64.3 per cent, of profit. Land value 
was 64.3 per cent, of investment. Wages per 
year $35 2 95- 

ALABAMA BITUMINOUS COAL. 


Average price per ton of coal at mines $i.n 

Average cost per ton at mines _ .986 

Labor cost per ton at mines .91 

Average profit per ton .124 

Royalty profit per ton .093 

Capital profit per ton 031 


Royalty 75.6 per cent, of profit. Land value 75.6 
per cent, of investment. Average wages per year 
$532. 2CW 


MARYLAND BITUMINOUS COAL. 


Av. price per ton of coal at mines $ .86 

Average cost per ton .77 

Labor cost per ton .59 

Average profit per ton .09 

Royalty profit per ton 7.92 

Capital profit per ton 1.08 


Royalty was 88 per cent, of profit. Land value 
88 per cent, of investment. Average wages per 
year $497. 

The iron ore product in the United States for 
the census year 1890* was 14,518,041 long tons, 
valued at the mines at $33,351,978. The capital 
invested was $110,766,199, distributed as follows: 
land, $78,574,881; buildings, fixtures, etc., $7,673,- 
520; tools, implements, etc., $8 045,545; cash and 
stock on hand, $15,572,253. Land value is 71.5 
per cent, of the investment. The number of em- 
ployes engaged in mining ore was 37,707, who re- 
ceived in wages $13,880,108, an average of $368 
per employe per year. Of the twenty- six states 
and two territories producing iron ore, the four 
leading ones are Michigan, Alabama, Pennsylva- 
nia and New York, in the order named, producing 
70.49 per cent, of the entire output, and for these 
four states the percentage of royalty in the total 
profit is as follows: 

Michigan Royalty is 65.6 per cent, of profit. 

Alabama Royalty is 81.2 *' 

Pennsylvania . .Royalty is 91 " •* " “ 

New York Royalty is 73 “ “ " 

In Pennsylvania, where royalty is the highest and 
capital profit is the lowest, the total profit exceeds 
the total wages paid by the sum of $211,166, or 
more than seven per cent, of the value of the en- 
tire product. The figures are as follows: 


Total value of product $3,063,534 

Total expense of mining product 1,711,129 


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THE RAILWAY .CONDUCTOR. 


Total profit 1,352,405 

Total wages paid 1,141,239 

Excess of profit over wages 211,166 


The average wages per employe per year was 
only $277; and the average number of tons mined 
per employe per year was 357.03. There are six 
states whose average yearly wages per employe 
are lower than that of Pennsylvania, but their an- 
nual production per employe is also lower. Con- 
trasting these seven states, we get the following: 

Tons per em- Wages per em- 
ploye per ploye per 

year. year. 

Pennsylvania 357-03 $277 

Georgia and North Carolina. 330.96 182 

Tennessee. 312.41 231 

'Virginia and West Virginia. .209 87 234 

Ohio *57 95 227 

Colorado makes the best showing as to wages. 
The reports show for that state an average yearly 
wage per employe of $717, with an average pro- 
duction per employe of 279. 12 tons of ore. But 
here are but 391 employes reported for the entire 
state, and I have no figures showing the distribu- 
tion of the product. It must be remembered that 
these details refer to only the three leading indus- 
tries, coal, iron and timber; details for the re- 
maining industries, in the producing of raw ma- 
terial, are not as fully procurable. But, the spot 
value of all minerals produced in the United 
'States for the last census year, besides coal and 
iron ore, is given as $393,652,321, and estimating 
the royalty of this product at the same per cent, 
as the royalty of iron ore, which was 25.8 per 
cent. , the royalty of all other mineral products 
was $101,567,299. Adding this to the amount al- 
ready given, we get the sum of $552,764,895 as 
the total royalties and stumpage paid to land own- 
ers in the United States in the year 1889 for the 
privilege of working in the mining and lumber in- 
dustries, over $8 for each person, or over $44 
for each family of five persons. I am inclined to 
the belief that surplus value would not be much 
of an item if labor was relieved of the total rent 
charge of the nation, by which it is now op- 
pressed. And then there is the phosphate mining 
industry, about which there is so little known, 
because of so little importance until the very re- 
cent discoveries of the wonderful deposits of that 
mineral in Florida. We can see how rent comes 
in to absorb the biggest share of the wealth pro- 
duced by labor by taking a brief glance at the 
growth of this industry. The facts here given are 
from a special report issued from the United 
States Labor Bureau in 1893, in compliance with 
a resolution of the Senate of the United States, 
passed Dec. 4th, 1890. The report covers 30 es- 
tablishments in South Carolina, z in North Caro- 


lina, and 106 in Florida, a total of 137 establish- 
ments. The Florida phosphate fields are of quite 
recent discovery. The following quotation from 
the report, in relation to this discovery, will prove 
interesting: 

As early as 1879 traces were found and reported 
from Hawthorne in Alachua county, a sort of spo- 
radic deposit hanging upon the fringe of the now 
well defined belt. Analysis was made and showed 
45 72 per cent phosphate of lime. Some attempt 
in 1884 was made to work it, but only in a small 
way. Other discoveries were made in the same 
region, but none of them are now considered of 
much value. In 1887 the Sopchoppy or Wakulla 
county deposits were discovered, but their remote- 
ness from transportation was an insuperable ob 
stacle to their development. In the winter of 
1888-89 Mr. Adam Eichelberger. of Marioo 
county, discovered upon his orange grove on the 
Withlacoochee river, a strange looking substance, 
which excited his curiosity, and which he believed 
to be gypsum A little later, about May 1, 1889, 
Mr. Albertus Vogt, while having a well bored on 
his place, near the now famous Dunnellon mines, 
had his augur fouled, which, in his efforts to clear 
it, became disjointed. In digging down to clear 
the augur he came upon a bed of considerable 
thickness of what is now known as soft phosphate, 
which opened the way to the hard rock. Samples 
were carried to Ocala and placed in the hands of 
Dr. R. R. Snowden for analysis. The result was 
as much a surprise to Dr. Snowden as to anyone 
else. He reported that the analysis proved the 
substance to be phosphate of lime of high grade, 
being over 76 per cent., and told the parties, 
some of whom were ignorant of the value of phos- 
phate, that if the deposit was abundant it was 
better than a gold mine. The 10 acres’of poor 
land upon which the well was located, within 2 
few weeks sold for $10,000, and within a few 
months Mr. Vogt realized $60,000 as the fruits of 
his discovery. Mr. Eichelberger. who had stim- 
ulated the excitement by his search after gypsua, 
was also rewarded, for he not only discovered 
gypsum of a good quality, but in close proximity 
on the same tract of land, rich beds of phosphate 
The business men who had been taken into the 
secret by Mr. Vogt cautioned secrecy and imme- 
diately sent samples to chemical laboratories io 
New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, the analy- 
sis from each being confirmatory of Dr. Snow- 
den’s report. Within a few weeks thousands of 
acres of land lying along the Withlacoochee river 
were secured, under a small option, at a nominal 
price. Capitalists were taken in, and what is now 
known as the Dunnellon Phosphate Company was 
organized. 

The number of acres controlled for mining pur- 
poses is given for the three states covered by the 
report as 252,138, distributed as follows: Florida, 
179,848 acres: North Carolina 2,500 acres; and 
South Carolina, 69.790 acres. Phosphate is also 
found in the beds of rivers, and the miles of rivers 
controlled for mining purposes in Florida are 
163.5 in 15 mines, 3 mines not reporting; and in 
South Carolina, 7 miles in 1 mine, 6 mines not 
report. 2?, a total of 170 5 miles in 16 mines, 9 
mines not reporting. 


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‘After the discovery of the river pebble, the 
state undertook to exercise its sovereign rights 
over these waters as being a part of its navigable 
waters, and by law imposed a royalty on all river 
mines. According to the classification under said 
law, the following royalties were to be paid on all 
phosphate taken from the rivers of the state: on 
phosphate not exceeding 55 per cent, of bone 
phosphate. 50 cents per ton; on phosphate ex- 
ceeding 55 per cent, and not exceeding 60 per 
cent, of bone phosphate, 75 cents per ton; and on 
phosphate exceeding 60 per cent, of bone phos- 
phate, $1 per ton. However, prior to the asser- 
tion by the state of this right to impose a royalty., 
individuals and companies had bought up the 
lands on both banks of these several streams, 
with the purpose of controlling the riparian rights 
to the river beds under the general law. As the 
rivers were generally narrow, and only in few 
places had been meandered by the United States 
survey, issue was joined by the companies, who 
declined to pay royalty on any save the mean- 
dered territory. This the state refuses to con- 
cede, and the matter is now in litigation." The 
hard rock phosphate, or that produced from the 
land mines, is superior to the river phosphate and 
sells for a greater price, and as there is very little 
difference in the actual cost of production, this 
assertion by the state of the right to collect royal- 


67 

ties will give one a faint idea of the amount ab- 
sorbed by rent in the total product. The total 
capital invested in plant (the facts not being given 
for five mines) is $4,705,782, and in land (the 
facts not being given for sixteen mines) $14,366,- 
067, a grand total of $19,071,849. The total pro- 
duction for the year 1892 was 1,231,703 long 
tons, valued at the mines at $7,153,141, the labor 
cost of producing which was $2,473,615, distrib- 
uted among 9, 175 employes, a yearly average per 
employe of $270. A faint idea of the part rent 
takes in the surplus value may be obtained from 
the very meagre facts already given. In South 
Carolina royalties are paid to the state in accor- 
dance with the quality of phosphate mined. 
These royalties amounted to $184,502 in 1892, and 
since the year 1870 the state has received a total 
of $2,805,971 in phosphate royalties. I have gone 
much more fully into statistics than I intended to 
when I began this article, but I have been carried 
along by the thought that these details are neces- 
sary to illustrate the point I desire to bring into 
prominence, notwithstanding that their length 
renders it necessary that I should reserve my 
main purpose, the elucidation of the single tax 
theory, for another article. The facts relating to 
coal, iron and timber royalties are from the tenth 
annual report of the Michigan Labor Bureau. 


SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION. 

BV JOSK GROS. 


One of the most curious facts in all historical 
development is the way with which humanity has 
always been misled through grand words improp- 
erly understood or poorly explained. Take for 
instance the word Faith. How men and nations 
have butchered themselves, and made life as 
wretched as possible, for long centuries, for the 
sake of showing that each set of men had more 
faith than any other set. each group of faithful 
people bent upon gorging everybody else with 
their own fanciful faith without ever stopping to 
see if that faith of theirs was any better than 
that of other people. It has generally been 
assumed that faith consisted on a certain theory 
of God's existence, and the forms of worship 
through which we could obtain eternal bliss, re- 
gardless of that grand conception, Love one 
another f 

What we call the periods of faith have ceally 
been periods of hate among men, when if faith 
means anything it means Love , love towards each 
other, honesty and tolerance towards each 


other, peace on earth among men. If we want 
to rise a little higher, in our perceptions of faith, 
we may add that faith is to be hungry and thirsty 
after righteousness, and so to work for righteous- 
ness, individual and social, with the ego and with 
the nation. Have we ever done anything of the 
kind ? Far from that, when we reformers talk 
with people permeated with that old fanciful 
faith of periods gone by, do you know what they 
tell us ? " Leave social righteousness alone. All 

you have to do is to make the individual right, as 
we are trying to do." Well, the old fossils in 
question have been working with the individual 
for at least sixty centuries, and the individual is 
yet far from right because he does not want to 
work for social righteousness. ‘And if any of us 
tries so to do, he is not considered much of a fel- 
low after all. 

Suppose that a baker was endeavoring to bake 
good loaves of bread without attending to having 
the oven well fixed up. That would not be any 
more foolish than trying to build up human indi- 


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68 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


victuals ipight while giving them no conceptions of 
how they should fix the oven of their own nation, 
the laws of their own nation, under the action of 
which their lives are regulated year in and year 
out, from the cradle to the grave ! So much for 
the logic of the men of faith, that old fanciful 
faith, saturated with hate between man and man, 
class against class, nation against nation. 

Ours is not an age of faith, in the old sense of 
the word. Ours is a period of doubts, the inevit- 
able result of long periods of a selfish faith, sel- 
fish because sectarian, and hence saturated with 
mean, narrow perceptions of duty. The great 
blunder of our old religious teachers, and most of 
the present ones, is the idea of limiting their faith 
to the life beyond, how to get there through the 
mere routinary habits of what is called a regular 
life, subordinated to petty human traditions, lim- 
ited to respectability in the eyes of this or that 
group of men, my own little clique or sect, and 
without any basic conceptions of what we should 
call duties of Christian citizenship! 

Why not to let religion embrace all human ac- 
tivities, all classes, all nations, all duties, civil, 
social, political, industrial ; in the domestic group 
as well as in the national one ; in private as well 
as in public life ? Religion is but a man of nega- 
tions without the spirit of universal justice be- 
cause of universal love. 

Yes, ours is a period of doubts ; but that is far 
preferable to a narrow, fanatical faith. Men 
think when they doubt. It is then that they are 
apt to shake off the old worn out ideas for better 
and fresher ones, ennobling thoughts in finished 
forms, with a round, symmetrical faith, instead of 
the stiff, angular one which rejects every new 
conception, and freezes up the intellect, the emo- 
tions, the volitions, the whole human soul, as if 
the word progress was but an eternal negation; as 
if life was a sealed volume, as if history was a 
mirage and the universe a group of mechanisms 
without any especial meaning, with no inspirations 
with which to expand the visions of humanity in 
search of beauty through time and space ! And 
you can notice that while the mind of the bigot — 
bigot because infatuated with his old ideas — is 
like a slate full of pencil marks in which you can 
write nothing, the mind of the man in doubt is 
like a slate with a clean space, where you may be 
able to write some truth that is apt to blossom 
later on. 

We are happy to acknowledge that our nation 
has never been stained with religious fanaticism 
in prominent forms, as the old nations ; but what 
about economic fanaticisms ; what about faith in 
terrestial salvation through acts of congress ? 
We mean faith in the power of congress to pro- 


tect the working masses at home against the work- 
ing masses abroad through taxes or imports. 

In our previous article we showed the futility 
of that plan on a materialistic plane, as fiscal 
contrivances totally at war with common sense. 
But there is a higher level than that ; a religious 
level. Because we have said that a live, real 
religion embraces ail human activities. Such a 
religion means, not only salvation in the world 
beyond, but salvation here below, heaven on both 
sides of the grave, and no doubt a much grander 
heaven beyond than those can have who have 
neglected to commence enjoying heaven on earth. 

A tariff on imports for the sake of protection 
most emphatically repudiates that grand concep- 
tion of Christ — Universal Brotherhood . It vir- 
tually asserts that the working masses abroad are 
the natural enemies of the working masses at 
home ; that universal brotherhood is a mere sen- 
timent, a platitude, and Christ but a dreamer. 
We don’t really know how that conclusion can be 
escaped. We have there an emphatic survival 
of a faith that was fed by hates and jealousies ; 
not by love or anything like it. If the general 
improvement of the workers of this nation is not 
more or less conditioned on the improvement of 
the workers every where else, then universal 
brotherhood is a naked lie. If we have to tax, to 
rob, the workers at home or those abroad to pro- 
tect them from the bad effects of exchanging their 
respective products, then such workers are not 
brothers ; they are regular enemies, as the old 
sectarian faith, and perhaps the modern one, yet 
proclaimed men enemies if they did not happen 
to go to the same churches, etc., etc. 

Just as in old times we cheated the working 
masses out of all happiness through a false, sel- 
fish religious faith resting on crude forms and 
refined hates ; so in modern times we have been 
cheating our working millions with a false, selfish 
economic faith, that of protecting such millions 
of people through human laws, denying God's 
law of universal brotherhood. 

Well, we monopolists have reasoned as follows : 
Here we have an immense natural patrimony, 
enough to feed, clothe and house ten or twenty 
times our own population, in full comfort. Yet 
most of our workers are forced to live in poverty 
We have to give them some reason for that. If 
we don’t, they will be apt to fee the real cause of 
their poverty. In the old nations the density of 
population and the need of armies and navies to 
protect the national integrity are apparently good 
causes for the poverty there. Besides, the sur- 
plus population there can go over to the new 
countries on this side. Here we have not even 
any apparent good reason for the poverty of the 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


workers. We need, then, to humbug them with 
the idea of protection through restrictions in 
international commerce. That may divert their 
minds from our grand iniquity of land robbery 
on the most colossal scale ever exhibited on the 
face of the globe; say over 3,000,000 square 
miles of territory between the Atlantic and the 
Pacific, the gulf and the great northern lakes 
gobbled up by two or three per cent of the popu- 
lation, in forms direct or indirect, but most effect- 
ual, anyhow. 

The above gives us the Genesis of that grand 
American economic superstition — protecting the 
workers through taxes on imports. It is a 
splendid substitute for the suppression of the old 
faith, about poverty being inevitable, and not so 
bad after all, when it was to be followed by wealth 
in heaven, if only the poor here below were 
submissive to their masters in the church and out 
of the church, on Sundays and week days. 


69 

It seems anyhow self-evident that you will han- 
dle men like babies as long as you can make them 
believe that they need protection from their own 
masters or employers, or rather, that employes 
shall only have good wages if human laws give to 
employers the opportunity of so doing. The 
implication is, then, that employers are a group 
of philanthropists, or a superior race ; the trust- 
ees of that inferior race, the employes. There 
is the old story of masters and slaves ; the rich 
and the poor by divine dispensation; the old fatal- 
isms and the old faith ! 

The only protection needed by the workers is 
that of Land Restoration. That means : Down 
with all tariffs, international or external, on pro- 
duction and commerce. Down with all taxes on 
what labor creates Tax all monopolies out of 
existence, and let the Law of Equal Rights pre- 
vail over all men. That is the only function of 
government. 


A REJOINDER TO MR. BORLAND’S “SOCIALISM AND LIBERTY.” 

BY W. C. B. RANDOLPH. 


Mr Borland's criticism of socialism reveals two 
things — he has a studious mind and a sprinkling 
of that petrified prejudice toward existing institu- 
tions that is unfortunately so prevalent and which 
does so much to hinder original thinking 
It would seem that, after a careful study of the 
principles of socialism, it would be next door to 
impossible for .any fair-minded investigator to 
possess himself of the idea that "freedom of de- 
mand" would be lacking, or rather that there 
would be less of it 4han there would be under any 
conceivable individualistic state of society. But 
to begin with, we are not so much concerned with 
the freedom of demand as we are with the inau- 
gurating of some industrial system that would 
make this demand effective. 

Any state whose dominant force is individual 
enterprise, that allows anyone to get whatever he 
can regardless of the law of equity, does give ef- 
fective demand to a fraction of its members, yes, 
an unnatural and therefore dangerous individual- 
ity, but by its own inherent workings, leaves the 
greater number bereft of any material power to 
enforce a demand of whatever nature. No con- 
siderable demand can be made by an individual 
for that to which his ownership is not previously 
recognized. Take a case to-day. The pathetic 
army of the starving, yet willing workers may de- 
mand their share of the world’s wealth, but socie- 
ty. to whom the demand is made, not recognizing 
a just claim, bids them "move on." We have 
’freedom of demand" now, and are suffering its 


ironical bitterness. Many writers, including Mr. 
Borland, have been enmeshed in the capitalistic 
net by the deceptive yet alluring bait of "freedom 
of contract" as applied to the workers and made 
to justify any sort of arrangement between wage 
workers and the employing class. Unless Mr. 
Borland, by the use of the term "freedom of de- 
mand," means practically the same as the much- 
vaunted term, "freedom of contract,” I am at a 
loss to discover his train of thought. And it will 
be my purpose throughout this letter to so con- 
strue that phrase. Most readers will no doubt 
call to mind that during the now famous Home- 
stead tragedy, the question of equitable ownership 
by the workers to the Carnegie plant itself, was 
raised. A certain writer, taking the Carnegie side 
of the argument, said: "The moral and legal right 
of the workers is fully quit claimed when the rate 
of wages is agreed to. " 

Mr. Borland’s position could be none other than 
this. The workers, under any sort of competitive 
system, are free to ask, free to contract, but that 
does not at all follow that they are in a position 
to make a just and equitable contract. Where 
there are more workers than there are places for, 
or when the state of business is such that some 
work will only be undertaken at less than the 
usual expense, so as to promise a desirable profit, 
the employers will say to the workers: "I will 
give you so much (or rather so little) per day if 
you care to work for that, if you do not I will 
either find others who will or I will not do the work 
at all." 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


7 o 

This, when told to men who have no better 
prospects than the terms just offered, has the ef- 
fect, generally, of inducing them to accept, not 
on account of the justness of the proposition, but 
on account of their own individual necessity. 

Necessity and, justice are neither the same, nor 
twins. They are free to accept the terms ten- 
dered them, but (and here is the trick) they are 
not free to accept an equitable offer, -for none is 
presented to them! Mr. Borland quotes from 
Schaffle to show that a freedom of demand or 
contract is absolutely necessary for human happi- 
ness and welfare. He need not have taken so 
much pains to prove this to a socialist. It is read- 
ily and gladly admitted. Indeed, we arraign the 
competitive system for denying it to the workers. 

But I wish to call Mr. Borland's attention to 
the reasoning of the writer supporting Carnegie’s 
position referred to above. The idea of “quit 
claiming equity,” carries along with it decided 
traces of humor. Take an illustration: two men 
carrying a load between them on a pole. If the 
load be midway it is equity — that is, each one's 
burden equals the other. If shifted from the cen- 
tre, there would be no equity — each then would 
not be carrying the same weight, even though the 
change were agreed to. An agreement does not 
make equity, for equity is an abstract principle, 
and means the proper relation or adjustment of 
things. It exists, whether it be individually rec- 
ognized or not. If it is obeyed in the industrial 
realms as elsewhere, all is well; if violated, inhar- 
mony is manifested. 

So the ignorant or forced acceptance on the part 
of powerless poverty to whatever conditions are 
imposed upon them, does not confer righteousness 
upon the transaction. 

If the present arrangement between the employ- 
ers and the workers is right because it is agreed 
to, it follows logically, either that the workers 
have no other rights than those of contract, or 
whatever is contracted for is right. According to 
this agreement, the demands of justice would be 
as well met by one proportion of labor’s product 
as by any other portion of it. A curious sort of 
justice that! 

If it is equity to work a man for as low wages 
as you can starve him into “agreeing” to. then it 
was an equitable relation that obtained between 
the African slave and his master, if agreed to. 
Now, if the right to make terms by which the 
many must live, is conceded to a few men called 
employers, then their right to make no terms is 
also conceded, so what becomes of the “freedom 
of demand?” 

Socialism claims and proves that an equitable 
reward for the laborer is the entire product of his 


toil. By bis own force be has brought into being 
something that did not exist before, and to bal- 
ance the account, it must be owned by the pro- 
ducer. He l^as produced a certain amount of 
wealth, and justice demands this, bis receiving 
equal (equity) his giving If wealth does not be- 
long to the producer of it, who can lay claim to 
it? Again, if it were equitable, when agreed to. 
to give labor less than it creates, would it not also, 
according to the same law, be equitable to give 
them more , if previously agreed to? Persistent 
and systematic thought on this freedom of con- 
tract, will convince the student that there can be 
no equity short of the entire product. And the 
very fact that a specific pay is agreed to before- 
hand, no matter whether the amount is large or 
small, indicates an utter absence of any attempt 
to arrive at terms of equity, for in the very nature 
of the operation, the productivity of labor cannot 
be equitably predicted. It would contain an ele- 
ment of injustice to the employer if the rate were 
too high, and to the workers if set too low. The 
whole wage agreement is a clumsy, slip-shod 
make-shift, as unscientific as it is demoralizing to 
society. It is not a system. The rate of wages 
is not evolved by purifying and ennobling 
thought. It is ever set by the destitution of the 
workers It is a negation , and therefore cannot 
of itself show cause why a positive system should 
not replace it. 

Mr. Borland urges against socialism that per- 
sonal control would be prominent. To me it ap- 
pears that a competitive system is pre-eminently 
chargeable with this fault. Where'private enter- 
prise holds sway, it is inevitable that the personal 
features will more and more intrude as the 
wealth of the world gravitates into fewer 
hands. Certainly, a lesser number of wealthy 
men, owning as much wealth as a larger number, 
would each intrude more personality in the busi- 
ness affairs than would be possible from each in- 
dividual of a larger number. And the inevitable 
trend of a competitive system is to pile up the 
wealth in a decreasing number of families. The 
effect under socialism would be to divorce wealth 
from personality by giving all an equal opportu- 
nity to labor, and making it impossible for one to 
accumulate wealth that equitably belongs to an- 
other. It will be seen at a glance that if all the 
means of production were commonly owned, the 
power of wealth production would be nearly 
equal between the individuals, hence no great dis- 
crepancy in possessions would be noticed. And 
where no one was economically dependent on any 
other person, he would never allow any infringe- 
ment on his personal rights. Personal interfer- 
ence is only compatible with a system that cen- 
tres its power in wealth instead of worth. 


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THE RAILWA 1 


CONDUCTOR. 


The possession of enormous wealth amid pov- 
erty accrues extraordinary and unnatural advan- 
tages to its possessor, which he could in no wise 
retain, if stripped of his wealth, no odds what his 
intellectual status was. 

Indeed, with a certain and never-failing law, 
men of immense wealth will seek to gratify their 
personal ambition, even though it be the downfall 
of a competitor or the death of their fellow men, 
for nothing is more certain than, as the wealth be- 
longs to a person, it will be used to further per- 
sonal ends. Impersonal wealth would be used 
impersonally, that is, unselfishly; possible only 
under socialism. 

A system of individual ownership of the earth 
and tools of production, is essentially tyrannical, 
and its logical out-workings offensive to every 
sense of democracy. , 

Consider it under socialism. Were everyone 
forever free beyond the peradventure of a doubt, 
from any individual interference with his right to 
live, or make the things he wished to consume or 
use, and each one consciously cognizant of the 
fact that he was an equal functionary with every 
other member of the community, with a right of 
choice and the power of enforcing it in every de- 
tail of government, would it be at all probable 
that any objectionable personality would be si- 
lently suffered? If anything was distasteful to 
the people it would be abolished, for socialism 
gives the people entire control, not only of the 
political affairs, but of every interest affecting 
their welfare. Mr. Borland is laboring under a 
grievous error when he apprehends that socialism 
would be under the necessity of making laws 
against private production. I have not seen this 
mentioned as a necessity in any socialistic writ- 
ings, and believe it is a conjecture of his own. 
The superiority of social production over the 
profit system, and, consequently, its ability to main- 
tain itself without the force of law, may be illus- 
trated in the following easy way: Suppose the gov- 
ernment undertake to operate one-half of the 
coal mines of Pennsylvania, using the best known 
plants and methods regardless of capital required, 
as, to a whole people, that would be practically 
unlimited, and offer its output at actual cost to 
consumers. Is it not evident that it would be a 
simple impossibility for the remaining half of the 
mines of the state to continue to sell at a profit? 

In private production, when profit ceases pro- 
duction ceases. It would indeed be surprising if 
socialism bad builded so poorly and depended for 
the support of the new economic structure on such 
unstable and unscientific props. 

In my opinion, if social production could not, 
with an equal chance, excel wage production, or 


7 1 

to put it in another and plainer way, if men would 
not voluntarily leave competitive jobs and enter 
public production, and if they did not accumulate 
more wealth and with greater ease, then social 
production would be a failure and should not or 
could not be bolstered up by any process foreign 
to its own natural operation. It appears to me 
that no other view of this question is imaginable 
than that men would prefer a system of produc- 
tion that would give them all the wealth they pro- 
duce and a voice in the general business manage- 
ment. It may be admitted, and no writings of 
socialists as far as I am informed deny this, that 
there would be some private production. This 
would not work the injustice to the artisans as 
now, for the reason that public employment would 
offer an alternative. And no private productioa 
could have a monopoly of any line of commerce, 
for no patents would be issued and the govern- 
ment would undertake any new line that had 
shown its stability of demand. It would be in 
this way that eccentric tastes would be first met. 
The opponents of socialism usually urge that the 
common ownership of the means of production 
would stifle invention and plunge us in a gulf of 
stagnation. 

Mr. Borland, however, unconsciously to him- 
self, freely admits the socialist claim, and rather 
exaggerates it, that invention would then really 
receive its first natural stimulus. But it is some- 
what amusing to know that anyone would suppose 
that the government would be compelled to buy 
every invention. 

It must b# remembered that in an individual 
system a great number of good ideas never get to 
material form. This will always be so Under 
socialism it would be the general endeavor to get 
the advantage of as many inventions as possible, 
for, unlike a competitive system, every worker 
would be immediately and directly benefitted by 
each improvement. 

In this respect, socialism would be preferable to 
the present system, because vested interests in the 
latter always hinder, just as much as they are 
able, the introduction of anything superior to that 
which already is. A board of examiners would 
certainly not have a monetary interest in any par- 
ticular invention, which cannot be said of a com- 
petitive system fully grown, which ours is not yet, 
and is accordingly not at its worst. I must disa- 
gree with Mr. Borland in his opinion that “per- 
sonal profit” is the natural impulse to invention. 
A poet makes poetry, first of all because he likes 
to, and were it nqt for an unnatural state of in- 
dustry, that is to say, a system of industry that 
has lagged behind while other elements of social 
life have evolved, compelling the prostitution of 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


7 2 

his inspiration to money getting, it would ever re- 
main in its pristine purity, uncontaminated by 
lower and foreign influences. So with the singer, 
the painter, the inventor and all genius of any 
particular bent. The present has been untruth- 
fully called the age of invention. That age. only 


dimly foreshadowed now, will, in reality, only 
begin with the advent of the new social order. 

It would make this letter too long for general 
reading to make an exhaustive review of that por- 
tion of Mr. Borland’s article wherein he deals 
with literature in the social state. Perhaps it 
may be done at another time. 


OUR NEW YORK LETTER. 


The New Year was ushered in with us 
by a most characteristic incident, which 
serves fairly to illustrate the extent to which 
has grown the sense of proprietorship among 
the select, the few who expect to dominate 
the citizens of New York by virtue of their 
ownership of the land on which the city is 
built. For perhaps two centuries past it has been 
the custom to celebrate the birth of the year by 
ringing the chimes of old Trinity at midnight, and 
as the city grew the number of listeners who gath- 
ered in front of the venerable church at that hour, 
grew with it to a mighty throng. Another time- 
honored custom in New York, more, perhaps, 
than in other parts of the country, has been to 
greet the New Year by making a noise, so that what 
with the blowing of whistles, the ringing of bells 
and tooting of horns, the din for a good quarter 
of an hour is fairly deafening; and as the watch- 
ers in front of the church all have their horns and 
rattles, the same as the watchers in any other 
spot, the racket which they made as their num- 
bers swelled in later years, has pretty nearly 
drowned the chimes. That this result was to be 
regretted, cannot be denied, just as it must be ad- 
mitted that its cause is essentially barbaric; but it 
was a harmless kind of barbarism at worst, so long 
as it did not really annoy quieter citizens; and it 
is hard to conceive of a place where jt would an- 
noy anyone less than the vicinity of the old 
church, where there are nothing but office build- 
ings nowadays, whose janitor residents have never 
raised a word of protest. It has always been a 
perfectly respectable crowd which has assembled 
there, with this excuse for a frolic, and there 
really seems to be no reason why these celebrants 
should not have enjoyed it in the way which suit- 
ed them best. 

But the rector of Trinity, Dr. Dix, is a particu- 
larly pompous, narrow-minded type of his class, 
and he suddenly took it into his head that it in- 
volved gross disrespect to himself and the busi- 
ness corporation at whose head he stands — for 
Trinity has become that before it is anything 
else — that the fun-loving New Yorkers should not 
stand in such meek reverence before his chimes 
as might be expected from the subservient villa- 


gers of an English cathedral town. And so he is* 
sued his edict that the chimes should not ring un- 
less, indeed, perfect quiet were ensured by the po- 
lice, and when Police Superintendent Byrnes sent 
him only a verbal assurance that he would have 
the ordinances enforced against disturbances for 
this purpose, instead of paying due deference by 
a written note, the reverend Doctor took unbrage 
at this^for was not a mere police superintendent, 
the appointee of vulgar officers elected by the 
common people, an inferior personage to the rep- 
resentative of one of the greatest landlords in the 
city, whose servants these people really were? 
Superintendent Byrnes was anxious to have the 
ringing of the chimes kept up, for there was a 
widespread public demand for it, out of the senti- 
ment which clings to old customs, and so he sent 
assistants several times to the Doctor to know if 
the latter would revoke his orders on the police 
guarantee; there being otherwise -no particular 
reason why the tacit suspension of the noise ordi- 
nance at that especial time should be varied from; 
but he very properly declined to humble himself 
to the Doctor s terms as to the exact manner in 
which the assurance was to be given, and the Doc- 
tor being in the sulks, the chimes were not rung, 
though the crowd was there and had its fun all 
the same. 

When it is considered that Trinity is a corpora- 
tion which has grown enormously rich out of its 
real estate holdings, the management of which is 
the chief concern of the clique of rich men in 
whose hands the corporation is vested, and who 
are shrewdly suspected — since they are subject to 
no public scrutiny whatever — to derive more or 
less personal benefit in the allotment of leases, it 
is not hard to deduce the conclusion that instead 
of the church owning the public street in front of 
it and the right to dictate bow citizens should be- 
have there, the crowd were really the rightful 
owners of the chimes, since it was the proceeds of 
their labor, taken from them as toll for the use of 
New York soil, which had placed the bells in the 
steeple, and was maintaining them and the rector 
as well. Yet so deeply are we engrafted with the 
idea that some men have a right to live off of 
other men, that this view of the true situation 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


does not seem to have generally presented itself. 
The fact is, that there is a class of hereditary 
landowners here, more highly developed probably 
than anywhere else in the country, who are often 
very pleasant people personally — except that there 
seems to be a subtle virus about the source of 
their incomes which leads to stinginess and nar- 
rowness, but who have become thoroughly im- 
bued with the Idea that they constitute a superior 
class of beings. 

All this superstition of superiority which attaches 
to special privilege, is apt to receive a rude shock 
from the kind of discussion now going on in Con- 
gress over the tariff question — in most re- 
freshing contrast, by the way, to the meaning- 
less debates that we have been accustomed to 
bear from there. The old fashioned tariff re- 
formers, who were satisfied to regulate trade and 
industry, provided they could do the regulating and 
oot someone else, the old-fashioned free traders 
who saw no further than a blind admiration of the 
British revenue system, have been brushed aside 
as the men came to the front who really believe 
in giving the people what they (the people) have 
said they want. 

If it were not for the tiresome Hawaiian ques- 
tion, the news of the day would really have live 
interest, indeed; and the amount of space given to 
that question in the papers is probably chiefly 
due to the mania which possesses the journalistic 
mind for diplomatic topics, so far in excess of the 
real .public interest taken in them. Perhaps the 
funniest instance of this was the frothing on edi- 
torial pages at the effective blocking of newsgath- 
erers from anticipating the latest advices by the 
dispatch boat Corwin. This assumption of infal- 
libility and consequent divine right to subordinate 
all other interests to those of the newspapers, 
would not be quite so offensive if it were not for 
the lamentable ignorance occasionally displayed 
by these public mentors on commonplace topics; 
a conspicuous instance of which, by the way, was 
recently shown by a New York reporter in com- 
menting on the cable line recently put in opera- 
tion on Broadway The cars of this line are very 
much better equipped than any other means of 
transit that we have here, among other improve- 
ments being the introduction in place of the anti- 
quated lamps which the elevated road still affects, 
of the Pintscb lights; and these lights in use 
more or less on nearly every railroad running out 
of the city, our sapient reporter described as 
‘ some new kind of gas." 

Still another example of the disposition of the 
average New York paper to run the universe has 
been displayed in<the recent course of the World , 


73 

which, because it jumped over to Cleveland’s 
side when he was on the point of winning the 
nomination, has ever since assumed the preroga- 
tive to dictate the action of the administration, 
and has latterly taken into its head that it would 
afford a pleasing novelty to its readers to strike 
out on a new line anent the Hawaiian issue and 
now and then" to violently pitch into certain of 
the nominations for office, the latest being that of 
Hornblower for the supreme court. Whatever 
may have been the qualifications of that gentle- 
man for such an office, and however one may feel 
as to the president who selected him, the imme- 
diate reasons for his defeat in the senate certainly 
constitute another grave menace to our system 
of government, and it may easily become a grave 
question whether as preliminary to lasting re- 
forms, it may not become necessary to "mend or 
end" our American House of Lords. At this 
writing it is too early to guess what attitude will 
be assumed oa the substitute nomination of Mr. 
Peckham, but if this, too, should be rejected, it 
will simply serve to emphsize the arrogance with 
which a body of men, not one of whom is chosen 
by the people and many of whom owe their seats 
to political methods of the most questionable 
sort, have assumed to parcel out among them the 
public offices and to interfere with all legislation 
which does not suit their personal interests 

Among local questions, the only thing especi- 
ally on hand is the periodical enforcement of our 
Sunday liquor law. That the influence of hum- 
bug should still be strong enough to maintain 
such a law in existence, is a little remarkable, 
and it is encouraging to find that contempt for 
this particular species of sham is spreading quite 
rapidly; but we have not wholly got rid of the 
silly notion that men can be made moral by legis- 
lation, or of that more despicable feeling which 
corresponds with an obsolete standard of moral- 
ity by keeping on the statute books a law which 
is not intended to be enforced. Nine-tenths of 
the people of New York do not believe in having 
the saloons closed on Sunday, but a great many 
of them pretend they do, and so there still exists a 
law which is a perfect dead letter, except when 
the saloonkeepers continue to close up, either to 
force a reaction or to hoodwink the fanatics who 
really do want them closed and insist on imposing 
their views on the majority of the community, 
and just now we are having one of these experi- 
ences. In the long run, there is no less liquor 
drank on Sunday, but the fetish of humbug is 
propitiated, and as attempts to interfere with 
natural tendencies always meet with retribution 
of some kind or another, a great stimulus is given 
to the opportunities for blackmail 

Edw. I. Shriver. 


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74 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


COPIED. 

ARE THE BROTHERHOODS A FAILURE? 


BY W. S. CARTER, IN LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN'S MAGAZINE. 


While rival organizations are in the field, men 
will of necessity be led into hostile camps; preju- 
dices will assert themselves; envies and jealousies 
will prevail and do their deadly work, and all 
these ihfluences will combine to prevent a perfect 
unification of the craft such as is necessary to pro- 
tect their rights and interests and secure for them 
that degree of consideration at the hands of their 
employers to which they are so justly entitled. — 
George VV. Howard (Vice-President of the 
American Railway Union). 

That there is a. degree of restlessness, a yearn- 
ing for something new, within the ranks of rail- 
way labor organizations, is apparent to casual ob- 
servers of current events Existing organizations 
have not yielded the harvest that some had hoped 
for, and from many localities come urgent de- 
mands for a change, for a new organization, one 
that possesses none of the defects peculiar to the 
brotherhoods, and one that will give immediate 
and permanent relief to our diseased social condi- 
tion. 

Subordinate lodges of the Brotherhood of Loco- 
•motive Firemen have received within the past few 
months numerous circulars, in pamphlet form, 
purporting to set forth the “principles of the 
American Railway Union,’ an organization now 
being instituted for the purpose of filling all re- 
quirements of those who are not satisfied with the 
present railway labor organizations. This circu- 
lar is issued over the signatures of Eugene V. 
Debs, President, and S Keliher, Secretary, which 
gives to the document more than ordinary inter- 
est. inasmuch as each of these gentlemen is 
quite prominently connected with other existing 
organizations and is favorably known to all or- 
ganized labor George W. Howard, ex-Grand 
Chief Conductor of the Brotherhood of Railway 
Conductors is the Vice-President of this new or- 
der, adding strength by his prominence and popu- 
larity in labor circles This trio of officials is of 
itself sufficient *to draw to the American Railway 
Union the support of their many admirers. 

The circular referred to dwells at length upon 
the merits of the American Railway Union, but 
the larger portion of the document, in the lan- 
guage of the president and secretary, ‘points out 
with unerring certainty the defects and demon- 
strates the inefficiency of the organizations as 
they now exist." That the president and secre- 
tary have implicit faith in their new order and 
none whatever in the organizations as they now 
exist, is evident upon the first reading. They ar- 
raign existing organizations as defective and ineffi- 


cient in eleven special features, and • ’the reforms 
sought to be inaugurated and the benefits to be 
derived" from the American Railjvay Union, are 
set forth in six paragraphs. 

The fact that the Brotherhood of Locomo- 
tive Firemen is one of the most prominent of 
existing organizations, and that I am an ardent 
admirer of the firemen’s order, has led me to at- 
tempt in this article a defense of some of the "de- 
fects" which have been so severely criticised in 
this manifesto. It is not my intention to question 
the sincerity of these gentlemen; I believe them 
to be earnegt in their endeavor to find remedial 
measures for the present distressed condition of 
labor, but it is my intention to demonstrate, that 
some of the defects which they enumerate are, in 
fact, desirable attributes. My admiration for 
Messrs. Debs and Howard will be apparent when 
it is seen how copious are the quotations from the 
writings and words of these eminent labor 
leaders. 

The circular introduces the discussion as fol- 
lows: 

In the creation of a new organization of rail- 
way employes, certain reasons prompting the 
movement are demanded and should be set forth 
with becoming candor. 

The number of railway employes now in service 
of the railroads of America has been variously es- 
timated from 800,000 to 1,000,000 It is safe to 
assume that this vast army of employes is at the 
present time not less than 1.000 000 

Accepting the highest claims of the varioustail- 
road organizations as a basis of calculation, less 
than 150,000 of these employes are members of 
such organizations, leaving more than 800,000 
who are not enrolled in the ranks of organized 
labor. ****** ** 

Experience, the great teacher, whose lessons 
sooner or later must be heeded, points out with 
unerring certainty the defects and demonstrates 
the inefficiency of organizations as they now exist 

First. They do not provide for all classes of 
employes, it being shown that 850.000 of them, or 
eighty-five per cent, of the whole number, remain 
unorganized. These may be divided into three 
general classes: (1) those who are eligible but de- 
cline to join; (2) those who have been expelled be- 
cause of their inability or refusal to bear the 
financial burdens which membership imposes, and 
(3) the multiplied thousands in various depart- 
ments of the service who are totally ineligible 
there being no provision for their admission. * 

It would seem from theintrodurtion to the pros- 
pectus of the American Railway Union that the 
principal reason for instituting a new organization 
is that organizations as they now exist do not pro- 
vide for all classes of employes Will Ibis State- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ment bear the light of investigation? Is it not a 
fact that the Knights of Labor provide especially 
for 'the multiplied thousands in various depart- 
ments of the service" who are ineligible for mem- 
bership in organizations that have no provisions 
for their admission? 

Do the president and secretary forget that the 
Knights of Labor have made especial provision 
for these classes of employes by instituting "rail- 
way district assemblies?" These employes are 
now thoroughly organized upon the Union Pacific 
Railway, they were becoming rapidly organized 
npon the New York Central when a strike was 
precipitated which resulted disastrously to the 
Knights of Labor, and the president of that rail- 
way, Cbauncey (Mephistopheles) Depew, was se- 
verely and justly criticised by The Locomotive 
Firemen's Magazine for the war of extermination 
waged by him against those employes who desired 
to •’march under union banners in the great 
struggle for the triumph of union principles. " 

Railway district assemblies of the Knights of 
Labor are composed entirely of railway employes, 
having no connection with other assemblies, ex- 
cept the moral and financial support, ever ready, 
and the same chief executive, T. V. Powderly. 
It may be said that like all other existing organi- 
zations. the railway assemblies of the Knights of 
Labor have defects, but not the defect specified 
in the first charge. The statement, "they do not 
provide for all classes of employes' is not proved, 
in fact, the assertion is untrue The president 
of the American Railway Union once said: 

It is a fact, well understood, that the organiza- 
tion of the Knights of Labor, by virtue of its sys- 
tem of "mixed" assemblies, is in shape to organize 
the various classes of railway employes. If that 
great order should seriously consider the question 
of federation with other organizations of railway 
employes, we do not doubt that a satisfactory plan 
could be formulated. 

If the first reason for creating a new organiza- 
tion is because no organization "provides for all 
classes of employes." then it is no reason at all, 
according to the president s own statements. 

The (2nd) clause in the first defect assigns as a 
reason for the advent of the American Railway 
Union that existing organizations have expelled 
many members "because of their inability or re- 
fusal to bear the financial burdens which mem- 
bership imposes" in existing organizations A 
strike is the heaviest financial burden that mem- 
bers of existing organizations are called upon to 
bear; all others are trivial when compared to the 
large and oft-repeated assessments levied for the 
purpose of conducting a prolonged strike. The 
expense of insurance can hardly be called a bur- 
den it is a self-imposed expense and is voluntar- 


75 

ily accepted by nearly all members of the Broth- 
erhood of Locomotive Firemen. Does the Amer- 
ican Railway Union seek a membership that is 
"unable or refuse to bear the financial burdens" 
of a strike? 

The circular says "less than 150,000 of these 
employes are members" of existing organizations. 
Taking this statement as correct it demonstrates 
conclusively that there is no reason prompting 
the creation of a new organization to represent 
those employes engaged in train service, as nearly 
all of this 150,000 are employed in the transpor- 
tation departments. According to estimates fur- 
nished by existing organizations, there are now 
enrolled undeV union banners the following em- 
ployes in the train service: 


Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers 35,000 

Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen .30,000 

Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen 28,000 

Order of Railway Conductors 20,000 

Order of Railway Telegraphers 20,000 

Switchmen’s Mutual Aid Association 8,000 


Total .141,000 


The inter-state commerce commission reports 
less than 200,000 employes in the train service in 
the United States, which proves that these classes 
of employes are already well organized and stand 
in no need of a new organization. 

The greatest objection to the creation of a new 
organization for railway employes in the train 
service is the rivalry which will immediately 
spring up between the old and the new. The 
American Railway Union has already thrown 
down the gauntlet and accuses all other railway 
organizations of being defective and points out 
reasons why employes should prefer the former. 
But after giving eleven reasons why existing organ- 
izations are failures it complacently sends greet- 
ings to them. After accusing the brotherhoods 
of being undesirable organizations for railway 
employes to affiliate with, after a terrible arraign- 
ment of them, it coolly "comes with a message of 
greeting and good cheer to all organizations.” 
This reminds me 6f the member from the north 
of Ireland who, after having been reprimanded 
by the chair for using personalities in addressing 
the house, arose and said of another member who 
had just spoken: "In replying to the eminent 
gentleman I will say that he is a dirty blackguard 
and a disgrace to the mother who bore him, but 
I would have this honorable body to understand 
that I mean to indulge in no personalities toward 
my esteemed frieDd and countryman, for whom I 
have the most fraternal feelings." 

The quotation at the head of this article is from 
a paper submitted to the third annual convention 
of the Brotherhood of Railway Conductors by 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


76 


their Grand Chief Conductor, George W. How- 
ard, and shows what he thinks of rival organiza- 
tions. 

When one organization attempts to occupy a 
held of labor already occupied by another organi- 
zation, a bitter struggle is certain to follow in 
which the employer rather than employe has 
cause to applaud. The "Northwestern affair” was 
but the natural result of such a situation. Those 
members of the Brotherhood of Railroad Brake- 
men whose ambition led them to seek switchmen 
as members, are the true originators of that 
trouble. The Switchmen's Mutual Aid Associa- 
tion lays claim upon switchmen, as does the 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen upon fire- 
men, and with equal propriety. 

Only a year ago the Brotherhood of Railway 
Employes, an organization, to all intents and pur- 
poses, the same as the American Railway Union, 
was organized upon the Atlantic & Pacific Rail- 
way. Before its birth had become known abroad 
it became involved in a struggle with existing or- 
ganizations and the railway company which re- 
sulted in a strike. The new organization suffered 
defeat and became practically defunct, but mem- 
bers of existing organizations in that vicinity are 
called scabs by the members of the Brotherhood 
of Railway Employes. Should the American 
Railway Union ever desire to secure contracts or 
schedules of pay in the interest of the engineers, 
firemen, etc., who have seen fit to enlist in its 
ranks, their committees will experience many 
hardships in securing these privileges. The offi- 
cials will probably say: "Gentlemen, we would be 
pleased to grant your requests, but we already 
have contracts with our engineers and firemen 
and have heard no complaint from them. We are 
honor bound to respect the existing contracts 
with the brotherhoods, and therefore must posi- 
tively decline to grant your request.” In a situa- 
tion like this what would the American Railway 
Union do? 

In the struggles for supremacy between rival 
organizations the interests ot labor instead of 
being advanced are obscured; fraternal feelings 
are supplanted by hatred and fanaticism, one of 
the results of which is that modern monstrosity, 
the exhonorated scab. 

One high and holy purpose should animate all, 
that of increasing the efficiency of organizations 
already established, and of bringing all working- 
men who are standing aloof from organizations 
under their beneficent Influence . — Eugene l r . 
Debs ( President of the American Raihcay 
Union) . 

To quote in their entirety all of the defects of 
organizations as they now exist, pointed out by 
the circular issued by the American Railway 


Union, would require too much space in the Mag 
azinc , so I shall quote in an abbreviated form and 
condense my defense as much as possible. 

The circular proceeds: 

Second. The existing organizations, designed 
to promote and preserve harmonious relations be- 
tween employer and employe, have met with only 
limited success, if, indeed, it can be shown that 
any progress has been made in that direction. * 

That the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen 
has not been instrumental in promoting "harmo- 
nious relations between employer and employe, " is 
a fallacious statement. Our brotherhood, and. 
the same can be said of other similar organiza- 
tions, has done more to promote harmony than 
have all organizations with "mixed” membership 
combined. It has made of the "common coal 
shoveler” of the past, whose likes or dislikes were 
of no concern to employers, a self-reliant and re- 
spected fireman. The evolution has been com- 
plete. During the early days of our brotherhood 
firemen were ignored if not despised by railway 
officials; hounded and discharged when it became 
known that they dared to affiliate with a labor or- 
ganization. To-day firemen and their representa- 
tive committees are received in general managers’ 
offices throughout the land with friendliness and 
respect. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire- 
men has taught railway officials that the class it 
represents is upright and reliable, are men worthy 
of their confidence, men who will perform their 
duty and do it as men should. One of the princi- 
ples of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen 
is "the interests of our members and their em- 
ployes being identical, we recognize the necessity 
of co-operation, and it is the aim of the brother- 
hood to cultivate a spirit of harmony between 
them upon a basis of mutual justice ” That our 
brotherhood has accomplished its aim, has hit the 
mark, is evident to all who have any inclination 
to give our order credit due 

Of course the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire- 
men has had trouble; has encountered storms 
which strained every timber in her structure, but 
we have weathered these storms and are not men 
to fall upon our faces and weep with despair be- 
cause all has not been fair weather That our 
brotherhood has, upon more than one occasion, 
fought railway officials to the very hilt, fought 
when manhood demanded it, when to protect our 
membership from injury and insult a fight was 
imperative, no one will deny Is it of this that the 
American Railway Union complains? 

The third defect in existing organizations is as 
follows: 

Third. What must be said of organizations 
which have failed to establish friendship and good 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


will even among themselves? From the first there 
have existed antagonisms and jealousies culminat- 
ing in warring factions instead of a harmonious 
whole. Organization has been pitted against or- 
ganization, bringing upon themselves not only 
disaster but lasting reproach. 

Does the American Railway Union propose to 
remedy this evil by springing into the ring, ready 
to meet all comers in a fight to a finish with 
champions of the past? No, no! The Union 
"comes with a message of greeting and good cheer 
to all organizations." If this circular, which they 
send broadcast over the land, is that "message," 
it is most uncheerful to those who have hugged to 
their breasts the vain delusion that we should be 
proud of our brotherhood If we had but real- 
ized. ere this, that our brotherhood, that institu- 
tion of which we have been so proud, whose 
beauties we have ever been prone to exhibit with 
pride, if we had but known that, in the eyes of 
others, it was defective and inefficient, what hu- 
miliating, mortifying heart-burnings could have 
been avoided. 

The lack of harmony between labor organiza- 
tions can be ascribed to three causes: (i) personal 
ill-feeling bet ween, representative grand officers; 
(2) "mixed" organizations, infringing upon dlass 
organizations, and (3) trivial incidents that will 
arise just as long as "man’s inhumanity to man" 
is a characteristic of Adam's progeny. 

As long as representatives of labor organizations 
•age inky battles through the columns of their 
representative publications, there will be a lack 
of "friendship and good will even among them- 
selves." Do the representatives of the American 
Railway Union propose to avoid this cause of 
fratricidal warfare? The Brotherhood of Loco- 
motive Firemen must plead guilty of this offense, 
and I must confess that, at present, the outlook is 
gloomy in the extreme for an improvement in this 
direction. 

This manifesto continues: 

Fourth. Protection is a cardinal virtue of the 
present organizations; but they do not protect. * 

When the American Railway Union succeeds in 
securing contracts and schedules of wages, more 
numerous and effective than those now in force 
which have b^en obtained by the present organi- 
zations upon nearly every railway system of im- 
portance. then it can consistently criticise What 
protection has the American Railway Union for 
its members? 

Fifth. It is universally conceded that one of 
the most serious objections to existing organiza- 
tions is their excessive cost, * * * * 

Sixth. Another defect in existing organizations 
is their secrecy, as for instance, the secret ballot, 
by virtue of wnich thousands of worthy applicants 


77 

have been excluded. The air of mystery sur- 
rounding their proceedings is not calculated to in- 
spire confidence. On the contrary, in the relation 
between employer and employe, in carrying for- 
ward great enterprises in which the people at 
large are profoundly interested, mystery is not re- 
quired, and is productive of suspicion and dis- 
trust. Open, fearless and above-board work is far 
more in consonance with the spirit of indepen- 
dence and free institutions 

The expense of organizations is self-imposed, 
and can be reduced at the will of their members. 
The objection to the secret ballot is well taken, 
but when it is proposed to conduct an organization 
without "secret work." it will not stand. Even 
the mutual insurance concerns depend upon their 
secrecy for their very existence, "guarding with 
care the pass-words and signs of the order." 
When employers attend our lodge meetings it will 
be embarrassing to employes to discuss any injus- 
tice that these employers may have perpetrated 
upon them. 

Seventh. The tremendous power conferred 
upon chief officers has been a source of wide- 
spread dissatisfaction. ***** 

Eighth. The subject of grievance commfttees 
has itself become a grievance that cries aloud for 
correction. ******* 

Ninth. Organizations have become so numer- 
ous and their annual and biennial conventions oc- 
cur so frequently that the question of furnishing 
free transportation to delegates, their families and 
their friends, is being seriously considered by rail- 
way officials as an abuse of privilege without a re- 
deeming feature. ****** 

There is no denying the fact these are undesira- 
ble conditions, but is the remedy to be found in 
establishing another organization? Will it make 
them less numerous? Will the American Railway 
Union succeed in suppressing grievances? Will 
the power conferred upon president and secretary 
be less than they have exercised in the existing or- 
ganizations with which they are so prominently 
connected? 

Tenth. The extraordinary fact cannot be over- 
looked, that while present organizations are pro- 
vided with expensive striking and boycotting ma- 
chinery, and while millions of dollars have been 
wrung from their members, have been expended 
in support of strikes, they have with scarcely an 
exception been overwhelmed with defeat. * 

It cannot be denied that the policy of present 
organizations has filled the land with scabs who 
swarm in the highways and byways awaiting anx- 
iously, eagerly the opportunity to gratify their re- 
venge by taking positions vacated by strikers. * 

We have had organizations that did not possess 
these defects, organizations that did not wring 
millions of dollars from their members to be ex- 
pended in support of strikes. They never suffered 
overwhelming defeat because they never raised a 
hand in their own defense A strike may be lost 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


7 8 

and yet be a valuable object lesson. It is the fear 
of a strike that has secured justice, not the strike 
itself. 

What particular “policy of present organiza- 
tions has tilled the land yith scabs?" Before ex- 
isting organizations had educated workingmen a 
scab was a most respected personage. He did not 
scab for revenge, he scabbed because it was cus- 
tomary to do so. 

Will the American Railway Union succeed in 
converting these scabs to better men? I hope so, 
but I fear that with all the perfection claimed by 
the new order scabs will ever exist. Just as long 
as labor struggles to better its condition these hu- 
man vultures will perch upon “the highways and 
byways," waiting an opportunity to devour the of- 
fal cast to them by tyrannical employers who 
never recognize the rights of employes. 

Eleventh. The ever increasing body of idle en- 
gineers, conductors, etc., seeking in vain for em- 
ployment, is the legitimate fruit of promotion on 
the seniority basis. # * * What is required is 
a system of promotion that recognizes and re- 


wards merit rather than seniority. * * 11 

Which of the existing organizations is not in ac- 
cord with the sentiments expressed by the officials 
of the American Railway Union? Firemen have 
repeatedly refused to accept in their contracts 
with railway companies clauses thrust upon them 
by officials which provided for promotion of fire- 
men to the exclusion of engineers. All that fire- 
men ask is an equitable adjustment of the ques- 
tion. 

With the elevent h clause ends the chapter of 
defects in this circular issued by the president and 
secretary of the American Railway Union, the re- 
maining pages being devoted to the merits of the 
new order. The objects to be obtained are the 
same as in existing organizations, the method of 
procedure being different. It is not the object 
of this article to parade the defects of the new or- 
der and enlarge upon them. I only intend to de- 
fend the brotherhoods from attacks, and will con- 
tinue the subject in other chapters and leave it to 
organized labor at large to answer the question, 
“Are the Brotherhoods a Failure " 


The Bravest Battle. 

TO “ MIRIAM." 

The bravest battle that ever was fought, 

Shall I tell you where and when ? 

On the maps of the world you will find it not, 
Twas fought by the mothers of men. 

Nay, not with cannon or battle shot, 

With a sword or nobler pen ; 

Nay. not with the eloquent word or thought, 
From the mouths of wonderful men 
But deep in a walled-up woman's heart — 

Of woman that would not yield, 

But bravely, silently bore her part — 

Lo ! there is that battle field. 

No marshaling troop, no bivouac song. 

No banners to gleam and wave ! 

But oh, these battles they last so long — 

From babyhood to the grave. 

Yet faithful still as a bridge of stars. 

She fights in her walled-up town — 

Fights on and on in the endless wars , 

Then silent, unseen — goes down. 

Oh ye with banners and battle-shot 
And soldiers to shout and praise ! 

I tell you the kingliest victories fought 
Are fought in these silent ways. 

O spotless woman in a world of shame ! 

With splendid and silent scorn, 

Go back to God, as white as you came, 

The kingliest warrior born ' 

— Joayuin Milltr. 


The dispatch sent out from Wilkesbarre Mon- 
day, and which appeared in the papers yesterday, 
to the effect that the officials of the Lehigh Valley 
Railroad company had adopted the policy of dis- 
charging locomotive engineers for no other alleged 
reason than that they are over forty-five years of 
age. seems incredible. If it is true, then the Le- 
high Valley officials have only added another to 
their numerous blunders, which will return to 
plague that corporation in the near future. To 
the average outsider this order has every appear- 
ance of a violation of the terms of the compact 
on which the late strike was ended. It may not 
be a violation of the letter, but certainly of the 
spirit of the compact. President Wilber pledged 
himself not to discriminate against former em- 
ployes on account of their participation in the 
strike, nor because of their membership in the 
brotherhoods, but he did not pledge himself not 
to discriminate against them on other grounds, 
however trival. 

* * * * * ».* * ♦ 
The truth of the matter doubtless is, that 
prominent among the promoters of the late strike, 
were certain engineers whom the company 
officials wanted to discharge They could not do 
so without violating the letter of the contract into 
which President Wilbef had entered. To sur- 
mount the difficulty someone conceived the idea 
embodied in the order above referred to. It J* 
inconceivable not only in its short-sighted stupid- 
ity, but also in its innate meanness. The Lehigh 
Valley is a most unfortunate corporation. Small 
souls are intrusted with its management, and it 
will be a marvel if, under such conditions, it re- 
gains its lost prestige and popularity — .scranto* 

“ Republican . " 


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Oar readers who write to any of the firms advertising in these columns are requested to mention 

The Railway Conductor. 

E. E CLARK and WM. P DANIELS. Managers. E. E. CLARK, Editor-in-Chief. 

W. N. GATES. Advertising Manager, 29 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, O. 


THE CLOVER LEAF’’ CASE. 


Judge Emory Speer, in his decision in the case 
of the B of L E vs. C. R. R Sc B Co., of Ga . 
said 

Organized labor, when injustice has been done 
or threatened to its membership, will find its.use- 
ful and valuable mission in presenting t6 the 
courts of the country a strong and resolute pro- 
test and a petition for redress against unlawful 
trusts and combinations which would do unlaw- 
ful wrong to it. Its membership need not doubt 
that their counsel will be heard, nor that speedy 
and exact justice will be administered wherever 
the courts have jurisdiction. It will follow, 
therefore, that in all such controversies, that it 
will be competent, as we have done in this case, 
for the courts to preserve the present rights of 
the operatives to spare them hardship, and at 
the same time to spare to the public the unmer- 
ited hardship which it has suffered from such con- 
flicts in the past. It will be also found that by 
such methods organized labor will be spared 
much of the antagonism which it now encounters, 
and in its appeal to the courts it will have the 
sympathy of thousands, where in its strikes it 
has their opposition and resentment. 

We earnestly hope that this may prove to be 
true 'That an injustice has been done the em- 
ployes of the T. St. L. Sc K. C. Ry. in the radi- 
cal reductions which have been made in their 
rate of pay cannot be denied. These employes 
decided to apply to the courts for relief, believ- 
ing their cause to be so just as to insure their 
success. The result of their efforts will go far 
toward convincing many as to whether or not the 
working man can expect that ’speedy and exact 
justice will be administered," as prophesied by 
Judge Speer. 

Under the operation of this road by its stock- 
holders a schedule of pay was agreed upon by 


the management and the men, which was satis- 
factory arid, as compared with their neighbors, 
fair to both men and company. After a receiver 
was appointed by the court to take charge of the 
road, he abrogated the old schedule and met a 
committee from his employes and agreed upon 
an amended schedule, which was signed by A. L. 
Mills, general superintendent, for the receiver 
June 23, 1N93. A few months later this schedule 
was abrogated by the receiver and large reduc- 
tions were made in the pay of the men. to an ex- 
tent which prevented them from earning even a 
fair living. After exhausting all efforts to secure 
a satisfactory adjustment of the matter writh the 
receiver by argument, the men employed Judge 
J. C. Suit, of Frankfort, Iqd., as counsel, and ap- 
pealed to the courts. The following extracts 
from his plea to the court for a fair hearing will 
serve ^ argue the case of the employes as well 
or better than anything else that might be said: 

In this case no boycott or strike has been re- 
sorted to— none threatened. * * * That the 

court has full, ample and complete jurisdiction 
of the matter in controversy, will not. I appre- 
hend. be questioned. The only question, then, 
to determine is, have the petitioners presented to 
the court a matter of sufficient importance to 
warrant the exercise of the judicial function 5 It 
is a matter of bread to them and their families. 
More! It is a question of honor with them, be- 
cause liabilities have been incurred upon the 
strength of the contract made with the Receiver, 
which it is their honorable duty to discharge 
They have entered into a written contract with 
this court, for the Receiver and his subordinates 
are but officers of the court, to do and perform 
certain things stipulated therein, for which they 
have been therein promised certain fixed and as- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


certained compensation. They entered upon the 
discharge of those duties and have faithfully and 
efficiently performed, and are still so performing 
them. The contract is mutual. It is binding 
alike upon both the parties thereto. The service 
is to be rendered by both the Receiver and the 
petitioners for the benefit of the owners of the 
property. But may I be pardoned if I dare say 
that the Court’s Receiver and his learned coun- 
sel have mistaken, misconceived or ignored the 
purpose — spirit of the law under which the con- 
tractual relationship between these people exists. 
Now comes the question of what is just and equit- 
able to the iren who perform the labor under the 
schedule and contract of June 23d, 1893, whereby 
the money is earned to pay even the Receiver 
himself, as well as to discharge all the financial 
obligations imposed upon this property, seems 
never to have entered their minds. It is not, I 
assert, and in this, beseech a square decision by 
the court, the true measure of what is just to de- 
termine the value of the services rendered by 
these people to the Receiver; but the true test and 
equitable measure of what is just, is, to inquire, 
to ascertain, what is the proper return to the 
individual tuho renders the service. If the serv- 
ice is well rendered, if it is efficient, the question 
then is, what is it worth to him who performs it; 
not what profit is it to the employer, but what has 
the employe done? What was it worth to him 
who did it? This is the true, the only measure 
of what is just, as declared and determined always 
and everywhere that the question arose. * * 

* * There is no contention here that the peti- 

tioners are not rendering efficient service; nor 
that the service so rendered is not of the full 
value agreed to be paid; but, it is claimed, and 
the schedule of wages and time agreed upon is 
sought to be abrogated, because the management 
of this property is unable to report any profit to 
the owners thereof. In other words, it is so 
managed that the earnings have decreased, not 
because our service is less efficient, or our work 
not equally needful, but on account of causes for 
which we are in no wise responsible and did not 
bring about. Then, again, this contract was 
made after the Receiver was appointed by the 
Court — June 23 -and if our work was of the 
value therein stated, then it is of equal value 
now, when more hours of work and harder serv- 
ice is imposed. If the Court would expect us to 
keep in good faith our part of the contqgct, why 
may we not expect of the Court’s Receiver like 
good faith? 


The analogous decision of the judge in the 
Northern Pacific railroad case, made last week, 
is fraught with great danger to the peace, and is 
a menace to the good will of the people. The 
idea of giving recognition to a plea for a reduc- 
tion of the wages of the smoke begrimed toiler at 
$1.25 per day, when in the same breath the three 
receivers who recommend it ask for an increase 
of their own salary to $18,000 per year each, 
is so monstrous that every emotion of one’s soul 
is stirred with indignation at the men who make 
such a proposition, and we stand with bated 
breath lest so unholy a proposition might be tol- 
erated. No winder the bondholders ask for the 
removal of the three cormorants. It will be 
claimed by Mr. Callaway’s general superinten- 
dent that the new schedule he proposes to give is 
equitable and just; it will make also but little 
change in the June schedule to one who is not a 
practical railroad man, but your petitioners 
claim that it is absolutely ruinous to them, and 
ask but the poor privilege of being permitted to 
demonstrate it by irrefragable testimony. * * * 
We are working for the Court under men ap- 
pointed by the Court; are amenable to the Court, 
as it judicially advises us, if we combine to quit 
its service. Then, if such be the case, why shall 
w-e not have the same privilege of coming in the 
court and presenting our grievances and having 
them, if proven to be well founded, speedily re- 
dressed? * * * We do not believe jus- 

tice will be done us if we are denied a hearing — 
if the cause shall be determined upon the nega- 
tive answer of the Receiver; but that it shall be 
an absolute denial of justice if we are not given 
an opportunity to prove, as we confidently assert 
we can do. every material allegation in our peti- 
tion, and, assuming that the answer of the Re- 
ceiver will be substantially the same as was filed 
by him with Judge Woods at Indianapolis, we 
declare our ability to disprove every allegation 
therein not consistent with our petition 

The vexatious delays usually attendant upon 
the action of courts have been encountered, but 
we anticipate a favorable ruling, as we fail to 
see how* any decision, based in equity and de- 
livered by a fair minded man, could be other 
than favorable to the men. The case is before 
Judge Ricks, of the United States district court, 
at Cleveland, Ohio. 


A REFORM IN PROGRESS. 


For some years past much of the best thought 
among progressive railroad men has been given 
to the grade crossing and to the discovery of 
some plan that will do away with the dangers at- 
tending it without working too great a hardship 
upon the companies most in interest. This ques- 
tion has been pressed home upon the managers 
of those roads centering in the large cities with 
especial force and they have foreseen from the 
first that their best interests, as well as those of 
thv public, demanded the ultimate removal of this 


constant menace to the life and limb of aM 
passers-by. Naturally, however, they have 
sought to bring about the necessary changes in 
such a way as to protect the property in their 
charge as much as possible, while the pressure 
from the other side has. in a great measure, 
ignored the railroad interests This has brought 
about an apparent warfare between the two io* 
terests, and apparently but little has been ac- 
complished beyond an almost endless discussion 
pro. and con This discussion has borne ffuU, 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


however, and already some good work has been 
done in the direction of the much needed reform. 
Perhaps the greatest advance made in this direc- 
tion has been made by Massachusetts. The law 
in that state allows the railroad commission to act 
as arbitrator in all cases of grade crossings 
brought before it either by a hit y or town or by 
the railroad companies. Through the action of 
this law nearly ioo grade crossings have been 
abolished in that state within a comparatively 
short time, in very many instances through an 
amicable agreement entered into between the 
towns and the companies in interest. Not the 
least significant feature of this work is the fact 
that out of the cases mentioned nearly half were 
brought up on the application of the railroads 
themselves, showing them to be ready to meet 
just measures half way. The Massachusetts law 
makes concession by allowing the commission to 
place the cost of changing upon the party to 
whom it belongs by right, or to divide it be- 
tween the company and the town benefitted, 
should equity so demand. This probably ac- 
counts for the ready reception given the measure 


8l 

under consideration and the good results follow- 
ing its application. 

The New York commission has also joined in 
the decision that “the best interests of both the 
public and the companies will be subserved by 
the ultimate abolition of these dangerous cross- 
ings," and is now endeavoring to work out some 
plan Dy which it may be done without injustice 
or hardship. The Massachusetts plan is said to 
have found favor with the members of the Em- 
pire State commission, and many of its more im- 
portant features will probably be incorporoted in 
the bill as it will be presensed by them to the 
legislature. It is to be hoped that some just solu- 
tion for this problem will soon be found. Once 
found it will soon become general law, as neither 
the roads nor the public will oppose a measure 
fair in its purpose and containing safeguards suf- 
ficient to protect the interests of both. In the 
mean time, it will be well to remember that the re- 
form is still in its experimentary stages and con- 
siderable time must elapse before a thoroughly 
satisfactory scheme can be evolved. 


IMPEACHMENT THE ONLY REMEDY. 


Judge Jenkins, sitting on the federal bench for 
the eastern district of Wisconsin, at the request 
d the receivers of the Northern Pacific Railway, 
issued an injunction which is a very remarkable 
baiment, issued under very remarkable circum- 
stances. The receivers decided to reduce the 
compensation of the men employed by them in 
the transportation and other departments, and 
applied to the court for permission to abrogate 
the old schedules of pay and rules, and to put 
into effect new ones. This permission was given 
and an order of the court to that effect issued. 
This was shortly followed by the injunction above 
referred to. Officers of “so-called labor organi- 
zations," “employes of the receivers,” “and all 
persons generally, whether employes of the re- 
ceivers of the Northern Pacific Railroad or not;” 
"All persons, associations and combinations, 
voluntary, or otherwise," “and all persons gen- 
erally” are restrained “from interfering with, or 
obstructing in any wise, the operation of the rail- 
road, or any portion thereof;" “from combining 
and conspiring to quit, with or without notice, 
the service of said receivers,” “said from so quit- 
ting the service of the said receivers zvith or 
without notice , as to cripple the property, or 
prevent, or hinder the operation of said railroad" 
until the further order of the court;" “and 
from ordering, recommending, approving or ad- 
ding others to quit the service of the receivers 


of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company on 
January i, 1894, or at any other time; and from 
ordering, recommending, advising or approving 
by communication, or instruction, or otherwise, 
the employes of said receivers, or any of them, 
or of said Northern Pacific Railroad Company, to 
join in a strike on January 1, 1894, or a^any oth- 
er time," “until the further order of this court." 

There was no plausible reason for issuing any 
restraining order. The employes had not threat- 
ened or considered a strike. The aid of the organi- 
zations termed “so-called labor organizations, " or 
that of their officers, had not been invoked. 
Positively no disposition to interfere with the 
operation of the road had been sKown. A few r 
reptiles in the form of man, craven cowards and 
perjurers, claimed to have overheard expressions 
of individuals made under seal of mutual obliga- 
tion, which indicated a radical tendency. Such 
were the reports made to the company by these 
traitors who were employed as detectives, and on 
the strength of such reports from self-confessed 
Judases, the thirty pieces of silver were paid 
and an army of law-abiding honorable men were 
enjoined as above. 

Since Judge Brewer in the Omaha bridge cases 
ruled that the powers of a court of equity are as 
broad as the necessities of the case or the inter- 
ests involved may demand, there has been clearly 
evident in the rulings of the federal judges a dis- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


position to rule in accord with their ideas or 
wishes without regard to statute. Most strained 
constructions have been put upon law and by a 
series of contortions and acrobatic feats the law 
has been made to “fit the crime. " This is evi- 
denced more particularly 4n the application of 
the Inter-State Commerce law. This law was 
passed for the purpose of regulating inter-state 
commerce; to prevent all the ills which, it was 
claimed, grew out of the system of “pooling" the 
business and earnings of competing lines of rail- 
way, and to prevent discrimination as between 
different cities, towns, localities, corporations, 
firms, or individuals. Under its provisions rail- 
way companies were to be required to treat all 
alike and no claims were made for the proposed 
law which were not in line with these. Congress 
enacted it, the Executive approved it, and an ex- 
pensive commission has been maintained to en- 
force its provisions for some seven years. Has 
the discrimination pomplained of been stopped? 
Have the abuses been remedied? Has “pooling" 
been discontinued? No! We see the Presidents’ 
Association openly forming a pool in defiance of 
the provisions of the law, ^.nd. except to serve as 
a ground upon which to base exparte decisions 
made by federal judges, the law is to-day of little 
force or effect. 

Will any one claim that the constructions 
placed upon the provisions of this law by Judges 
Ricks, Taft, Speer, and others, are such as the 
framers of the law foresaw or intended? Will 
any one claim that any of those who voted for the 
bill, thereby making it law, entertained for one 
moment 0ie idea that within a short time it 
would be made — by unfair constructions and mis- 
application — to serve as a tower of strength to those 
same corporations whose methods were con- 
sidered so unfair as to demand federal super- 
vision? 

It is truly said that precedents are dangerous 
things, and they are especially dangerous because 
there is always to be found the one who desires 
to “Out-Herod Herod.” In the restraining order 
issued by Judge Jenkins truly is Herod put to 
shame. The Declaration of Independence, under 
which our government was born, asserts that 
“liberty” and the pursuit of happiness are “un- 
alienable rights” of which all men are possessed. 
We who are native born have had those ideas 
woven into our very beings; they are as much a 
part of our faith as is the belief in Divinity. 
Throughout the civilized world our land is known 
as the land of the free. Yet, here we see a judge 
who is the direct representative of our glorious 
free government, restraining free and indepen- 
dent citizens from leaving a service, upon which 


they voluntarily entered, and in which they have 
not agreed or contracted to remain any specified 
term, “with or without notice,” “until the further 
order of this court.” If this is good law, if this 
is equity, to what end or for what purpose did 
our country pass through the horrors of four 
years of civil war? If this is justice, reasoning 
by analogy or carrying it to its logical conclusion, 
it is equally just to restrain the employe from 
leaving the service “with or without notice" “un- 
til the further order of this court,” even though 
the compensation be reduced to nothing, and 
even though others may seek his services under 
much more favorable conditions. If this is 
equity, law and justice, the chains of slavery are 
riveted onto these men as firmly as they ever 
were on the African slave or the Russian serf 
if this precedent is allowed to stand, if this rash 
order is upheld by the higher courts, we may 
expect nothing but a rapid increase of the num- 
ber placed under the ban. and the enjoyment of 
“liberty,” so far as the working man is con 
cerned, will be but an empty theory, while the 
“pursuit of happiness” will be less profitable 
than the chase of the rainbow. It will probably 
be claimed in support of the action that railway 
employes are public servants; that the public 
have rights which are entitled to respect, and on 
these accounts it is justifiable. If it is sought to 
justify it on these grounds it must, in all fairness, 
be admitted that the employes of hotels are pub- 
lic servants, and if an hotel is placed in charge 
of a receiver the same orders can be applied to 
them. Surely the public have no higher right* 
than the right to eat and to sleep. If the rights of 
the public are entitled to so much consideration 
and it is agreed that they have a right to eat, it 
is an infringement upon those rights for “the 
butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker” to re- 
fuse or neglect to work at their several avoca- 
tions, regardless of whether their so doing affords 
them any exercise of “liberty” or opportunity for 
the “pursuit of happiness ” If it is law and 
equity for these conditions to attach to the em- 
ployes of a receiver appointed by a United States 
court, it is but a step further — and it should be 
taken — to make them obtain in all walk% of life, 
and it behooves us all to choose that path in 
which we desire to walk the balance of our days, 
or until such time as we are fortunate enough to 
hire, and not be hired. 

We are not prepared, as yet. to believe that 
the ideas of Judge Jenkins will be embraced 
by any large number of our citizens. The in- 
born love of liberty and the spirit of fairness 
which dominate most of our representative citi- 
zens will rebel against the establishment of any 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


such conditions. We believe with Senator Hill 
that ‘'The right to discharge and the right to 
quit must go hand in hand." How can this un- 
precedented and unwarranted assumption of 
authority, this unconstitutional and indecent at- 
tack upon the rights of citizenship best be 
checked and rebuked? We answer by impeach- 
ment. In this matter the personal rights and 
liberties of millions of our citizens, right here at 


83 

home, are attacked and jeopardized. Congress 
will fail in its duty if it does not give this ques- 
tion precedence over those of the rights of some 
1,900 of our citizens who are located on a little 
island whose form of government is a matter of 
comparative indifference to the average American 
workingman. Smaller offenses than that com- 
mitted by Judge Jenkins have led to the impeach- 
ment of federal judges, and we repeat, Judge Jen- 
kins should be impeached. 


A BILL 


To prevent unauthorized persons from interfering 
with railroad trains carrying the United States 
mails by authority of the Postmaster-General or 
officers of the Post-Office Department. 

Under this heading Mr. McMillan has intro- 
duced in the United States Senate the following, 
which is recommended by Superintendent White, 
and which was commented on in our January 
issue 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House 0/ Rep - 
rcsentatives of the United States of America in 
Congress assembled \ That if any person or per- 
sons acting in his or their own behalf, or as the 
agent or agents, or as a member or members, of- 
ficer or officers, or as the representative or repre- 
sentatives of any organization or association shall 
delay, obstruct, or prevent the passage of any 
train on any railroad in the United States by 
»hich the mails are being transported, by order 
of the Post Office Department, the same having 
beep designated by the Postmaster-General or his 
authorized agent or agents to carry the mails, for 
the purpose of aiding, encouraging, or contribut- 
ing in any way to the success of a strike against 
any railroad compauy whose trains are designated 
as above, or for any unlawful or malicious pur- 
pose, shall be deemed guilty of an offense against 
the laws of the United States of America as repre- 
sented in this Act, and, on conviction therefor, 
shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty 
dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, and 
be imprisoned for not less than six months nor 
more than two years, for each offense: Provided , 
That the provisions of this Act shall not operate 
to protect any train on any railroad not designated 
to carry the United States mails, or any part of 
any such trains as may be added to said trains by 
the railroad company for the express purpose of 
bringing such added part under the protection of 
this Act. 

The ostensible purpose of this bill is one which 
leaves little room for criticism, but the real ob- 
ject that may be veiled thereunder should be 
carefully analyzed and the possibilities for fur- 
ther restriction of liberty among the masses, as a 
result of strained constructions that may be placed 
upon it, should be carefully watched and guarded 
against. If the bill means nothing more than to 
provide against forcible detention of regular mail 
trains, there is nothing in it with which we would 


be disposed to take issue. Experience is a good 
as well as a dear teacher. The experience had 
with strained interpretations of law of late makes 
the workingmen suspicious, and this bill, in com- 
mon with all others, should be so clear in its pro- 
visions as to admit of no possible misunderstand- 
ing. 

First, we would question as to what shall con- 
stitute an offense under the provisions, “shall de- 
lay, obstruct or prevent the passage.” If only for- 
cible or violent interference, well and good; if de- 
clining to go out on such train when called upon 
to do so, is to be construed as an offense, we say, 
perish the bill. Under the conditions which gov- 
ern the relations as between employer and em- 
ploye, at the present time, we maintain that the 
right to quit individually or collectively is inalien- 
able. In the proviso which is part of the bill it 
should be clearly stated that the train shall have 
been officially designated as a mail train by the 
proper officials of the government a reasonable 
time before the difficulty which may terminate in 
a strike, shall have commenced; otherwise, by 
collusion, every train could be so designated, and 
what appears to be the intent of the proviso would 
be defeated. 

We are not aware that in any instance in the 
past during a strike sanctioned by an organiza- 
tion, any force has been exerted by the men to 
prevent the running of a mail train; on the con- 
trary, the men have generally offered to haul and 
run the United States mail, but have not been al- 
lowed to do so without hauling other cars and 
business in the same train. The railway compa- 
nies have always undertaken to protect other 
business with their contract to haul the mail and 
the protection which they hope to get from the 
government on that account. 

The words. “For the express purpose of bring- 
ing such added part under the protection of this 
act," should be stricken out, as there can be no 
other object for adding to these trains in times of 
that kind, and the intent or “express purpose" 
cannot well be proven. The officers and mem- 
bers of the organizations of railway employes 
have now a healthy regard and respect for Uncle 
Sam, his law and his mails. It seems to us the 
mails are now sufficiently protected, and there is 
no necessity for the enactment of further law to 
be misconstrued and misapplied, thereby creating 
further friction. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

A BILL 


For the punishment of train-wrecking, introduced 
in the House of Representatives by Mr. Cald- 
well : 

Be it enacted , etc . , That any person or persons 
who willfully and maliciously displaces or removes 
a railway switch, cross- tie or rail, or injures a 
railroad track or bridge, or does or causes to be 
done an act whereby a locomotive, car, or train 
of cars, or any matter or thing appertaining 
thereto, is stopped, obstructed, or injured, with 
intent to rob or injure the person or property 
passing over any railroad engaged in interstate com- 
merce. or engaged in transporting mail matter, 
and in consequence thereof a person is killed, 
shall be guilty of murder. 

Sec. 2. That any person or persons who will- 
fully and maliciously displaces or removes a rail- 
way switch, cross-tie or rail, or injures a railroad 
track or railroad bridge, or places an obstruction 
on such track or bridge, or unlawfully and mali- 
ciously displays, hides, or removes a signal or 
light upon or near to a railroad, or unlawfully 
and maliciously does or causes to be done any- 
thing with intent to rob or to injure a person or 
property passing over such railroad engaged in 
interstate commerce, or engaged in transporting 
mail matter, shall, on conviction, be imprisoned 
at hard labor not less than one nor more than 
twenty years. 

Sec. 3. Th^t any person or persons who unlaw- 
fully and maliciously throws or causes anything 
to be thrown or to fall into or upon or to strike 
against a railroad train, or an engine, tender, car, 
or truck with intent to rob or to injure a person 
or property on such train, engine, car, or truck 
engaged in interstate commerce, or engaged in 
transporting mail matter, shall, upon conviction, 
be imprisoned at hard labor not less than one 
year nor more than twenty years. 

Sec. 4. That the circuit and district courts of 
the United States are hereby invested with full 
and concurrent jurisdiction of all causes or 


crimes arising under any of the provisions of this 
act. 

Here we have another case of a bill with a real 
object or purpose hidden behind what appears to 
be a very laudable purpose. Train wrecking for 
any purpose, or train robbing, should be made 
capital crimes, punishable as such. The Con- 
ductor or those whom it represents have never 
advocated or believed in the commission of any 
unlawful act at any time, by any person, bnt we 
are disposed to criticise the disposition which un- 
dertakes to enact such indefinite and far-reaching 
provisions into law. Note the language in sec- 
tion 2. "Unlawfully and maliciously does or 
causes to be done anything with intent, 
etc." Who is to decide whether or not an 
error, common to mankind, is " malicious “ 
or not? Who is to say what the "Intent" 
which prompts an act is ? Under the provisions 
of section 3, a school boy. who in a spirit of fun 
shies a snow ball at a passing train, will, if the 
bill becomes law, be liable to imprisonment at 
hard labor. His intent may be anything but that 
claimed by the court or prosecution, but it can be 
held that he has violated the law and its majesty 
must be upheld. If this bill is aimed at train 
wrecking and robbing it should be so amended as 
to confine itself to those offenses. We ask only 
for fair laws plainly stated and honestly adminis- 
tered and the working men will not only abide by, 
but will respect, them and their framers. Our 
laws and their exponents have been brought into 
contempt enough of late ; let us guard against 
any more misrepresentations by making them im- 
possible of existence, remembering that the least 
governed are the best governed. 


The magneto-telephone of the American Bell 
Telephone Company — the instrument commonly 
known as the "receiver” — became public property 
by the expiration of the patent covering it, on 
Jan. 30, last. It is said that this will give occa- 
sion for the formation of a number of powerful 
competitive companies who will at once commence 
the introduction of new instruments, and that, 
through this competition, telephone service will 
be made so cheap as to be within the reach of all 
who wish to use it. The Bell people claim that 
their other patents are general enough to shut out 
all opposition, but this would be a natural state- 
ment for them to make under the circumstances, 
and is generally so taken. Several competitive 
companies have been spoken of, but the only one 
to make anything like a formal announcement is 
that of a number of prominent Philadelphia 
capitalists, under the name of the Clamond 


Telephone Company. It is said that a num- 
ber of the officials of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road and the Philadelphia Traction Com- 
pany are interested in this organization and 
propose to see it through, as they are abund- 
antly able to do. According to the New York 
announcement they will introduce the instrument 
now used in London. Berlin and by the French 
government with the best results. The Bell com- 
pany has become so strongly intrenched, how- 
ever, that it is doubtful if anything can be done 
to benefit the public under several years. It is 
more probable that a series of legal fights will 
ensue, such as marked the telegraphic contests of 
several years ago. and that the result will be much 
the same. 


The daily papers recently announced the intro- 
duction of a bill in the Iowa legislature making 


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THE RAILWAY 

train robbing and wrecking, and all similar crimes 
capital, and providing the death penalty for their 
commission. In so far as it applies strictly to its 
avowed purposes the measure will meet with very 
general approval. We have not been able to se- 
cure an authentic topy of the bill as yet, and can- 
not speak authoritatively as to its merits, but the 
state law-makers will be safe in making sure that 
no loop-hole is left in its wording for a construc- 
tion to be forced, by a pliant court, entirely for- 
eign to its design as shown in securing its enact- 
ment. Let the bill unequivocally state the 
ground it will be allowed to cover, and it may 
then safely receive legislative sanction. 

The House of Representatives will do the coun- 
try a real service if it takes up and carries to an 
unquestionable decision the case of Judge Jen- 
kins, who, by injunction, interfered with and 
prevented a strike of Northern Pacific railroad 
employes and compelled cessation of the efforts 
of labor organization officials who were inciting 
those employes to quit work. The injunction 
was granted upon application of the receivers 
who are in charge of Northern Pacific affairs, and 
was for a while the subject of much comment. 
Now the trades unions are agitating the impeach- 
ment of Jndge Jenkins, and the matter will almost 
surely occupy some of the attention of the House 
as soon as the Wilson bill is out of the way. If 
Judge Jenkins did the right and the legal thing 
the country shonld have the case made conspicu- 
ously plain; if he erred without malice he should 
be reprimanded; if he deliberately misused one.of 
the law’s greatest powers he should suffer prompt 
removal from the judicial office. A great princi- 
ple is at stake. — The Evenhig Star y Washing- 
ton . 

It seems to be extremely difficult for the average 
newspaper writer to obtain a thorough understand- 
ing of the real and actual points and principles at 
issue in differences between the employes of a rail- 
road company and their employers. We subscribe 
fully to the statement that * ‘The House of Repre- 
sentatives will do the country a real service if it 
takes up and carries to an unquestionable decis- 
ion the case of Judge Jenkins." That he, "By 
injunction interfered with and prevented a strike 
of Northern Pacific railroad employes and com- 
pelled cessation of the efforts of labor organiza- 
tion officials who were inciting those employes to 
quit work," is a very erroneous statement. No 
strike had been threatened by the employes, and 
the officers of the labor organization^ were not 
then, or at any other time "inciting those em- 
ployes to quit.” The injunction in question was 
issued when there was no cause foj the issuance 


CONDUCTOR. 85 

of any, much less one which assailed the rights 
of citizens, which are guaranteed to them by 
every star and every stripe on our beautiful "Star 
Spangled Banner." That in the issuance of this 
injunction the bounds of propriety and the au- 
thority of the judge were overstepped, is evi- 
denced by the fact that Judge Caldwell eliminated 
all those features which proposed to restrain the 
men from leaving the service at will, or the offi- 
cers of the organizations from performing their 
duties, before he would allow it issued in his dis- 
trict. How a man who has worked his way to the 
federal bench could have "erred" to this extent, 
is not, to us, at all clear. We believe it to be a 
case where "one of the law’s greatest powers" 
has been "deliberately” and shamefully "mis- 
used.” 

"A great principle is at stake." Let the voice 
of the American people and their Congress be 
heard in no uncertain or unmistakable tones. 
Let us know if we are on the high road back to 
the conditions under which it was sought to have 
"bricks made without straw." 


In nothing has the generous public spirit of the 
Baltimore & Ohio management been more 
markedly shown than in the gift, recently an- 
nounced, of their magnificent World’s Fair exhibit 
to the Field Columbian Museum, of Chicago. 
This gift includes all the models, specimens of old 
engines, costly drawings and other features which 
made their exhibit one of the most attractive por- 
tions of the great show. It is a princely donation, 
but no more than might have been expected from 
these generous and progressive gentlemen. Rail- 
road men will be especially interested in this ac- 
tion, and will hope to see the other roads follow 
the lead thus taken until the proposed collection 
in Chicago is made a complete exposition of the 
wonderful growth America has given the "iron 
road." 


If there is an act which inspires supreme and 
unadulterated contempt, it is the writing of 
anonymous letters, but when a cur who has not the 
courage or manhood to sign his name to his 
screed, accuses others of cowardice and asks that 
his communication be not treated as an anony- 
mous letter, truly the depths of moral cowardice 
have been reached, and such a writer undoubted- 
ly feels perfectly at home wallowing therein. 


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86 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

COMMENT. 


Here is a quotation from the English Board of 
Trade reports for the month of November, 1893: 
“The principal changes in wages recorded dur- 
ing November are an advance, under the sliding 
scale, of 7 % per cent to 90,000 coal miners in 
South Wales and Monmouth, dated from Decem- 
ber 1, and is. per day to a considerable number 
of 'miners in the West of Scotland. Fife. Kin- 
ross and Clackmannan miners' wages were ad- 
vanced 6 % per cent from November 23, and a 
further 6# per cent has been promised from De- 
cember 15. Mid and East Lothian miners’ re- 
ceived 10 per cent advance on December 6. Iron 
and steel workers in the Midlands have also re- 
ceived an advance of 2^ per cent under the slid- 
ing scale, and bedstead -workers' wages in Birm- 
ingham and district were increased 5 per cent 
from November 11. The only important reduc- 
tion reported in wages has been among the For- 
est of Dean house-coal miners, their wages having 
receded, under the wages board, 15 per cent 
from December 2, making present rate the same 
as the old rates, i. e., those paid up to the date of 
the dispute.” The number of employes in the 
different establishments reporting increase in 
wages aggregate 113,720, with nine establish- 
ments reporting increase without stating the num- 
ber of employes affected; while those affected by 
a decrease in wages number but 4, 180, with but 
four establishments not reporting the number of 
their employes. 

# * * 

What a contrast is this to the wage conditions 
prevailing in our own country during the same 
period! And this is England! The country whose 
industrial conditions have been held up to the 
gaze of American workingmen for years as every- 
thing iniquitous and much to be avoided The 
British workingman has been pictured as little 
better than a serf, dragging out a weary, hope- 
less existence upon wages that barely answer to 
keep life in his starving body, and so deeply sunk 
in the degradation created by the industrial con- 
ditions surroundingjhim that it was quite hope- 
less for him to expect 'improvement. Compari- 
sons innumerable have been drawn between 
English and American workingmen, always im- 
mensely favorable to the latter. I imagine that 
the millions of unemployed throughout this 
country would accept English industrial condi- 
tions as a sort of a godsend just about now. Con- 
trast the iron puddlers in the Midlands iron dis- 
trict, who secured an advance of 3d. per ton 
(from 7s. 6d, to 7s. gd.), from the first week in 
December of last year, with the highly protected 


workmen employed by philanthropist Carnegie, 
who suffered a reduction of from to 20 to 60 per 
cent about the same time. 

# # * 

It is about time that American workingmen re* 
fuse longer to be led by the arguments of the pol- 
iticians and began to do something for them- 
selves Many excellent lessons may be learned 
from the experience of the English workingmen, 
one of which is that conditions may be vastly im- 
proved by united and intelligent political action. 
The condition of the English workers has been 
altered for the better through the action in parli- 
ment of such merr as Hardie, Burns, Mann, and 
others, within the past few years to a greater ex- 
tent than can properly be estimated, and it is 
simply idio.ic for us, with our vastly superior 
political advantages, to refuse longer to profit by 
such object lessons as the English workingmen 
have furnished us. The great anxiety of the 
politicians to keep the labor unions out of politics 
was always a little too loudly expressed to . be 
wholly disinterested, and if Gompers and Sover- 
eign succeed in reconciling their differences and 
bringing the K. of L and the A. F. L. into line 
for common action on political lines, as is now 
proposed, more will be accomplished in the next 
fiye years for the good of labor than has been ac- 
complished in twenty years previous to this time. 
It is useless to deny the fact that the rights of 
labor are much more fully respected in England 
than here. It is extremely doubtful if any English 
court would dare to issue an order restraining a 
strike against a reduction of wages, as did Judge 
Jenkins, and it is quite certain that so extensive a 
strike as the great coal strike in England, which 
involved an army of 300,000 men, and which 
terminated in a victory for the men after four 
months of struggle, would not be permitted in 
this country without .a pretext being found to 
call out the militia for the purpose of forcing the 
strikers into subjection, or murdering as many 
of them as might seem necessary to accomplish 
the object of putting an end to the strike. 

» * * 

And what miserable hypocrisy is contained in 
that transparent pretext of our politicians that ' 
they are legislating with the interests of the 
laboring man in their view. There are enough 
public building bill§ hung in congress, in connec- 
tion with the public works already authorized, to 
put at least 50,000 men to work at good wages 
throughout the country and relieve, to that ex- 
tent, the awful distress prevailing at this time. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 87 


But do steps are taken to set this work in motion; 
the government is hard up, and even the work 
that is authorized to be done is at a complete 
standstill. What matter that thousands of idle 
workingmen are on the verge of starvation? It 
is not the government s duty to furnish work for 
them, and the public works throughout the 
country must wait upon the necessities of partisan 
advantage while our statesmen jangle over the 
tariff and repeat their well worn platitudes about 
the dignity of American labor. But how differ- 
ently are the interests of the money lenders taken 
care of. Millions of idle dollars pile themselves 
op in the New York banks; workmen arestarving; 
business is at a standstill; there is nothing for 
the dollars to do, and thsir owners are losing in- 
terest. That must not be. What matters it 


that millions of workers are idle? That is of 
little consequence; but to have dollars idle! that 
is quite another matter; the dollars are of more 
consequence than the men, and must be earning 
their quota of interest. In this case the govern- 
ment promptly recognizes the situation and comes 
to the relief of the dollar owners with an issue of 
bonds. It pays interest for money that it does 
not need, and the money lender's income is as- 
sured while labor starves. Who is able longer to 
doubt that this is a government of dollars, what- 
ever may be said to the contrary? Men cut no 
figure; but a few more object lessons like those of 
the past few months, and the men will be pre- 
pared to hurl a political thunderbolt into the 
camp of the dollar owners that will put an end to 
their rule. “B." 


BORROWED OPINION. 


If the information concerning the cause of the 
late Lehigh Valley strike which comes to us is 
correct, it would seem little short of a crime on 
the stockholders and public. It is said that 
when the committee of the employes called upon 
General Eastern Superintendent Rollin H. Wil- 
bur to state the grievance which existed since 
last August, he brusquely waved them out of his 
office, and would hear nothing from them. 
Thereupon, turning to seek relief of the wrongs 
from the president of the corporation, the father 
of the general superintendent, they were politely 
told that he could do nothing for them — possibly 
on the ground that the father must sustain the 
action of the son. Then it was, and then only, 
that the committee called in the authorities of the 
federated unions. 

It is entirely likely that if the committee had 
been received in decency and proper regard, 
there would have been no difficulty If they had 
been allowed to state their grievances and re- 
ceived replies thereto, they would have felt at 
least that they had received proper treatment and 
that some consideration would be given to their 
complaints. 

But turned away as they were, they felt the 
sting of their treatment, and like all spirited and 
independent men, took the only recourse that 
was left to them. A kind or considerate word 
would no doubt have met the occasion. 

The result of this kind of action has been 
enormous in its proportions. The railroad com- 
pany has lost at least a million of dollars in de- 
stroyed business, engines and rolling stock gen- 
erally. And the end is pot yet. For every day 
thousands of dollars are added to the damages in 
the shape of wrecks. 

The Lehigh Valley railroad is crippled to an 
extent never before known; and the management, 
instead of carrying out its published settlement 
of the strike, is not taking back its experienced 
men but is keeping incompetent and inexperi- 
enced men in position. This seems, like mad- 
ness. A disregard of pledges, and a defiance of 
public safety. 


We say again the strike could have been 
avoided by a few words spoken in the proper 
spirit. If the stockholders of the Lehigh Valley 
do not soon discipline their high officials whom 
they are employing at large salaries, there will 
be a small show for dividends, and they may- 
have to scratch around, even to supply the sal- 
aries . — Mauch Chunk Daily Times. 

In discussing the action of federal judges in 
the late trouble on the "Ann Arbor” and antici- 
pated trouble on the ‘ Northern Pacific,” the 
Evening Nevus of Detroit says: 

It will, however, require something like a revo- 
lution, not only in the law itself, but also in 
American notions of individual liberty, to render 
effective any change in these relations such as the 
two judicial actions under consideration seem to 
foreshadow. If men can be compelled to work 
for an employer whom they prefer to leave, they 
are slaves in all the essential characteristics of 
slavery. The reasons or motives which actuate 
men in quitting the employment of any corpora- 
tion or individual do not enter into the essence of 
the question. If wrong is done either by the 
employe or the employer which results in damage, 
the aggrieved party has his remedy at law in a 
suit to recover the damage which can be proven. 
Once the courts pass beyond this there is no 
logical stopping place short of compelling one 
party to employ those whom he does not want 
and compelling another to work against his will. 
If the employer can be compelled to employ, the 
employe can be compelled to work. 

The quickest and easiest way to bring the mat- 
ter to a complete test is for the employes to strike 
in spite of the injunction. It will then be seen if 
it is feasible for the courts to compel men to 
work when they do not want to. We imagine 
the courts would find on their hands the biggest 
job they ever undertook to perform. Once upon 
a time, a very long time ago, the courts could 
effect this result by terror and torture. They 
could order the workingmen to the stocks or to the 
lash until they submitted; the Toledo court at- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


tempted something in that line by a proceeding for 
contempt, but the penalties for contempt in our 
day would have no serious terrors for men who 
have no money to pay fines and who would enjoy 
the martyrdom of comfortable imprisonment in a 
cause which they could serve so cheaply. 

There is no safe ground in this matter except 
in absolute liberty — the liberty of every one to 
employ and discharge from employment whom he 
pleases, and the liberty of everyone to sell his 
labor or withhold it as he pleases, subject only to 
the law of contract and the ordinary methods 
heretofore employed for its enforcement. The 
workingmen of this country will make a fatal mis- 
take if they abandon this firm ground in the 
effort to* find legislation that will coerce the em- 
ployer. Their own liberty is involved in his. 
His right to discharge, or to offer such terms as 
he pleases, and to use in peace and safety the 
labor of all who are willing to work on his terms, 
cannot be successfully assailed without throwing 
down all the law which protects the workingman 
in his liberty to sell or withhold his own labor, 
and when that liberty is destroyed the working- 
man becomes a slave. 

The best engineman has been a fireman; the 
best conductors are made of brakemen; the best 
officials are promoted from the ranks. John M. 
Toucey. general manager of the New York Cen- 
tral, was once a trainman. President Newell, of 
the Lake Shore, used to carry a chain in an engi- 
neering corps on the Illinois Central. President 
Clark, of the Mobile & Ohio, was a section man, 
afterwards a fireman. Another man who drove 
grade stakes is President Blockstand, of the 
Alton. Allen Manvel, the late president of “the 
largest road on earth," was storehouse clerk. 
President Van Horn, of the Canadian Pacific, 
kept time on the Illinois Central. Another man 
named Town, who used to twist brake wheels on 
the Burlington, is now Vice-President Town, of 
the Southern Pacific. President Smith, of the 
Louisville & Nashville, was a telegraph operator. 
Marvin Hughitt, of the Chicago & Northwestern, 
began as a telegraph messenger boy. President 
Clark, of the Union Pacific, used to check freight 
and push a truck on the Omaha platform. The 
Illinois Central, I believe, has turned out more 
great men than any other road. President 
Jeffery, of the Denver & Rio Grande, began in the 
Central shops at forty-five cents a day. — Mc- 
Clure's Magazine . 

“What is sauce for the goose " is sauce for the 
the other bird, and why might not the employes 
of the Northern Pacific enjoin the receivers from 
cutting down their wages, which the receivers are 
attempting to do without giving the employes any 
apportunity to have a say in the matter. When 
the management seek to get behind the United 
States court to take advantage of its employes, it 
should be compelled to show that tribunal that 
such reduction is reasonable and just and that it 
affects all employes, including Sir Receivers and 
other high officials. Why should not the receivers 
have reduced their salary about five or ten thous- 
and dollars a year each? That would enable 


them to pay several of the lower classes of under- 
paid employes a reasonable wage. The sword of 
justice should divide impartially. Why not em- 
ployes enjoin reductions as well as companies 
enjoin strikes ? The fact is that no just law can 
keep a man from quitting work when conditions 
becomte distasteful to him. The law of necessity 
might, but that is not always just. — Railroad 
Register. 

We learn from the Railroad Gazette that the 
Pennsylvania Railroad will shortly have all pas- 
senger cars equipped with the quick-action brake, 
and the locomotives equipped with the automatic 
engineer’s valve. The process of changing from 
plain automatic to the quick action brake has 
been going on for some time. The large num- 
ber of cars and engines to be changed has neces- 
essarily delayed the matter until the present time. 
This shows the way in which brake matters are 
drifting, namely, toward the most powerful quick- 
acting and efficient brake that can be obtained 
for passenger service. Perhaps this turn in brake 
matters is emphasized by the investigation now 
being made into the efficiency of reinforced 
brakes. The reinforced brake has been brought 
out to do better work and more powerful braking 
than can be obtained from a quick-acting brake. 
It is found that in face of danger the length of 
stop, even with the quick-acting brake, is so great 
as to result in accidents, more particularly col- 
lisions. The reinforced brake is an improvement 
on the quick-acting brake ; it does not make the 
brake act quicker ; it makes it more powerful 
during the first part of the application, while the 
train is running at a high speed. The reinforce- 
ment comes during the early part of the applica- 
tion, and is reduced as the speed reduces, in order 
to prevent sliding the wheels. This reduction is 
also necessary in order that the maximum brake- 
ing efficiency may be obtained, for the reason 
that if brakes were applied with the reinforced 
pressure at low speed the wheels would slide, and 
when the wheels do slide the retarding force is 
greatly decreased. There can be no doubt of the 
necessity of using quick-action brakes wherever 
possible and the reinforced brake for all high- 
speed trains ; and it would appear, from present 
indications, that in the future it will be as neces- 
sary to use the reinforced quick-acting brake as 
an improvement on the plain quick-acting brake 
as it now is necessary to use the latter in the place 
of the plain automatic.. — Scientific American. 

The demonstration of the efficacy of unionism 
in labor was never before brought to the eyes of 
working people in such strong colors as it has 
been shown to them during the past year. The 
“scab" has indeed had a sorry time of it, and has 
been made to feel very keenly the position he 
holds in the industrial world. It has not come 
upon us as a sort of moral humiliation, but a 
financial humiliation, and a failure to secure em- 
ployment. He has been compelled to stand aside 
as his brother craftsmen in their respective unions 
marched by him with victorious tread. He has 
found himself suddenly in an outside world, and 
the places he formerly occupied filled by stalwart 
members of unionism — New Era. 


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Mutual Life Insurance— Action on a Life Certi- 
ficate — Place of Trial. 

Where the by-laws of an insurance association 
conducted on the assessment plan, as well as the 
certificate of insurance issued by it, provide that 
within a specified time after the death of the as- 
sured, the association shall deliver to the benefi- 
ciary a check for the sum insured, and the associ- 
ation fails tp do so, the default occurs where the 
beneficiary resides, and the cause of action arises 
there, within the meaning of subdivision 5, sec- 
tion 2619, Rev, Statutes, which provides that the 
venue of such action is in the county in which the 
cause of action, or some part thereof, arose. Or- 
der granting a change of venue from L. to M. 
county reversed. 

If os try et at. v. Wisconsin O. F. L. Mat. Life 
Assn., Wise. S. C.. Nov. 28, 1893. 

Mutual Life Insurance — Warranties as to 

Health. 

1. Where an applicant for membership and a 
certificate of insurance in an assessment associa- 
tion has stated that he is in good health, aad that 

• the statements subscribed are true to the best of 
his knowledge and belief, it is proper to refuse to 
charge that it is immaterial whether the appli- 
cant knew of the existence of the fatal 
disease or not, and that he assumed the 
whole risk of his answer being true 

2. Where the court charged that if applicant 
had a disease which later proved fatal, and was a 
serious disease, it would be immaterial that it was 
in the first stages, and that applicant did not re- 
gard it as of consequence; that, if it was in fact of 
consequence, plaintiff could not recover, and that 
good health means a state of health freed from 
any disease that affects seriously the general 
soundness of the system, Held , proper to omit the 
further charge that it was immaterial that the dis- 
ease may have been in its first stages, and that 
applicant did not know he had it. If the disease 
Was present plaintiff could not recover. 

3 Where the court charged that the jury must 
find the actual good health of the insured when 
fic applied for membership, does not commit 


fatal error in refusing a charge baSed on evidence 
in the case, that the knowledge of the secretary of 
the society that the insured was in bad health be- 
fore he was admitted to membership, was not 
chargeable to the society. 

Hann v. National Union , Mich. S. C., Dec. 
17. 1893 

Note: This action was brought on a benefit 
certificate for $3 000. The association claimed 
that the applicant was affected with a fatal dis- 
ease (Cerebro Spinal Meningitis) and had de- 
ceived the association in the truth of his state- 
ments concerning his health The secre- 
tary was called to testify to his bad 
health before making application, but when 
he admitted to having voted for his ad- 
mission to the association, his evidence had 
little or no weight. 

Industrial Insurance — Evidence as to Written 

Application — Disease — Exclusion of Death 

Certificate. 

1 Where plaintiff alleged that she made a 
verbal application for the certificate upon her hus- 
band's life, and defendant gave evidence to estab- 
lish that plaintiff made or authorized a written 
application and warranted the truth of statements 
therein A statement therein was made that her 
husband was never sick was alleged to be false in 
that, at the time, her husband had syphilis, and 
had been suffering with it long prior thereto. 

Held , that evidence justified a verdict that no 
written application had been made. 

2. On the trial an authenticated copy of the at- 
tending physician certificate filed in the local 
health office, in which it was stated that he had 
died of syphilis of at least four years’ duration 
was excluded; and the court charged that if such 
written application was made and her husband 
was so afflicted, no recovery could be had. 

Held , that the certificate was properly excluded, 
the records themselves only being admissible ac- 
cording to rules of evidence. Judgment for 
plaintiff affirmed. 

McKinney v. Metre politan Life Ins. Co., 
City Cl , Brooklyn , Dec. 9, i 8 qj. 

Mutual Benefit Insurance — Assessment — When 
Du e — Non-Payment — Forfeiture^- Waiver . 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


90 

1. Where the by-laws of a mutual benefit as- 
sociation require each member to pay a fee of 
$1.00 after having been a member one year, for 
the beneficiaries of the next member who shall 
die, and make a similar payment at each death, 
such fee is due from a member one year after be 
joins, though no member may have died during 
such year. 

2. Where a member was sixteen months in 
arrearage for non-payment of a death benefit fee, 
and the association did not strike his name from 
the list of members, or take any steps to enforce 
payment of such fee, but received from him 
monthly dues and fines during such sixteen 
ratonths. 

Held \ that the association waived the forfeiture 
of his membership for such non-payment. 

Menard v. Society of St. J. B., Conn. S. C., 
i&vj. 

Note. — It is a well settled rule of law concern- 
ing waiver of conditions that an association can- 
not continue to treat a defaulting member as a 
member and at the same time claim a forfeiture 
of his rights. 

Accident Insurance — Agent — When Company is 

Bound By. 

Where an insurance company sends out its 
agent with authority to solicit insurance among 
railroad employes and collect premiums, and such 
agent takes the insurance of one who, in pursu- 
ance of the contract made with the agent, tenders 
the full amount of the premium, and such agent 
accepts such amount less $10, an amount pre- 
viously borrowed of insured by such agent, who 
assured him that the full amount of the premium 
was paid; that he would pay such full amount to 
the company, and the certificate thereupon is is- 
sued by the company and delivered to the in- 
sured : 

Held) that the insured is not bound to see that 
the agent pays the money to the company, but he 
has the right to presume that it has been so paid 
until be has notice from the company to the con- 
trary. Judgment affirmed and petition for a re- 
hearing overruled. 

□ Kerling v. National Accident Association , 
fnd. App. Ct., Jan. j, 78(44. 

Accident Insurance — Misstatement by Agent — 

Income. 

1. The applicant correctly stated the amount 
of his weekly income to the agent of the defend- 
ant association, but the agent, without the knowl- 
edge or consent of applicant, increased the 
amount so as to place the applicant in another 
class of insured. 

Held, that an agreement, in the application, 
that the society shall not be bound by any state- 
ment made to, or knowledge possessed by the 


agent, not written in the application, and that 
such agent is the applicant's agent for the purpose 
of entering his answers, does not relieve the in- 
surer of its estoppel to contest the policy on the 
ground of such misstatement. 

2. Held, that a clause in the application, 
agreeing that the benefits to which the applicant 
shall become entitled shall be governed and paid 
in the same ratio as his income shall bear to the 
sum insured, is binding on the insured, though the 
agent, by false statements as to his income, has 
put him in a higher class, and charged him a 
higher premium. 

Hone v. Provident Fund Ass’n, Ind . App. 
C. t j8qj. 

Railway Service — Injury to Railway Employe — 

Negligence of Conductor — Co-employes. 

Complainant was a fireman in defendant s em- 
ploy, and while in the cab of his engine, was 
struck by a limb of a tree on a platform car in 
passing a freight train. A rule of defendant, 
known to plaintiff, made it the duty of freight 
conductors to examine all platform cars to 9ee 
that they were safely loaded, and the conductor 
of the freight train testified that he examined the 
car containing the trees, and found it properly 
loaded. The evidence showed that the conductor 
was a competent man, that defendant furnished 
safe appliances to the shipper for loading the 
car, and that the cab in which plaintiff worked 
was a safe one. 

Held , That the complainant could not recover, 
as the negligence, if any, was that of the con- 
ductor, complainant's fellow servant, in failing to 
properly inspect the car. 

Jarman v. Chicago G. T. R'y Co , Mich. 
S. C.. Dec. 8, 1893. 

Ejection oj' Passenger — Fragment of Ticket — 

Presumption . 

A ticket for a continuous ride over the whole 
length of a railway and a connecting line was of 
peculiar color and print, and was composed of 
two pieces when detached, the upper of which 
was for use on the connecting line, and gave the 
names of its termini below, and the names of both 
lines above. 

Held , That a conductor of the connecting line 
was bound to accept for passage an upper frag- 
ment of the upper coupon, which gave the names 
of the lines, on the assumption that the conductor 
of the other line carelessly and negligently tore 
off the part giving the termini, in taking the lower 
coupon. Judgment in damages for refusal to ac- 
cept such fragmentary ticket and a consequent 
ejection affirmed. 

Rouser 9. North Park , etc., Ry, Co. y Mich S. 
C . Nov. 24, 1893 


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Ottumwa, Iowa, Jan. 29, 1894 
Editor Kail way Conductor : 

As it is sometime since anything has appeared 
in The Conductor in behalf of Enterprise Divis- 
ion No. 14, L. A. to O. R. C., perhaps the friends 
generally will be interested in knowing that we 
are alive and prospering nicely, both financially 
and spiritually. Our meetings are held on the 
second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 
2:30 p. m., in our new and nicely furnished O. 
R. C. hall, corner of Main and Market streets. 
Any sister from abroad visiting our city will be 
gladly welcomed. January 9 last, we had the 
pleasure of a visit from Sister J. H. Myers, of 
Denver, Colorado, and it proved full of profit to 
us as well. 

At our first meeting in December the following 
officers were elected for the ensuing year: Presi- 
dent, Sister Teter. She resigned and we then 
elected Sister Simons. Vice-President, Sister 
Parks; for Secretary and Treasurer* Sister Price 
was elected, bat she resigned and next we elected 
Sister West, who also declined to serve. We all 
know this work is hard and few like to fill the 
office of secretary. Senior Sister, Sister J. 
Springer; Junior Sister, Sister Graves; Guard, 
Sister Miller; Chairman Executive Committee, 
Sister Graves. The corresponding secretary also 
resigned, but I hope when you hear from us 
again we will have a complete list of officers. 
The installation of officers took place on the sec- 
ond Tuesday in January. Our past president, 
Sister Yetts, of Albia, Iowa, was with us and 
conducted the installation ceremonies in a most 
acceptable manner. All concede that a very able 
corps of officers, as far as selected, will fill our 
chairs this year of 1894. 

Arrangements are being made for a masquerade 
ball to be given February 14, Valentine day, in 
the Grand Army hall. We try to keep the 
wheel of enterprise rolling, and are working for 
the prize offered by our kind Sister, the gold 
medal. 

With the hope that the year 1894 will be a pros- 


perous one for the Order, both numerically and 
financially, I am 

Most Respectfully Yours in T. F., 

Grand Ma. 


Is It Beneficial? 

Is the Auxiliary beneficial? If so, in what way 
or ways? These are questions that are often 
asked, sometimes by those who earnestly desire 
information, but frequently they are made to 
sound more like a statement than like unanswered 
questions. # Is it beneficial to the O. R. C.? 
Well, that depends on the attitude the local divis- 
ions take towards^each other. In some places, 
most emphatically, yes. In other places it is, 
perhaps, no less beneficial, only acknowledgement 
of the fact is lacking. But while we admit that 
one of the fondest desires of a woman's heart 
should be the desire to further her husband's in- 
terests and to be helpful to him in all his under- 
takings, yet we hold that her entire duty does not 
always look to his advancement, and his alone. 
Does she not owe any duties to herself? Most 
certainly she does. And in the performance of 
those duties she not only reaps a benefit her- 
self, but proves the wisdom of God that made 
the twain one flesh, inasmuch as one always 
shares the blessings of the other. The Ladies’ 
Auxiliary to the O. R. C. has unmistakably 
proven a blessing in many ways to the wives of 
the O. R. C. ' 

One Sister remarked to me the other day that 
her husband said she was looking better than she 
had for some time. She replied, "no wonder, I 
get out some now and have something else to 
think about besides my home cares. ” And so I 
find the influence of the Auxiliary extending its 
cheerful effects into my own home. My little 
girl said to me upon my return from one of our 
meetings, "Mamma, you don't know how I like 
to have you ‘get out,’ it brightens up your face 
so.’ The thought may*Come to some that there are 
any number of places that a woman can go be- 
sides the Auxiliary; very true, but do they go? 
Some do, but again, some would not. After hav- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ing subscribed to the rules and regulations of the 
L. A. to O. R. C. it becomes a secondary duty to 
attend the meetings. ("Secondary” to home 
duties I mean.) After seeing the benefit to be 
derived from these semi-monthly gatherings it 
seems to help one in the performance of those 
precious "home duties.” I am confident that 
many of the Sisters, as they read that, will invol- 
untarily breathe a fervent "amen ” Not 
only do these meetings prove a rest to 
mind and body, but they tend to edu- 
cate both mind and body. I have seen the 
good effects of it in many ways, both to myself 
and others, although we have not been organized 
a year yet. Some who openly declared "they 
could not talk before people” find the words 
flowing from their mouths, so interested in what 
they are about to say that their tongues uever 
think of tripping. It also tends towards ease and 
grace of manner. And I take it for granted that 
those of our number who are perfected in all of 
these particulars, (without the experience of the 
lodge room,) are willing and glad to join 
for the benefit of their example to the 
rest. Paul spoke of the church as one 
body; we are all familiar with the compari- 
sons. Now, the different divisions of the L. A. to 
O. R. C. appear to me in the same light. Hav- 
ing their gifts differing the one from the other, 
we are one body fitly joined together. Nor 
can one member say to another, it is of no use, 
for are we not all members one of the other. We 
need the inspiring enthusiasm of one Sister, the 
quiet firm opinion of another, the plain common 
sense of another, and so on through the whole 
membership; and if some divisions possess an 
eternal fault finder, why, she has her place too. 
It breaks the monotony and stirs up the laggards 
if there are any. Only let us each feel that we 
are one of the members, that the body is not 
complete without us; we then will stand a chance 
of proving to the others that we are indispen- 
sible. For not one of us is selfish enough to be 
benefitted without bestowing benefit in return. 
Yes, the Auxiliary is beneficial, not in one way 
alone, but in many ways. First, directly to the 
wives of the O. R. C. ; secondly, to the O. R. C. 
themselves. Tell me of one place where the 
Auxiliary flourishes that many of the members of 
the O. R. C. will not acknowledge much benefit 
from it. How much more sociable the "annual 
ball” than before the women became personal ac- 
quaintances. And after meeting the wife of the 
conductor they did not like and hearing their own 
wife discuss her merits, how differently they 
feel, even towards him. And is there one man 
who sees no good in the Auxiliary, let him be 


sure it is not selfishness that blinds his eyes ere 
he judges. Mrs. N. D. Hahn. 


Detroit, Mich., Jan 25. 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Detroit Division No. 44, Ladies' Auxiliary to 
the Order of Railway Conductors, was organized 
in Elks’ Hall, this city, Jan 16th, 1894, by Grand 
President Mrs. J. H. Moore, of Toledo. The fol- 
lowing officers were elected and installed: Presi- 
dent, Mrs. Daniel Sweeney; Vice-President. Mrs. 
C. Granger; Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. J. A. 
Eley; Senior Sister, Mrs. George Stevenson; Jun- 
ior Sister. Mrs. M. C. Whiting; Guard, Mrs. R. 
E. Decker; Chairman of Executive Committee. 
Mrs. Clark Sackett; Correspondent, Mrs. D. L. 
Roosa. Mrs. * Moore was assisted in instituting 
the division by Mrs. J. Bowers, Mrs. F. V. Hen- 
dricks, Mrs. A. W. McIntyre, Mrs. R. J. Can- 
trick, Mrs. John Arnold and Mrs. H. Carens, 
members of Banner Division No. 6, of Toledo. 
Detroit Division will meet the first and third 
Tuesdays of each month. 

We have twenty charter members, and hope to 
soon rank among the foremost of the divisions 
who report to Thb Conductor. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. D. L. Roosa 


Denison, Texas, Jan. 24, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

It is with pleasure that I again write a few lines 
in behalf of Turner Division No. 28. We have 
had our annual election and installation of officers 
with the following result: President, Mrs. John 
Tygard; Vice-President, Mrs. Jeff. Finley; Secre- 
tary and Treasurer, Mrs. C Bledsoe; S. S., Mrs. 
J. Strait; J. S., Mrs C. M. Stone; Guard, Mrs. 
Wm. Oldham; Chairman of Executive Com- 
mittee, Mrs. C. S. Williams; Corresponding Sec- 
retary, Mrs, C Bledsoe. We have very encour- 
aging prospects for this, our second year. We 
were organized with sixteen charter members; 
now our membership is twenty-seven, with pros- 
pects for many more. We are looking forward to 
a prosperous year. I was noticing Sister French's 
article from St. Louis Division about serving tea 
each month at the residence *>f some Sister. Their 
idea is a very good one indeed! . It would not 
only replenish the treasury, but would promote 
sociability at the same time, which is one of our 
main objects, one which should not be overlooked. 
I am very anxious to hear what division was lucky 
enough to capture the gold medal. It may be 
Turner Division. "Who knows?” I wonder 
where Brother Proud, of Lone Star No 53 is this 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. , 


month? Gone visiting. I guess. With best 
wishes for all divisions, I remain 

Yours in T. F., 

% Mrs. C. B. 

Cor. Sec. Div. No. 28. 

Marion, Iowa, Jan. 29. 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

As many correspondents to the Ladies* Depart- 
ment are not aware that I am not at present edi- 
tor of the same, I take this method of informing 
the Sisters of the fact that for the last six months 
the Ladies* Department has not been under my 
charge. To those whose letters have passed 
through my hands during that time I wish to say. 
’‘Please accept this as an acknowledgement of 
your many favors.’* as with my household cares I 
have not found time to answer each personally. 
And, now, if you have thought me careless and 
indifferent, you will no doubt, with this under- 
standing, fully forgive me for seeming neglect. 

I shall miss the little notes and tokens of per- 
sonal remembrance that often accompanied your 
letters. Yet I feel that I have good proof that 
Bro. Clark is guided by reasonable conclusions in 
the matter, and will be willing and glad to have 
os make the Ladies’ Department just as attractive 
and interesting as we choose. 

How that Thb Conductor is sent to every 
member of the O. R. C., the correspondence will 
0® doubt increase greatly, and we shall be 
favored with letters from Sisters heretofore silent; 
I trust we may, and that the names grown famil- 
iar to us in the past may continue to appear in 
the columns of the Ladies’ Department. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. N. D. Hahn. 

(The changes directed by the Grand Division 
necessitated an entire change in the manner of 
conducting the editorial work. Further changes 
may be necessary as the new plan develops. It 
is not without regret that we lose the services and 
assistance of Sister Hahn. She has spoken our 
sentiments in the words, ‘‘And will be glad to 
have ns make the Ladies’ Department just as at- 
tractive and interesting as we choose." Ladies, 
we are at your service. The success of this de- 
partment rests with you. — Ed.] 



Elkhart, Ind , Jan. 23, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

I understand it is about a year since Andrews 
Division No. 4 contributed anything to the col- 
umns of the Ladies' Department, although we 
are always pleased to hear through it of the sis- 
ter divisions. and the work that they are' doing. 


and always enjoy reading the contributions of 
different divisions. 

We have done little work outside of the Order 
work, with the exception of a few suppers or 
socials, which as a rule proved very pleasant af- 
fairs, both socially and financially. Although 
few in numbers, our members are all earnest 
workers, and we have been very fortunate in 
having little or no sickness among us in the past 
year. • 

In the month of November of the past year 
Sister Punches and her estimable husband cele- 
brated their twenty-fifth anniversary, and of 
course we were kindly remembered with invita- 
tions to attend the reception at their residence. 
We spent a most enjoyable evening, and remem- 
bered them with a number of presents suitable 
for the occasion. • 

On the last meeting in December Andrews Di- 
vision No. 4 elected officers for the ensuing year, 
as follows: Sister A. W. Brown, president; Sis- 
ter C. W. Shultz, vice president; Sister P. W. 
Smith, secretary and treasurer; Sister L. J. 
Punches, senior sister; Sister Cass McClellen, 
junior sister; Sister E. C. Kepler, guard; Sister J. 
T. Wishart, chairman executive committee; Sis- 
ter A. C. Rossiter, corresponding secretary. On 
January 12, 1894, our past president, Sister S. H. 
Hussy, came from Toledo, Ohio, and assisted by 
past president, Sister F. Northway, duly installed 
them. 

On Saturday, January 13, the Division pre- 
sented our retiring secretary, Sister Alice Car- 
penter, and senior sister, Sister J. T. Wishart, 
each with a beautiful silver cake basket. The 
ladies met at the home of Sister C. W. Shultz, and 
proceeded to Sister Carpenter’s residence, where 
Sister H. H. Andrews, our first president, pre- 
sented the gifts in a few well chosen remarks; 
after which the ladies were invited to partake of 
a very pleasant lunch. It was considered by all 
present a delightful affair, without the presence 
of any gentlemen. After much mirth and merri- 
ment, we left for our separate homes declaring 
Sister Carpenter a grand entertainer. 

Hoping this may be a prosperous year, both 
financially and fraternally for the L. A. to O. 
R. C., I will close this, my first attempt as a 
correspondent to The Conductor. 

♦Yours fraternally, 

Mrs. A. C. Rossiter, Cor. Sec. 

Sunbury, Pa., Jan. 9, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Sunbury Eastern Star Division No. 8 elected 
officers for the year 1894, on Wednesday, Jan- 
uary 10, 1894. The following sisters were 


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94 \ THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


chosen: President, Mrs. Wm. Shaffer; Vice- 
President, Mrs. Jno. Bell; Secretary and Treas- 
urer, Mrs. J. B. Vandyke; Senior Sister, Mrs. 
Jet Heany; junior Sister, Mrs. Y. Bailets; 
Guard, Mrs. J. H. Blain; Corresponding Secre- 
tary, Mrs. J. H. Ellen burger. The election of 
Sister Vandyke for the third term to the impor- 
tant office of secretary shows something of the 
interest she takes in our division work, and the 
appreciation of it by the Sisters. We were glad 
to have Sister B. F. Wiltse, from Erickson Divis- 
ion No. 5, with us to install our officers. We 
also had the pleasure of having Mrs. D. Mack, 
from Springer Division of Wilkesbarre, with us. 
The members were all well pleased with the 
speech our President, Mrs. Wm. Shaffer, gave 
us after the installation of officers. We also 
held a sociable at Sister Charles Sands’ for the 
benefit of our division. There was a good turn- 
out, but we should have had more Brothers to 
make it interesting. Brother Sarvis appeared to 
enjoy it very much. ^ 

The shadow of mourning was recently cast 
upon our division by the death of Brother Prince. 
The funeral was held at Lewiston and was at- 
tended by Division 187 and by our members in a 
body, out of respect to the memory of the de- 
parted Brother, and as an indication of the deep 
sympathy all felt for the bereaved family. A 
special train was provided for the occasion. But 
yet a few more days and we all, one by one, 
shall follow our Brother. May we all so live in 
this world as to assure our reunion in the one 
above. 

With best wishes for all the reader, of The 
Conductor, I am 

# Yours Truly in T. F., 

Mrs. J. H. Ellenburger. 


St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 27, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

St. Louis Division No. 11, L. A. to O. R. C., 
has held its two regular meetings for the month. 
Jan. 4th was installation of officers, but no other 
business of importance was undertaken. Every- 
thing seems auspicious for a good year's work. 
The 18th of the month we had the new officers in 
the chairs. Mrs. Frank E. Gillen, President; 
Mrs. A. Marsh, Vic$- President; Mrs. J. H. 
Logan, Secretary and Treasurer; Mrs. T. F. Ar- 
nold, Senior Sister; Mrs. John B. French, Junior 
Sister; Mrs. Frank D. Hartel, Guard; Mrs. S. J. 
Ryan, our Vice-President last year, Chairman of 
the Executive Committee; associated with her are 
Mrs. W. J. Lewis and Mrs. D. P. Bacon. Exec- 
utive abilify is well represented in that commit- 


tee. The President then appointed all other 
committees for the ensuing year; the qnestion of 
withdrawal cards was settled by a letter from our 
Grand President, that, none can be issued. 

The secretary was authorized to order the par- 
aphernalia for the “Oh, Why?” degree, that was 
the source of so much amusement, and of revenue 
to Banner Division in Toledo, last June; we will 
begin active preparation at once to work the de- 
gree here before many months, and it will be well 
for the Brothers to be prepared, for the ordeal is 
such as “try men's souls," and “a word to the 
wise is sufficient." After adjournment we went to 
call on Sister Kimmons, who has had the misfor- 
tune to lose her little daughter Bessie. It was a 
sad household, and only by our presence could 
we show our respect for the sorrow of our Sister. 
Words are so cold at such a time. The inclem- 
ency of the weather kept many from the funeral 
who would have attended, but a beautiful floral 
offering from our Division was a mute testimonial 
of our sympathy and regard for Sister Kimmons. 

Our first of the series of teas was quite a suc- 
cess. The attendance was not what we hope it to 
be in the future, but we had a very pleasant time 
Sister Arnold had provided tea towels for us to 
hem, and then they were disposed of at ten cents 
a chance, each person taking as many chances as 
she wished. Sister Hartel favored us with music 
while we were sewing. Brother Marsh had asked 
permission to attend with Sister Marsh, which 
was cheerfully granted. He carried off the hon- 
ors — also the tea towels. After doing ample jus- 
tice to Sister Arnold’s bountiful luncheon, we de- 
parted to our respective homes, well pleased, hav- 
ing spent a delightful afternoon and our treasury 
benefitted by one dollar and eighty cents. 

Sister Austin entertains us next month, and any 
of the brothers are invited to attend with their 
wives. Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. John B. French 
Corresponding Secretary Div. No. n 


Galesburg. 111 ., Jan. 22, 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The following officers-elect of Galesburg Di- 
vision No. 15, L. A. to O. R C.. were duly in- 
stalled on January 11, by Mrs. O. N- Marshall. 
G. V. P. , assisted by* Mrs. W. A BowliDg, act- 
ing as Deputy G. S. S. ; Mrs. W. N. Young. Presi- 
dent; Mrs. R. Strickler, Vice-President: Mrs. F. 
E. Bronson, Secretary and Treasurer; Mrs. R 
Swain, Senior Sister; Mrs. J. H. Weidenbanier. 
Junior Sister; Mrs. S V. G. Wilcoxen. Guard; Mrs. 
R. Strickler, Mrs. J. R. Zoll and Mrs. W.*A- 
Bowling, Executive Committee. Mrs O. N Mar- 
shall, Correspondent. 


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THE RAILWAY 

The new year opened up with a good attend- 
ance and there is every indication that Division 
No. 15 will have a prosperous future. The mem- 
bers are known locally for their charitable works, 
their latest being a work of love as well as duty. 

The readers of The Condpctor are familiar 
with the name of Brother E. H Belknap, who, 
in the mysterious ways of Providence, has been 
sadly afflicted since May, 1890, being suddenly 
deprived of all physical power as well as the ex- 
ercise of a keen intellect, and instead of beiap the 
first to respond to the plea of the unfortunate 
was himself obliged to become the recipient of 
that fraternal sympathy that had never appealed 
to him in vain. When the holidays were ap- 
proaching, the Sisters thought of him and his de- 
voted wife, and determined to aid "Santa” in giv- 
ing them something substantial. Our treasury be- 
ing at "ebb tide” from numerous calls, they de- 
cided to give an oyster supper. His old friends 
came forward with practical support and the re- 
sult was just as might have been anticipated; the 
supper was a success, and a generous sum was real- 
tied. Thus was another good act added to their 
credit. Our membership is steadily increasing, 
our meetings are well attended, and the Sisters 
ire enthusiastic in their interest in the organiza- 
tion. We are assured by our husbands that our 
influence has been beneficial to them in many 
As a consequence, we are very proud and 
•ill strive to merit their approbation in the 
future. With unity and harmony for our watch- 
words and earnest effort on the part of all to per- 
fect our division, we may hope eventually to be- 
come what our motto teaches, "Heart Sisters.” 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. O. N. Marshall. 


Newark, Ohio, Jan. n, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Having been duly chosen to serve Newark Di- 
vision as correspondent, I will commence the new 
year with a prompt performance of the pleasing 
duties of that position. The past year was a 
pleasant one to our Order in this portion of the 
world, and was not without its successes. Our 
growth has not been rapid but it has been sure, 
*od upon reviewing all that has been accom- 
plished we feel that Division No. 7 has abundant 
reason for gratification 

At the regular meeting, held Dec 28, last, the 
following officers were elected to serve during the 
ensuing year: Mrs. Geo. Taylor, President; Mrs. 
Geo. Busch, Vice-President; Mrs. J. H. Perry, 
Secretary and Treasurer. Our Sister, the Vice- 
President, was recently called upon to mourn the 
death of her husband, In her bereavement she 


CONDUCTOR. 95 

has the heartfelt sympathy of all members of the 
Order. Truly yours in T. F., 

E. B. 

Topeka, Kansas, Feb. 1, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

With pleasure I write you from Western Divis- 
ion No. 33. We have had three meetings since 
our annual election of officers for the ensuing 
year. The choice of the Division was as fol- 
lows: 

President, Mrs. Ettie Griffith; Vice President, 
Mrs. Jennie Dodd; Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. 
Belle Stockton; Senior Sister, Mrs. George W. 
Scott; Junior Sister, Mrs. Alice Furgeson; Guard, 
Mrs. Mary Shafer; Chairman of the Executive 
Committee, Mrs. Clara Woodard; Corresponding 
Secretary, Mrs. Emma Fleeker. 

Our Division is not very large, only twenty-five 
members, but we have pleasant times at all of our 
meetings, and every one is interested in the work. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. E. E. F. 


Oneonta, N. Y. f Feb 1, '94. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Perhaps the friends may not be averse, to learn- 
ing that Golden Rule Division No. 21, L. A. to 
O. R. C,, is not only active, but flourishing. We 
hold our meetings on the first and third Wednes- 
days of each month in I. O. O. F. Hall. They 
are well attended, and the interest displayed by 
each member is warrant for the promise of better 
things yet to come. During the meeting held 
January 3, last, we elected officers for the ensu- 
ing year, the following being chosen: President, 
Mrs. Baldwin; Vice-President, Mrs. Jones; Secre- 
tary and Treasurer, Mrs. Gurney; Senior Sister, 
Mrs. Gilmartin; Junion Sister, Mrs. Flannigan; 
Guard, Mrs. Hill; Chairman of Executive Com- 
mittee, Mr*. Moffett; Corresp:ndent, Mrs. 
Gloven. 

We installed our officers on the 15th of Jan- 
uary, and invited all the O. R. C. and their wives. 
After the installation ceremonies the installing 
officer called the President to the floor and, with 
a few pleasing remarks in behalf of the Order, 
presented her with a very handsome lamp. Rev. 
W. H. Wilson, pastor of the Baptist church, 
made a few remarks; also Chief Conductor Bed- 
ford and Secretary W. C. Gurney. Bro. Gur- 
ney s remarks were very short, as he had already 
got a glimpse of the supper which was then wait- 
ing in the dining room. All were invited to par- 
take of the spread, which proved not the least en- 
joyable feature of the entertainment. The rest 
of the evening was passed with music and social 
intercourse. Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. G., Correspondent. 


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Montreal, P. Q., Jan. 20, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

At our last regular meeting, held in Loma's 
Hall, Tuesday, December 12, the following officers 
were elected for the ensuing year: Bro. E. 
Mundy, Chief Conductor; Bro. A. Jones, Assistant 
Chief Conductor; Bro. John Gee, Senior Conduc- 
tor; Bro. S. Steen, Junior Conductor; Bro. J. B. 
Morin, Inside Sentinel; Bro. Jos. Charboncap, 
Outside Sentinel; Bro. P. Conners, Cipher Corre- 
spondent; Bro. H. McMillan, Secretary and 
Treasurer. 

After the election of officers the ladies (wives 
and daughters of the members), presented the 
Division with a beautiful banner and set of flags 
(emblems of our Order), accompanied by the en- 
closed address: 

E. Mundy , Esy., Representing the Order of 

Railway Conductors , Division 75. 

Dear Sir: — Will you and the officers and mem- 
bers of the Order you so ably represent kindly 
•excuse us for taking the liberty as we now do of 
approaching you and begging to offer a few words 
on this occasion. 

We feel you will agree with us that we have a 
right to do so. Our interests are closely and per- 
manently interwoven with your own in a manner 
that brings your lives and concerns nearer to us, 
and renders your success more dear to us than 
to any other persons, or class, or community. 

The members of your grand and self-sacrificing 
Order, all things else being properly considered, 
work and strive above all for their homes and 
firesides, their wives and children and those de- 
pending on them, and that we, their wives, should 
take the deepest interest in, and have the most 
responsive sympathy for your aims and objects, is 
but natural. 

None know better than we of the heavy re- 
sponsibilities of your calling and the incessant 
worry, trouble and care it daily imposes upon 
•you, while the numberless dangers which cannot 
be provided against with which you are sur- 
rounded in your work, are never absent from 
our minds. You lead lives of danger that the 
public may be served; the public may not reward 
you. but we are proud of you. We wish we 
could give expression to our sentiments in a man- 
ner that would more clearly express our true feel- 
ings of genuine respect and admiration; and we re- 
gret that we cannot offer to your praiseworthy 
Order some token of our esteem that is more suit- 
able to your merit . 


We ask you, however, to accept this banner 
from us to remind you that in spirit we are con- 
stantly with you, that your hopes, your fears, 
your successes and failures, are all ours, and that 
as we will always be pleased with your good for- 
tunes, we are as ready tb cheerfully share your 
reverses. 

Signed by the wives of members of Mt. Royal 
Division No. 75 

The presentation was a complete surprise, the 
ladies having kept their good work a secret until 
the time of the presentation. We wish to thank 
them through the columns of The Conductor 
for their beautiful present, and to assure them 
that if they will continue to take an interest in 
Division 75 it will surely prosper. 

Yours in P. F., 

H. McMillan, 

Secretary and Treasurer Division 75. 

Americus, Ga., Jan 23, 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

As correspondent of The Conductor. I ara re- 
quested by our division to send you a copy of the 
latest efforts of the poet of S. A. M. Division No 
284. We all regretted very much to lose Bro S 
R. Johnson from the ranks of our own division, but 
what is our loss is gained by Division 180, and 
we congratulate the members of the latter on 
adding a poet as well as a much-loved Brother to 
their ranks. 

The following are Bro. Johnson's lines: 

' 'To the officers and members of S. A. M Division 

O. R. C.: 

I request you a transfer to Atlanta Division to 
grant me, 

For my connection with the Sam road has ceased. 
And my salary very greatly decreased. 

Although I have lived with Sam three years. 

I have quit him to live with Sal. without tears. 

To be transferred to Division 180 is my request. 
As I believe, for me. this transfer is for the best 
Hoping that each of you may hold your position 
And not have to make this kind of requisition. 

I am, in P. F., very truly yours, Steve, 

Which I know you all truly believe." 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


97 


“To the officers and members of Division 180 

R. C . 

Atlanta, Georgia, December 31, 1893; 

1 have requested a transfer from 284. 

As I cannot be with them any more. 

I well know that black balls reject, 

And white balls in all cases elect; 

So I hope that each one may see proper 
A white ball to take and in the hole drop er." 

Since writing these lines Bro. Johnson has 
located at Waldo, Fla., on the F. C. & P. There 
an several of the old "Sam” boys who have gone 
down there after getting bounced from the ' 'Sam. " 

Onr division is in a prosperous condition, not- 
withstanding the number of drawbacks it has had 
daring the past twelve months. The large num- 
ber of unemployed ra k .Toad men in the country 
has induced some of our members to seek other 
avocations. 

We are expecting a visit from the Assistant 
Grand Chief Conductor, and will endeavor to 
make his visit as pleasant as possible. We 
mil feast him on a bill of fare similar to that 
of Bro. Sam Stewart in the January Conductor, 

Wishing the Conductor and Grand Officers a 
prosperous and happy year, I am, Yours in P. F., 

L. L. C. 


Youngstown, O., Jan. 23. 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 


O. man, J. W. Hoover and Jas. C. Morris. The 
* committees for the other Toads were held over 
from last year. Brother J. T. McGonnell was 
elected chairman of the General Grievance Coni' 
mittee over the entire system of the N. Y., P. & 
O. R. R. This is the fourth time he has been 
chosen to this position, which is a demonstration, 
that he is the right man in the right place. 

Now as the, year 1893 has past, how mmy of us 
&an look back and say we have done our duty to. 
our noble order? How many can say with a clear 
conscience that they have not let a single 
chance pass where they could have done good? 
Do we do our duty when we stay at home on 
meeting day just because we do not feel like going 
to the division hall? Your answer must be no, 
and by that answer, taught from experience, you 
condemn yourselves. How often do you say, "I 
will not go to meeting to-day; I am no officer; the 
officers will all be there, and they can get along 
without me.”? That is where you make your mis- 
take, Brothers; you lose all interest. The officers 
want and expect your support, and cannot have 
good and profitable meetings without your attend- 
ance, and by your absence you throw the re- 
sponsibility for the success of the division on the 
few who are faithful to the Order and are willing 
to fulfill the duties we all obligate ourselves to per- 
form. Let us, then, grasp hands and make the 
coming year the most successful one in the history 
of our organization. 


Another year has come and gone and Youngs- 
town Division still stands like a stone wall. Stone 
upon stone has been added, until to-day it is one 
of the banner divisions of the state, where the un- 
protected are coding, one by one. to receive pro- 
tection and fraternal friendship. No more shall 
tbey face the cold world alone and friendless. 
We work with patience and have some staying 
qualities, and if there are obstacles in our way we 
either remove or surmount them. If things do 
not satisfy us or disappointments come, we bear 
them cheerfully, and in time success crowns our 
efforts. 

1 , having been appointed correspondent for The 
Conductor from Youngstown Division No. 270 
for the year 1894, will make my bow by sending 
yon the list of officers elected at our regular meet- 
ing, Dec. 10, which is as follows; Jas. C. Morris, 
C C ; F J. Phelps. A. C.; V. C. McFarlin, S. & 
T.; Bert Simpson, S. C.; J. W. Hoover, J. C ; E. 
F. Madden, I. S.; A. D. Kerr, O. S.; Geo. Hap- 
per. Cipher Correspondent; Jas. C. Morris, Jour- 
nal Correspondent. Division Trustees Jas. 
C. Morris, George Happer and Wm. Mc- 
Coy, local grievance committee for N. Y., 
P- A 0 . R. R.. J. T. McGonnell, Chair- 


Business in this district has been and is very 
dull. There have been quite a number of crews 
taken off, which puts some of our Brothers back 
braking. 

Brother A. D. Kerr is suffering from an acci- 
dent. resulting in the loss of part of his thumb. 
He was pulling a pin and had his thumb caught 
by the draw-head. Brother Hile McMahon had 
one of his hands injured by being caught in the 
same manner as Brother Kerr. Both are improv- 
ing as rapidly as can be expected. Brother Dan 
Connell, who has been seriously ill since July 
last, was taken on Nov. 3, 1893, to the St. Vin- 
cent Hospital at Cleveland, Ohio, where he had 
an operation performed soon after. He has been 
so much improved by the operation that he was 
brought home during the present month. Divi- 
sion No. 270 will give a ball for his benefit Friday 
evening. Feb. 16. We will be glad to have all at- 
tend who can, as affliction has fallen 
heavily upon a most industrious and de- 
serving Brother, whose heart and hand 
always responded to the calls for char- 
ity. Brother Chas. Swap, with his wife, has 
gone to Jacksonville, Fla., for the benefit of Mrs. 
Swap’s health. Brother J. K. Orr, who was 

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Q8 the railway conductor. 


elected sheriff of Mahoning county last fall, and 
Brother Wm. McCoy, who was elected county re- 
corder the same time, are still doing business at 
the court house. Brother Mike McCarty has 
moved his family from Youngstown to Pittsburg, 
his lay-over being at that end of the road. Brother 
•S. M. Watt has charge of the Lake Shore yard 
during the absence of Brother Swap. 

Yours in P. F.. 

J. C. Morris. 

C. C. Div. No. 270. 

■ ■ ■ ♦ - ■ 

Denison, Texas, Jan. 22, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

It has been but a few days since my return 
from a visit to Florida and I am now prepared to 
make up for my failure as correspondent for The 
•Conductor during that absence. In fact, the 
members of Lone Star Division have not failed 
to remind me of this duty unperformed, and have 
pulled me over the coals most vigorously there- 
for. Under the present conditions I can fully 
sympathize with the editor, especially when he is 
called upon to turn out editorial that is bright 
and pointed and finds his mind entirely unfur- 
nished and his thoughts refuse to scintillate. 
There may be pleasures connected with other edi- 
torial duties, such as the preparation of illegible 
manuscript, correcting poor spelling, etc., but 
these must remain forever unknown to the un- 
initiated. 

I cannot but feel encouraged when I see that 
the Brothers of my division have appreciated my 
efforts, although they were poor, and still more 
encouraged when I find that Brothers of other 
divisions have noticed them. Now, don't you 
know, I feel an inch or two taller, Brother Edi- 
tor, since a Brother from Louisville wrote a letter 
to my division secretary for the purpose of secur- 
ing my address and to solicit my correspondence. 
I won’t tell them how I reached so much perfec- 
tion, but I do want to make a confession, and you 
know the Bible — I hope you do — says au open 
confession is good for the soul. Before confess- 
ing, I desire to say that I will never be guilty 
of such a thing again, because I have been so 
much pleased with the interesting matter in The 
Conductor, that I have spent this whole after- 
noon in reading the articles from the Brothers of 
Division No. 175 and from Wilkes Barre No. 
160 and Divisions 49 and 40, and Brother M. N. 
Goss from St. Paul, and Sam Stewart; (I like 
Sam, that is my name); W. M. Duel, 
and "Brick” — why did you not finish 
your name, my Brother, by adding the "Bat” ? — 
and “Rambler" — you are a good one also, Broth- 
er, do some more — and “Short Lane.” We do 
not care whether the “Lane" is short or long if it 


has no turn in it. Now to confess , I have never 
completely read The Conductor before. I 
promise myself and wife and my brother corres- 
pondents never to be guilty .of such carelessness 
again, because I have been much pleased and enter- 
tained, and I like The Conductor better than 1 
could have imagined. Brothers, the ladies of tht 
L. A. to O. R. C. are coming to the front. W* 
will have to spread ourselves, or they will take 
' the palm, and my wife says they have already 
done it. But you know they always stick mighty 
close to each other. When they are admitted to 
the polls, my wife says she will vote. • 'and don't 
you forget it." If all the brothers who read Ths 
Conductor will read every contribution, I will 
guarantee they will find a new interest in it 
Now as every member will get a copy of The 
Conductor for the coming year free, let us take 
the advice of our editor and secure at least one 
paying subscriber and send it in, and help the 
cause along 

Now I have come to the real object of this let 
,ter, but I will have to be brief, as I have already 
taken too much space. 1 am glad that my broth- 
er correspondents contributed such good letters 
on the subject of arbitration. I am more than 
ever convinced that railway officials are ready to 
adopt the system of arbitration. When Division 
53 put our good Brothers, A. L. Dain, W. H Tobin 
and T. A. Murphy, with Bros J Finley. J Do- 
lan. W. C. Miller, to the front, and sent them oc 
a mission of arbitration to the officials, they met 
with great kindness and were more successful 
than they had ever hoped. Brothers who kd 
been discharged were returned to work, and 
Brothers that were suspended ware sent out ou 
their runs and allowed pay for the time sus- 
pended. At the same time many of the obnox 
ious features of seniority were done away with 
We appreciate the kindness and gentlemanly way 
in which the railway officials of the M. K. A T 
met and treated our Brothers of the committee 
named above, and much good is sure to follow 
this action. May God bless our noble Order. 

Respectfully yours in P. F., 

S. P. 


Cleveland, Ohio. Jan. 28. 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

It was with much pleasure that I read Bro. Se 
bring’s communication in the January Conduc* 
tor. His views and mine are the same on the 
subject of a closer relation among the laboring 
men in general, and the conductors in particular 
We are well aware that the railway officials are 
associated together for the protection of (as they 
say) the companies they represent. If it is right 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


and just for them to form such associations for 
protection, why have not we the same, yes and a 
better, right to combine for protection (not of the 
Vanderbilts and Goulds), bat of those loved ones 
God has given as to cherish and protect. The 
question that should be brought before every di- 
vision of the Order is how this can be brought 
about. The only solution to the question, that I 
can see. is through federation. A national feder- 
tion of all orders in the train service, if we can 
get it, and if we cannot have national, give us 
system federation. I have been an advocate of 
federation for a long time. A canvass of this 
section shows all the orders to be thoroughly in 
favor of it, with one exception. The engineers 
hold aloof, but the reason why is a mystery to 
many of us. They nor any of us can not expect 
to win single handed, but if we combine our 
forces and stick to the teachings of true manhood 
we are bound to win. as was done on the Lehigh 
Valley. But there is one thing the conductors 
must do before they can enter successfully into 
any federation with the other orders, and that is 
this they must do away with all bitter feeling 
among themselves. The factional feelings that now 
exist in some of our divisions should be eradi- 
cated root and branch, and no man who is eligi- 
ble should be kept out of the Order simply be- 
cause his religion or political views do not har- 
monize with those of others. Brothers! stop and 
think just a moment. He may be right and we 
vrong Our forefathers fought that we might 
enjoy equal rights in this country, and I believe 
m every one enjoying those rights. Politics or 
religion should never be brought into a labor 
organizations, for they form the rock on which 
many a good craft has been wrecked. Therefore 
let us pilot our noble craft (the O. R. C.) clear 
of it. Let every Brother practice what he 
preaches, and advocate federation at all times 
and places, and 1 think at the end of '94 we will 
find ourselves far better off than we are at the 
present time. Bro, Sebring says let us inscribe 
victory on our banner. I would offer as an 
amendment: “Victory and protection through 
federation first, last and forever.” 

Yours in P. F., 
Brick. 

Covingj-on, Ky., Feb. i, 1894. 
Editor Raitiuay Conductor : 

Like the small boy who fears that he will not 
be observed otherwise, we have decided to step in 
and say something, just to attract attention and 
to let you know that we are alive and desire to 
be heard. 


99 

A few days ago we received a letter from Bro. 
Clark advising us that Bro. Wilkins was coming 
our way, and requesting that Divisions No. 107 
and No. 322 arrange a meeting for him. This 
was done and the two Divisions received Bro. 
Wilkins in the hall of No. 107 on the afternoon 
of Jan. 23, The attendance was not as large as 
we expected, but those who were present felt that 
it was good to be there, for Bro. Wilkins was 
loaded with a heavy cargo of good advice, which 
be proceeded to deliver as soon as the Division 
was open. His remarks in regard to caboose 
talk were particularly to the point. He illus- 
trated how some members, instead of attending 
Division meetings, would entertain their friends, 
a majority of whom perhaps, were not members 
of the Order, in the caboose, with a recital of 
their grievances and of what the Grievance Com- 
mittee or the Order in general ought to do or 
ought not to do. He said that he “liked a good 
‘kicker,’ but wanted him to kick in the right 
place, and the right place to kick was in the 
Division.” 

Now this leads me to remark on the large 
amount of “kicking” and growling that is contin- 
ually being done by a few of our members in re- 
gard to the work of the Grand Division They 
are free to say what the Grand Division ought to 
do, but suggest no means by which it can be 
done. This suggests to my mind that, since The 
Conductor is in the hands of every member of 
the Order, it would be for the “good of the Or- 
der” if any Brother has “anything to offer” by 
way of suggestion in regard to changes in our 
Constitution and Statutes, that he may think 
would be beneficial, that he offer it through the 
columns of our magazine, thereby letting his 
light shine that all may be benefited, and not 
hiding it under a “bushel” or “caboose.” 

One of the most prolific causes of complaint is 
the expense account of the Grand Division. This 
has induced me to canvass the question thorough- 
ly of reducing the expenses of the Grand Divis- 
ion. Under the present plan of organization and 
representation it cannot be done. Perhaps it can 
not be done under any other plan, but we have 
one in mind which, while it would slightly in- 
crease the expense account of the Grand Division, 
would very materially relieve the subordinate 
Divisions and save to them a large amount of 
money and at the same time make the Grand 
Division what it should be, a representative body. 

As we have already takea up too much space, 
we will say, “to be continued in our next,” and 
close. M. O. Fblkner, 

Sec’y Div. 322. 


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Special culture is the gymnastic of the mind, 
but liberal culture is its healthy exercise in the 
open air. Train your mental muscles faithfully 
for the particular service to which you intend to 
devote them in the great workshop of active life, 
but don’t forget to take your “constitutional” 
among the classics— no matter in what language. 
That is the kind of atmosphere to oxygenate the 
blood and keep the brain wholesome . — James 
Russell Lozuelly in the February Century. 

What a satisfaction it is to see a generous, 
whole-souled wood pile! It gives one a better 
opinion of the world, and brings up a rich flood 
of memories and associations. One has no need 
to be told that the owner is the father of half a 
dozen boys and girls, and that the neighbors like 
to gather under his roof during the long winter 
evenings, when the snow and wind outside but 
emphasize the warmth and cheer within. What 
an open, large-hearted hospitality such profusion 
of wood suggests! It never occurs to one that the 
owner may be niggardly or churlish. Such a pile 
of wood can only belong to a man whose heart is 
large enough to take in the whole neighborhood 
— Frank //. Sweet in February Donahoe' s 

In the van of the strong and attractive table of 
contents of the North American Rei>iew for Feb- 
ruary is an article of unique interest, entitled 
“My American Experiences,” by the President of 
the Swiss Republic, M. Emil Frey, who relates 
many reminiscences ©f his early life in this coun- 
try, of his experiences during the war, and of bis 
subsequent diplomatic career in Washington as 
first Swiss minister to the United States. The 
literary feature of the number is furnished by 
Margaret Deland, whose article is entitled *‘A 
Menace to Literature." Two articles of special 
interest are bracketed together under the caption 
of “Needed Municipal Reforms." The first, by 
the Rev. Dr. Parkhurst, deals with “Our Present 
Opportunity;" and the second, by John W. Goff, 
is entitled “Juggling with the Ballot." “Are We 
a Plutocracy?" is a question which is answered 


by W. D. Howells, the famous novelist, in a 
striking article. These are followed by a long 
list of ably written articles, making the number 
one of unusual value. 

An article of unusual interest has resulted front 
an expedition on behalf of Scribner's Magazine, 
made by Joel Chandler Harris in company with 
a skillful artist, Daniel Smith, to the scene of 
“The Sea Island Hurricanes," off the coast of 
South Carolina. It was this strange region which 
was devastated by the great storms last autumn, 
which killed 2.000 people and left 30,000 home- 
less and suffering. Among them for the past few 
months Miss Clara Barton, with a staff of work- 
ers from the Red Cross Society, has been dispens- 
ing much needed relief. Mr. Harris viewed all 
the interesting features of this work, and his well- 
known conception of negro character has enabled 
him to present such a picture of the disaster, the 
suffering, and the work in progress as no other 
writer in the south could give. The illustrations 
present a realistic picture of the curious life on 
these islands. The article in this* number is de- 
voted largely to a description of “The Devasta- 
tion." Another article in the March number will 
describe “The Relief." 

The secret of the great success of The Cosmo- 
politan is not so hard to find if one looks carefub 
ly over the number for February. A story by 
Valdes, the famous Spanish novelist, the first 
from his pen to appear in any American maga- 
zine, is begun in this number. Arthur Sherburne 
Hardy’s story, “A Rejected Manuscript,” is 
charmingly illustrated by L. Marold, who, we 
believe, makes his first appearance in the maga- 
zines on this side of the water. A profusely illus- 
trated article on the designing and building of a 
war-ship appeals to the interest taken by all in 
the new navy, and a thrilling description of a na- 
val combat under the significant title, “The Melo- 
ban and the Pentheroy," describes, after the 
manner of the Battle of Dorking, a possible sea- 
fight, the outcome of which is watched by the en- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR, 


101 


tire naval world. “Gliding Flight" is an interest- 
ing contribution to the problem of aerial naviga- 
tion by one who has studied the flight of soaring 
birds in the East for twenty years. Elaine Good- 
ale, who married a member of thg Sioux nation, 
has some interesting information of Indian Wars 
and Warriors T. C. Crawford, the Washington 
correspondent, gives the first half of a startling 
story, under the title of “The Disappearance 
Syndicate." The poetry in this number by Sir 
Edwin Arnold, Graham R Tomson and William 
Young, is unusually good. The Departments, 
“In the World of Art and Letters" and the 
“Progress of Science” continue to have as con- 
tributors men famous in both continents. 

This proposed new national park lies in the 
State of Washington, in the very heart of that 
vast and sombre forest which, stretching north- 
ward from the Columbia river far into the soli- 
tudes of the British Possessions, muffles in a dark 
pall of verdure the whole long western slope of the 
Cascades Here the heavy rain-laden clouds, 
blown in from the Pacific, finding their eastern- 
ward flight barred by the mountain barricade, 
pour down upon the region an annual rainfall of 
fifty inches. It nurtures the giant growth of fir 
and cedar and spruce, the heavy festooning moss 
and the deep tangled undergrowth that makes of 
Quch of Western Washington a dense and some- 
times impassable jungle. It is for this reason that 
the wonders of the new park have so long escaped 
alike the incursion of tourist or descriptive artist, 
while the glories of more accessible regions have 
been heralded throughout Christendom. And it 
might still remain unknown and unnoticed were 
it not that from out this almost Cimmerian land 
rises the most superb and majestic mountain peak 
to be found on this continent, if not upon the 
round earth. For. while there are other peaks 
whose brows are cooled by yet higher altitudes, 
there are none which present such a rare* and 
wondrous union of symmetry and sublimity, of 
mystic color, perfection of graceful outline and 
gigantic and awe-inspiring shape as this soaring 
dome of snow, the Mt. Rainier of the maps, the 
Mt. Tacoma of popular usage and aboriginal tra- 
dition. — "Our A r czv National Wonderland in 
February Revieiu of Reviezus. 

The February Arena is another mammoth 
number of the great progressive Review. It con- 
tains 164 pages and is filled with able papers, 
covering a wide range of topics of special interest 
to wide awake thinkers and earnest reformers. 
The opening paper will interest all lovers of Rob- 
ert Browning's poetry, as well as persons who 
appreciate broad but profound religious thought. 


It is from the pen of Rev. M. J. Savage, and is 
entitled “Religious Thought in Browning's Poet- 
ry." A fine portrait of the poet forms the frontis- 
piece of this issue. “The Relation of the Land 
Question to Other Reforms,” by J. H. Bellangee, 
is a thoughtful paper in The Arena Series on the 
Land Question. A feature of this number is a 
profusely illustrated Symposium on “Rational 
Dress for Women,” by a number of eminent 
American women. The publishers announce that 
The Arena will henceforth be enlarged to 144 
pages instead of 128 as heretofore This will 
make it the largest monthly Review published. 

As to the comparative effect of the American 
climate on the different races of mankind, it is too 
early to form any very confident judgment. But 
this much is certain. White races are affected 
more than colored. Full-blooded negroes are 
found to be entirely exempt from some of the 
worst and most prevalent forms of nervous dis- 
ease. and even a slight trace of color seems to be 
a safeguard. The Anglo-Saxon Americans are 
the greatest sufferers from the national disease, 
and especially those in higher walks of life. Fe- 
males are more under the influence of this terri- 
ble scourge than males, and town dwellers than 
country folk. The prevalence of the more serious 
nervous diseases is shown to be in almost exact 
proportion to the congestion of population. — Me- 
Clu re ' s Magazine. 

The February number of the Midland Monthly 
was replete with illustrations, including a fine 
frontispiece portrait of Samuel ]. Kirkwood, and 
a picture of Mr and Mrs. Kirkwood, taken when 
the ex governor was 39, and never before made 
public. The second installment of “Beatrice," a 
Louisiana romance; a study of the life and char- 
acter of Iowa’s War Governor; stories of rare 
dramatic power and thrilling interest, by Eugene 
Schaffter and Major Byers; choice poems by Mrs. 
Addie B. Billington, Messrs. W. C. Kenyon, and 
Ellis Parker Butler; and a well written and hand- 
somely illustrated article on the State University 
of Iowa; with several pages of timely editorial 
matter These are the February Midland's 
chief attractions. 


Outing for February opens with a curious 
story. “Invisible Chains." by Louise D. Mitchell. 
Some excellent character sketching and the 
strange workings of abnormal emotions, verging 
on insanity, lend a peculiar interest to the tale. 
Other prominent features of a most readable num- 
ber are: “The Home of the Hulero,” “The Price 
of a Name,” “Hunting in Polar Regions," and 
• The Land of Josephine." 


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Google 




The Texas railroad commission reports a rail- 
road mileage of 9.088 miles in that state. 

# * * 

The Terre Haute & Indianapolis railroad has 
declared a semi-annual dividend of 3 per cent 

• # * 

The removal of the office of the general super- 
intendent of the Vandalia system from St. Louis 
to Terre Haute was recently announced. 

* * * 

The Minneapolis. St. Paul & Sault Ste Marie 
road has refused to pay some $23,948 95 of taxes 
said to be due the state of Wisconsin and suit 
will be commenced to forfeit its charter therefor. 

* « * 

The New York and Putnam Railroad Company 
has been incorporated with a capital of $6,500.- 
000. This is a reorganization of the New York 
and Northern Railroad Company, which was sold 
at foreclosure sale in December last 

* * * . 

The English locomotive, James Toleman, has 
been given several trial trips between Chicago and 
Milwaukee, but only succeeded in disappointing 
the experts who were expecting to find it superior 
to engines of American make. 

# * # 

After the usual legal delays Thomas C. Platt, 
of New York, and Maraden J. Perry, of Provi- 
dence, R. I , were appointed receivers for the 
New England road by Judge Wallace, the an- 
nouncement of this appointment being made Jan. 
23 - 

# * * 

The new Argentine Pacific Railway, from Bue- 
nos Ayres to the foot of the Andes, claims to have 
the longest reach of line without a curve in the 
world. The line in question is 211 miles without 
a curve, and has no cutting or embankment 
greater than two or three feet 


The Indianapolis. Decatur and Springfield is to 
be resold for the benefit of the first mortgage 
bondholders, an order to that effect having been 
issued by Judge Bartholomew at Indianapolis 
January 23 last. It was sold to the second mort- 
gage bondholders last May. but they have de- 
faulted on all save the first payment. 

* » # 

The Maine railroad commission report that of 
6,332,525 passengers carried in that state, last 
year, only one was killed and but ten were injured, 
seven of these but slightly. Of the employes six 
were killed and thirty-one injured. It is proba- 
ble that the peaceful avocation of farming was at- 
tended in the same state with a much greater 
number of casualties and fatalities than resnlted 
from the operation of the 1,400 miles of railway 
— Logans fort Journal. 

* » • 

It was reported on the 5th inst. that a contract 
had been closed between the Midland Terminal 
Company and Contractor Richard Clough for the 
quickest possible completion of the Midland Ter- 
minal to Cripple Creek as a broad gauge railway. 
The portion built as a narrow gauge will be 
changed to standard width. Five hundred addi- 
tional laborers will be employed at once, and the 
grading, including tunneling, will be completed 
within fifty days. 

* * * 

Articles of incorporation of the Eastern Ne- 
braska and Gulf Railway Company were filed in 
the office of the Secretary of State at Lincoln Neb. , 
on Jan. 30, last: The incorporators are A. W. 
Swanitz, of New York ; F. W. Kimball, of Aus- 
tin. Minn., and Nebraska and Sioux City, Iowa, 
capitalists The proposed line will start at Sioux 
City. Iowa, and proceed through Nebraska, Kan- 
sas, Indian Territory and Oklahoma, and through 
Texas to deepwater connection on the Gulf of 
Mexico. 


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The Central Hudson road has now a complete 
block system in operation from New York to 
Niagara Falls. 

V* 

Brother J. E. Cunningham has retired from rail- 
roading and gone into business at 125 St Antoine 
street, Windsor, Ont. 

* » 

» 

On January 26th last, Judge Ricks refused to 
issue an order restraining the receiver of the 
Clover Leaf from reducing the pay of his men 

*** 

Any Brother having a copy of The Conductor 
for March, 1892, that he does not care to save 
will confer a favor by sending it to this office. 

* * 

* 

Brother D. E. Hilgartner, of Division No. 292, 
would be pleased to learn the address of Frank 
Stevens, who, when last heard from, was running 
on the N. P. out of Missoula. Mont. 


Prof. T. S. Parvin is anxious to secure the first 
volume of The Conductor for the Masonic Li- 
brary in this city, and anyone who desires to dis- 
pose of his copy will do well to open up corres- 
pondence with him. 

V 

If C. A. Towse, or any one knowing his present 
address, will kindly communicate with his father, 
J. E. Towse, care of the Omaha freight office, 
Minneapolis, Minn., a great favor will be confer- 
red. 

v 

The uptown ticket offices of the New Monon 
and of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, at 
Indianapolis, have been consolidated and Brother 
I. D. Baldwin has been placed in charge. Con- 
gratulations are due on this well-deserved promo- 
tion . 

* * 

# 

H. S. and H. M. Dillard, of Meridian, Texas, 
desire to learn the whereabouts of one Stephen 
F Austin, at one time conductor on the “ Cotton 


Belt.” Mr. Austin's interests will be served by 

making known his whereabouts. 

* * 

* 

At the regular meeting of Palmetto Division No. 
208, held Jan. 20, last, an election was held to fill 
the vacancy caused by the death of Chief Con- 
ductor T. A. Sellers, resulting in the election of 
W. E. Zeigler as chief conductor and W. A. 
Burnham as assistant chief. 

* * 

* 

The members of Division No 131 join with 
the other railroad organizations of Little Rock in 
the giving of a midwinter ball. It was a decided 
success in every particular, and will long be held 
in pleasant memory by all who were so fortunate 
as to be present. 

V 

Division No. 430 closed the old year with a 
public installation of officers, including a most 
enjoyable programme for the entertainment of 
their friends. A feature of the occasion was the 
presentation of a splendid diamond ring to Col. 
W. A. Love, train master on the Chattanooga 
Division of the Central, showing most forcibly 
the high regard in which he is held by the men 
in his employ. 

» # 

* 

R. M. Higgs, one of the best known and most 
popular of the Texas & Pacific conductors, has 
been obliged to quit train work for a time on ac- 
count of his health. In order to keep busy he has 
opened an English kitchen and cafe at 1610 Main 
street, Ft. Worth, Texas, and it will doubtless 
soon become one of the most popular resorts, 
especially for railroad men, in that part of the 
country. 

*#* 

In a letter recently received from Mrs. T. B. 
Broderick, of Eagle Grove, she acknowledges the 
receipt of the amount of her husband’s policy in 
the Mutual Benefit Department, and returns her 
heartfelt thanks, not only for the payment, but 
for the many kindnesses extended herself and 


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104 THE railway conductor. 


family by members of the Order during her hus- 
band's illness and after his death . 

* * 

* 

We invite the attention of our readers to the 
advertisement of Geo. R. Fuller, manufacturer 
of artificial limbs, which appears in this issue. 
Mr. Fuller is a reliable and thorough workman, 
and we have no doubt his work will prove satis- 
factory . 

*** 

The editor wishes to acknowledge the receipt of 
invitations to attend parties given by Slater Divis- 
ion No. 212; Horton Division No. 226; Keystone 
State Division No. 32; Needles Division No. 282; 
and of Duluth Division No. 336. Press of busi- 
ness has made the acceptance of any of these 
invitations impossible, though he would have 
been glad to , attend them all, had circumstances 
permitted. 

* « 

« 

Congratulations are due Brother H. J. Stanley 
of Division No. 244 upon his recent promotion to 
the position of Train Master for the western 
division of the A. T. & S. F. Brother E. A. 
Beatty, of Division No. n has also been advanced 
to the position of Assistant Superintendent on the 
Colorado Midland division of the same road. In 
each instance the promotion was deserved, and it 
will be found to be but a* step in the advancement 
awaiting these able and faithful workers. 

*** 

Last August the wages of the employes of the 
East Tennessee. Virginia and Georgia railroad 
including the trainmen and shopmen, were re- 
duced ten per cent. General Manager Hudson 
promised to restore their wages to the original 
scale whenever the business of the road would 
justify such restoration. True to his promise he 
announced yesterday that, beginning February 1, 
wages were restored to the old scale. — /.ogans- 
port Journal. 

* * 

* 

Of the action of Conductor J. W. Atwood, at 
the time of the disastrous rear end collision near 
Linwood. Kansas, the Kansas City Times says . 
" Conductor Atwood and Brakeman Nichols were 
in the cupola of the caboose. The conductor 
was the first to see the approaching headlight of 
the train, and, realizing that a collision was inev- 
itable, at once rushed to the coach to notify the 
passengers He had plenty of time to save him- 
self by jumping, but, true to his duty, he gave up 
his life for those intrusted to his care. The brake- 
man saved himself by jumping.” 

# # 

# 

Of the many entertainments given by the dif- 


ferent divisions during the present season no one 
has been more completely successful than that of 
Toledo Division No. 26, on the evening of Jan. 19 
last A brief but excellent programme opened the 
evening and was followed by dancing, with other 
amusemebts interspersed. The ball was a com- 
plete success, both socially and financially; which 
was especially gratifying since it was given in the 
name of charity. Much credit is due the gentle- 
men who gave so generously of both time and 
talent to secure this success 

# * 

* 

On last Christmas the members of Division 
180 on the E. T. V. & G., assisted by the em- 
ployes in the roadway department, operators, 
engineers, brakemen and firemen, presented Bro 
M. J. Land with a handsome silver tea service, 
bearing the inscription "To M. J. Land, Chair- 
man General Grievance Committee, from the em 
ployes on the E. T. V. & G. system for his noble 
services in their behalf.” It was a testimonial of 
which any man might well feel proud, and will be 
none the less prized because so worthily won 

* » 

* 

The Baltimore & Ohio passenger conductors 
began (Jan. 1) to audit their own receipts. Last 
year this system was given a forty-days' trial, and 
as it worked to perfection a general order was 
issued the last of December to take effect the first 
of this year. The work will keep the boys bust 
ling. Each conductor is supplied with blanks 
which he is to fill out. He must enumerate the 
amount of cash fares, the number of single trip 
and round trip tickets, the number of school 
monthly and family tickets, and make out the 
total earnings of his train for each trip. — Pills 
burg Post 

# * 

* 

On Jan. 23, last, the following good news was 
announced by a telegram from Vinita, I. T 
"Officers located the train-robbing gang, with 
" Rob” Rogers as its captain, which has bad Its 
headquarters in this part of the country for 
months at the home of Rogers, on Big Creek, 
twenty miles from here, between three and four 
o’clock this morning, and pounced upon them 
while they were asleep in the house. "Rob” 
Rogers and " Dynamite Jack ” were captured un- 
hurt. "Dynamite's” brother, "Kiowa.” was 
killed, and Willis Brown was so severely wounded 
that his death is expected. None of the officers 
were hurt. This^ is presumed to be tbe band 
which successfully held up the Kansas and Ar- 
kansas Valley train at Seminole a short time ago 
and two days before made an unsuccessful 
attempt on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas train 
at Kelso.” 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


One of the most pleasant features of the past 
year's work with Bellevue Division No. 134 was 
the presentation of a beautiful altar cover by the 
ladies of Autumn Leaf Division No. 12, L. A. to 
O. R. C. The presentation was made by Presi- 
dent, Mrs. Jno. Myers, on behalf of the ladies, 
and Assistant Chief D. L. Gillespie accepted for 
the division. Resolutions were subsequently 
adopted formally accepting this elegant gift and 
endorsing the thanks and good feeling toward 
the Auxiliary expressed by the Assistant Chief. 
The members also took that opportunity "to ex- 
press their confidence in the Auxiliary and con- 
gratulate them on their successful accomplish- 
ments, and in due return most heartily endorse the 
Ladies Auxiliary as an important and necessary 
branch of the Order.” It was a most pleasant oc- 
casion in every feature and cannot fail to estab- 
lish the best of feeling between the members of the 
two divisions and thereby add greatly to the effi- 
ciency of their work together. 

V 

The London Daily Chronicle publishes a some- 
what remarkable story as an evidence that ex- 
treme speed on railways is rather conducive to 
safety than otherwise. The story is as follows : 

The Great Western Express, one of the fastest 
trains in the kingdom, came upon the trunk of a 
tree fifty feet long which had slid down from the 
•mbankment. A timid engine-driver, seeing such 
ifoimidable obstacle as a trunk five feet six inch- 
es in circumference before him, might have shut 
off steam and put on the brakes when a catastro- 
phe would have been inevitable. Fortunately 
they do not employ timid drivers on the Great 
Western, and the engine, at a speed of sixty miles 
an hour, cut clean through the trunk with no 
worse results -than a slight jolting to the passen- 
gers and some damage to the engine guards and 
steam pipe. 

In the days of Baron Munchausen — but the 
trunk may hive been hollow. Perhaps it was a 
Saratoga trunk . — Railway Age. 

v 

The first practical test of the hydraulic tunnel 
which has been under construction at Niagara Falls 
for the past three years, was made on the 25th of 
January. The test afforded a practical demonstra- 
tion of the new works, which have already cost 
nearly $4,000,000. The Niagara Falls Paper 
Mill, which is the first to get the benefit of the 
power, is the largest of its kind in the world. Its 
contract calls for 6.600 horse power, one-half of 
which is being used now. and the cost, including 
the lease of the land occupied by the mill, is $8 
per horse power per year, for twenty-four hours 
per day, the cheapest, it is said, ever obtained. 
The mill is now in full operation. The hydraulte tun- 
nel has a capacity of 120.000 horse power, The 


105 

formal opening of the general power house, where 
5,000 horse power turbines will operate 5,000 
horse power electric generators for the transmis- 
sion of power, will take place on June 1, and it is 
intended to give the event a celebration at 
which distinguished scientists, engineers, and 
state officials will be present . — Scientific Ameri- 
can. 

v 

The esteem in which “scabs” are held by 
powerful corporations was beautifully, illustrated 
in the tragic death of the unfortunate fellow who 
was burned up in the Fairview wreck. The re- 
mains were thrown into a box and were utterly 
ignored by the company. They were kept 
a week before the township authorities were 
moved by compassion and buried them. The 
company he had sacrificed his life to help ig- 
nored his remains; the people ignored them be- 
cause they were once animated with obnoxious 
principles; the authorities spurned them because 
of the expense of interment, and nobody had the 
least respect for them which were once imbued 
with attractive manhood. This poor fellow was 
once a mother s joy, a father’s idol. When for- 
tune smiled on him his friends were numerous, 
but when the tempter approached and he fell, he 
was forsaken by all. He became a thief; and 
yet, while he forfeited the esteem of his em 
ployer, he still hid friends. He became a drunk- 
ard; yet he had someone to recognize him. He 
became a consort of fallen women, yet even they 
pitied him; but when he became a "scab,” 
through circumstances which he could not con- 
trol, everybody despised him in life — loathed his 
charred remains in death . — Elmira Telegram 
* 

* * 

New Time Book. — Our advertisers — The Far- 
rand & Votey Organ Co of Detroit, Mich., advise 
us they have just issued the new edition of their 
"daily memorandum calendar” for ’94. It makes 
an excellent time book for railroad men, and will 
be sent to any address upon receipt of ten cents. 
It is claimed to be the best of its kind published, 
and is indispensable to the laboring element. 
This company has been awarded the gold medal 
and highest award at the Columbian Exposition, 
and for those contemplating purchasing organs, 
we would urge that they correspond with Farrand 
& Votey^nd get their prices. 

* * 

* 

The receivers of the Northern Pacific have 
recommended that the request of the Yellowstone 
Park Association, asking for the adoption of the 
contract made with the road in 1889, be granted 
The road is making nearly $70,000 a year out of 
the contract vith the park association. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


106 


ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OF AMERICA 


MUTUAL BENEFIT DEPARTMENT. 


Cedar Rapids, Iowa, February i; Expires March 31, 1894. j 

Assessment No. 276 is for death of. J. E. Reed, Dec. 15. 


BENEFITS PAID DURING JANUARY. 


Bep. 

No. 

Ass’t 

No. 

AMT. 

FOR 

OF 

CAUSE. 

CERT. NO. 

DIV. f 
| 

622 

272 

$3 000 

Death 

Wm. Kerwan 

Typhoid Fever 

C1201 

176 j 

623 

272 

3,000 

Death 

W. T. Cherry 

Hemorrhage 

C5085 

38 

624 

272 

' 3,000 

Death 

T. B. Broderick 

Kidney Disease 

C1784 

164 

625 

273 

1,000 

Dis. 

M. F. Lynch 

Loss of Arm 

A1192 

205 j 

626 

273 

3 000 

Death 

Wm. Thompson 

Accident 

C4081 

M 5 • 

627 

273 

3.000 

Death 

Jno Shultz 

Phthisis 

C3244 

M 3 ' 

628 

272 

3 000 

Death 

A. G Tunison 

Cirrhosis 

C3928 


629 

271 

1,000 

Death 

A. G. Herrick 

Accident 

A585 

37 

630 

274 

3,000 

Death 

J. I. Demarest 

Nephitis 

C3793 

104 

631 

274 

2,000 

Death 

A. L. Martin 

Pneumonia 

B407 

3 

632 

274 

2,000 

Death 

W. A. Sigal 

Accident 

B983 

3M 

633 

274 

3,000 

Death 

Geo. Hitesman 

Consumption 

C3558 

181 ’ 

634 

274 

1,000 

Death 

B. E. Cunningham 

Accident 

A379 

301 

635 

273 

1,000 

Death 

Wm. Alsip 

Accident 

A4275 

165 

636 

273 

1. 000 

Death 

D. M. Carr 

Congestion 

A2708 

302 

637 

273 

3,000 

Death 

S Oaks. 

Paraphlegia 

C3429 

119 


NUMBER OF MEMBERS ASSESSED. 

Sefies A, 4,354; Series B. 2,533; Series C, 4,935; Series D, 369; Series E. 96 Amount of as- 
sessment No. 276. $26,181. Total number of members 12,544. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT 


Received on Mortuary Assessments to December 31, 1893 $1,431,876.50 

Received on Expense Assessments to December 31, 1893 25.99500 

Received on Applications, etc., to December 31, 1893 25,155.00 


$1,483.026. 50 
$1,420,376.00 
56,519.42 
6,131 08 

$1,483,026.50 


Total amount of benefits paid to December 31, 1893 
Total amount of expenses paid to December 31, 1893 
Insurance cash on hand December 31, 1893 


EXPENSES PAID DURING DECEMBER. 

Postage. $120; Incidental, 35c; Salaries, $374.19; Fees returned, $10; Stationery and Print- 
ing. $176.50; Legal $75. Total, $756.04. 

The above amounts were paid out during the month but items of postage, printing, legal, etc. . 
often cover supplies and work for more than one month, and sometimes several months. 


Received on Assessment No. 272 to January 20 $23,698.00 

Received on Assessment No. 273 to January 20 12,011.20 

Received on Assessment No. 274 to January 20 11.736.00 

Received on Assessment No. 275 to January 20 2,242.00 


WM. P. DANIELS, Secretary. 


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IMtfgtrato. 

In the recent death of Bro. James Fitzgerald 
Duluth Division No. 336 has lost one of the 
brightest and most promising of its younger 
members. Deceased was a warm supporter of 
the Order and a faithful worker in the cause 


and Conner gave the following account of the 
accident causing his death : “Conductor T. A. 
Sellers died at his residence in Elizabeth 
street last evening at 8 o’clock. Last Monday 
Capt. Sellers, who was in charge of a Charles- 
ton and Savannah Railway train, got his arm 


it advocates. His manly qualities of mind and 


badly mashed while 'coupling two cars at 


person and his companionable nature made Hardeeville. Though his injuries were se- 


lj 1 I him a general favorite and made his death an 

q I unusually grievous burden. At the last meet- 



ing of the Division resolutions were passed 
condoling with the family in their great grief 

goiyce. 

Bro Jerome C. Boyce, of Palmetto Division 
No. 208, was killed while coupling cars at the 
depot in St. Augustine, Fla., Jan. 5 last. At 
the time of his death Bro. Boyce was in the 
emplov of the Jacksonville. St. Augustine & 
Indian River Railroad and was one of its most 
trusted employes. He was about 37 years of 
age and left a widow in Savannah and an aged 
mother living in Charleston. To both of these 
bereaved ones will go out the sincere sympa- 
thy of the entire Order. The funeral was 
held iu Charleston and was largely attended. 
Bro. Boyce was not a member of the Mutual 
Beneht Department. 

Uletclfer. 

Bro. James Fletcher, Past Chief Conductor 
of Division 278, has been bereft by the death 
of his son, Edgar L., aged 22 years. Resolu- 
tions expressing the sympathy of his Division 
were passed at a subsequent meeting. 

At a recent meeting of Friendly Hand Divis* 
ion No. 125 resolutions were passed express- 
ing the sorrow of the members at the death of 
their Brother, J. K. Webb, and their deep 
sympathy with the afflicted family. Some- 
thing of the esteem in which Bro. Webb was 
held by the community at large is shown by 
the following tribute from The Andrews ''ig 
not : “No death has occurred in this city for 
years that seemed to touch the universal heart 
so deeply and create so profound a feeling of 
sorrow as did the sudden and shocking taking 
off of Brother Webb." 

^relieve. 

Palmetto Division No. 208 has suffered a 
grievous loss in the death of Chief Cop- 
ductor T. A. Sellers. The Charleston AVr vs 


vere, he refused to leave his position and car- 
ried his train into its destination. He caught 
cold in his wounded arm and has been grow- 
ing steadily worse ever since. At last it be- 
came necessary to amputate the member. 
This was doue, but Capt. Sellers’ life was not 
saved. He died last night of blood poisoning. 
Conductor Sellers was born at Yemassee, 
Hampton county, on the nth of October, 1855, 
and was consequently 38 years of age. He had 
been connected with the Charleston and Sa- 
vannah Road for sixteen years. He served the 
company well in many capacities and finally 
rose to be a conductor. He was a member of 
the Order of Railway Conductors and had just 
been elected Chief of Palmetto Division of the 
Order in this city. He leaves a wife and sev- 
eral small children, who were dependent upon 
him for their support. Conductor Sellers was 
a man who was highly respected and fully 
trusted by his employers, he was extremely 
popular among his fellow railroad men, and 
he had a large circle of friends and the es- 
teem of all who knew him." 

At the regular meeting of Division 344, held 
Jan. 22, 1894, the following resolution was 
unanimously adopted: "That the Division ten- 
der its heartfelt sympathy to Bro. R. Benson 
and wife in their sad bereavement in the 
death, on Jan. 13, of their youngest daughter." 

CUlUj. 

On the 10th of January last the home of Bro. 

L. O. Kelly, of Division No. 103, was made 
desolate by the death of his daughter. Lizzie 
May, aged 10 years. Little Lizzie was an un- 
usually blight and winning child, beloved 
wherever known, and her death brought a per- 
sonal sot row' to many friends outside the fam- 
ily circle. At a subsequent meeting of the 
Division resolutions were adopted expressing 
the sympathy of the members with the be- 
reaved father and mother in their great loss 

gfrtujvc. 

Bro. M. L. Sat re, of Des Moines Division 

J 

1 


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OBITUARY 


No. 38, died at his old home in Hutchinson, 
Minn.. Jan. 1 last. Bro. Sayre had been a 
member of the Order about nine years and was 
among the first in the performance of the re- 
sponsibilities thus undertaken. He had been 
in the employ of the Des M. & K. C. Company 
more than 11 years and was regarded as one of 
its most efficient and reliable men. For some 
ears before his retirement from active service 
e suffered from consumption and finally fell 
a victim to the ravages of this insidiousdis- 
ease despite everv aid the best medical minds 
could suggest. The funeral was held in Osce- 
ola, Iowa, and .was attended by friends from 
all portions of the state and by many of the 
members of his Division. Resolutions ex- 
pressing the sympathy of the Brothers of 
Division 38 with the sorrowing wife, mother, 
brothers and sisters, were adopted at the 
meeting on Jan. 28. 

4ku*iic«. 

Bro. Jno. Q. Justice, of Indianapolis Divis- 
ion No. 103. has been bereft by the death of 
his loving and devoted wife. At a meeting of 
the Division held on the 4th irtst. resolutions 
expressive of the sympathy of the members 
were adopted. 

gently. 

At the regular meeting of Division No. 103, 
held Feb. 4, resolutions were adopted express 
ing the sincere sympathy of the members with 
Bro. 1 . M. Heath, in the loss of Ins beloved 
wife. 

$glc£Uluetj. 

Brother Thos. P. McKelvey, of Allegheny 
City Division No. 314, while coming into Lee- 
tonia. Ohio, on the night of Jan. 9, fell be- 
tween the cars of his train and leceiveyl in- 
juries from which he died within two hours. 
He was buried at Leetonia, the home of his 
boyhood, and a large concourse of friends at- 
tended the funeral, thus paying the last trib- 
ute of respect to the memory of their departed 
friend. In Brother McKelvey the Older loses 
one of its moi-t valued members, who will be 
mourned by all. The sincere sympathy of the 
Division was extended to the sorrowing rela- 
tives. 

yrintf. 

Bro. Win. H. Printz, of Sunbury Division 
No. 187. was killed at Alensgrove, Pa., Jan. 
10 last, while in the discharge of his duty. 
By this death the Order loses a faithful and 
zealous member, the Brothers a true and tried 
friend and the road one of its most valued em- 
ployes. The sympathy of all the Brothers 
will go out to tlie sorrowing family in their 
hour of deep bereavement. The funeral was 
attended by a great number of friends from a 
distance, a special train being provided by 
Supt. Reed for their accommodation. 

fiFattglymt. 

At the last regular meeting of Lincoln Divis- 
ion No. 201, resolutions were adopted express- 
ive u f the sorrow of the members over the 
death of S B. N. Vaughan, the beloved father 
of M. L. Vaughan, district operator of the 
Wabash railroad, and a warm friend of our 
Order, and extending their sympathy to the 
members of the family in their heavy bereave- 


^orjlau. 

At Wilmington, Del., December 20, occur- 
red the death of Mrs. Mary E. Boylan, wife 
of Robert K. Boylan. Brother Roylan Js As- 
sistant Chief Conductor of Division 224. At 
a subsequent meeting of the division, resolu- 
tions were passed, expressive of the heartfelt 


sympathy of the division for their Brother in 
his time of sorrow and affliction. 

(Galvin. 

On Friday. January 4. Bro. Geo. Galvin, ot 
Hollingsworth Division No. too, was called 
upon to mourn the death pf his beloved wife 
and the mother of his little girl, now in her 
fourth year. The^ entire order will join with 
the home division in sympathizing with Broth- 
er Galvin in his great loss. 

©attnen. 

Jesse L. Cannon, the Evanwille and Terre 
Haute brakeman who was injured in the col- 
lision between a passenger train and freight 
train at Vincennes, lnd., November 23d, died 
after several weeks of sufteiing. At the time 
of the collision Cannon was lying -asleep in 
the caboose of the freight train. The engine 
of the passenger train plowed into the caboose 
and Cannon was afterwards found by the 
trainmen on top the cab of the engine. He 
was cared for first at Vincennes and then sent 
to his home in Evansville. His injuries were 
not at first thought to be fatal, but it at lust 
became nece.-sary to perform an operation, 
which resulted in his death. The remains 
were taken to Madisonville. Ky., for burial. 
Mrs. Caunon and family, who are now living 
at Madisonville, have the sincere sympathy of 
the Order. 

l$lc$>onncU. 

The hall of Division No. 192 is draped In 
mourning in respect to the memory of Bro. 
Rory McDonnell, a highly esteemed member 
of our Order. The sympathy of the Division 
with the grief stricken family was expressed 
in resolutions adopted at a subsequent meet- 
ing. 

Ijttal sic. 

The members of Fisher’s Peak Division No 
247 most sincerely sympathize with Bro. E. S. 
Mabieand wife in the great sorrow that has 
come into their home through the death of a 
dearly loved child. Resolutions of condolence 
were adopted by the Division at a meeting 
held on Jan. 12 last. 

Ida B. r wife of Bro M. L Daly, of Bluff City 
Division No. 308, died at the home of her 
mother in Mt. Carmel, 111 ., Dec. 29 last. The 
members of his Division deeply sympathized 
with Bio. Daly in his great loss and gave ex- 
pression to that sympathy in resolutions f rtn- 
ally adopted at the next regular meeting 

For the fourth time the grim reaper. Death, 
has visited Division 160. his victim in this 
instance being Bro. Edward Joyce. Bro. 
Joyce was taken sick on Jan. 27 with pneu- 
monia, and although everything that medical 
skill and loving hands could do was duuo for 
him. it was all in vain. He grew rapidly 
worse:, and at it p. in. Jan. 31 passed nway, 
while around his bedside were gathered his 
parents and brothers an.J sisters. Bro. Joyce 
was Luried at 10 a. 111. Feb. 3 from St. Mary’* 
Catholic Church, membeis of Wyoming Val- 
ley Division tCo acting ns pall bearers and 
flower bearers. The funeral was attended by 
many members of B. of L. E., B. of L. F. and 
B. of R. T., and others who had worked with 
him during his time of service on the L. V 
R. R. Deceased was loved by all who knew 
him. and those who kuew him best loved h*tu 
most. Iu his death Wyoming Valley Division 
No. 160 has lost a true and worthy Brother, 
and his family an upright and loving son and 
brother. The members of the Division ex- 
tend to the family of their deceased Brother 
their piofounUest sympathy in this their great 
bereavement. 


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The Railway Conductor 


VOL. XI. CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, MARCH, 1894. NO. 3. 



CONTRIBUTED. 

BREAD’S BONDS. 


BY PRANK A. MYERS. 


CHAPTER V — AN ACT OF CONTRITION. 

A week had passed since the event recorded in 
the opening chapter of this true story, and the 
lime had arrived for a second secret meeting 
in the little dingy room at the top of the flight 
of rickety stairs. The poor oil lamp cast a sick- 
ly, flickering ray over the brave-hearted men as- 
sembled there, just as it did before. 

One by one the men furtively stole up the 
sbackly, creaking old stairway, in order to avert 
suspicion. Robinson and Wilmer were there in 
all their virile powers. 

The whole conduct of Sam Carey, from the 
very first meeting they held to the present mo- 
ment, was minutely and graphically recounted by 
Wilmer. There was not a little burst of con- 
tempt and indignation for him, when they heard 
that he had told the railroad company all about 
their secret meeting. They listened with disdain 
to the proposal of a confession from him on the 
ground of their forgiveness. For his part he was 
willing to receive him with open arms, if he came 
in a truly contrite spirit and appealed for mercy. 
Tillie was in his heart, a regnant queen over his 
words and moods. He would never misbehave 
by word or act toward her — never! 

"God made Carey out of the fragments left af- 
ter making the toads and snakes," exploded Rob- 
inson in his characteristic way. 

"The more reason, then, for us as sensible be- 


ings to overlook bis shortcomings and forgive 
him," returned Wilmer quickly and pointedly. 

' 'There's no credit to us as sensible beings in 
bargaining with a fool," replied Robinson. 

“Then still the more reason to forgive him," 
insisted Wilmer, with parity of reasoning. 

“A fool has no mind with which sensible men 
can deal," said Robinson, sarcastically. 

“Then the only thing to do is to forgive him,” 
repeated Wilmer, in a genuine spirit of honor. 

“Answer a fool according to his folly, and 
throw a biting dog a bone. I mean to say I agree 
with you, Wilmer." Robinson smiled good- 
humoredly and twisted bis moustache. 

At that moment the door opened. Everybody 
looked that way. In walked Sam Carey. He 
stood demurely just behind the door. The sur- 
prise that robbed every face of its smile cannot 
be conceived from the cold, still words on this 
page. Even the eyes of Robinson and Wilmer 
were a little larger. But if Mr. Wilmer reads 
this story he will not confess to the truth of the 
statement. Carey was the coolest man in the 
room. 

“Gentlemen," he began, in a very natural but 
a little strained tone of voice, while he rammed 
his hands a little deeper in his pockets and shifted 
repeatedly from foot to foot, “Gentlemen, I’m as 
black as I'm painted." These words fell upon a 
dead silence, like that in a deserted ice palace, 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


and the very echo of his own words struck his 
ears like the sound of soulless, clanging metal. 
Every eye was riveted on him. But he was 
brave. They had misestimated Sam Carey a lit- 
tle, and his first words, a brave confession, con- 
vinced them of that fact. “I’ve come/' he con- 
tinued, “to confess my sin, and ask your forgive- 
ness for it. You doubtless know what I have 
done. I've come to join you and fight for the 
right — the only way I know in the world how to 
remedy what I've done. Yes, I’ve told the rail- 
road officials on you, and I was a big fool for giv- 
ing away my friends. I watched for this meet- 
ing and laid my plans to come in here boldly this 
way and confess and ask your forgiveness. I did 
not knowhow you would receive me. and would 
not blame you if you threw me bodily out the 
window. I deserve it. But I was radically 
wrong. I've come to join you. I ask you to put 
my name down with yours as one of you now and 
on.” 

“Bravo!” shouted the manly Robinson. 

Wilmer ran to him and caught his hand in de- 
light, and led the penitent offender into the bet- 
ter light. 

“Here is an erring young man who has nobly 
confessed. The manner of his confession makes 
it sincere. I believe him, forgive, and accept 
him.” Wilmer was never more in earnest. 

Carey was voted in. This hearty reception re- 
assured him, and he felt easy. Then he sat down, 
on a box and William D. Robinson arose and 
said: 

“To err is human, to forgive divine. We Jake 
you. Mr. Carey, not on probation, but on con- 
fession, and receive you into full fellowship. We 
must stand together,” warming up a little, “and 
fight valiantly for our share of the profits of our 
toil. Sirs, the time is at hand when we must 
agitate for our rights. It must not be a warfare 
of arms and blood, but a contest of brains and 
brawn. We are defrauded boldly of our earned 
profits, because we submit like whipped curs. 
We are not down; we are not under; and time 
will show that zvc — zve laboring men — are the 
power of the earth, the brains that keep the 
wheels running. And must we submit as under- 
lings, as hirelings, as slaves, because the powers 
that be tell us to fall down before the god, 
money? Never! never ! never! Bread’s bonds 
are almighty, and the fight for a job a mean one, 
but we must never sacrifice our manhood, never 
surrender our divine rights, never bow the cring- 
ing knee that thrift may follow fawnidg, never 
yield to the effeminating whisper of promotion at 
the sacrifice of our fellows. God knows our toils 
are hard and our rewards insufficient, and if we 


would not be robbed always of our own we must 
contend for it. As for me, I intend to battle for 
the good of labor and the cause of justice as long 
as the sun shall give light to the eye, as long as 
the air shall give breath to breathe, as long as the 
blood shall course in my veins. Labor must be 
lifted out of its tbralldom into the sunlight upon 
the heights, must be freed from the nightmare 
that curses it, must be made manly and self-re- 
specting. Bread’s bonds must not be galling, 
they must be as light as the golden chain around 
the neck of the lover in Scott's Lady of the Lake 
Let us be a band of brothers, and let the univer- 
sal brotherhood of man be our high aim. Eter- 
nal vigilance is the price of liberty, and coopera- 
tion is the everlasting law of right. I am in this 
thing not for fun, but for justice. Men and 
brothers, we must save ourselves from ourselves, 
and unless we have the courage to demand bold- 
ly our own we deserve to lose it and be slaves— 
slaves to a horde of petty tyrants. I am an 
American king — we all are — and I propose to do 
a little reigning over myself in the future. God’i 
curse in the Garden of £den imposed the bonds 
of bread upon ns, but not the rule of money over 
us. LLet us be free!” 

This magnificent, clear-cut speech electrified 
every soul in the smutty little room, and every 
man clapped his hands in eloquent applause. 
Sam Carey leaped to hib feet and shouted, with- 
out control: 

“Amen!” 

Wilmer grabbed Carey and then went over ini 
run to Robinson, who had sat down, and almost 
shook his arm off at the shoulder, so enthusiastic 
was he. 

“An inspiration!" he gasped; “the best speech 
ever uttered, not even excepting Lincoln's at 
Gettysburg.” 

There was a general, old-fashioned Methodist 
love-feast in that little circle of devoted men for 
a short time, and it is quite possible that Robin- 
son's condensed, meaty little speech expressed 
the general cause of labor as well as has ever 
been done— before or since. It is one of those 
little gems that needs to be studied. Bot he did 
not think he had uttered anything very eloquent. 
He was so full of his subject that these hot words 
fell from his lips in a most natural way. 

Everybody shook hands and smiled in absolute 
gladness. They walked about among each other 
and shook hands half a dozen times. The speech 
made way for liberty. It was an indissoluble 
bond of union. 

Finally they resumed business, and settled in- 
to a suggestion of methods as to how they would 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


avert the impending crisis of Carey's imprudent 
disclosure to the railroad officials. 

Carey proposed to go to the company and tell 
them be had lied on these men, but they would 
not consent to that, because such a step would be 
useless and would do no good whatever. They 
did not feel able to cope as yet with the company 
in an open rupture and contest, and they finally 
decided to await developments and perhaps a 
remedy would suggest itself. They that hesitate 
are damned already. 

* 'I am for war, war to the hilt," said the im- 
pulsive Wilmer, striking his arm into the air. 

"It is bound to come; the war is inevitable," 
said one of the men. 

"If the company discharges us because of these 
meetings, it is simply the methods of the Inqui- 
sition operated upon labor," remarked Wilmer, 
hotly. 

"We've no fights they are bound to respect, 
that is all.** observed Robinson. 

•it means the curse of money-power for us to 
meet in our own interest." said Wilmer, in an 
angry hiss "Labor dare not lift its head but it 
is struck as if it were a hydra-headed monster. 
W*. dare not educate ourselves in our own behalf, 
or we are incarnate devils. Our bread is taken 
from our mouths if we attempt to rise above the 
groveling plane of ignorance. God, how greatly 
has labor fallen from its high estate Who and 
where are we, anyhow? What am I? — a slave? 
By the eternal gods, no, a thousand times no.” 

"Bravo!” shouted Robinson; "A noble speech." 

"A true defender of the faith." said Carey. 

They continued in this informal manner, like a 
running debate in Congress, for some time, and 
everybody joined in it. It was a school of a very 
high order. 

When they adjourned it was very late. 

Carey found out who his real friends were. 
He saw what a fool he had been. Belle was 
wiser than h* was. 

CHAPTER VI — COME UP HIGHER. 

The next evening Sam Carey went direct to 
the home of Belle Grayson, a cozy house nestled 
in a picturesque place. He had a message for 
her and it was burning in his heart like unex- 
pressed love. Indeed, it was a message that 
meant restoration and a happy future. Belle 
would aow receive him again. 

But just as he reached the gate George Wilmer 
and Tillie Dillingham approached from the op- 
posite direction. They met him there, and both 
very cordially greeted him — Tillie with~raore 
warmth than ever before. And then he knew 
that George had told her. 


At that moment Belle, who had heard Tillie's 
voice at the gate, bounded off the veranda and 
ran down the brick walk to meet her! In the 
gathering shadows of evening she could not dis- 
distinguish the two gentlemen, and when she 
reached the g^te she first saw Sam and then 
George. 1 1 gladdened and yet hardened her heart, 
like a lump of lava, to find Sam there. With the 
frigidity of an iceberg she said to him, though she 
was mightily tempted not to speak to him at all: 

"Good evening." 

Sam saw, felt and 'understood, but he thought 
that when she knew the whole truth her icy ex- 
terior would melt away like frost in the sunshine. 
He returned her cold salutation a little stiffly, too, 
because he felt perfectly secure in his position 
when she knew all. tier request, or rather per- 
emptory command, had been complied with, and 
he was heartily glad George was there to confirm 
his story. George’s confirmation could not be 
denied. 

"O, Tillie; I’m so glad you've come," turning 
away from Sam, who stood mutely by. Tillie 
and Sam exchanged knowing smiles. "And you. 
too, Mr. Wilmer." 

"Thanks," George returned quietly. 

"Come in. Tillie and Mr. Wilmer," said Belle, 
in a very cheerful tone. 

"Belle," said Tillie, a little shocked at the very 
open slight to Sam. She looked at Sam to see 
how he took it. As well as she could see in the 
deepening gloom, she thought she observed a 
comical smile on his face. Belle paid no atten- 
tion to the rebuke, but held the gate open for 
them to enter. George walked close to her and 
said, soto voce: 

"Bid Sam to come in. It’s all right." 

Sam of course surmised what George said. 

"I guess I’ll invite myself in," broke forth Sam 
in a laughing mood, and he walked in also. But 
Belle, firm as a rock, did not invite him in. She 
led the way to the veranda, where she put out 
chairs to all but Sam, and he deliberately sat 
down upon the top step and putting his hat by 
his side, awaited his opportunity. 

"Belle, have you and Sam fell out?" said 
George, teasingly. 

"Yes," curtly. Her tone made George laugh 
outright. Even Tillie and Sam smiled. 

"I believe you all have some joke," she de- 
clared, pretending to be pleased, because that is 
the best way to meet a jesting mystery. 

"We have, replied George," again laughing. 

"You are concerned in it," laughed Tillie. 

"I’m going to get angry because you won’t tell 
me," covering her pretty face with a mimicking 
pout. 


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1 1 2 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


"I’m sore you would be tickled, if you knew 
just what we do — Sam, too," remarked George, 
in a rollicking manner. Belle half suspected 
now, and she actually laughed in delight, taking 
a sly glance at the Sphinx-like Sam, who sat 
quietly tweaking his nose and looking out into 
the dark street. 

“Please tell me, if it is good, and let me enjoy 
it with you," she pleaded, in a jesting manner. 

“The joke is on you, Belle," and Tillie laughed 
in jolly earnest. 

“This is all at my expense," remarked Belle, 
as gayly as she could. There is no argument 
against a jest or a laugh any more than there is 
against a cyclone. 

“Of course it is," boomed out George. Sam 
enjoyed all this exceeding^, for he knew very 
well how it would end. 

“I’d like to know." 

“On one condition," said George 

“Name it." 

* ‘That you beg forgiveness of Sam for mistreat- 
ing him this evening." 

“I don't see how you can be a friend to him." 

“Because he is my friend." 

“Yes," very ironically. 

“Well, he is." 

“I told him not to come here any more. A 
traitor is not wanted here." Belle said this bit- 
terly. Sam grinned good-humoredly. 

“But he's repented," said George. 

“Repented, how?" doubtingly. 

“He came to us last night, openly confessed 
before all what he’d done, begged our forgive- 
ness, and enrolled his name as one of us," said 
George, a little rapidly. 

“Did you do that?" inquired Belle, turning ab- 
ruptly to Sam . He spoke for the first time. 

“I did." This was uttered humbly and quiet- 
ly. Belle sprang from her seat, hurried to him, 
and taking his hand, said passionately and inex- 
pressibly fondly: 

“Give me your hand." 

He extended it to her. 

“Nobly done. Welcome to my home. I hum- 
bly beg your pardon. Come up higher and have 
the seat of honor among us. " 

His fingers tightened over hers as he was led to 
the chair she had just occupied. There was a 
thrill of sweet, indefinable pleasure to both in 
this touch of the hands. Moreover, Belle was so 
sweetly glad. Sam had done the right thing and 
redeemed himself to his fellows and friends. 
This was as if the very lid of heaven had been 
lifted off to Sam. For the moment his bright 
visions of the future were undimmed by any 
shadows, and life seemed an ineffable glory. 


The clouds had gone from Belle's love-sky, 
and the sun, apparently as fitful as the sun in 
Hafed’s world of chance, shone out nearer and 
brighter than ever before. How sweetly, grand* 
ly noble Sam had done. She had sent him away, 
but he had come back to her again a better man. 
She saw the beauty of the joke now, and she said 
as she sat down in another chair: 

“It is a splendid joke." 

“I'm glad you think so," said Sam. 

“So are we all," chimed in Tillie. 

“This is an occasion when it is good to be 
here, to borrow a phrase from an old-fashioned 
Methodist experience meeting," burst in George, 
in an impulsive, rollicking key. 

“You have come back a man," said Belle, who 
was experiencing a little foretaste of the sweet 
by-and-by. 

Tillie thought Sam a real hero, but George 
was a bigger one. And Sam experienced the in* 
effable joys of one who is lionized by his immedi- 
ate friends. Drake did not feel the joys of writ- 
ing anonymous poetry and exciting the talk of 
the town more keenly than Sam felt on this occa- 
sion. 

“I have done as you said," replied Sam. 

“O, I see," cried George. “You bought a love 
by your action. It was worthy of your confes- 
sion, Sam." 

“I see more and more clearly where my friends 
are now. Belie, with a more unerring sense of 
right than I possess, saw the right from the first 
I shall never forget the lesson of her unerring in* 
stinct. " The gratitude of a devoted love induced 
Sam to speak this very solemnly. 

“Belle knows a thing beforehand," said Tillie 
The connection of her remark was not lost to the 
rest, for George responded quickly: 

“She perceives the right before the rest of us 
can think." 

“This is all too personal," laughed Belle, “and 
I’m forced to say it's all fulsome flattery, a sort 
of sweetened water of the very modern kind." 

• It’s the very best we’ve got in the shop, " re- 
plied George, with the greatest good humor. 

“In finding my friends I found myself," said 
Sara, who was so absorbed in his own pleasura- 
ble feelings that he could scarcely enter into the 
playful conversation of the others. 

For more than two hours they sat upon the 
veranda, in the suggestive shades of night, and 
talked of very many things, but always came 
back to the very prolific theme of Sam’s confes- 
sion. It was one of the happiest evenings of 
their lives, and in after years was a sweet recol- 
lection in dreamy hours. There are just such 
beautiful scenes hung upon the walls of theinem* 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ary of everyone, bright, particular events that 
stand out prominently above everything else. 

Sam did not depart when George and Tillie 
did He bad in his heart fond words that he de- 
sired to express to Belle. You know what they 
were, kind reader. It was natural that he should 
linger. Belle knew. 

And when he asked her "to be his,” in her 
frolicksomeness she burst out into a fit of laugh- 
ter and gurgled forth: 


113 

* 'You must not — I positively forbid you asking 
me that question again for six months." 

"Why, Belle?” 

"Because." 

"That’s a woman's reason.” 

"And I am a woman,” still laughing. It was a 
laugh like the happy trill of the morning lark. 

"But, Belle " 

"Not again for six months.” 

Sam had a vivid recollection of how she sum- 
marily dismissed him not long before. He meek- 
ly bowed under the rod. 


TO BB CONTINUED. 


THE MYSTERIOUS FOREST. 

A SOCIAL ALLEGORY. 

BY H. P. PEBBLES. 


CHAPTER VI. 

The gloomy twilight of day faded into the abso- 
lute darkness of night, but still the visitors slept. 
Under the dense foliage of the over-hanging 
branches the moon and stars were but visible. If 
the mountain traveler be a lover of nature, if his 
soul can be moved by the grand panorama of 
creation, (he night is never long nor tiresome. 
Stretched on his blanket, with upturned face, be- 
fore his eyes glisten the countless worlds of 
unfathomed space ; beauty shades into grandeur ; 
grandeur into sublimity, while imagination wan- 
ders from star to star asking questions that reason 
throws back unanswered, until weary of the 
repulse imagination throws off the reins, and 
answers its own problems in its own way. This 
star is inhabited by a race of superior beings that 
have solved all the problems of life and nature ; 
knowing all things they are perfect in all things ; 
that shining orb must be the meeting place of the 
disembodied from the earth ; there advancement 
is the law ; there — but here oblivion comes, 
dreams replace musings, and the morning sun 
awakens to another day of stern reality. 

Socialist was nodding over the fire when a hand 
was placed gently on his shoulder, and the voice 
of the elder guest aroused him. 

"Friends, this is imposing on your kindness ; 
we have used your blankets and you have suffered 
from the cold." 

Our friends hastened to prepare food. When 
placed before him the stranger did not change his 
seat by the fire, but with a courteous bow asked 
Socialist to please band him a mouthful of the 
brown bread. He wonderingly complied. Hav- 
ing received it, their guest held it caressingly in 
his hand while he continued remarking on the 
darkness of the night and the gloom of the for- 


est. Finally he placed it slowly in his mouth 
and masticated it in a leisurely manner. Onetax, 
who watched him with surprise, said bluntly : 
"I thought you had eaten nothing for three 
days 1" 

The other smiled gently, as he answered, "I 
pray Heaven, ray friend, you may never suffer 
the pangs of hunger that I am enduring at this 
moment." 

After he had eaten a few mouthfuls of the 
bread in the same slow and deliberate manner, he 
expressed himself as satisfied for the present and 
again thanking them for their hospitality, said : 
' ' I am ready to account for our being lost’in this 
desolate waste." 

Both assured him that they did not wish to in- 
trude upon anything he might hold secret, and 
claimed no right to demand an explanation. 

"I have nothing to conceal,” he answered, "es- 
pecially from you, who have so kindly sheltered 
us. Our name is Anarchist, and as my brother 
frequently mentions the matter, I may add that 
our family claims to be of ancient descent, gene- 
ologists indeed say they can trace the family, un- 
der various names, back to the earliest dawn of 
civilization.” 

'.'May I ask,” interrupted Onetax, "the given 
name of yourself and brother ? ” 

' ' My name is Philosophic, that of my brother 
is Revolutionary.” 

"I thought so,” whispered Onetax to his friend, 
" I have heard of them often.” 

• ' My brother and I, although agreeing mainly 
in principle, differ much in details, especially in 
regard to methods. He, unfortunately, is selfish 
and rash, frequently his manners are harsh, and 
on this account those who do not know him well 
are apt to be mistaken concerning his disposition, 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


U4 

which ia kindly and generous. Unfortunately 
our differences have caused us many disagree* 
ments. It has long been the chief desire of my 
life to explore this forest and to assist the suffer* 
ing giant ; but I knew the foolishness of attempt- 
ing either without ample preparations. • A week 
ago my brother came to me in a state of extreme 
excitement; after upbraiding me with coldness 
and timidity, he rushed violently away, declaring 
he would do something to relieve the misery of 
the victim of this waste. I hastily collected a 
few necessities, and knowing that he would rush 
into the forest without any preparations, I feared 
his rashness could only lead to his own destruc* 
tion. 

I had no difficulty in following ,his footsteps. 
He ran to the pleasure grdunds on the edge of 
the forest, and had shouted to the crowd there, 
'the giant will be free, your cruelty and injustice 
upon your own heads.' They supposed that he 
was an escaped madman, and thinking I yras his 
keeper, hoped I would soon capture him, as he 
was certainly a danger to general society. Many 
even accompanied me, offering their assistance, 
but when we came to the end of the beaten paths 
none would venture further into the forest. I 
wandered aimlessly through the forest the entire 
day, calling his name, but could find no trace of 
him. It was almost night when I heard him 
shouting in front of me, and hurrying through 
the bushes as rapidly as possible, I came to the 
edge of the beautiful clearing that Labor has con- 
structed under the direction of his task-makers. 
There I saw my brother uprooting the flowers, 
and breaking the statues. A few armed men 
stood watching him, shouting for him to desist, 
but they seemed afraid to approach ; and as I 
stepped into the enclosure they warned me to be- 
ware of the madman, as they were waiting for 
reinforcements to arrest him." 

"Strange,” interrupted Onetax, "when we saw 
the place there was no one about.” 

Paying no attention the speaker continued, "I 
could not prevail upon him to desist nor to leave the 
place ; indeed he acted, for the time, like a per- 
son insane. It was now almost night, and I heard 
the tramp of armed men, and heard the cries 
'Arrest them both !' Rendered almost desperate 
I seized him in my arms and dragged him from the 
spot.” Here the speaker paused and looked earn- 
estly at his listeners, but as neither spoke, be con- 
tinued " To my surprise he yielded, and instead 
of further resistance grasped me by the arm and 
we hurried into the forest where we were soon safe 
from all pursuit. Indeed the guards made no 
attempt to follow. But I had lost my provisions 
in the struggle. We wandered the whole night, 


and for two days we have been lost and starving 
until providence kindly directed us to where we 

heard your voices, and — and ” The pause 

was followed by evident signs of embarrassment, 
and he struggled with painful emotions that the 
recital had caused. Instinctively both hearers 
felt there was something back, something that be 
had not yet revealed. Several times he started 
to speak, but checked the utterance. Finally he 
said slowly, and as if speaking to himself. " Con- 
science has stings that make physical sufferings 
unfelt.” 

"Oh, friends,” he continued appealingly, 

' 'what sufferings can equal the pains of remorse ' 
To have the reasonings of years overthrown by a 
moment's action ! To build a temple of truth by 
the effort of a lifetime, and see it crumble at a 
touch ! To found a theory of the right that a 
moment's practice overthrows !” 

Here his emotions entirely overcame him 
Throwing himself on the ground he covered his 
face with his hands and sobbed convulsively. It 
was the complete abandonment to grief. It was 
the agony that tortured the soul until nature gave 
way. 

Onetax, with his natural impetuosity, endeav- 
ored to console the sufferer with the usual ex- 
clamations that such a scene invariably calls forth. 
"Take courage! Do not give way! This is 
wrong !” 

Socialist, with a deeper insight into this strange 
character, with a better knowledge of the extrem- 
ity of grief, knowing, also, that this was but the 
culmination of the storm and nature’s safety 
valve, silently knelt and drew the head of the 
grief stricken man gently to his breast ; he said 
no word, but the gentle pressure of his arms 
spoke stronger sympathy than words Oh, Divine 
power of sympathy, the inner language of the 
soul lies deeper than the tongue can reach, ac- 
tions interpret them better than words. 

The very violence of the hurricane insured its 
short duration. Such storms of anguish most 
soon pass away or the spark of life is extinguished 
by its force. Soon the violent sobs gave way to 
gentle moans, the convulsive sbudderings ceased, 
and leaning on the breast of the kindly friend 
who held him in his arms as a mother soothes a 
a crying child, he gave way to silent weeping. 
By degrees even this ceased, and finally he raised 
himself, disengaging his body, from the protect- 
ting arms of Socialist, stood composed, but with 
the blush of shame that naturally panties the 
face of a strong man that knows that others have 
witnessed his surrender to the weakness of tears 
He attempted to speak, and murmured intelligi- 
ble thanks to his consoler, but euded in grasping 


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his hand for a moment and turning away. In a few 
moments he returned calm and composed, and 
with a collected manner, but with a voice that 
trembled, said, 44 1 could not have imagined that 
I would completely give way to grief, but nature 
cannot be outraged/’ 

44 Friend," replied Socialist, with a kindly 
pressure of the hand, "do not apologize, do not 
even call it weakness. I know not the cause of 
your grief, nor would we intrude by asking its 
cause, but I know that nature does not give way 
to trifles, furthermore," be added, with an as- 
suring smile, "I would wager that this is the first 
time in your life that grief has gained such com- 
plete mastery of you." 

4, I thank you," while a sad smile gave a won- 
derful charm to his countenance. “I believe 
that it is the first time since childhood that tears 
have so thoroughly, moistened my eyes. But I 
insist upon confiding fully to you the cause; your 
kindness and sympathy demand my fullest confi- 
dence. I cannot admit, even to my own con- 
science, that my theory of life, my idea of virtue, 
my conception of right, have been founded on fal- 
lacy; although my brother insists that my own 
action has proven it. Surely," he added as if 
speaking to himself, "my own conscience was 
enough without outside upbraiding. You may re- 
member of my telling you that I grasped my 
brother and hurried him away from the park. ” 
Here he raised his eyes and seemed surprised to 
•ee no condemnation in the faces of his hearers. 
"Perhaps you do not understand,” he stammered. 
"Do — you — not — see — I — used — force?" He 
turned his face away, but looked again into their 
wondering faces and said simply: "Perhaps I 
could not expect you to fully understand; but — 
but," with a tremble in his voice, "it was a viola- 
tion of my whole theory of right and wrong." 

Onefax felt a strong inclination to laugh, but a 
look at the pained face of the speaker prevented 
him. Lookiog at his friend he was surprised to 
see that Socialist with a face almost as serious 
as the other grasped his hand, saying: "Say no 
more, friend, the subject is too painful, but be- 
lieve me, I fully sympathize with your sufferings 
and the cause. '* 

A prolonged yawn from the resting place of the 
other sleeper, here gave evidence that he was at 
last awake He approached the fire and at sight 
of the remains of the meal his eyes glistened like 
a hungry wolf, and whhout a word he grasped 
the bread. "Eat, friend," said Onetax, "you are 
welcome." If the travelers had been sur- 
prised at the moderation of the elder they had 
equal cause for astonishment at the voracity of 
the younger, who gave all the signs of being fara- 


115 

ished; and swallowed rather than ate the bread 
the two provided. The elder endeavored in vain 
by signs and gestures to restrain his actions, the 
other paid no attention until he had finished all 
before him, when he said with a scowl; "Amao 
who cannot carry into effect his own principles, 
need give me no advice." Philosophic (we will 
hereafter give the brothers their names) blushed, 
but made no reply, while Onetax, who fully un- 
derstood the allusion, muttered, "infernal brute." 

CHAPTER VII. 

The following morning when our two travelers 
awoke they found that Philosophic had left his 
blanket at the first glimmer of light, had rekin- 
dled the fire, cleaned the tin plates and cups, and 
the preparations for their morning meal were al- 
ready finished. Revolutionary still slept, but his 
brother aroused him, and after the four had 
bathed in the cool water of the little stream they 
seated themselves on the grass and commenced 
breakfast. 

In spite of the attempted cheerfulness of Social- 
ist and the light sallies of Onetax, an evident air 
of restraint hung over the party that these efforts 
seemed to deepen rather than dispell. The lan- 
guid air and haggard countenance of Philosophic 
showed plainly that he was still suffering from his 
recent exposure, and Socialist chided him gently 
for his exertions, saying that he must consider 
himself as a guest, and at the conclusion of the 
meal insisted upon his resting while the others 
cleared things away. 

Revolutionary had scarcely spoken during the 
meal. Several times he had started to his feet as 
if to speak, but had shook his head, muttered to 
himself, and moodily resumed his seat, when he 
would look inquiringly, but with a suspicious air, 
from oue to the other; as if searching for encour- 
agement from their faces. It was evident that he 
was strongly moved to unbosom himself of some 
plan, but restrained himself through doubt as to 
the approval of the auditors. The meal over, he 
strode to and fro on the bank of the stream with 
drawn eyebrows and tightened lips, gesticulating 
with clinched fists and muttering to himself, and 
when he turned in his walk dug his heel viciously 
in the soft sward. 

Socialist drew a book from his breast and sat 
quietly by the side of Philosophic, while the latter 
reclined at the foot of the tree with closed eyes, 
as if still exhausted by his wanderings. Onetax 
lay at full length softly whistling in a meditative 
manner, while he watched the impatient stride of 
the walker. 

Two hours passed, but the silence remained 
unbroken by a spoken word. Finally the walker 


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1 16 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


suddenly stopped, turned towards the others, 
folded his arms and faced them with a look of 
stern determination. Without a word the two 
rose to their feet, for they saw that Revolution- 
ary was prepared to unburden himself, and they 
were ready to listen. He smiled ironically as he 
said: "I notice evidence that you reformers 
have had a debate." This brought a blush to 
the cheeks of Socialist, while Onetax started for- 
ward with a look of defiance. "Pish," said the 
speaker as he waved him back, "this is no time 
for argument, but for action. Listen, I take it 
for granted that you are men of sense and cour- 
age, your being in the forest is evidence of your 
desire to abolish it, and shows that you have some 
sympathy for the suffering Giant; but is it maudlin, 
silly, impracticable sentiment, or is it real desire 
to assist him? See this." and he drew a small 
package from his breast; "it is the most powerful 
explosive known to science. I have more hidden, 
and with it we can blow into chaos the infernal 
beauties of the park. We can demolish all the 
improvements that the giant has made for the use 
of his oppressors, we can destroy the stone cell 
that imprisons him, we can clear away the forest 
by its use. If your conrage will not stand the 
test guide me to the spot and I will do the work. 
Let us act as men,” he continued with a wild en- 
ergy, "not sit and dream like children With half 
the tyrants dead, the living will sue for peace, and 
gladly sacrifice their stolen rights for a chance to 
live.” 

The two friends looked at the speaker with a 
stupefied air. He had outlined this plan of de- 
struction with such energy, such earnestness, 
such sincerity, with apparently no thought of its 
cruelty or wickedness or no fear of danger him- 
self, that for the moment they could find no words 
of reply. Meanwhile the other folded his arms and 
waited an answer. 

Socialist finally stepped forward and in a calm 
and dignified manner, that contrasted strongly 
with the fiery style of the former speaker, said: I 
will not discuss the moral right to work ven- 
geance on the oppressors of innocence; but the false 
idea that evil is justified if it accomplishes good, 
that unrighteous means may be used to procure 
righteous ends has caused the religious persecu- 
tions of all the ages. Leaving all these aside, in 
blowihg the prison into fragments, would we not 
also destroy the inmate? And why destroy the 
works of art that embellish life? If they have been 
constructed by the Giant for his masters, rather let 
us work to restore them to their creator and real 
owner. Let us even imagine that he miraculous- 
ly escape from the explosions, what a terrible 
commencement it would be for a life of freedom 


The evil instincts aroused by carnage and blood- 
shed would bear fruit that would make freedom 
more dangerous than slavery, nay, it could ool 
result in freedom. Unbridled license might come, 
but that would be a horrible caricature of free- 
dom. Emancipation worked by destruction 
would mean the tyranny of individual passions. 
Injustice cannot overcome injustice, the sword 
can never conquer the sword. " 

He paused, and Philosophic, who had gazed 
admiringly at the speaker, murmured. "True. 
True!” 

Revolutionary, who had listened with strong 
marks of disapproval, turned and said fiercely: 
' Keep to your childish dreams, imagine a com- 
ing paradise; but let others act. Your own ac- 
tions,” he added with a sneer, "upset your 
dreams.” 

The others understood the taunt, and Onetax 
commenced an indignant remonstrance; but Rev- 
olutionary impatiently waved him aside, as he 
said: "Dream on, plot and plan With my elder 
brother. I will act, and hereafter act alone, and 
no man shall share my confidences. Follow me 
or interfere with me at* your peril.” He turned 
away, as if to plunge into the forest, but paused 
irresolutely, and after a short struggle with him- 
self, turned and the others were surprised to see 
traces of tears on his face, and while bis features 
worked convulsively in a vain effort to control his 
emotions, he* said in gentle tones: "I thank you 
from my heart for your hospitality, and perhaps 
I owe an apology for my harsh words; but it mad- 
dens me to find men dreaming of an era of justice 
who weakly refuse to act in the only way tfaai 
could bring it." 

Philosophic had risen as if to follow, but the 
other laid his arm gently on his brother’s shoulder 
and said: "No, no, hardasitmaybe.it is better that 
we part. Our life together has been a mockery, we 
cannot agree. I truly beg your pardon for mj 
taunts, but I could not even promise not to repeat 
them. Think of me as kindly as you can, but 
part we must." 

The two brothers threw themselves into each 
others arms. 

"Confound such a fellow!" muttered Onetax 
"One moment I would like to break his head, the 
next I want to shake hands with him." 

At this moment, while the two companions 
were looking at the affecting scene between the 
two brothers, a rustling of bushes was beard, 
and a voice rang out in an old psalm tune 
All turned at the interruption, the rustling con- 
tinued, the singing sounded nearer, the boshes 
parted and a stranger stepped into the little clear 
ing. 


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Tbe newcomer threw down a heavy pack and 
advanced toward the four, saying with a hearty, 
cheery voice and a smiling face: “I heard yoar 
voices and gladly turned aside. All who travel 
in this great waste should be friends." 

Socialist, who had started at the sound of the 
strangers voice, now ran to meet him with out- 
stretched arms, "Welcome, welcome, I knew you 
must be wandering in the forest, but I little hoped 
to meet you.” 

"Your faith was not as strong as mine, " said 
the newcomer, * 'for I felt certain I would meet 
you." 

Socialist now took him by the hand and led 
him towards his friends saying: “Gentlemen this 
is my old neighbor Sincere Christiatn. I told 
Onetax that he was exploring the forest although 
he would not accompany me." 

Tbe announcement of Socialist had a peculiar 
effect on the three listeners. Revolutionary 
turned aside with a bitter look that brought back 
all the hardness of his face, while he muttered, 
but loud enough to be heard by all: "A Christian 
in the forest, and I have scoffed at miracles. Bah! 
I see a spy." 

Onetax gazed with open eyes as though he saw 
an apparition, and rubbed them to look again. 

Philosophic seemed bewildered, and shook his 
head, as he turned to Onetax, and whispered: 
"Did he really say Christian?" He continued to 
look wonderingly at the face of the stranger, who 
faced them with a smiling air. Philosophic, with 
an air of perplexity, finally advanced and took 
the hand of the newcomer as he said: "Your 
face and your being here prove that I have been 
mistaken concerning you to some extent at least. 

I would gladly find that I have been mistaken 
still more concerning your character." 

The words in print may sound offensive, but 
with tbe smile and engaging air of candor that ac- 
companied them they expressed welcome. 

Onetax said bluntly: "You do not resemble 
your relative Orthodox Churchman." 

As Christian and Philosophic stood side by side 
with clasped hands the marvelous likeness be- 
tween the two astonished the others. The same 
placid smile, the same air of benevolence, the 
same indescribable appearance of innate good- 
ness with a marked smilarity in features, caused 
Socialist to exclaim: "If these men are not 
brothers after the flesh, they are twins in spirit!" 
While Onetax added: "Revolutionary must have 
replaced this man in the cradle; but where is he?" 
he continued looking around. 

In the excitement of welcoming the visitor Rev- 


1 17 

olutionary had stolen silently away without being 
observed by any of the others. It was useless to 
search for him in the thick underbrush; and if 
discovered they had no means of compelling him 
to remain in their company. 

Philosophic declared his intention of following, 
saying that it was his duty, and that he might be 
able to yet influence him to leave the forest with- 
out using his terrible explosives. Christian offered 
to accompany him, but the offer was decidedly 
refused, Philosophic saying quietly but firmly 
that he would take no one with him. Both So- 
cialist and Onetax were secretly relieved by the de- 
partnre of their violent and intractable guest, but 
Onetax, with ready sympathy for the distressed 
brother, suggested that they all should go towards 
the Park, where they might meet the fugitive. He 
felt confident they could easily retrace their steps 
to that point. Besides, the object that brought 
them to this little glade was apparently accom- 
plished. True, Socialist had not yet spoken on 
the plan he had outlined, nor had Onetax fully 
explained the result of his days of thought. But 
seemingly each was satisfied with the result of his 
long period of meditation, and nothing could be 
accomplished by remaining. 

Christian agreed to accompany them, and in a 
few moments the camp utensils were gathered up, 
the packs were adjusted, and the four travelers 
commeaced their slow and toilsome march 
through the pathless wilderness. 

S 3cialist took the lead and endeavored to trace 
their former trail by the marks and broken foli- 
age. He soon discovered this impossible, and 
satisfied himself by taking the direction in which 
he thought the park lay. 

Christian and Philosophic followed in the rear, 
engaged in earnest conversation, and so interested 
in each other that they unconsciously lagged be- 
hind; and the two in the lead had frequently to 
stop and hallo until the two laggards answered 
and hurried on to meet them. Once when the 
two interested talkers had approached to where 
the others were sitting in wait for their tardy 
coming, Socialist remarked to his companion, 
"Look how kindly and amicably they are con- 
versing, there can b^ no danger of their following 
our Ute style of debate " When the pair had ap- 
proached within speaking distance, Philosophic 
beckoned Socialist and Onetax to wait, and in 
that sedate and formal manner that marked all 
his utterances. 

"Friends, I feel it a duty to say that I am now 
convinced I have erred in my opinion as to the 
character of this gentleman, and beg him to re- 
peat to all the history of his life, at our first rest- 
ing place." 

The others willingly acquiesced, and it was 
agreed, that when they camped for the night, 
Christian would be called upon to give a history 
of his life and explain the causes that led him to 
make the journey of exploration. 


TO BE CONTINUED 


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1 1 8 


SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION 


BY JOSB GROS. 


NO. 

Just as like begats like in the order of nature, 
so abnormalities and superstitions begat each 
other ajiong men, first in religion, then in eco- 
nomics. The latter seem to grow more freely in 
the land of freedom, perhaps by way of contrast, 
because the former were not so bitter or pro- 
longed as in the old nations. One economic 
superstition at a time is bad enough for any na- 
tion to have, and we are now loaded down with 
.more than one. We refer to the money supersti- 
tion as coming to complicate our national des- 
tinies before we have disposed of the protection 
superstition to which we have referred in our two 
previous articles. 

FAr from us to say that we should be satisfied 
with our monetary conditions. We are not, and 
have never been. We don’t like any connections 
with the precious metals. They are the embodi- 
ment of monopoly and privilege in financial con- 
ditions, although even paper money can be made 
to play the same role. Yet, the idea of giving to 
a few men, the owners of gold or silver mines, the 
power to fix the money supply, that is so vividly 
wrong, unwise, unjust, that we wonder why any 
group of men calling themselves reformers can be 
in favor of any such device, only worthy of peo- 
ple with aristocratic tendencies, the fossils of the 
social fabric, made so either by interest or 
through dense ignorance. The latter are far 
more numerous than the former. There is hard- 
ly over 2 or 3 per cent of the people in any nation 
wlio are really benefited by our abnormal indus- 
trial and financial system, while there are at 
least 12 o- 15 per cent who imagine themselves 
to derive grdat profit from such a system. That 
12 or 15 per cent contribute the pretorian guard 
of our plutocracy. They are only a little better 
off than most farmers and wage-earners; but all 
the same they have to work like slaves for rela- 
tively small earnings. Without that pretorian 
guard the 12 or 15 per cent, what we may call the 
lower middle class, without them no plutocratic 
rule could last long. 

In order to be just all around we must recog- 
nize that in spite of that pretorian guard the plu- 
tocracy in question owes its existence to the in- 
ertia of the 80 or 85 per cent, the balance of the 
nation literally acting like a sub-pretorian guard, 
forever saying amen to all the barbarous laws 
concocted by our top men! 

It is all a question of ignorance in the science 
of economics. But that ignorance is not located 


3 

among the working masses. It extends itself into 
the educated classes, and even permeates the 
minds of many students and writers on econom c 
subjects. Some of them are illogical enough to 
assert that economics is not an exact science; bat 
varies according to the developments of the hu- 
man family. Just as if men did not form part of 
that universe of God, the whole of which rests on 
fixed principles! Just as if moral laws had noth- 
ing to do .with human evolution, or were subject to 
divine caprices in order to please men! Just as if 
a fixed physical organization did not necessarily 
imply a fixed moral one! Exact sciences for the 
former and not for the latter, when man is given 
the power to rule over the former, within certain 
limits, of course! 

Then what is the meaning of the word science? 
A group of thoughts radiating from facts in na- 
ture, certain phenomena that uphold themselves 
through specific processes aiming at certain re- 
sults; some of them, if not all, intimately con- 
nected with men. To be sure, in so far as science 
deals with men it touches individualities who can 
adopt themselves to nature, or can repudiate it, 
at their peril; who can devise all manner of 
fancies and try all experiments, rather than 
to investigate what they should do as a matter of 
duty to each other and to their Creator And 
because men have so far failed to be wise and 
correct in their different social compacts, most of 
our old economists, and many of our modern 
ones, assume that the science of social growth 
cannot be exact It is then empirical, fanciful, 
no science at all. So much for human logic! 

And all knowledge is bound to be negative if 
we have no exact science of social growth; if no 
fixed principles can be relied upon, no definite 
line of conduct can be adopted in order to march 
towards certain definite results. No wonder that 
civilization has so far been disorderly in the ex- 
treme, a ship without a rudder, forever at the 
mercy of all winds, forever crossing turbulent 
oceans, always in search of a good harbor where 
to rest, and never finding such place anywhere! 

Fortunately we have for a few years been in 
possession of a real science of economics, giving 
us the simplest principles on which to proceed in 
order to place men on earth in peace with God’s 
forces, inviting a harmonious development, and 
hence eliminating all the anarchy and the unrest 
that has victimized all generations in all histor- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ical developments so far, and perhaps a little 
more so in our days. 

Let us now give a few samples of the philos- 
ophy or exact science in question. Who can 
doubt that land is the source of all wealth, and 
that labor is the creator of all wealth? And who 
fails to realize that wages have so far been but 
part of what labor produces, hence the general 
poverty of most workers in all time, under all 
civilizations and all skies? Now, what about the 
following axioms? 

Sopply and demand regulate the prices of all 
commodities. Land monopoly artificially reduces 
the land supply, and it raises the price of land 
above natural values; that increases the wealth 
of the landholders as land speculators; that de- 
creases the wealth of the landless and all the 
workers who simply hold the land for use, and for 
which they had to pay a high price to the land 
speculator, or have to pay a high rent to the land 
monopolist. As land monopoly increases the 
landless class increases, and so wage-slavery in- 
creases. Hence the iron law of wages, so-called . 

Take now another group of axioms: The ef- 
fect of labor-saving machinery in connection with 
land monopoly decreases demand for labor, be- 
cause each worker can perform the work of 2, 5, 
10 or more workers with the old plain tools. That 
evolves the problem of the unemployed, ready to 
underbid the worker at work for lower wages. 
Hence the intensification of that iron law of 
wages above mentioned. That brings a desire on 
the part of many workers for self protection 
through labor associations. The question is now, 
through what process shall that protection be 
most effectual and rapid, as well as permanent 
ind final in general good results? 

Return first, for a moment, to our two cardinal 
self-evident propositions as that of land being the 
source of all wealth, and labor the creator of all 
wealth. Those two premises evolve a self-evi- 
dent conclusion. It is as follows: Freedom of 
access to all land is indispensable to labor for its 
self protection, and nothing else can effectually 
protect labor. The great finality of labor associ- 
ations should then be to tax out of existence that 
land monopoly, the father of all monopolies, and 
the suppression of all taxes on what labor creates. 

Remember now that you must either tax all 
land and franchise values for public needs, or let 
monopolistic rents and franchise profits enrich 
the monopolists and impoverish the workers. 
There you have the two horns of the dilemma, and 
there is no middle road by which to travel that 
may carry the workers and civilization out of des- 


1 19- 

truction. No one has, anyhow, discovered any safe 
middle road. Either taxation on labor products, 
as heretofore, besides monopolistic rents and 
profits produced by the few, private taxation 
with a vengeance, or else economic, natural rents 
taken by society, its own creator, for all social 
needs. Is there anything obscure in the above? 
You have to stop and think on the subject for a 
few moments, of course. But have not brains 
been given us for us to think especially on how 
to abolish human degradation and evolve man- 
hood among all? 

Apply now the same logical perceptions to the 
money question alluded to at the beginning of 
this article. Is the money question anything but 
one pha^e of the land question, as long as we 
give to men the power to convert money into 
land, to literally box up land, store it away, prac- 
tically destroy land, for the time being, that the 
workers may not be ablo to obtain it, not where 
it is most needed, not in sufficient quantities, not 
on reasonable conditions anyhow? Is not that 
the legislation of wholesale banditism in the most 
criminal forms conceivable. To take away from 
some men what they may have produced in one 
or ten years, that is bad enough; but that kind of 
robbery is relatively a small sin when compared 
with that of robbing most men out of the source 
of all wealth, the element from which alone 
wealth can be obtained. Yef, that is what we do 
by allowing men to convert money into land in 
any quantities they may see fit, and subject to no 
conditions * whatever, when the only natural, 
legitimate function of money is that of exchang- 
ing labor products. 

As long as we fail to limit money to that func- 
tion we shall keep on having money troubles is 
the future, as we have always had in the past. 
And that shall take place independent of the 
quantity and quality of the money, even if we 
grant that a scanty volume is apt to be somewhat 
worse than a sufficiently large one, for awhile, 
anyhow. Yet the great trouble springs up from 
the vicissitudes of greater or less volume to 
which we are subject as long as we adhere to the 
old barbaric ideal of making money out of precious 
metals, and thus giving to a few men the power 
to fix the money supply, and so the value of 
money, and so that of all labor products. We 
are emphatically in favor of letting the work- 
ing masses fix the volume of money. That means 
the demonetization of both gold and silver, and 
to deal with nothing else but direct government 
notes. 


CONCLUDED. 


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120 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


TAXATION, OF 

BY W. P. 

The immense suras abstracted from the earn- 
ings of labor in the mining and timber industries 
represent but a small portion of the total rent charge 
of the nation; they are but a particular form of 
expression of a general fact, but the figures I 
have given will serve as a basis of illustration 
and by estimating the effect of a tax that would 
wholly absorb these values, while removing all 
taxes from labor-created wealth, we shall be able 
to perceive the general effect throughout the na- 
tion. It may be well to call attention to the pri- 
mary fact that land is not wealth; taken by itself 
it is utterly incapable of satisfying a sipgle ma- 
terial want of man. It is only the product of 
land that constitutes wealth, and such product 
may only be secured by labor. Further, the prod- 
uct of land constitutes all wealth. To the actual 
producer of wealth ownership itself is no advan- 
tage, it is only use of land that is necessary for 
the production of wealth. Therefore, the sums 
paid because of the mere fact of ownership are 
sums taken without any possible equivalent ren- 
dered, and when we consider that land, or the 
use of land, is as absolutely essential to existence 
as is air or water, it can be seen that ownership 
of land, which enables men to exact payment for 
its use, is not onl^ unnecessary, but a crime. 
Rent is something which always goes to the 
owner of land, purely because he is an owner 
and never because he is a user; it i^ utterly im- 
possible for a land user, simply as a user, to ab- 
sorb any rent. For, if the user is a different 
person from the owner he must always pay the 
owner, either in rent or purchase money, for such 
use; while if the user be himself the owner, it is 
as owner, and not as user, that he appropriates 
the rent of his land, as by either renting or sell- 
ing his land to another he could continue such 
appropriation after he bad ceased to be a user. 
A tax on rent, or land values, therefore, only 
takes that part of the product of labor which the 
laborer, merely as a laborer , cannot retain. 
Rent is the price of ownership, and if not taken 
in taxes it will be absorbed by the land owner. A 
tax on land values cannot be shifted, like a tax 
on the products of labor, therefore it reduces the 
profits of land owning by the whole amount of 
the tax, while at the same time relieving industry 
of the burden of taxes to landlords and taxes to 
the government, and if the tax is so laid as to ab- 
sorb the whole rent it destroys land owning en- 
tirely by making it unprofitable; no person would 
then hold land except to use it, and all land that 


LAND VALUES. 

BORLAND. 1 

did not yield rent would be entirely free to who- 
ever would choose to use it. 

Land and labor products are two very different 
things, having different qualities. Taxing land 
values and taxing labor products have opposite 
results. A tax on anything the result of human 
industry adds to its cost. It does more than this; 
it discourages its production by restricting its 
market, and a restricted market always means 
the employment of less labor. A tax on lumber, 
for instance, reduces the number of houses that 
can be built because it increases their cost; and 
the more anything costs the fewer are there who 
are able to gratify their desires in that direction. 
Taxing products, therefore, increases cost, re- 
duces the supply, discourages industry, restricts 
the demand for labor, and makes it harder to 
purchase • happiness in proportion as the tax is 
high. But taxing land values has no such effect. 
The closer the tax on land values approaches its 
full use value, the cheaper will land become, and, 
as before said, when the whole of rent is absorbed 
by the tax the selling price of land entirely dis- 
appears and the class of persons who subsist on 
the profits of land owning must look for another 
source of income. Great blocks of capital now 
tied up in land, and remaining wholly unproduc* 
tive, would be released and must be put to legiti- 
mate uses; must be used in actual wealth produc- 
tion in order to yield income to their owners 
When land is no longer a profitable investment 
capitalists must use their capital in the produc- 
tion of wealth, and the demand for labor would 
thus be largely increased. At the same time, all 
land for which there was no competition, which 
yielded no rent, would be free to whoever wished 
to use it, and many laborers who are now crowded 
into the congested districts of our great cities, 
because unable to satisfy their desires for the use 
of land, would take advantage of the opportunity 
thus afforded to procure themselves homes. 
Thus we should have both an increase in the de- 
mand for labor and a decrease in the supply of 
labor, on the market, operating together. The 
consequence could not fail to be of vast benefit 
to all classes of workingmen, by raising their 
wages and relieving them of the fierce competi 
tion of their fellows for the opportunity to earn 
a living. 

Another item which would work to the benefit 
of labor is that it would be relieved of all the 
present amount of taxation. This amount is var- 
iously estimated, but a thousand million dollar 5 


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I 2 1 


annually seems to be a conservative estimate. 
This is an average of sixteen to twenty dollars 
for each individual, or from eighty to one hun- 
dred dollars for each family.and it must be remem- 
bered, as Thomas G. Shearman has pointed out, 
that taxes can only be paid out of the fund that 
is available for saving; what a man is obliged to 
spend for his support can never be used to pay 
taxes with, it is only what he could save out of 
bis income that is available for that purpose. 
Now, let us see what would be the effect of ab- 
sorbing by taxation that five hundred mil- 
lion dollars of royalty before mentioned. 
That is the profit of land ownership, and, as it is 
the whole of such profit, that is to say, cannot be 
collected twice over, the tax which absorbed that 
profit would compel those who hold the titles to 
this land to use it themselves or else leave it for 
others to use; it is only the assurance of present 
or future profit that induces men to retain pos- 
session of land which they do not wish tc use, 
and deny to others the right of using it. There 
has been, for about eight months past, and is 
now, great depression in the industries from 
which these royalties are drawn, and thousands 
of men have been kept in idleness until they are 
•on the verge of starvation. 

Let us take the specific case of the iron ore in- 
dustry in the state of Michigan; The iron mines 
in that state began to curtail operations in the 
spring of 1893, and by the beginning of autumn 
every mine in the iron district was either closed 
down entirely or running with greatly reduced 
forces, throwing thousands of men out of work. 
At the beginning of, and for a long time previous 
to the depression, miners' wages were $2.50 and 
$3.00 per day. and the miners were in a fairly 
prosperous condition. But a long period of en- 
forced idleness ate up their savings, and by the 
middle of November they were confronted with 
the certain prospect of death, from starvation or 
exposure to the rigors of winter. In this emer- 
gency the people of the state at large were ap- 
pealed to for contributions of money, provisions 
and clothing for the relief of the misers’ neces- 
sities, and as much as five hundred thousand dol- 
lars have been contributed for this purpose dur- 
ing the winter just past. Certain of the land 
owners opened their hearts to the extent of grant- 
ing the starving miners permission to go upon 
their lands and cut wood, sufficient to keep them- 
selves from freezing, free of charge; and this was 
quite generally referred to by the newspapers as 
a great act of generosity on the part of the land 
owners. Perceiving that these miners were not 
proper objects of charity and that they might 
easily support themselves if permitted to labor. 


certain philanthropic and influential citizens used 
their influence with the mine operators to induce 
them to resume operations, on a small scale, at 
least, so as to afford at least a portion of the men 
a chance to earn a living and reduce the burden 
of charity as much as possible. It then tran- 
spired that the land owners were the only ones 
who stood in the way of a full resumption of 
operations. The operators were perfectly willing 
to resume, and, indeed, had been adverse to shut- 
ting down in the first instance, as they were com- 
pelled to suffer the loss of depreciation of their 
machinery, but they could not operate the mines 
while continuing to pay the royalties demanded 
by the owners of the land. These rQyalties 
averaged sixty-two cents for each ton of ore 
mined, in 1890 when ore was selling for $2.70 
per ton, and it is quite evident that operations 
could not be continued on the old basis when ore 
was selling for but $2.30 per ton. The land 
owners were, of course, out of sight and could 
not be found; however, it was brought out that 
the largest part of this royalty went to persons 
residing in foreign countries, mostly Englishmen 
residing in London, who received it through their 
agents residing in this country. Only a minority 
of the fee holders were citizens of the United 
States and very few of them were residents of 
the state of Michigan. It is very evident, here, 
that the fact of the mine operators being the ex- 
clusive owners of the machinery of production 
had nothing whatever to do with these miners be- 
ing kept in idleness. The operators were as ef- 
fectually debarred from using their machinery as 
were the miners from using their labor; and 
from the same cause — inability to pay the toll de- 
manded by the land owners as the price of per- 
mitting production to be carried on. Cause and 
effect are here close together, and it is impossible 
for an intelligent observer to mistake the one for 
the other. With the single tax in force, absorb- 
ing the profit of land ownership and permitting 
land to be held only by the user, these miners 
need not have been idle for a single day. An 
ounce of fact is worth all the theories this side 
of sheol. However, after the miners had been 
brought to the point of starvation, and had been 
thoroughly humiliated by charity, the efforts of 
the philanthropists who engineered the charity 
business brought about an arrangement whereby 
the miners were given a chance to support them- 
selves by their labor. The operators consented 
to resume work in the mines if the men would 
consent to a reduction in wages conforming to the 
present state of the iron market. This was an 
offer that could not be refused; no self-respecting 
man would consent to eat the bread of charity 


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122 


THE RAILWA] 

when he has the chance to earn even a crust by 
his labor, so there has been a general resumption 
of operations all through the Michigan iron dis- 
trict at such wages as this: Where the wages 
used to be $3.00 they are now $1 35 and Si. 25! 
men who formerly got $2. 00 per day are now 
working for $1.00! But there is no record of 
any land owner’s royalty being reduced. 

These mining lands lie wholly in the upper 
peninsula of the state, and the premium which 
these land owners — chiefly foreigners — pay for 
the privilege of fleecing the workingman is indi- 
cated by the tax returns. The average assessed 
value of the upper peninsula mining lands in 
1890 was $15.45 an acre; the real commercial 
value was $343 an acre. The entire area, 10,724,- 
480 acres, with all its improvements, was assessed 
$122,605,000; the value of the timber land alone 
lying within this area is $229,592,368. Of this 
area, one single company owns 462, 384 acres of 
the most valuable timber and mineral land in the 
state. This immense tract of land is an old rail- 
road land grant, granted under the law of 1856, 
and which has never been earned; the present 
owners are said to have paid the original grantees 
six dollars an acre for the land, but this is de- 
nied. Eighteen thousand dollars was the price 
paid to the company a short time ago for the 
privilege of cutting the timber from but one 
quarter section of land, and $300,000 has been 
paid to the company for timber rights by one 
firm of operators alone. The principal owner of 
this vast domain, and the dictator of the com- 
pany’s policy, is a titled English gentleman, 
yclept Lord Brassey, who resides in London. 
This company never sells any of its land; it only 
sells the right to cut timber or mine ore, and this 
only on a portion of its land, the title to which is 
in dispute. There are about 129.000 acres, the 
company’s title to which is claimed to be defect- 
ive, and their policy is to strip these acres of 
everything valuable as fast as possible,, but the 
general policy is to sell nothing. Just keep tres- 
passers at a distance and hang on for a rise in 
value. Those great land owners in this territory 
who do make a practice of selling land to home 
seekers use a peculiar form of deed which con- 
veys only the surface of the land, and reserves 
all .valuable mineral and timber rights. Taxes 
are assessed to the surface owners of the property 
only; thus the owners of these valuable privileges 
continue to retain their rights to all of the land 
they have any use for, while escaping entirely the 
payment of taxes — however inconsiderable they 
may be — conditioned upon such rights by shifting 
them onto the surface holders of the land along 
with the title. The following is an exact copy of 


7 CONDUCTOR. 

the exception clause of a deed in general nse in 
the upper peninsula for the conveying of land: 

Reserving all pine trees or pine timber tbereos. 
and subject to all taxes levied or assessed upon 

said real estate since ... 

being the time when said real estate was con- 
tracted and possession delivered by said parties of 
the first part; saving, excepting and reserving un- 
to the said parties of the first part, and to their 
grantors and unto their heirs and assigns forever, 
all ores and minerals whatsoever, in or upon said 
land, whether upon or beneath the surface there- 
of; together with the right, unto the said parties 
of the first part, their grantors and their heirs or 
assigns, by themselves or their agents or servants* 
to enter upon said land, or any part thereof, and 
to explore, search, dig or mine for such ores or 
minerals, and to take and carry the same away 
without let or hindrance. 

And for that purpose to take, use or occupy the 
surface of said land or any part thereof; pro- 
vided. if the said parties of the first part, their 
grantors, or their heirs or assigns, by such ex- 
plorations, digging or mining, shall do any dam- 
age to the surface of said land, as to the improve- 
ments which may be placed thereon, or any par- 
cel thereof; or if said parties of the first part, 
their grantors, or their heirs or assigns, shall per- 
manently occupy any portion of such surface for 
mining purposes, said parties of the first part, 
their grantors or their heirs or assigns, shall pay 

to the party of the second part, heirs or 

assigns, such damages as they may suffer there- 
from. but the amount so payable shall not exceed 

the price paid by said part of the second 

part for the land so occupied, together with the 
cost of improvements placed thereon, by said 
part of the second part heirs or as- 

signs, and which shall have been destroyed or in- 
jured by such operations or occupancy. 

The incidence of the land value tax is a point 
that bothers a great many people, the assumption 
being that it would fall with crushing force on 
the agricultural interests of the nation, while the 
wealth of cities and towns would enjoy compara- 
tive immunity from taxation. But it is a mis- 
taken notion that land values lie mainly in the 
country because there is so much land there. 
Land values lie mainly in the cities and villages, 
increasing in proportion to density of population, 
decreasing as the number of people to the square 
mile diminishes. I have some figures showing 
the distribution of land values in the state of 
Michigan, and it may be correctly assumed that 
the proportions here shown will hold good for the 
entire nation. The average assessed value of a 
farm acre of real estate in 1891 was $20.91; of a 
village acre $117.06; and of a city acre of real 
estate $2,050. The farm population is a little 
more than half of the entire population of the 
state; the farm values are a little more than one- 
quarter of the assessed value of the state; the 
farm area is one- third of the state, and the unin- 
habited area is more than one-half. The area of 


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fifty cities was 96.353 acres, and the assessed 
value was $329,451,244. The area of the farm 
land was 12.571.284 acres, assessed $346,745,- 
gi2 Thus, in round numbers, 100,000 acres of 
city land was worth as much as 12,500,000 acres 
of farm land. These are assessed values and in- 
clude improvements, and it is a clearly demon- 
strated fact that farm land values include a great- 
er proportion of improvements than the same 
values on city land. In the. city of Detroit the 
land and improvement values are kept separate, 
and sc entered on the tax returns. This city 
covers an area of 14,400 acres, and the figures in- 
dicate that the owners of these acres, on their as- 
sessed value, derive an income of not less than 
$8,640,000 yearly, an average of 600 dollars for 
each acre. Some of this land is assessed at 
nearly half a million dollars per acre, and a plot 
of land, 160 feet fronting on. one street and a lit- 
tle less on another, recently sold for over seven 
hundred thousand dollars. And in the city of 
New York recently there was sold a small plot of 
land at a price per square foot which brought its 
value up to more than twelve million dollars per 
acre, said to be the highest price ever paid for 
land. 

But it is unnecessary to pursue these illus- 
trations any further. The contention is that with 
all men free to use natural opportunities on terms 
of equality, with the forces of monopoly that pre- 
vent them from using land abolished, the law that 
impels men to seek the shortest road to the satis- 
faction of their wants, would lead them to the 
highest plane of civilization, while conserving 
each one’s just individual freedom. It is only by 
special privileges of some sort that some men are 
enabled to acquire power over others; laws which 
create and perpetuate monopoly of all descrip- 
tions. and the foundation, the parent of all 
monopolies, is private ownership of the land. 
That which gives the trusts and machinery own- 
ers their hold on the workingmen is, not that they 
are the owners of the instruments of production, 
but that the workingmen have no alternative but 
to accept the conditions imposed on them, be- 
cause they are denied access to the source of all 
wealth and sustenance — the land. No man, or 
set of men, can enslave others through the own- 
ership of machinery alone, when working under 
conditions of free competition and free access to 
land; it is an utter impossibility for any person 
to point out a single one of the monopolies under 
which the people groan that has not been built 
up by special privilege of some sort or other, a 
perversion of the law, which gave them the right 
to do things denied to other persons. Our patent 
laws have built up many monopolies in the ma- 


123 

chinery line, and under a sifigle tax regime those 
laws would need, and would receive, considerable 
modification to adapt them more to the spirit of 
freedom and the equal rights of man; but at the 
bottom of it all lies the fact that the laborers 
necessary to carry out the schemes of monopoly 
are deprived of any alternative to accepting the 
conditions imposed on them, because shut out 
from their last stronghold — the land. But they 
point us to the fact that these monopolies and 
trusts bring about economy in production; that 
they produce cheaply, and, therefore, they repre- 
sent the “survival of the fittest;” that the indi- 
vidual is bound to succumb to their influence un- 
der any regime short of the collectiveist one. But 
suppose we admit that the tendency is now all in 
the direction of concentration of industry and the 
subordination of the individual to the collectiv- 
ity, that does not prove it to be any more than a 
passing phase of the industrial situation. The 
factory system of industry is a very recent devel- 
opment, and there has been too much opposition 
to its obvious tendency to reduce men to the level 
of automatons, to reduce the individual to a non- 
enity, to permit men, except by a false train of 
reasoning, to regard it as a natural and perma- 
nent condition. One hundred years ago the pres- 
ent development of our industrial system would 
have seemed to the people of that generation as a 
wild and impossible vagary of the imagination; 
who has, now, the hardihood to predict with the 
character of certainty what changes the next hun- 
dred years or even the Dext generation may look 
upon? The present system is, admittedly, the 
outgrowth of steam po*er and its complicated 
machinery, and it is liable to be revolutionized 
and superseded by some superior force as soon as 
men bring it under their control, as they former- 
ly did steam. Who can say what revolutions 
may be brought about by the full introduction of 
electricity as a motive power into our system of 
industry? This agent is one of the possibilities 
of which comparatively little is known, but all 
the indications point to the conclusion that we are 
now on the verge of discoveries in the field of 
electrical science that will surpass in importance 
all previous discoveries of the human race. And 
who can say what revolutions in the present sys- 
tem of industry may not occur within the next 
fifty years? Changes which would reduce the 
reasoning of the socialists, based upon the as- 
sumption that the present is a permanent phase, 
to the lowest depths of puerility. . All we are cer- 
tain of is that we are the victims of partiality in 
the laws, that some men are enjoying privileges 
and opportunities not accorded to all men, and 
that they are thus enabled to wax fat at the ex- 


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pense of their fallows. Then let us lay the ghost 
of special privilege, place all men on an exact 
equality in their relations with the laws and with 
the material universe, and — let them alone. 

What we have a right to expect as a result of 
the introduction of the single tax is inferable 
from the experience of New Zealand. There the 
tax has been partially tested, and all results prove 
the correctness of single tax conclusions The 
"balance tax,” as it is called, was adopted in 
New Zealand in 1891 ; it exempts all improvements 
up to $15,000 in value, and it is now proposed to 
raise this exemption to $50,000. Owners of less 
than $2,500 worth of land are exempt, and this 
amount is deducted from all owners of less than 
$7,500 worth of land. A progressively lessening 
deduction is made between $7,500 and $12,500 
worth of land, at which point the deduction on 
land values ceases. At $25,000 land value a 
graduated tax begins, at rates of increase which 
makes the tax more than double when it passes 
$450,000, and, in addition to this, a tax of 20 per 
cent is imposed on owners absent from, or resi- 
dent out of, the colony fora period of three years 
or over. This is a bungling and restricted ap- 
plication of the single tax, but its beneficial effect 
on the prosperity of the colony has been so 
marked, and so confirmatory of single tax con- 
clusions, that there is no agitation at present ex- 
cept for the full application of single tax principles 
The large holdings of land have been broken up; 
wages have increased; more than 7,000 families 


have secured homes on the land of New Zealand 
since 1891, as the direct result of the law. and 
New Zealand is the only civilized country in the 
world, to-day, where, instead of complaining of 
hard times, the people are enjoying prosperity. 
The neighboring country, Australia, is in the 
throes of depression, but New Zealand is prosper- 
ous, and the only difference is that the one has 
made a partial application of the single tax 
to her industrial economy while the other 
has not And Australia, although a new 
country, is as fully in the grasp of the 
land monopolists as we are ourselves. Six 
hundred and fifty-six persons own 20.844,- 
000 acres of her land, 257,320 male adults 
are landless; 862 persons own $692,000,000 of 
wealth, while 207,749 workingmen own nothing. 
And, as an instance of the humanizing effect of 
the single tax, it is worthy of note that New Zea- 
land is the only country on the face of the globe 
where women are completely enfranchised, a re- 
sult arrived at since the balance tax was intro- 
duced. Here is a reform that is practicable and 
easy of attainment; it is in perfect harmony with 
well known economic principles and transgresses 
no principle of individual freedom; it brings 
present governmental processes to its aid and fol- 
lows the line of least resistance, which is the law 
of nature. Let workingmen unite in support of 
it, and place due reliance on the principles of 
freedom, before committing themselves to the 
economic vagaries of socialism. 


REASON AND IGNORANCE. 


Reason l would ask you a few questions 
Concerning things of old, 

If Adam was the first man, 

As we have oft been told. 

Ignorance. Yes — Adam was the first man — 
Created out of dust; 

The sacred record says so, 

And believe we surely must. 

R. Will you tell me how God made him? 
And by what law or rule? 

For I want to grow in wisdom 
And not remain a fool. 

1. That always was a mystery, 

And ’tis not for us to know. 

All things with God are possible, 

The preacher tells us so. 

R. If God created all things, 

And then pronounced them good, 
From whence has come all evil; 

Have you ever understood? 


I. Oh — that came from the devil. 

He is traveling to and fro, 

Doing all the harm he can 
To mortals here below. 

R. Who is this devil you speak about 
And who gave him his power’ 

Who ever saw him going out. 

Seeking whom he may devour? 

All get a share of hell — no doubt, 

And so will you and I. 

Sometimes I think a share is brought 
To us before we die. 

I What, — in hell before we die? 

How can that be so? 

The preachers say — when sinners die 
It’s then to hell they go. 

R. The preachers tell us many things; 
Some of them are not true. 

They study books to make them wise; 
That does not always do. 


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THE RAILWAY 

I We read in books what God has done. 

Don't books tell us the truth? 

The Bible tells how wise Christ was 
When he was quite a youth. 

R Was it reading books that made him wise, 
Or doing his father’s will? 

Did he not come to speak the truth. 

And nature's law fulfill? 

I. Sometimes I don't know what to think 
About Christ — or heaven — or hell, 
Whether those things are really true, 

I wish some one would tell. 

R But seek aright — you will find light, 

That light is Christ within. 

If you obey his still, small voice, 

You will shun the road of sin. 

'Tis the spirit of eternal truth, 

The immortal part of man. 

It was created in God’s form, 

In accordance with his plan. 

We find it in unsullied youth, 

Sometimes in middle age; 

'Tis that which made the prophet wise, 

The philosopher and sage. 

The garden you will find to be 
The mind of mortal man, 

And Adam is the gardener, 

According to God’s plan. 

While Abel is a figure given 
To represent the truth, 

Iniquity is shown by Cain, 

It oftimes rules in youth' 

Then leave Egyptian darkness. 

And Pharaoh’s host likewise, 

And be guided by a pilot 
That fs both good and wise. 

The time is short at longest. 

While living here below; 

Consider it, thou wanderer, 

Before you further go. 

I know it’s hard, poor wanderers, 

To lift your minds above, 

Until you taste that Manna, 

And find that God is love. 

Then angels will go with you, 

Wherever you may go, 

If you will only faithful prove. 

While living here below. 

And when you cross the river 
.Your pilot they will be, 

From sin and all temptation 


CONDUCTOR. 

\ 

You always will be free. 

Depend not on an outside Savior, 
Neither in forms nor creeds, 

For happiness is always gained * 

By good and noble deeds. 

There is a God in every one 
In the garden of the soul. 

And if they listen to His voice 
The serpent can’t control. 

The time is fast approaching 
When the light of truth will shine 

And dispel those clouds of error 
That once were called divine. 

I don't believe an outward Savior 
Ever saved a man on earth ; 

Christ is within — the hope of glory, 

He is of spiritual birth. 

Yes — He is born within us, 

In the garden of the soul. 

And while Herod rules the kingdom 
Christ never can control. 

Christ is that truth and wisdom 
That lies bidden in the tomb; 

Oh, angels, keep rolled back the stone, 
Let Christ within us bloom. 

For we have crucified our Savior, 

And have buried Him in the earth. 

And if we had not slain Him 
He would need no second birth. 

On, haste the day of Christ, when truth 
Shall illuminate the soul, 

His kingdom come — His will be done, 
And His spirit take control. 

Then we can cross the Jordan, 

Into Canaan's happy land; 

But we cannot cross that river 
Till His spirit takes command. 

We are bondsmen unto Pharaoh, 

And in darkness we will dwell, 

Till Christ, our true redeemer, 

Bursts the bonds of death and hell. 

Then we will De clothed in garments 
Of good and noble deeds, 

And they never should be spotted 
With outward forms or creeds. 

Oh, angels, help roll off the stone, 

Let Christ within arise, 

And show the world who Judas is, 

And who Herod is likewise. 

F. M. Carter. 


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THE ROBBERS OF LABOR. 


BY W. H. STEWART. 


I have read the recent articles in The Conduc- 
tor by Mr W. P. Borland, with both interest 
and pleasure. It is so seldom that a single-taxer 
displays any knowledge of economics outside of 
the narrow limits of his own theory that Mr. 
Borland's efforts are especia ly commendable 
His articles show that he has studied Karl Marx 
intelligently. His exposition of socialism in the 
December Conductor would do credit, in many 
respects, to a socialist. Of course, many of Mr. 
Borland’s ideas on socialism are yet very crude, 
many of the objections he raises, and difficulties 
he foresees in the adoption of that theory are to 
a socialist frivolous, and even amusing. 

It is a common thing for persons to incorporate 
with their conception of a socialistic state of society 
elements drawn from the present one, and then 
to complain of the incongruity of the result. 
From this error Mr. Borland has not been ex- 
empt. However, it is not my intention, at this 
time, to review his criticism of the socialist 
theory. I desire to draw attention now to cer- 
tain deductions of his in regard to rent, in the 
February Conductor, under the caption, "The 
Single-tax Theory.” The design of the article is 
to show the advantage that would accrue to labor 
if natural resourses were made common property 
by the adoption of the single tax. 

To clear the way properly, Mr Borland com- 
mences his article by a brief consideration of the 
manner in which wealth is distributed. He 
shows that wealth when produced is divided into 
rent, .nterest, profits and wages, that the last is 
what goes to labor, while the categories of rent, 
interest and profits are appropriated by those who 
control the means of production i. e , land and 
capital. He analyzes "profits,” showing it to 
consist of"wagesof superintendence” and interest 
on capital; that consequently the term is inexact, 
because wages of superintendence comes properly 
under the head of "wages." He is quite right in 
this the term "profits," should be eliminated in 
a discussion of economics, and the three factors, 
rent, interest and wages only, retained. But in a 
popular treatment of the subject it seems impos- 
sible to eliminate the term profits, for in the 
popular conception "interest” stands for payment 
for the use of capital, i. e., loan interest, which is 
only a secondary and subsidiary form of interest, 
and not interest proper, at all. However, we 
will understand by rent, payment for the use of 
land; interest and profits, all return for the use 
of capital without personal exertion, and wages, 
all payment for labor, physical or mental. 


But here let us guard against an error into 
which Mr. Borland has fallen. "Wages of super- 
intendence,” he says, "is clearly the reward of 
personal exertion and should find expression 
under wages.’ The receiver of profit is to this 
extent, certainly, a laborer and the receiver of 
wages.” So far true, and socialists recognize 
this fact fully. Mr. Borland is incorrect when he 
states that socialists include "wages of superin- 
tendence” in surplus- value. He goes on to say 
that: "This portion of profit, when considered 
in its proper sense, as the reward of labor, may 
be exorbitant, when compared with the reward of 
other labor, but it is none the less the reward of 
labor and should be expressed as ‘wages, ’ and it 
is certainly not correct to say that that portion of 
wealth that represents the reward of labor, is a 
robbery of labor.” 

Aye, there’s the rub! What is the proper 
“wages of superintendence?” The socialist values 
that the same as other labor Superior ability 
is a gift of nature, as much so as natural re- 
sources, and the possessor has no more right in 
equity to exact rent therefor, than the owner of 
land has. The man of superior ability is suf- 
ficiently blessed by its possession, it brings him 
honor, love, obedience. Besides the sense of power 
that the possession of such faculties involves, 
why should he expect in addition to these things 
the lion’s share of mere material luxuries* 
Rather should we suppose that being so 
gifted by nature above the average of mankind 
he should forego bis full share of material enjoy* 
ments and be satisfied with less than the average 
But socialists accord him his full share, and in 
doing so they are fully satisfying the claims of 
equity and justice. Nature provides this ability 
in proper proportions to other forms of labor, 
and socialists no more acknowledge the claim of 
the mentally superior to use that gift for the ex- 
ploitation of their fellows, than the man of super- 
ior physical strength has to exert his power for 
the same purpose. 

Mr. Borland will hardly claim that because 
under our present condition such ability can ex- 
act as "rent” all above the "margin of stupid- 
ity” that we are bound to acknowledge its justice. 
Here is where we apply the single-tax idea and 
confiscate this form of rent for the common 
benefit. 

Mr. Jay Gould would have valued bis "wages 
of superintendence" at about five millions per 
year, for wreaking railroads, and Bro Rocke- 


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'-V 


feller at about the same figure for monopolizing 
oil. iron mines and other industries; but we are 
under no Obligation to accept the estimates of 
these enterprising gentlemen as to the value of 
their services, but choose rather to place their 
gains, at least ninety-nine pjr cent of it as sur- 
plus* value i e . exploitation of labor, pure and 
simple 

All weal h is tha product exclusively of labor 
applied to natural objects. By the term labor, is 
meant all necessary exertion, either physical or 
mental, used in the production of wealth. Men- 
tal exertion in transferring wealth already pro- 
duced from one man's pocket to another's is not 
labor In an economic sense. We all readily un- 
derstand that the gains of a gambler do not 
represent the result of any productive proems on 
his part ; he has merely transferred wealth 
already created by others to his own use. Now, 
a great deal of what we call •'business" is merely 
the art of transferring the wealth produced by 
labor into the pockets of a non-producing class. 
This most be self-evident, for is it not a fact, that 
those who work the hardest, at the most disagree- 
able Occupations. and for the longest hoursi are 
the poorest paid, while those who merely scheme 
and speculate and monopolize natural resources, 
and obtain special privileges, and control gener- 
ally the means and instruments of production, 
live luxurious lives, free from the grinding pov- 
erty of the great majority? 

How is this robbery effected ? In this way. 
The means of production are controlled by a 
small minority of society, and as access to the 
means of production is necessary to all, those 
who control them can exact from the producer all 
over Ihe bare cost of his subsistence. Competi- 
tion among the laborers for the privilege of 
“work," enables the possessing classes to skim 
off in the shape of rent, interest and profits, all 
the surplus product over the maintenance and 
cost of reproduction of_the laborer. We may say, 
therefore, that wealth when produced is divided 
into rent, interest, profits and wages. Wages 
represents the least amount of the product that 
the actual producer will accept under competitive 
conditions and continue the process of produc- 
tion. All over this amount is distributed among 
the non-producing classes in the manner de- 
scribed 

But here I ask the reader to note, that the share 
of labor in the form of wages is not in the least 
affected by the manner in which the three rob- 
bers of labor, rent, interest or profits, divide the 
swag, labor’s share is governed solely and exclu- 
sively by bi3 necessities. Eliminate rent and in- 
terest, and profits will absorb all over wages. 


Eliminate interest and rent, and profits will still 
retain all over the cost of subsistence of the 
laborer. 

It is difficult to say precisely in what propor- 
tion thtf three robbers of labor divide the swag. 
Taking England, whare pretty accurate statistics 
are kept, it would appear that rent forms less 
than a fifth of the ntal product, while interest 
and profits absorb two-fifths, leaving to labor, 
wh > produced it all, two fifths A great deal, 
however, that is credited to rent should properly 
be credited to interest on account of the advances 
of capital to land owners. It should also be 
taken into account that the rent roll of England 
is greater than that of any similar area on the 
globe. 

Mr. Borland’s article is designed to show the 
large share of the swag that the robber "rent" 
gets away with For which purpose he quotes 
figures and statistics to show the large amount 
that the private owners of natural resources are 
able to absorb from labor, the inference intended, 
being, that if such resources were made common 
property, labor to that extent would be benefited. 
No assumption could be more fallacious. As a 
matter of fact, land owners are mere hangers-on 
of the capitalists. Under our present system of 
production by enormous aggregations of capital, 
natural resources can only be eff ectively operated 
by the expenditure of large capitals The mines 
that Mr. Borland refers to are under the full con- 
trol of the capitalists. They have, of course, to 
reckon with the owners of those natural resources, 
but I here make the positive assertion, that the 
elimination of the private ownership of these 
mines and lumber industries would not in the 
least affect the wages of the laborers* The 
wages of the laborer would continue, as before, 
to be governed by his necessitiffk. Any saving 
effected by the elimination of rent, of royalties, 
or of stum page would be pocketed by the capi- 
talists in increased profits. These profits might 
be dissipated by competition among capitalists, 
but under no circumstances would the wages of 
the laborer be increased. Wages is governed exclu- 
sively by the supply of laborers seeking employ- 
ment. 

Let me give a local illustration of what I mean. 
Near this city (Los Angeles) is a beet sugar fac- 
tory, the plant — machinery and buildings — 
cost $6oo,ooo. the property of a private corpora- 
tion About 5.000 acres of land are devoted to 
cultivation of the beets. The owners of the fac- 
tory have no interest, whatever, in the ownership 
of the land. The factory pays an average of 
$4 50 per ton for the beets. Now, what are the 
factors that enter into the price of the beets- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


The price that the owners could pay after allow- 
ing themselves a fair profit on their investment ? 
Manifestly not, for at another factory in the 
northern part of the state $6 50 per ton has been 
paid for beets, with profit to the factory^ There 
are just two factors that enter into the price paid 
for beets, (1) the cost of the rent of land, (2) the 
cost of the subsistence of the producer of the 
beets. The rent of the land consti- 
tutes a tax of about fifty cents per ton of 
beets, so that after paying this tax the remaining 
$4.00 provides the laborer with the average stand- 
ard of living with his class. Now, let us assume 
that the owners of the factory borrowed $300,000 
at 7 per cent., this would be a tax on them of 
$21,000 per annum. Let us suppose that the gov- 
ernment decided to furnish money on proper 
security without interest, making the expense of 
so doing a charge on the public revenue. The fac- 
tory owners would at once transfer their loan to the 
government and save $21,000 per annum; would 
this affect the share going to wages? Not in the 
slightest ; wages would still be governed by the 
supply of labor. Now, let ss eliminate the pri- 
vate land owner by adopting the single tax, and 
for ease of illustration let us suppose that land 
being plentiful it could be had free of all rent in 
the vicinity of the factory : all that one had to 
do was to stake off what land could be cultivated 
with profit and raise beets for the factory Well, 
the laborer does so, and drives his wagon loaded 
with beats on the scales at the factory, and as he 
does so, asks the price of beets, and is informed 
—what? $4.50 per ton? Oh, no! beets are 
now only $4 00 per ton. Why? Because the 
producer being relieved from the rent tax of fifty 
cents per acre can procure the same subsistence 
as formerly at $4.00 per ton. Why did the pro- 
ducers of the beets accept $4.50 per ton for their 
beets? Manifestly because labor was plentiful, 
and competition among the laborers for the privi- 
lege of producing the beets would inevitably keep 
down the price that would return the average 
wage to the laborers. With rent eliminated they 
were just as well off at $4.00 per ton and were in 
no better position to sell their produce at a higher 
price. 

When the objection is raised to the single tax 
that the landlords would be able to shift the in- 
creased taxes onto the tenant, the reply of the 
single taxer (in which he is correct) is, that the 
landlord is getting all the rent possible now, and 
that any increase in his land tax must come out 
of his pocket. The same reason applies to the 
beet raisers; the reason why they accepted $4 50 
per ton, and later $4 00 per ton, is because they 


could get no more. Others would furnish them 
at that price. 

I will use this factory for another illustration 
Here are buildings, machinery, the raw product 
beets, and the finished product sugar, every atom 
of this wealth the product of labor alone. No- 
where has the landowner or the capitalist, as 
such, contributed an iota towards the production 
of this wealth. Ah, but some one says: “The 
capitalist certainly furnished the capital that set 
this industry in motion.” Yes, certainly, but is 
not capital itself the product of labor? If so. 
how comes this capital in the hands of those who 
produce no wealth. The answer is that they ab- 
sorbed it by means of rent, interest and profits, 
i. e., by controlling the means and instruments 
for ^he production of wealth. 

The mere elimination of the landowner will not 
disturb this process, we must control collectively 
the sources of wealth and culture. Under pres- 
ent conditions we allow a small minority of the 
population to control those sources of wealth who 
use it to keep the real producers in continual 
bondage, and worse, it breeds a population born 
and brought up under those degrading conditions, 
who accept the present status as natural and in- 
evitable, nay, who scowl and denounce those who 
endeavor to fight their battles, and show them 
how they are robbed and enslaved under the 
fierce competition for the privilege of increasing 
the wealth of the parasites who fatten and thrive 
on their credulity and ignorance 

To the ignorant black slave, slavery was just 
and natural. If he complained, it was of a hard 
master. Of the system that kept him in bondage 
he was too ignorant to discern the injustice 
Many ignorant workingmen look upon the Social- 
ists with horror and denounce them for tryiDg to 
overturn a system of wage-slavery that in many 
respects is worse than chattel slavery. No negro 
slave ever starved to death down south, they 
were too valuable to their owners, but our white 
slaves are now, hundreds of them, suffering the 
horrors of hunger and cold because their capital- 
ist masters have no use for them. Unless pro- 
duction can be carried on to their profit they stop 
the wheels of industry and let their unfortunate 
wage-slaves die like dogs. 

Is it not time that all workmen should unite in 
the endeavor to put an end to this wasteful and 
planless system of production, this miserable and 
degrading system of social and industrial anaichy 
and brutal competition, and substitute for it one 
of fraternal co-operation, where production shall 
be carried on for the benefit of all, and not for 
the exclusive benefit of a few useless drones and 


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parasites. Why should we continue to be their 
patient beasts of burden, thankful for the crumbs 
that fall from the bountiful tables our own toil 
has supplied? 

Why should we continue forever to build, 
equip and operate railroads, telegraph and tele* 
phone lines, build, manage and man our merchant 
marine, invent and construct machinery and fac- 
tories, and produce every commodity known as 
wealth, all for the bare privilege of retaining 
enough of the product to ensure us a bare and 
precarious existence, while the major portion we 
hand over like ignorant slaves to a useless class 
of non* producers? Why, indeed! 

And why should we, like ignorant slaves, de- 
fend a system that keeps us, and will keep our 
children, in degrading bondage? Our capitalist 
masters have the press and the pulpit on their 
side. They have also their paid attorneys, the 
professors of political economy, to show us that 
rent, interest and profits are natural and inevita- 


129 

ble, just as they formerly defended chattel slavery 
as natural and just. 

The socialist declares boldly that there are only 
two ways by which a man can exist: by bis own 
labor or by the labor of others. He who lives by 
the latter way is a robber, morally, if not legally, 
and the sooner workmen learn the truth of this 
proposition, the sooner will they shake off the 
leeches and parasites that are robbing them of 
the fruits of their toil. To accomplish this re- 
quires united political action. Ballots, not bul- 
lets, is the remedy. To be free men we must 
control, in our own interest, not only our politi- 
cal system, but also our industrial system as well. 
Our political system, like our industrial system, 
should be of, for and by the people. In a word, 
we must own, collectively, all the means and in- 
struments for the production and distribution of 
wealth Then, and not till then, will involuntary 
poverty be forever abolished. 


OUR NEW YORK LETTER. 


Hard times continue to be the most disagree- 
ably pre-eminent feature of the day: and the 
wiseacres are sore put to it for reasons why they 
cannot be abated like any other nuisance. One 
species of controversy is happily relegated to 
obscurity by the conditions of the day; that over 
the will o’ the wisp which we call the currency ques- 
tion. There is certainly no scarcity of ‘'money” just 
now. nor is there any apparent danger of the 
standard being debased, so that both sides 
to this dispute are robbed of their most potent 
arguments. But there is scarcity of work and 
still greater scarcity of remunerative pay for it; 
and on this score New York is suffering as badly 
as at any time in the panic, if not worse. 

That the published accounts of destitution are 
overdrawn, goes without saying, for this kind of 
thing always is; but there is enough sad truth at 
the bottom of it to be very distressing, and all 
the more so that most of the remedies proposed 
are so palpably ineffective, or even worse 
Under this head comes the philanthropic fad for 
establishing "cost price stores," through which a 
few rich men have been making themselves more 
or less popular at the expense of the neighboring 
shopkeepers, whose trade they have injured or 
destroyed. If these contingencies were really ef- 
fective on any large scale, it is easy to see that as 
they would make their vicinity just so much 
cheaper to live in, rents would promptly rise in 
proportion; but unless permitted by landlords as 
a business enterprise, it is impossible for them to 


be very widely successful; for not only is an ele- 
ment of almsgiving, to the extent of free rent 
and service, indispensible to them, but the neces- 
sary condition of their existence, that they must 
be operated exclusively on a cash ba4is. is fatal to 
their being generally utilized by the people whom 
they are mistakenly designed to benefit Dwellers 
in tenement houses, receiving their wages only 
when their work is done, at intervals of not less 
than a week, must needs make most of their pur- 
chases on credit, the one thing peremptorily de- 
manded in advance, their rent, swallowing up all 
the little cash that they can accumulate ahead. 

Coal is the article in which this form of phil- 
anthropy has chiefly dealt; and seeing that so 
pronounced a conviction has been in this and 
other ways built up in favor of economy in fuel, it is 
quite creditable to a public spirit that when a big 
corporation started in to do some economizing on 
its own hook, by use of soft coal in place of 
hard, it should have met with a most indignaot 
and persistent protest. The fight with the steam 
company must have appeared most singular to 
westerners, accustomed as they have become to 
the almost exclusive use of soft coal; but this 
contest has actually called. forth more local pride 
than is often to be found in this heterogenous ag- 
gregation of people, called New York. It is hard 
for anyone not used to the absolutely clear air 
which we enjoy in eastern cities, to realize how 
strong a public sentiment suddenly sprung up to 
maintain this privilege, one of the few for which 


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THE "RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


we do not appreciably pay its price. As a usual 
thing with an agitation of this kind, it dies away 
and is forgotten in a little time; but when the 
steam company, after suspending the use of soft 
coal for a short while, presumed on this public 
indolence to start up with it again, they were 
brought up with a round turn and the officers 
were actually arrested and taken into a justice’s 
court on the charge of maintaining a public nui- 
sance. 

Public sentiment is apparently not as whole- 
some on moral subjects as this incident would in- 
dicate it to be on material ones, if some receat 
comments on the sequel to a divorce case may be 
taken as a fair guide. The co-respondent in this 
case was one of the topmost society leaders, which, 
of course, gave it particular notoriety, and every- 
one was amazed when he went on the witness 
stand and actually swore to the truth. For this 
heinous offense, one of the gossiping reporters 
lately asserted that he had been tabooed from so- 
ciety, and commented approvingly upon this so- 
cial verdict as contrasted with the treatment of 
another “society man" on his recent return to 
this country from Chili. This last interesting 
specimen, after distinguishing himself for some 
years in a series of drunken rows, was at last 
compelled to jump his bail and 'escape to Valpa- 
raiso to avoi^l a more than usually serious charge 
of assault. While there, came the Balmaceda 
troubles, and our hero had a chance to engage in 
his congenial occupation of fighting somebody, 
in defense of the Baltimore’s .bailors when they 
were attacked by the Chilian mob. For his 
"bravery" on that occasion he is now received 
with open arms by society while the other 
man is ostracized because he did not 
tell a lie on the witness stand in order 
to defeat the suit of the husband whom 
he had wronged; and quotes it as a proof of high 
social circles being better than they were thought 
to be 

That is a low grade of barbarism which so exalts 
brute force, but it is a lower one still which goes 
back to the moral status of the savage who has 
not learned that the highest duty of a man is to 
tell the truth — the one duty without respect for 
which it is impossible for men to maintain reason- 
able relations with one another; and that when a 
man has done wrong it is incumbent on him to 
make reparation, if that lies in his power, yet 
perhaps this reporter was only voicing his own 
idea of civilization. Certainly most Americans 
are not quite so silly as to make possible the 
ridiculous bit of the dark ages which was illus- 
trated by a canard published in Paris a few 
weeks ago. This was a gruesome tale of how, 


when the Germans were occupying the French 
capital, their emperor had stolen the head of Na- 
polean I and carried it off to Berlin with him as 
a trophy It really seems too absurd at this 
stage of the world’s history, such a story could be 
deemed worth inventing or that sane human be- 
ings could be worked up to indignation over it. 
but from the mere fact of its elaborate publica- 
tion, we are led to believe that the sincerely 
warped idea which prevails in France, of that 
much abused sentiment known as patriotism, 
goes to even such lengths as this. 

Perhaps the most decided case of patriotism 
within narrow lines that this country has ever 
seen is the curious loyalty of his neighbors to the 
dethroned Boss of Coney Island, whose convic- 
tion for election frauds has just given such wel- 
come proof that we have not become utterly indif- 
ferent to political corruption. Some of the other 
aftermath of our state election is not so cheering, 
notably the revival of investigating committees 
that the legislature has started up. These look 
very fine at a distance, perhaps, but we have had 
them ad nauseam so often that a man must be 
very green or very forgetful not to know that they 
are always rank failures except in -the way of 
carrying out faction deals. 

The great curse of New York politics is that 
one portion of the state is hopelessly one way as to 
party and the other portion the opposite way. 
instead of a natural division of sentiment diffused 
over the entire state. This condition of things 
reduces our politics to a perpetual bargaining of 
republicans dominant in the country districts, 
sometimes with one and sometimes another of 
the democratic factions in the city New sets 
of committees have now been started out, but 
the only result thus far has been to have Dr. 
Parkhurst display himself as a more arrant hum- 
bug than ever, his many boasts of things he bad 
discovered realizing absolutely nothing. 

The sickening catering to labor votes with all 
sorts of valueless concessions, has been conspic- 
uously absent this session of our legislature, 
which is a relief that it is to be devoutly hoped 
we may continue to enjoy. The less there is of 
this sort of sham, the sooner will the masses 
think out for themselves the means by which 
they will demand and obtain the reforms that go 
to the bottom of things. 

As bearing on the question of how much edu- 
cation to right thinking is still needed to dis- 
tinguish true remedies for social discontent, may 
be cited a newspaper account of how a fortune 
was made in Port Jervis, in the line of the Erie 
Railway, by the uncle of a man who has now 
lost it. In apparently perfect good faith the 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


writer discusses this fortune as "one of the 
chief mainstays" of the village; and then pro- 
ceeds to tell us the methods of its accumulation 
First, by buying up land cheap just before the 
railroad was built; which of course, other people 
bought and hired at higher prices, and so were 
forced to give a part of the proceeds of their la- 
bor for a mere privilege which the owner had got 
possession of. Second, by starting a gas com- 
pany as to which the reporter naively says that, 
"being practically Sole owner he could dictate 
the terms for light to all the inhabitants of the 
village.’’ Third, by means of a water company 
possessing a similar monopolistic power; and fin- 
ally, through a toll -bridge, the profits of which 


131 

were incidentally increased by locating one end 
of it on a block of land owned by this "main- 
stay" of Port Jervis. It is not hard to s^e that to 
call such a fortune as this the ‘mainstay of the 
village" is something akin to thanking a leech 
for the circulation of the blood; but just as 
quacks used to teach that a sick man could only 
be cured by taking from him the blood which 
was keeping him alive, so there are plenty of 
good, honest people who most sincerely believe 
that Port Jervis could never have grown to its 
present size if there had not been some such per- 
son to take from its inhabitants a certain per- 
centage of all their earnings. 

E. I Shrivbr. 


A Valentine. 

I ll build a house of lollypops 

Just suited, Sweetheart, to your taste ; 

The windows shall be lemon-drops, — 

The doors shall be of jujube paste — 
Heigh-ho, if you’ll be mine ! 

With peppermints I'll pave the walks ; 

A little garden, too, I’ll sow 
With seeds that send up sugared stalks 
On which the candied violets grow — 
Heigh-ho, my Valentine ! 

Some seats of sassafras I’ll make 
Because I know you think it’s nice ; 

The cushions shall be jelly-cake 
Laced all around with lemon-ice — 

Heigh-ho, if you’ll be mine ! 

We'll have a party every day, 

And feast on cream and honeydew; 

And though you’re only six, we’ll play — 
That I am just as young as you — 

Heigh-ho, my Valentine ! 

— Anna Af. Pratt , in February St. Nicholas 

Brothers All. 

Brothers all, whate'er the hue be 
Of the skin. 

If we labor ever to be 
White within ; 

Not the accident of feature. 

Race, or clan, 

But the soul within the creature 
Marks the man. 

C. S. O' Neill in February Donahoe's. 

’’So," said Jaxod, “our Chicago friend Blower 
has a new boy at his house." 

"Yes, and he named him Hamlet " 

‘That’s a queer name. Blower isn’t at all lit- 
erary or dramatic, is he?" 

"No, but he’s a pork packer." — Detroit Free 
Press. 


’Tis Winter, Love. 

O come, my Love, 

Your little hands are cold, 

I pray you think not I am overbold 
If I your little hands enfold 
In the warm clasp of love. 

’Tis winter, Love, 

The snow lies on the ground. 

And ne’er a Spring-time flower can yet be found, 
Nor in such sombre skies yet sound 
The bluebirds' songs of love. 

But hearis, my Love, 

Greet Spring upon her way, 

Prevent her coming with their blossoms gay. 

Sing in the storms their roundelay, 

And only know they love. 

— From Happenchatice. 


Sleighing. 


Jingle-de jangle-de jing! 

Ring, ye sleigh-bells, ring, 

Over the snow with Love I go, 
Jingle-de jangle de jing. 

Jingle-dc jangle-de jing! 

Around us thy romance fling, 

O virgin snow, we love thee so, 

O moon, with thy'silver ring 

Jingle-de jangle-de jing! 

With sled and with golden string 

Attached to my sleigh in a boyish way 
Is Cupid with spreading wing. 


Jingle-de jangle-de jing! 

Oh ring, ye sleigh-bells, ring, 

And, O moon above, look down on our 
love, 

And to-night see me be a king. 

— Gordon /Cent in Pittsburg Post. 

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Our readers who write to any of the firms advertising in these columns are requested to mention 

The Railway Conductor. 

E. E CLARK and WM. P. DANIELS, Managers. . E. E. CLARK. Eimtok-in-C him 

W. N. GATES, Advertising Manager, ag Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, O. 


TICKET BROKERAGE. 


The instructions of the late Grand Division 
relative to effort to secure the passage of a law 
prohibiting the sale of transportation tickets 
over roads engaged in inter-state traffic, by any 
person other than the authorized agent of the 
company, or ticket scalping, have been complied 
with and a bill, aiming to accomplish this, has 
been introduced in the senate by Senator Cullom, 
of Illinois. 

The following extracts from the report of the 
Inter-State Commerce Commission for 1890 set 
forth forcible arguments in favor of stamping out 
this "nefarious traffic:’’ 

The ticket broker has no necessary, useful or 
legitimate function. He is a self -constituted 
middleman between the railroad and the passen- 
ger All railroads have accessible and conven- 
ient offices and agents for the sale of tickets. 
The public can be fully accommodated by the 
regular agencies of the roads without the inter- 
vention of superfluous and obtrusive middle- 
men. 

As there could be no field of operation for this 
class of persons if the railroad companies ob- 
tained full established rates for all transportation 
furnished by them, the expenses of the business 
and the profits made by those who conduct it 
must necessarily in the first instance come out of 
the carriers, and represent simply the discount 
suffered by them from their established fares and 
the resulting diminution of revenue. But indi- 
rectly this diminution of revenue is made up by 
the public, for while the business continues the 
carriers have it in mind in making their rates, 
and charge higher rates than would be necessary 
for fairly remunerative revenue if there were no 
such drain upon them to support the auxiliary 
force of scalpers. 

The business is therefore hurtful both to the 
roads and to the public in a financial sense, and 
tfie extent of the injury it is scarcely possible to 
measure. The harm done by an army of un- 
scrupulous depredators upon a legitimate business 
can not be computed by any known standard 
Lawless greed recognizes no limits, and weak 
compliance by its victims only stops at exhaust- 


ion. But the moral injury both to railroad 
officials and to the public is even greater. To rail- 
road officials the business serves as an invitation 
and an excuse for dishonest practices. It is used 
as a cover, deceitful and transparent it is true, 
for evasions of law and for dishonorable viola 
tions of compacts among competing roads to 
maintain agreed schedules of rates. The public 
morals are affected by the natural inference that 
railroad officials are deficient in sense of honor 
and integrity, and that if the railroad code oi 
ethics permits one road to cheat another it is 
equally permissible for the public to cheat the 
railroads. The inevitable tendency of the prac- 
tice, therefore, is to eliminate the moral element 
and the rule of action that element inculcates— 
business honor — from the practical field of trans- 
portation. 

In whatever aspect ticket .scalping may 1 * 
viewed, it is fraudulent alike in its conception 
and in its operations The competition of roads 
affords the opportunity for the work of the 
scalper Without rival roads competing for 
business he could have no field The prosper: 
of selling more transportation at a discount than 
at the established raie, and so diverting business 
dishonestly from a competitor, is the temptation 
to a road to let a scalper do for it secretly what it 
does not dare to do openly The weak excuse of 
every road that transgresses in this manner is 
that some competitor does it. Fraud therefore, 
is the incentive to the business And in its con- 
duct every step is one of actual fraud The 
scalper's vocation the necessity for his occupa- 
tion, is to sell transportation at less than pub- 
lished and established rates; in other words, be- 
low lawful charges. Every such sale is a fraud 
upon the law. a fraud upon competing roads, and 
a fraud upon the stockholders and the creditors of 
the road for which the sale is made. 

But bad as these transactions are. they are nor 
the worst There are other branches of the 
business which we are told by railroad official* 
are practiced, to their actual knowledge, which 
are even more culpable. These are said to em- 
brace such acts as dealing in tickets and passes 
that have been stolen, and tickets that have al- 
ready been used but not defaced or canceled by 
conductors, as also in tickets fraudulently altered 


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the railway conductor. 133 


in respect to dates or extent of journey, and 
spurious tickets to which the use of some artful 
device gives the appearance of genuineness. 
In *uch cases an imposition is practiced either on 
a railroad or upon a passenger, certainly upon 
the latter if the fraud be detected. Whether all 
or only some brokers engage in these fraudulent 
practices, or whether the frauds by which stolen, 
defunct, or altered tickets are palmed off on the 
public and on the railroads as well, are perpe- 
trated by brokers themselves, or by others act- 
ing in collusion with them, are not material. 
The acts are incidents of the business, and argu- 
ments of great potency for legislative action to 
eradicate the evil 

One might suppose that a practice of this char- 
acter could no more be defended than larceny or 
forgery, but strange as it may appear it is de- 
fended, before legislative bodies and elsewhere, 
and the right to carry it on unmolested is de- 
manded. It is urged by way of defense that 
through the ticket scalper a portion of the public 
get lower rates and therefore his operations are 
in the interest of the public. The circumstance 
that lower rates so obtained are forbidden by the 
fundamental principle of the law, that equality of 
charges for equality of service shall be made, 
and »hat such rates are unjust discrimination, is 
wholly disregarded by this defense. 

It is also said that railroad tickets are mer- 
chandise. and may be bought at wholesale at any 
price for which they can be procured, and may be 
sold at retail for any price the purchaser will 
pay. This, again, ignores the plain require- 
ments of the law, that a railroad as a public 
agency must establish and publish its fares and 
charges, and sell its transportation only at its es 
tablished rates, and that it is declared a criminal 
offense to do otherwise The merchandise theory 
is an entire perversion of the nature and objects 
of railroad tickets. A railroad ticket instead of 
being merchandise, is in law only a receipt or 
voucher for the payment or cost of a journey, 
and evidence of a contract on the part of the rail- 
road to carry the passenger. It imports that the 
lawful price of carriage has been paid, and that 
the holder is entitled to the extent and kind of 
transportation indicated by the instrument 

Another defense of the business is put on the 
benovelent ground that passengers holding tickets 
for a considerable journey often change their 
minds, or are obliged by some happening to stop 
short of their destination, or to return without 
making the whole journey, and that by the chari 
table interposition of a broker the tickets are 
taken off their hands at no great loss, whereas 
otherwise the loss might be considerable. This 
overlooks the obvious fact that it is quite as con- 
venient for a passenger to have his unused ticket 
redeemed at the office of a railroad upon which 
he is travel ng as at the office of a broker, and 
that at a railroad office he can receive the full pro 
rata value r f the unused part of his ticket with- 
out losing the broker's profit. 

These are, in brief, the grounds upon which 
ticket brokerage is publicly defended, and which 
are urged to prevent legislation for the suppres- 
sion of an acknowledged abuse of large and grow- 
ing dimensions, seriously injurious in its char- 
acter, bad in its influence, and owing its existence 
to the vices of human nature. 


The leading railroad officials of this country 
are a unit in the recommendation of a national 
law for the suppression of the business, embody- 
ing the general features of the Canadian statute. 
Several of the state legislatures have enacted 
laws of a similar character, but in the absence of 
a national statute they cannot be made as effect- 
ive as they would bte with a national statute on 
the subject 

It is stated by a Canadian railroad official that 
there is not a ticket scalping office in Canada. 
This tends to show the effectiveness of a general 
law, and renders it probable that like results 
might follow from such a law in the United 
States. The Canadian statute, in substance, for- 
bids the sale of tickets by anyone except a rail- 
way station agent or the regularly appointed 
agent of a legitimate transportation company, 
and fixes full responsibility upon the company 
whose ticket he sells for his acts, and puts it in 
the power of any person to make complaint and 
prosecute for violation of the law. The law also 
provides that all unused tickets or portions of 
tickets shall be redeemed by the issuing com- 
pany. This takes away any excuse on the part 
of the public for dealing with outsiders 

These features are embodied in the act now 
pending before congress, together with penal 
provisions for the punishment of offenders. The 
two safeguards that are deemed essential, and that 
it is believed will work a substantial cure of the 
evil, are, first, the limitation of the sale of tickets 
exclusively to duly authorized agents of the com- 
pany. who shall publicly display their license or 
certificate; and, second, the redemption on a fair 
basis, by the issuing company, of all tickets not 
used in their entirety. 

Add to these the arguments from the standpoint 
of the train conductor. The continual annoy- 
ance of being obliged to exercise eternal vigilance 
in looking out for these fraudulently obtained 
and altered tickets. The occasional deduction 
from his salary in payment of the fare repre- 
sented by such worthless ticket, which in the 
hurry and anxiety attendant upon the discharge 
of his many and exacting duties, he has inad- 
vertantly honored. The frequent controversies 
with holders of such illegitimate transportation 
which at times go to extremes and not infre- 
quently end in lawsuits, and which in the case of 
Brother Lew. Price, of the Ohio and Mississippi, 
ended in his being murdered in cold blood by a 
passenger from whom he exacted payment of 
fare in lieu of a worthless ticket tendered for 
passage. The importance of the removal of 
temptation from the pathway of the weak, 
which if not resisted by everyone, places the 
whole number under suspicion. A few weeks 
since a conductor on the N. Y , N. H. & H. Ry. 
was arrested, charged with having sold to scalpers 
at various points, tickets which he had lifted on 
his train but which be had failed to cancel. The 
rumor was immediately set on foot that a number 
of the conductors were involved in the conspir- 


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<34 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


acy to defraud and this rumor — which proved to 
be unfounded — was published to the world in the 
daily papers. Another instance of a lie started 
which the truth can never overtake. The strong- 
est argument from our standpoint is that if we 
expect to further increase the compensation re- 
ceived by our members, or even to hold on to 
that which they now enjoy, we must 
depend upon an improvement in the earnings of 
the lines by which they are employed. Vast 
sums of money, which can never by any possibility 


benefit us, go yearly into the till of the scalper. 
If that amount were distributed among the men 
in the shape of increased compensation it would 
be a matter of surprise to many when the per 
centage of increase was made known. The em- 
ploye has a right to share in the prosperity of the 
property which he assists in operating. If we 
assist in increasing and protecting the earning 
capacity and revenue of our employers we can 
look for more consideration from them in the 
matter of salary. 


THLE RAILROAD Y M. C A 


Railroad men the country over are taking more 
interest every year in the workings of the Y. M. 
C. A., and especially in those branches organized 
more particularly for their benefit. Wherever 
these branches have been instituted and properly 
conducted they have greatly advanced both the 
material and moral welfare of the men brought 
within their influences and these practical results 
have made warm friends of many outside the 
ranks of those who are enrolled among the active 
workers. The present month has been chosen 
for another International Conference of this de- 
partment, and it now promises to be largely at- 
tended and productive of much good to the mem- 
bers. At the request of C. J. Hicks, secretary of 
the International Committee, we reproduce the 
call for this meeting, reading as follows: 

The Seventh International Conference of the 
Railroad Department of the Young Men’s Chris- 
tian Associations is hereby called to meet in New 
York City, March 29 to April 1 All Railroad 
Associations and Departments are invited to send 
representatives. 

The Committee of Management of the Railroad 
Branch of the New York Association has invited 
the Conference to meet in the Railroad Men’s 
Building, 361 Madison avenue, and has offered to 
provide entertainment for those in attendance who 
are properly introduced, either by the Railroad 
Association of which they may be members, or by 
the International Committee. It is expected that 
entertainment will be provided for all who at- 
tend, but any Association desiring entertainment 
for more than five representatives, should arrange 
the matter by correspondence at least a week 
previous to the opening of the Conference. 

The program will be announced in a later cir- 
cular It will include papers and discussions 
concerning important phases of Railroad Associa- 
tion work, addresses from prominent railroad 
officials and others, and will be arranged with a 
view to strengthening the entire Railroad work, 
as well as to being personally helpful to those in 
attendance. 


It is hoped that each Railroad Association 
will be represented at this Conference. Chris- 
tian railroad men at unorganized division points 
are also specially invited to attend and take part 
in the discussions. The opening session will be 
held Thursday evening, March 29. 

The names of those desiring entertainment 
should be sent at as early a date as possible to 
G. A. Warburton, Railroad Secretary, 361 Madi- 
son avenue, New York City. 

Those who have not been able to follow close- 
ly the workings of this department will doubtless 
be interested in the following brief resume of 
what was accomplished by it during the past year, 
taken from the Year Book for 1893: 

The department now includes 97 Railroad 
Associations and departments, employing 116 
railroad secretaries and assistants, with 23.000 
paying members during the year, and a much 
larger number resorting to the rooms, which are 
always open to all the employes of railroad, pal- 
ace car, express and telegraph companies, and 
men in the railroad postal service There are 
2,510 members serving on committees. Of these 
associations thirty-six occupy buildings owned by 
them, or placed at their service by the railroad 
management. 

The total average daily attedance at the rooms 
in eighty-seven associations was 7,816. Eighty- 
five associations paid out last year for current ex- 
penses $176,243. Of this amount, about 25 per 
cent, was contributed by the employes and the bal- 
ance by the railroad companies. They are sup- 
plied with seventy-four libraries, containing 48,- 
975 volumes, most of them in constant use. In 
seventy-four of these associations 233.636 baths 
were taken. Twelve thousand, eight hundred 
and ninety-eight visits to sick and injured men 
were made by the secretaries and committees in 
ninety-seven associations. 

This is certainly an excellent showing and all 
who are interested in bettering the condition of 
the railroad man will hope to see such a good 
work prosper. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 133 

THE NORTHERN PACIFIC SETTLEMENT. 


The conferences between the receivers of the 
Northern Pacific and their employes, ‘relative to 
the wage schedule proposed to go into effect Jan. 
i, last, were brought to a close by an amicable 
adjustment of the differences between them early 
last month The series of meetings which led up 
to this desired end commenced in November, and 
it was not until Feb. 10 that the chairmen of 
committees representing the various organizations 
and the representatives of the General Officers 
were able to agree, making it in all the longest 
conference of the kind ever held. Every possi- 
ble phase of the points at issue was ably present- 
ed and the discussions thereon were marked by 
the patience and deliberation shown by both 
parties The settlement that was finally made 
was in the nature of a compromise between the 
schedule proposed by the receivers and the origi- 
nal requests of the men. While in some partic- 
ulars the schedule, as agreed upon, does not do 
full justice to the employes, the best possible un- 


der the circumstances has been done, and we 
have what seems to us abundant reason to believe 
that, with improving business, we will be able to 
regain at least a part of what has been taken 
from them. 

A motion to modify the Jenkins order would 
have been made, and on refusal, an appeal would 
have been taken, pending these conferences, had it 
not been feared that the interests of the men 
would be jeopardized by such a course On Feb. 
15, five days after the settlement had been concluded 
motions were made before Judge Jenkins, asking 
that his orders of Dec. 19 and 22 be modified by 
striking out the more objectioaable parts. These 
motions were originally set for hearing Feb. 23. 
but that date was afterward changed to March 2. 
Should the desired modification be then refused 
an appeal will at once be taken and the question 
will be car- ied up until the right of a judge to 
issue such far-reaching orders has been authori- 
tatively determined. 


ARE RECEIVERS PARAMOUNT? 


By far the most interesting and, at the same 
time, roost significant feature of the legal history 
of this country during the past year is to be found 
in the appeal made by railroad employes to the 
federal courts for protection against the encroach- 
ments of receivers appointed by such courts. 
This was not done until judicial aid had been in- 
voked by the representatives of capital against 
the labor employed by it, and was then accepted 
as the last resort to men who were determined to 
abide by the laws of their country and had still 
faith that justice could be thus obtained. It was 
a radical innovation, as laborinr men had always 
relied upon their own exertions aDd the righteous- 
ness of their cause to obtain justice, and had felt 
that there could be but little hope for them in a 
legal contest with their employers. While the 
results of the experiment have not been satisfac- 
tory in every particular, there is encouragement 
in the firm stand taken by many of the judges 
appealed to. for even-handed justice for both em- 
ployes and employers, and justice is all the work- 
ingman wants The movement is still in its 
infancy, however, and no just measure of its ben- 
fits can be taken until the court of last resort has 
shown by its decision whether or not the laws, as 
they now stand upon the statute books, and ihe 
courts, as at present constituted, can be relied 
upon to preserve the rights of the common people 
when brought in conflict with the apparent ad- 
vantage of great corporate interests 


There is one phase of the new departure, how- 
ever. that may now be studied with profit and the 
lesson taken home by all who have the best inter- 
ests of labor at heart. It is to be found in the 
widely divergent constructions of the law and of 
the powers of the court as made by the various 
judges befor« whom these cases have been 
brought. Nothing of late years has given so 
complete an illustration of the “law’s uncertain- 
ty” and the variability of the judicial mind 
Even where the questions of law and fact were 
identical, different judges have delivered opinions 
as widely divergent as right from wrong The 
recent rulings made by Judge Ricks and by 
Judges Hailett and Riner in passing upou the 
power of a court to go behind the returns made 
by a receiver appointed by such court, are directly 
in point and a brief contrast of these conflicting- 
opin ons may be found of profit in this connec- 
tion. 

In December of last year the receiver who was 
operating the Toledo. St Louis & Kansas City 
road under Judge Ricks, of the federal bench, 
announced a reduction in the pay of his em- 
ployes Following the line of action commended 
by Judge Speer in the Georgia Central case, a 
petition was filed before Judge Ricks by the em- 
ployes of that road, askrog him to issue an order 
restraining the receiver from making this reduc- 
tion This petition was made in good faith, hy 
over 500 of the men, who offered to show th.^t 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


136 

their wages were already below the limit of de- 
cent living and that the reduction was unneces- 
sary and uncalled for. On the other hand, the 
receiver contended that the reduction was made 
necessary by the reduced earnings of the road. 
After a hearing, in which no evidence was pre- 
sented, though offered by petitioners. Judge Ricks 
refused to issue the restraining order asked, hold- 
ing, in effect, that a court could not investigate 
the merits of such a contest but must accept the 
report of the receiver in all matters of detail. 
The followingextracts from the extended opinion 
handed down by the learned judge will better for- 
mulate his views upon this point than any synop- 
sis that could be attempted : 

The rfcc* iver appointed by the court to operate 
and manage the defendant railroad, pending fore- 
closure proceedings, is an officer of the court, and 
in that capacity represents all parties interested 
in the property. The persons employed by him 
occupy such a relation to the court that in a con 1 
troversy between them and the receiver concern- 
ing any alleged wrongs and injuries committed by 
him, they may be heard by the court upon a 
proper application being made. When such ap- 
plication is made, it becomes the duty of the 
court to consider the same and if the allegations 
are of a character to make it proper to further 
consider them, the receiver should be required to 
file an answer thereto. The court will then be 
able to determine from such pleadings whether 
4he issue between the parties is of such a charac- 
ter as to make it proper to hear testimony and 
make a formal investigation, either by reference 
to a master, or by hearing witnesses in open 
court But the very object in having a receiver 
experienced in the management of railroads to 
represent the court and operate the road and pre- 
serve the property preparatory to a sale, is to re- 
lieve the court from the responsibility of its main- 
tenance and management. 

The receiver is chosen on account of his expe- 
rience and sound judgment to operate the road 
for the benefit of the creditors and all concerned. 
While he is the officer of the cotirt. and subject 
to the orders and directions of the latter, yet bis 
instructions are always general in their character. 
He is expected to look after the details of the 
business and to apply to the court from time to 
time when special instructions seem necessary. 
The very nature of his relations to the court, and 
his duties to the creditors, entitle him to the 
largest degree of discretion possible in the dis- 
charge of his duties. 

The court is constituted of several judges, and 
the railroad being operated extends through sev- 
eral judicial districts, so that it is difficult to 
secure uniformity in the administration of the 
property when an attempt is made to retain con- 
trol of the details of the management in the 
court. 

It is therefore the settled practice, both as a 
matter of comity between the judges and as a 
matter of necessity to the proper and safe admin- 
istration of the trust, to impose, as far as possi- 
ble, the management of the property to the re- 
ceiver, and to remit the super vision of his man- 


agement to the court in which he was appointed 
and in which the primary jurisdiction attached. 

In view of s this well defined policy, it must be 
apparent that in the operation of a railroad ex* 
tending from Toledo to St. Louis the court must 
necessarily rely upon the receiver, and bold him 
responsible for details His discretion in such 
management will not be interfered with except 
where some abuse and wrong is manifest. 

#**««**«» 

Reference is made to these general charges and 
to the more detailed character of the issues pre- 
sented, for the purpose of showing how useless 
and barren of results would be an investigation 
upon the questions of fact involved. This court 
must accept the official reports of the receiver 
and the statements of his books, as final on any 
issue as to whether or not there has been a de- 
crease in the earnings of the road The verity 
of bis accounts could hardly be said to be put in 
issue by a denial of a decrease of earnings found- 
ed on any calculations made on such a partial and 
imperfect basis as the earnings of a few trains, as 
set forth in the petition. 

Then the court is asked to hear testimony and 
pass upon the question of whether a few section 
foremen or deputy division superintendents, or a 
few clerks, could be dispensed with, so that a re- 
duction in the wages of others might be made un- 
necessary. The receiver avers that the petition- 
ers are paid wages as high, and some higher, than 
is paid for the same kind of labor by competing 
lines in the same territory. This petitioners de- 
ny, and recite facts and figures which seem to sus- 
tain their claim, but which, as stated are suscep- 
tible of examination to sustain the receiver's aver- 
ment. 

All these issues, if entered into, involve the 
court in a consideration of the entire present or- 
ganization of this railroad, and in an examination 
as to the entire force of employes; whether they 
are too numerous; whether their wages are too 
high; whether some could be entirely dispensed 
with, or their duties combined in a fewer number, 
whether the rates of freight are too high; whether 
the earnings could be increased and the expense* 
diminished. 

The very statement of the questions necessarily 
involved and to be fully considered and deter- 
mined by such an investigation, and the nature of 
the evidence to be taken and considered in sup 
port of the various issues presented, is in itself 
sufficient to suggest the answer that the court can 
not entertain any such proposition. As before 
stated, the determination of all such matters must 
necessarily rest with the receiver, and only when 
it is manifest that he has abused that discretion 
will the court interfere It will then interfere, 
not by assuming to reverse his administration and 
settle the details of such complaints, but by select- 
ing a new receiver, to whom such matters can 
more satisfactorily be entrusted. * * * 

The court feels authorized, for these reasons, 
to continue its management of this property under 
the judgment and discretion of the receiver, and 
to decline to interfere unless an abuse of that 
trust is shown. To the proper management of 
the property it is essential that there should be 
discipline and co-operation among all employes, 
and that the authority vested in the receiver 
should be maintained. This will be the policy of 


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THE RAILWAY 


CONDUCTOR. 


the court and ooly when an abuse of that author- 
ity is dearly shown will it interfere. The matter 
of wages is one that naturally appeals to^the sym- 
pathy of all. It would be far easier and much 
more agreeable to accede to this demand than to 
refuse it. If it were a mere matter of personal 
preference, or an appeal to the generous impulses 
of the court or the receiver, there would be no re- 
duction of wages; but this property is a trust, to 
be administered for the benefit of creditors, and 
roust be maintained and preserved to the best 
possible advantage for the interests of those whose 
money is unfortunately involved in the insolvent 
company, as well as for the just and fair compen- 
sation of those whose labor operates and preserves 
it. 

For the reasons stated, the motion of the peti- 
tioners for an order to the receiver to set aside 
the scedule now in force, and to grant an investi- 
gation as to the necessity thereof, is refused 
Judge Dundy was in full accord with these 
views when he accepted the ex parte statement 
made by the Union Pacific receivers and gave the 
schedule presented by them his official sanction. 
He went even further, and gave the men no op- 
portunity whatever to be heard in remonstrance 
against a reduction of their wages, thus utterly 
ignoring their rights in the matter. This high 
handed course did not go long unrebuked. When 
the same order was presented to Judges Hallett 
and Riner a few days after to have it made effec- 
tive in Colorado and Wyoming, they not only 
uarnped the seal of their disapproval upon the 
Qethods pursued by Judge Dundy, by demanding 
ifair hearing for the men, but, with equal direct- 
ness, controverted the doctrine advanced by 
Judge Ricks and declared the court to be the tri- 
bunal of final appeal in all differences that might 
arise between receivers and their employes. Their 
decision was as follows: 

In the matter of the petition filed by the receiv- 
ers of the Union Pacific system in relation to 
certain proposed schedules affecting the employ- 
ment of men engaged in the service of the vari- 
ous railway and telegraph lines comprising that 
system, now in the hands of the receivers; we are 
cf the opinion that it is necessary to the proper 
and economical management of the properties 
now under the control of the receivers to adopt 
and maintain rules regulations and schedules 
governing the conduct and employment, and the 
establishment oi wages of all persons employed 
in the service of the receivers in and about 
the management, operation and conduct of the 
business in relation to these railways and prop- 
erties. 

It appears by the pleadings in this case that 
prior to the appointment of the receivers certain 
rules, regulations and schedules the result of 
negotiations between the managers and employes 
of the various railway lines entering into and 
composing the Union Pacific system, touching the 
matter set forth in the petition, were in force, 
recognized and acted upon by the employes and 
managers of the railroad companies comprising 
this system. 


137 

Our own view is if the receivers deem it ad- 
visable and necessary to the proper and economi- 
cal management of the properties in their hands 
that rules, regulations and schedules differing 
from those in force at the time the property came 
into their hands should be adopted, that a hear- 
ing upon the question of proposed changes 
thought necessary by the receivers be had in the 
first ins ance before the receivers, that the em- 
ployes affected by any proposed change be noti- 
fied and be given time and opportunity to point 
out to the receivers any inequality in the sched- 
ules or any injustice wiich they may think will 
be done them by any proposed changes in the 
rules and regulations. 

“If. after such negotiation and cdnsultation, the 
receivers and employes are unable to agree as to 
any proposed rules, regulations, item or items of 
the wage schedules proposed, let the matters of 
difference be referred to the court for final deter- 
mination If this course is pursued, the result, in 
our judgment, will be, that after a full consulta- 
tion and discussion of these matters between the 
receivers and enrployes. meeting as they will in a 
spirit of fairness upon both sides, determined to 
do the right thing under existing conditions, very 
little will be left to the determination of the court 
in relation to this matter This course not hav- 
ing been pursued in this instance, we deem it ad- 
visable to deny the prayer of the petition of the 
receivers, and an order to that effect will be en- 
tered in this district and in the district of Wyom- 
ing ’’ 

If all our courts were actuated by the senti- 
ments expressed in this last opinion, there would 
indeed be hope that the workingmen might 
find in them a constant and insurmountable 
bulwark against injustice and oppression. The 
statement, “If this course is pursued, the result, 
in our judgment, will be, that after a full consul- 
tation and discussion of these matters between 
the receivers and employes, meeting as they will 
in a spirit of fairness upon both sides, determined 
to do the right thing under existing conditions, 
very little will be left to the determination of the 
court in relation to this matter,” is eminently 
characteristic of the fairness which evidently ani- 
mates the entire decision and of the faith these 
gentlemen have in the law abiding, justice loving 
spirit governing the great body of American citi- 
zens as well as the few who are called upon to 
serve as receivers This faith was abundantly 
justified and the correctness of the statement veri- 
fied by the amicable settlement reached in the 
Northern Pacific conferences, under the exact 
conditions here laid down Nor were they want- 
ing in other confirmation as is shown by the fol- 
lowing ' 'advice” given one of the Union Pacific 
attorneys by Judge Caldwell a few days after: 

You have taken advantage of the employes be- 
hind their backs. Go back to Omaha and revoke 
your wages order and then I will take up your 
case. Prepare and advertise your schedule and 
give the men notice. I think sixty days might 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


138 


Dot be unreasonable. I will come to Omaha and 
hold a conference with your receivers and repre- 
sentatives of labor societies and we will see if we 
can not agree upon a schedule that will be just to 
employes and such as the receiver^ can afford to 
pay. 

Following, and somewhat supplemental to 
this, Judge Caldwell issued the following order 
holding the entire matter of the new schedule in 
abeyance, and ordering a conference between the 
receivers and representatives of the men to con- 
sider and agree, if possible, upon a schedule that 
will be acceptable to both parties: 

Since the action of the courts in the different 
districts in this circuit on the petition filed by 
the receivers for leave to revoke the schedules 
of wages of the employes in force when they 
were appointed, and to adopt new and reduced 
schedules, has not been uniform and harmonious, 
and since it is desirable and necessary that any 
order made on said petition should have a unifr rm 
operation upon the lines of railway operated by 
said receivers throughout the cireuit, and since 
the receivers had revoked and annulled their action 
heretofore taken, ordering new wage schedules 
into effect on the 1st day of March, 1894, and 
have resolved that the entire matter of new wage 
schedules be held in abeyance to await further 
action of the court, it is now heie ordered as fol- 
lows: 

1. That the petition of the receivers for leave 
to set aside and annul the schedules of wages of 
the employes on the Union Pacific system in force 
wh 4 n they were appointed, and to adopt new 
schedules equalizing, and in some cases reducing, 
the wages of the employes, be set down for hear- 
ing before the circuit judges at Omaha, Neb , on 
the 27th day of March, 1894. 

2. That the receivers forthwith, or as soon 
as may be practicable, invite the proper repre- 
sentatives of employes on said system to attend a 
conference at Omaha, Neb., commencing on the 
15th day of March, 1894, for the purpose of con- 


ferring with S. H H. Clark, receiver (who is 
hereby specially designated and selected to con- 
duct said conference in t ehalf of the receivers), 
and such other person or persons as he may select 
to act with him, at which conference the entire 
matter of proposed changes in wage schedules 
shall be taken up and, as far as possible, agreed 
upon between the said Clark and said representa- 
tives of the emplojes. Such conference to con- 
tinue from da\ to day until such agreement is 
reached. 

3. That in case there are any matters in dif- 
ference remaining unadjusted, such matters of 
difference shall be clesrly and specifically stated 
and presented to the court in writing on or be- 
fore the 27th day of March, 1894. and the hear- 
ing herein shall proceed as to such matters io 
difference before the circuit judges of the court, 
and after hearing the parties and their witnesses 
and counsel the circuit judges will make such or- 
der in the premises as may be right and just. 

4. That the receivers grant to such represen- 
tatives of the employes leave of absence to attend 
said conference and hearing and furnish them 
transportation to Omaha and return. 

Much the same stand was subsequently taken 
by Judge Woolson, of this state. These differing 
opinions show how far apart the lower courts are 
upon matters that are of vital importance to every 
working man in the nation and especially to the 
railroad employes who all are directly interested. 
They also show how important it is that the high- 
er courts should, as speedily as possible, decide 
clearly and definitely the relations between a re- 
ceiver appointed by the U. S courts and the em- 
ployes of the property in his charge, in order that 
it may be determined whether or not the fact that 
a man is in the employ of such receiver has the 
effect of abridging his rights as a citizen, and if it 
does so abridge his rights, why? 


COMMENT 


If the numerous court decisions which have 
lately been directed against the labor interests of 
the country have the effect — and I am inclined to 
think that they will — to awaken workingmen to a 
realization of their true position in the industrial 
economy of this country, they are the best things 
that have happened in many a long year, and the 
“labor problem" is much nearer a solution than 
many persons dream. As Chief Justice Taney’s 
decision in the Dred Scott case was really the 
death knell of chattle slavery in this country, so 
may the decisions of Jenkins. Dundy, Hicks, ft 
at, sound the death knell of industrial slavery. 
For years and years workingmen have been de- 
luded with the belief that this was the one coun- 
try upon earth where all men were equal in the 
eyes of the law, but recent decisions are of a na- 


ture to dissipate that delusion, and unless Ameri- 
can Freedom is merely* an'empty phrase we have 
reached the beginning of the end of our indus- 
trial difficulties. 

# « # 

The capitalists have at last shown their hands, 
no honeyed phrases concerning the “dignity of 
labor", “freedom of contract", “freedom of in- 
dustry", and so on, will longer serve to disguise 
the fact that the intention is to place working- 
men in abject slavery to the property interests of 
this country and crush out* of -them* every spark 
of independent manhood through processes of 
law. But the capitalists depend too’much on the 
American workingman’s traditional respect for 
law; they forget that law is’respec ted only in pro- 
portion as it is felt to be just, and that when it 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


is felt to be oppressive by reason of unjust feat- 
ures men are mighty apt to ignore and override 
the law They forget, too. that workingmen 
have it in their power to change the law; that 
all they lack is unity of purpose to bring 
about an entire revolution in our whole 
governmental polity within the short space 
of one election, and they are very super- 
ficial observers of the course of history if they 
fail to perceive that their present plan of action 
was the one thing needed to bring about that very 
unity which shall prove the workingman s salva- 
tion When workingmen once perceive that they 
have nothing to expect from an appeal to the law, 
when they see that the law is not conceived with 
the view to their protection, then has the time ar- 
rived when they shall be ready to make a united 
demand for a change in the law, and they have 
the exceptional advantage over workingmen in 
European countries that they do not need to 
bring about a political revolution as a prelimin- 
ary to anything else; they do not need to secure 
the right to vote before they can accomplish a 
revolution in the law, because they have that 
right already, and all that is needed is the con- 
sciousness of a comon danger to unite them so as 
to bring about an intelligent application of their 
power in a constitutional manner. 

# * * 

What is to be thought of the decision of Judge 
Cox in the Knight’s of Labor injunction case? 
Here was a petition presented in the name of 
three hundr - thousand workingmen who claimed 
that their ir terests would be adversely affected by 
an issue of oonds, and who might certainly be ex- 
pected to p. ''sent valid arguments in support of 
that claim, a aied a hearing — on what grounds? 
The judge sai 1 ; * On general principles, no per- 
son can legally begin an action against an officer 
of the governn ent, unless the rights of property 
of complainant or complainants are involved. 
The complainants have not shown that they are 
property-holders. They have no standing in the 
court as tax payers, and no legal right in the 
question as to a bond issue." In other words, that 
boasted badge of sovereignty. American Citizen- 
ship. is not sufficient to give a man "standing in 
court" and secure him against spoilation through 
processes of law. In addition to his citizenship, 
a man must be a property owner before he can 
acquire sufficient "standing in court" to secure 
consideration of any question affecting his inter- 
ests. Do workingmen require a more explicit 
declaration than that of the precise attitude of 
our law makers and interpreters with respect to 
their interests? The laws are made and inter- 
preted solely with regard for the so-called "rights 


139 

of property;" the rights of man are a secondary 
consideration. No person who calmly considers 
the events of the past few months can longer 
doubt that. When American citizens have no 
right to enter court for the purpose of enjoining 
an act of one of their own servants, an officer of 
government; when it is plainly given out that 
only the so-called property owners of the country 
have the right to invoke the aid of the courts to 
secure themselves*against the consequences of the 
pernicious policies inaugurated by government 
officials, then, surely, has the time arrived when 
we should revive the ancient traditions of our 
government and call for a new deal Surely, has 
the natural order become reversed and the ser- 
vant become greater than his master when it 
comes to that. 

# # * 

And what satisfaction did the Clover Leaf em- 
ployes get from Judge Ricks? What matter that 
the men’s wages were cut down to the point where 
they were no longer able to support their families 
in decency? They could get no relief from the 
court. The property interests, the bondholders 
who are drawing their quotas of interest from the 
earnings of the road, together with their high 
salaried agents, must be protected. They must 
not be allowed to suffer to any extent from the 
effects of their own mismanagement in the opera- 
tion of the property, but the employes must suf- 
fer all the consequences of the enforced reduction 
by having their -vages reduced below the point 
of respectable living, while the courts sanction 
the outrage in the name of the rights of property, 
holding the club of federal authority over 
the heads of employes to keep them in subjection 
and endeavoring to reconcile them to slavery with 
well worn sophistries about the rights of prop- 
erty. 

» * # 

No matter what the form of government may 
be, there is a limit beyond which those in author- 
ity cannot safely pass in their dealings with the 
people. In proportion to their intelligence the 
masses may be oppressed more or less by their 
rulers, but sooner or later — sooner among the more 
intelligent people, later among the less — the break- 
ing point is reached and there comes the explo- 
sion. The pages of history are filled with ac- 
counts of these explosions, and. what matter that 
they d > afterwards again become enslaved, the 
people, for the time being, invariably come out 
the winners. Events move quick in this age of 
the world and the people have reached a plane of 
intelligence where they are not likely to permit 
themselves to be again enslaved after the next 
explosion comes, if come it must. "After me, 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


140 

the deluge, ” is a poor motto for th '‘se v?ho are 
now in authority to adopt in their dealings with 
the masses, as it is awful hard to predict just 
when the deluge is liable to arrive, and those who 
hope to escape it may be engulfed instead of those 
to whom they intend to bequeath it. Those in 
authority should take warning; the limit of en- 
durance for the masses is pretty badly strained at 
present and the explosion is liable to come with 
very little more pressure If workingmen can 
learn wisdom from passing events they will unite 


their forces and secure emancipation in a peace- 
able and logical manner through the ballot box; 
if they can not, then the violent explosion must 
come, and unless the workingmen do learn wis- 
dom the latter event is not so far off but many 
persons now living shall be able to talk about it 
in their old age as our old soldiers now talk of 
our civil war. It is much to be hoped that work- 
ingmen will be wise enough to unite their forces 
and rally to the defense of our citadel of liberty 

"B" 


WHERE ARE WE AT?” 


The decisions and restraining orders emanating 
from federal Judges of l<te have caused us to de 
sire above all things else to know ‘ where we were 
at.” In an effort to learn this the proposed inves- 
tigation at the hands of Congress was set on foot 
and motion to modify the famous injunction 
issued by Judge Jenkins was entered in the court 
at Milwaukee. Arguments on the motion were 
heard by Judge Jenkins on the 2d and 3d insts 
The receivers were represented by ex Senator 
Spooner and Gen’l McNaught; the organizations 
by T. W. Harper, of Terre Haute, Ind , and 
Quarles, Spence & Quarles, of Milwaukee. The 
motion to modify the order contemplates the 
elimination of those portions which restrain the 
men from “quitting the service with or without 
notice,” in such manner as will embarrass the 
operation of the road and the officers of the or- 
ganizations from performing their duties under 
the laws of the organizations. No exceptions 
were taken to those portions of the order which 
restrain from destruction of property or the com- 
mission of acts of violence toward p-rsons who 
seek to continue in or enter the employ of the 
receivers. The organizations represented do not 
countenance such acts, and as we believe them 
all to be in violation of the laws of the land and 
that their commission would bring the perpe- 
trators at once in contempt of court, if the prop 
erty was in the hands of a receiver, we do not 
feel that the restraining order has any effect in 
tbes 1 particulars beyond calling these things to 
the attention of men generally. It certainly 
does not make the law any stronger or the pen- 
alty any more severe As both the attorneys for 
the receivers and the Jadge himself admitted that 
men had an unquestionable right to quit, it seems 
fair to presume that the decision which has not 
yet been rendered will concede the right to quit 
in concert, provided it is done decently and in 
order. The attorneys for the receivers also ad- 
mitted that in the connection in which the officers 


of the organization are restrained from advising, 
etc., with the employes, the language was too 
sweeping, and should be modified. As a result 
of the investigation of the action of Judge 
Jenkins in issuing this order we expect to see 
clearly defined the difference between the rela- 
tions as between the employes of a property in 
the custody of the courts and operated by a 
receiver, and their employers and those of a com- 
pany operated by its stockholders. The exact 
relations in which railway employes stand to the 
law as compared with men in other branches of 
industry — and we do not think there should be 
any — should also be brought out. V’e predict 
that when these matters have been thoroughly 
sifted and carefully investigated it will be found 
that men have as much right to combine lawfully 
for the purpose of enhancing the price of labor 
as they have to combine for the purpose of in- 
creasing the price of any other commodity. If 
organized labor respects and conforms to the laws 
of the land, the laws will respect organized labor 
If the contrary should prove true, organized 
labor has the power to secure the enactment of 
laws which will In legal controversies it is quite 
natural that the defeated contestant should feel 
that exact justice has not been done, but we do 
not doubt that the vast majority of our citizens 
desire to see justice, pure and simple, administered 
by our courts. That is all they demand ; they 
will be satisfied with nothing less What the • 
vast majority of our citizens earnestly desire, 
that they will, in time, have in the form of law 
and justice must be done though the heavens 
fall In passing upon matters in which these 
same principles were involved Judge Story said 

“If the person of any individual is not secure 
from assaults and injuries; if his reputation is 
not preserved from gross and malicious calumny; 
if he may not speak his own opinions with a manly 
frankness; if he may be imprisoned without just 
cause, and deprived of all freedom in bis choice 
of occupations and pursuits: it will be idle to 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


talk of his liberty to breathe the air, to bathe in the 
public stream or give utterance to articulate 
language If the earnings of his industry may 
be appropriated, and his property may be 
taken a way at the mere will of rulers, or the 
clajnors of a mob, it can afford little consolation 
to him. that he has already derived happiness 
from the accumulation of wealth, or that he has 
the present pride of an ample inheritance; that 
his farm is not yet confiscated; his house has not 
yet ceased to be his castle;* and his children are 
not yet reduced to beggary. If his public liber- 
ties. as a mm and a citizen, his right to vote, his 
right to hold office, his right to worship God 
according to the dictates of his own conscience, 
his equality with all others, who are his fellow 
citizens; if these are at the mercy of t*he neigh- 
boring demagogue, or the popular idol of the 
day; — of what consequence is it to him that he 
is permitted to taste the sweets, which may be 
wantonly dashed from his lips at the next mo- 
ment or to possess privileges which are felt more 


I 4 I 

in their loss, even, than in their possession? 
Life, liberty, and property stand upon equal 
grounds in the estimate of freemen; and oae be- 
comes almost worthless without the security of 
the others How, then, are these rights to be 
established and preserved? The answer is by the 
constitutions of government, wisely framed and 
vigilantly enforced; by laws and institutions 
deliberately examined, and steadily administered 
by tribunals of justice above fe<r. and beyond 
reproach, whose duty it shall be to protect the 
weak against the strong, to guard the unwary 
ag-iinst the cunning, and to punish the insolence 
of office, and the spirit of encroachment and 
wanton injury. 

God speed the day when our laws are without 
exception administered by such tribunals in a 
manner so eminently and considerately fair and 
just that none can be found to question or com- 
plain. 


BORROWED OPINION 


All laws are not righteous and all judges are 
liable to err But these facts do not justify un- 
lawful acts. If the laws are unjust a method has 
been provided by which they may be changed. 
If judges are corrupt or incapable they may be 
impeached So far as Judge Jenkins’ decision is 
concerned, we believe that public sentiment over- 
whelmingly condemns it as pernicious and in- 
equitable, but Congressman McGann, not Gener- 
al Sovereign, has adopted the true remedy. All 
true citizens should stay within the limits of the 
law. In going elsewhere a labor leader is betrav- 
ing the cause he represents. — Chicago Dispatch. 

•Ticket repairers” is the euphonious title of a 
branch of the ticket scalping fraternity whose 
honorable business it is to make over dead tickets 
and passes by filling in the date holes and punch- 
ing others, erasing names and destinations and 
substituting those which are desired, and in other 
ways committing forgery and robbery upon 'the 
railways One of these scoundrels is bold enough 
to write to ticket agents: "If you have any stock 
that you want repaired I can do it for you at a 
moderate price, and also guarantee you a good 
job that cannot be detected by an ordinary per- 
son or conductor.” It is further specified that 
the expert will eradicate ink and fill holes. The 
propriety of putting a stop to this class of crime 
by abolishing the traffic which alone makes it 
profitable, that of ticket scalping, can hardly be 
questioned by fair-minded men. — Railway Age. 

It is only natural that the press, dominated by the 
mental processes of the capitalist, should have no 
word of commendation for the effort of Congress- 
man McGann to make an example of the Mil- 
waukee judge, who struck a vicious blow at the 
liberties of workingmen in subserviently giving 
the Northern Pacific receivers an injunction for 
which they asked. * * * The Times discerns 

in Judge Jenkins’ injunction the most serious as- 
sault upon the freedom of men since the shackles 
were stricken from the wrists of the last Ameri- 
can slave. It is vital to the cause of labor — which 


is the cause of civilization and humanity — that 
this decision be overthrown in a higher court and 
that opportunity for other lawmaking on the 
bench of the same nature be forever destrpyed by 
the adoption of legislation such as is in Mr. Me- 
Gann’s very proper and temperate resolutions. 
But if the working classes here expect other jour- 
nalistic help in securing this legislation than that 
the Times can giv#» them they are destined to dis- 
appointment. — Chicago Times. 

The resolution in Congress for an investigation 
of the actions of the Federal judges in the matter 
of issuing injunctions against members of organ- 
ized labor to prevent them from striking or lend- 
ing encouragement or assistance, is a proper 
move. It will possibly be the means of prevent- 
ing the United States judges from stretching 
points and their power, so that the railroad cor- 
porations can be catered to There is no’question 
but what there will be a general uprising of labor 
if the trampling upon their rights with impunity 
is continued. There need be no fight between 
capital and labor at this time, but each one should 
accord to the other the rights which belong to it. 
The injunctions, as issued, instead of making the 
organized laborers submit without objecting, 
cause a general protest from all classes. Legis- 
lation is needed to protect the weaker class and 
we are glad to see an inquiry on foot before Con- 
gress Every little helps, and it is a step m the 
direction of legislation. — Railroad Telegrapher. 

If all the judges who are called upon to decide 
this matter will show the same spirit of fairness 
that has been shown by Judges Hallett and Riner 
there will be no difficulty in adjusting the differ- 
ences at issue. There has been a bond of sym- 
pathy between the company and the men hereto- 
fore, and it would be a most unfortunate matter 
to sever that relation. While the company has 
endeavored to play Judas in this matter, the men 
cap recognize that two wrongs never make a right 
and can prepare to meet the company in the same 
spirit of fairness that they have met them in the 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. . 


past, and as the judge remarked, “there will be 
very little left to the judgment of the court." 
The decision is just and all that fair minded men 
could ask It has recognized the rights of the 
men to be heard by their employers, it recognized 
the right of the employes t • appear in court 
against their employers, and, in short, it is the 
greatest victory ever won by organized labor in 
the courts, and it the advice of Judge Riner be 
followed, the end of labor strikes is near at hand. 
Railroad Trainmen's Journal. 

The coincidence of an order issued at Omaha 
by Judge Dundy at the instance of the receivers 
of tne Union Pacific railway company enjoining 
the employes of the company from striking against 
a cut in wages, with another order from the same 
judge granting to each of the five receivers a sal- 
ary of $18 000 per annum, is unpleasantly sug- 
gestive. It is one of those occurrences which do 
more to embitter the already strained relations 
between employers and employed and increase 
the difficulties in the way of an amicable adjust- 
ment than can be undone by years of lonciliatory 
effort. Whatever may be said of the necessity 
for a cut in wages of the railroad employes caused 
by the depression in business and decrease in 
earnings, and however unwise it may seem for 
employes to engage in a strike at a time when so 
many thousands of willing laborers are out of 
work, one thing is absolutely certain: that is, 
that mechanics and workingmen earning $2 and 
$3 a day by the labor of their hands will not con- 
sent without protest to a reduction of their own 
wages while five men are paid $60 a day, present 
or absent, for doing the work of one or two, and 
muddling with the multitude of counselors the 
management of affairs which would much better 
be intrusted 10 one or two competent persons. It 
seems to them rank injustice. Toward the use- 


less receivers who take the money, the judge wbo 
awards it. the government and the laws that per- 
mit it and the corporation that has not tbecoor 
age to oppose it. these men naturally have no 
friendly feeling. — Sew York Tribune. 

Is it not high time that the questions involved 
in these orders and injunctions of Judges Jenkins 
and Dundy were definitely settled by the highest 
of our judicial tribunals’ Whether there is 
grouod for impeachment against the judges, as 
suggested by the resolution of Mr. McGann, re 
cently introduced in the Hou^eof Representatives, 
there is certainly no room for question that the 
relations of the Federal courts to the receivers of 
failing railroads and of the receivers to the em- 
ployes of •the roads ought to be more clearly de- 
fined. While the necessity of receiverships im- 
plies the existence of conditions demanding re- 
trenchment of expenditure, it may well be asked 
if the policy of retrenchment should apply only to 
the subordinate employes, and what sufficient 
ground there is for paying inordinate and extrava- 
gant salaries to half a dozen or more of the bene- 
ficiaries of Federal patronage, whose positions 
are for the most part sinecures, while the mean* 
of subsistence of the daily wage earners are cor- 
respondingly curtailed. 

It is also of importance to know by what au- 
thority Judge JenkiDs, or Judge Dundy, or any 
other judge, assumes to enjoin the workiog force 1 
of a- railroad from striking against a reduction of 
pay, of in other words, from quitting employment 
when its returns become insufficient for subsis 1 
tence or otherwise unsatisfactory. There must I 
be limitations somewhere to the jurisdiction of a I 
Federal court over the liberty of the individual 
citizen, and what those limitations are no time 
should be lost in finding out. — Washington (D 
C.J Post 


During the recent convention of the American 
Federation of Labor in Chicago it was deter- 
mined to issue a monthly magazine, representa- 
tive of the principles of that organization. The 
first number was issued early this present month 
under the title of 7 'hc American Federationist , 
and something of its purpose may be gathered 
from the following brief extracts from Mr. Gom- 
per's salutatory: 

Much good may be accomplished by the timely 
discussion of events as they transpire in the eco- 
nomic. social and political arenas, and to present 
clearly their bearing and influence upon the toil- 
ing masses o’ our country. A word of advice or 
warning spoken at the opportune moment may 
either secu e for our cause a position of great 
advantage, or prevent an advantage oeing taken 
of it by its enemies * * * * * 

Our contemporaries — the labor press of Amer- 
ica — we count not only as our friends, glad to 
give and e titled to receive mutual support and 
co-operation, but we also look upon them as the 
vanguard and pion ers of the grand army of 
organized labor. We shall endeavor to work 
together for the organization of our fellow-toil- 
ers, to spread the light and do yeoman service to 


usher in the dawn of that better day for which 
the history of the human family has been one 
vast preparatoiy struggle. 

“Will you give me a kiss?" he pleaded 
“Just a little one ere I go?" 

“Oh, kisses," she answered, archly, 

“Are sweetest when stolen, you know.' 

Then a thief he became, bold and dating. 
Without half a minute’s delay, 

And like the Arab in the story. 

He silently stole away. 

— Kansas City Journal 
* * 

* 

The Scientific Publishing Company of New 
York recently issued a manual of parliamentary 
law that promises to fill a long felt want It is 
ably written and so arranged that any point of 
order liable to come up during any ordinary 
meeting can be referred to at a glance and in 
authoritative decision found. It will be founded 
special value by presiding officers, and any one 
desiring to become a parliamentarian should pos- 
sess one of these valuable works 


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The latest addition to our exchauge list is The 
Sunday Morning Railroader, published at 
Hornellsville. N Y As the name indicates, the 
new publication will be issued weekly, and, 
judging by the first number, it is entering upon 
a work that cannot fail to benefit the railroad 
men, and all classes of labor as well, in that por- 
tion of the state. 

The Railroad Register has passed under the 
control of Messrs B. M. Wallace and C. N. 
Gilflllan, they assuming official control on the 
16th ult. These gentlemen have already demon- 
strated their ability to furnish a strong labor 
publication, and under their direction the Regis- 
ter will doubtless grow to even greater influence 
th an it a ttained under th e able m anagement of 
Messrs. Morgan and Dunn \ 


desired in swiftness of service. — From "The High 
Building and Its Art,” in the March Scribner' s . 

The late Mr. George W. Childs was better 
known as an individual .giver than perhaps any 
other man in the United States, h is no exag- 
geration to say that Mr. Childs, for the last half 
of his life, put more time labor and pains into 
the work of giving than he did into making 
money. To many people he seemed to scatter 
his gifts broadcast and bestow them indiscrimi- 
nately. but his giving was not without method. In 
the Review of Reviews for March Mr Childs’ 
method of giving is appreciatively yet discrimi- 
natingly described by Talcott Williams, of the 
Philadelphia Press This article is illustrated 
with portraits of Mr. Childs at different ages, 
and engravings of some of his most notable gifts. 


"There is no better field for missionary work 
in this country than among those who have 
charge of athletic organizations at the large col 
leges The growth of athletics has been an enor- 
mous benefit to the American people, but the 
sports have not yet fallen into their proper place. 
We have allowed excitement and passion to run 
away with our judgment until it has become the 
duty of those who wish well for athletics to preach 
a doctrine of retrenchment We need a more 
sportsmanlike adherence to moderation and fair 
play ” — "Rowing at Harvard and Yale,” in Out- 
ting for March. 

The elevator is the great equalizer of our civili- 
zation, which brings the fourteenth story down to 
the second, and, by excessively rapid "express 
service." makes the twentieth floor scarcely more 
difficult of access than the third. In studying the 
growth of the high building it is not needful, per- 
haps. to emphasize the relative importance of 
each factor that adds to its merits, but the place 
of the elevator is fundamental; without it its 
chief merit would be gone, without it its upper 
stories would be as inaccessible as a mountain- 
top The development of the high building has 
hastened the development of the elevator, until 
to-day the "express” elevator leaves nothing to be 


Who are the most famous writers and artists of 
both continents? The Cosmopolitan Magazine 
is endeavoring to answer this inquiry by printing 
a list from month to month — in its contents pages. 
This magazine claims that notwithstanding its ex- 
traordinary reduction in price, it is bringing the 
most famous writers and artists of Europe and 
America to interest its readers, and in proof of 
this claim, submits the following list of contribu- 
tors for the five months ending with February; 
Valdes. Howells, Paul Heyse, Francisque Sarcey. 
Robert Grant, Joh^. J Ingalls, Lyman Abbott, 
Frederick Masson. Agnes Repplier, J. G. Whittier, 
(posthumous ) Walter Besant, Mark Twain St. 
George Mivart. Paul Bourget Louise Chandler 
Moulton, Flammarion, Tissandier, F. Dempster 
Sherman. Adam Badeau, Capt. King. Arthur 
Snerburne Hardy, George Ebers, De Maupas- 
sant. Sir Edwin Arnold, Spielhagen, Andrew 
Ling, Berthelot, H. H. Boye^en, Hopkinson 
Smith, Lvman J Gage, Dan'l C. Gilman. Franz 
Von Lenbach, Thomas A. Janvier. And for 
artists who have illustrated during the same time: 
Vierge, Reinhart, Marold, F. D. Small, Dan 
Beard, Jose Cabrinety, Oliver Herford, Reming- 
ton. Hamilton Gibson, Otto Bacher, H. S. Mow- 
bray, Otto Guillounet, F. G. Attwood, Hopkin- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


144 


son Smith, Geo. W. Edwards, Paul de Longpre, 
Habert-Dys. F. H. Schell How this is done for 
$1.50 a year, the editors of The Cosmopolitan 
alone know. 

The whale fishery was at one time an enormous 
industry in the United States. It reached its 
height in 1854. when 602 ships and barks, 28 
brigs, and 38 schooners, with a total tonnage of 
208,399, were engaged in it. By 1876 the fleet 
had dwindled down to 169 vessels, and it is doubt- 
ful if fifty are now at sea. The introduction of 
kerosene, and the increasing scarcity of whales, 
seem to be the causes of this decline. Some 
remarkable voyages were made in the old 
days. "The Pioneer” of New London sailed 
in June, 1864, for Davis Strait and Hudson's Bay. 
returning in September. 1865, with 1391 barrels 
of oil and 22,650 pounds of bone, valued at $150,- 
000. In 1847 the * Envoy , ,f of New Bedford, was 
sold to be broken up; but her purchaser refitted 
her and she made a voyage worth $132,450. On 
the other hand, a vessel made a five years' voy- 
age. and on her return the captain’s lay was only 
eighty five dollars But, as the Nantucket cap- 
tain, whose vessel returned from a three years' 
voyage as clean as she went out, remarked. "She 
ain’t got a bar'l o' ile — but she had a mighty fine 
sail!" — Gustav A'obbe, in March St. Nicholas. 

The March number of The Century contains a 
great variety of points. The opening article is a 
sketch of the Tuileries under Napoleon III , 
written by a lady who was a governess in one of 
the court families The accompanying portraits 
are especially interesting. The announcement of 
the book on Lourdes by Zola gives timeliness to 
"A Pilgrimage to Lourdes,” by Stephen Bonsai — 
a graphic record of individual experience at this 
famous shrine. Mrs Van Rensselaer describes 
one of New York's most beautiful buildings, the 
Madison Square Garden; * Josiah Flynt” writes 
of "The City Tramp ' and incidentally shows the 
crying need of organized charity; Prof. Edward 
S. Holden tells a good deal that is new about 
earthquakes, and how to measure them; the Rev. 
Dr. Washington Gladden writes of "The Anti- 
Catholic League ' in a way that will attract wide 
attention; William Mason, the well known musi- 
cian, discusses the work of the Norwegian com- 
poser, Edvard Grieg. Major Andre also is a 
•contributor” to this number; his account of the 
• Mischianza.” the famous festival given in honor 
of Sir William Howe in 1778. is printed from 
Major Andre's manuscript, heretofore unpub- 
lished. 

Better and better! The March number of 7 'he 


Midland Monthly . Des Moines, contains over 
thirty elegant engravings Its descriptive articles 
stones and poetry are unusually interesting 
"Deep Sea Dredging,” by Ed. L. Sabin, describes 
a cruise of^ State University scientists off the 
’ Bahamas and the Cuban coast. Sam Clark, of the 
Gate City, has a grand sketch of James Harlan, 
illustrated with early and late portraits Tbe 
third installment of "Beatrice" is a charming de- 
scription of the heroine’s trip up the Tomantic 
Atchafalaya. Miss Bertha McClelland, an art 
student abroad, contributes a vivid description of 
"Picturesque Paris.” Miss Ora E. Miller, Presi- 
dent of the Woman's Board of Iowa Commission 
ers, contributes her second and last paper on 
"Iowa at the World's Fair " This paper inclndes 
portraits of Iowa's representatives at the Fair, a 
full page portrait of Mrs Ketcham's famous 
statue. 1 Peri at the Gate of Eden.” and other 
pictures. Mr. Brigham, f he Midland's editor 
has an illustrated paper describing Liverpool and 
the ride through Derbyshire to London The 
Editorial Department is well sustained, and the 
publisher tells of rich feasts just ahead. The 
Midland has absorbed the large subscription list 
of The Literary Northwest, of St. Paul, thus 
adding greatly to its fast-growing list of readers 

The bulk of the carrying trade of the Atlantic 
and Pacific is not carried on in ocean greyhounds 
and doubtless never will be if the principle, so 
successfully invoked in the case of the "New 
York" and the "Paris," is to be of general service 
to Americaa shipowners and shipbuilders it musi 
not be restricted by conditions as t j tonnage and 
speed which enable only those with the great 
capital commanded by the International Naviga 
tion Company and the Cramps to make use of it 
Possibly as a tentative measure the act of 1893 
was properly restricted; and certainly the corpo- 
ration which secured the passage of the measure 
and the shipbuilding firm which has developed 
into a source of profitable employment for labor 
and capital, deserve credit. They have demon- 
strated that a more liberal policy toward shipping 
than that which was adopted in theetrly years 
of the republic as the price for the continued 
maintenance of the institution of slavery does 
not mean the closing of American shipyards 
The experiment has now been made successfully 
It has been shown that the admission of foreign 
built vessels to American registry is possible 
with a simultaneous iocrease io American con 
struction, and may even contribute to it — 
From " A Present Chance for American Ship- 
ping," in North American Reviexc for March. 


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“A Friend to the Order" must let the editor 
know who she is if she desires her communica- 
tions to appear. — [E d. 

Tacoma, Wash., Feb. 12, 1894. 
Editor, Railway Conductor : 

Sometime has elapsed since anything has ap> 
peared in The Conductor ir. behalf of Mt. 
Tacoma Division No. 35 L. A. to O. R. C, It is 
with pleasure I report that our prospects are very 
encouraging. Nov 27th we gave a complimen- 
tary social toMt. Tacoma Division 249, O. R. C., 
and their families, which proved to be a very en 
joyable affair. At 8:30 p, m. Mrs. W. J. Milli- 
can. President, welcomed the guests in behalf of 
Mt. Tacoma Division 35. after which an interest- 
ing program consisting of music and recitations 
•as rendered . 

All then repaired to the reception room, where 
refreshments were served, and the remain- 
der of the evening was enjoyed in cards and 
dancing. Dec. 13th was our election of officers 
for the ensuing year, which resulted as follows : 
Mrs. C. S Cranson, President; Mrs. H. Beals, 
Vice President ; Mrs. E. E. Young. Secretary 
and Treasurer; Mrs. F. E. McFarlane, Senior 
Sister ; Mrs E. Z Hurd, Junior Sister; Mrs J. 
Page Guard ; Mrs J Stamper, Chairman Exec- 
utive Committee. Mrs W. J. Millican. Corres- 
pondent. The retiring officers, and esp daily the 
president extend grateful thanks to the members 
for their kind support during the p 1st y°ar, 
which, I am pleased to say, has been one of sun- 
shine. Every sister aimed to cultivate all that is 
warm and genial, understanding that there is 
more virtue ia one sunbeam than in a hemisphere 
of clouds and gloom, and that it is the sunshine, 
not the clouds, that give beauty to the flowers, but 
should troubles come we must remember that they 
give sinew and tone to life, fortitude and courage 
toman It would be a dull sea and the sailor 
never acquire skill where there was nothing to 
disturb its surface. The art of forgetting is a 
blessed art, but the art of overlooking is quite as 
important 


Feb. 7th Division No. 35 gave its second com- 
nlimentary social to Division 249, O. R. C. There 
was in the vicinity of 150 present, composed of 
conductors, their families and friends Mrs. C. 
H. Cranson, President, greeted them on behalf of 
the Division, after which the following program 
was enjoyed : * 

Instrumental Music Mrs Hover 

Recitation Miss Ella Page 

Solo. * « Miss Avis Rouse 

Select Reading Mrs. C. H. Buckley 

Recitation Miss Ruie Dow 

Instrumental Music. Mrs. Hover 

To be followed by the two-act comedy drama, 
“The Castaway Yachters." 

cast. 

Bess Starlight Emily E. Ball 

(Cast up by the waves) 

Mother Carey Mrs. C. H. Dow 

(A reputed fortune teller) 

Minnie Daze.. Eva A. Dow 

(Hunter's niece) 

Biddie Bane Hannah W Ledger 

(An Irish girl) 

David Murray Chas. H Johnston 

(Keeper of Fairpoint lights) 

Hon. Bruce Hunter A T. Dickey 

Clarence Hunter W. F Clarke 

(His ward) 

Peter Paragraph J. D. O’Neil 

(Special Cor Tacoma Morning Union) 

Larry Dviae A. C Dow 

(Murray’s Assistant) 

Scud Claude T Woolf 

(Colored servant) 

The performance was concluded at up m , 
wh**n refreshments were served, after which 
dancing commenced, continuing until 1:30 a. m. 
With a greeting for all, I am 

Yours in T. F. , 

Correspondent. 


Toledo, Jan. 29. 1894. 
Editor Railiuay Conductor : 

The following officers have been elected for 
Banner Division No. 6 to serve during 1894: 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


146 

Mrs. Jas. McMillan, President; Mrs M A. 
Loop, Vice-President; Mrs. ], Powers, Secretary 
and Treasurer; Mrs. V. Hendrix, Senior Sister; 
Mrs. A. McIntyre. Junior Sister; Mrs. Can trie, 
Guard; Mrs. H. O. Wright, Chairman of Execu- 
tive Committee; Mrs. E. W. Purrett, Corres- 
pondent. 

Banner Division is in an exceedingly flourish- 
ing condition and the outlook is very bright for 
the coming year. We meet on the first and third 
Fridays of each month and our meetings are well 
attended. We have a membership of sixty- five 
and applications coming in steadily. 

Sister Sewell, from Huntington made us a visit 
some time ago and taught our ladies the new floor 
work in which we are very much interested. We 
expect to keep two teams in practice. 

Toledo Division No. 26 and our Division are 
going to give a complimentary ball to our friends 
February 14. 

The charity ball and cake walk given by 'Divis- 
ion No. 26, January 19, was a great success. Our 
Division assisted in selling tickets, and the aid 
thus given was fully appreciated. 

Yours in T. F., 

Correspondent. 


, Colli nwood, Oho Feb 16, 1894. 

Editor Railway Conductor . 

We of Aura Division No. 26. L. A. to O. R. 
C., are only a small band of twenty-three mem- 
bers situated in East Cleveland Township, and 
many of you perhaps do not know of our exist- 
ence. But here you will find us meeting the first 
and third Thursdays of each month, and thor- 
oughly enjoying each gathering. 

The following officers were duly elected and 
installed for this, the new year: 

President. Mrs. W. H. Moulton; Vice-Presi- 
dent, Mrs. Jennie Ward; Secretary and Treas- 
urer, Mrs G B. Carmer; Senior Sister, Mrs. A. 
M. McCowen; Junior Sister, Mrs. L C. Arthur; 
Guard, Mrs. J E. Burns; Chairman of Executive 
Committee, Mrs. A. M. McCowen; Correspond- 
ing Secretary, Mrs. F. E. Barnett. 

We are now making arrangements for a 
“poverty social” to be held at the home of Sister 
Arthur, of Granger avenue, Tuesday evening, 
March 6, at which all Sisters will be duly fined if 
they come dressed in their Sunday best. 

Hoping this will find a small space in your 
worthy journal, I remain 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. F. E. Barnett, 
Corresponding Secretary. 


Harrisburg, Pa , Feb. 26, 1894. 
Editor Railivay Conductor : 

Keystone Division No 47, Ladies Auxiliary to 
the Order of Railway Conductors, was organized 
in Sible’s Hall, this city, February 1. 1894. by 
Mrs B F. Wiltse, President of Erickson Divis- 
ion No. 5 of Philadelphia. The following offi- 
cers were elected and installed: 

President, Mrs W. K. Ross, Vice President. 
Mrs E. Myers; Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs 
J. Bender; Senior Sister, Mrs. T. Gilliland. 

Junior Sister, Mrs. A. H. ; Senior 

Guard, Mrs L. Hartzell; Chairman of Execu- 
tive Committee, Mrs. J. E. Stutzman; Corres- 
pondent, Mrs A. H. Eastright 

Mrs. Wiltse was assisted in instituting the 
Division by Mrs Meek, Mrs. Stackbous^. Mrs 
Bender and other ladies from Division No. 5. also 
Mrs Vandike, of Sunbury, and Deputy Grand 
President Mrs Robert Kline We organized with 
thirty charter members and with several ladies 
who had their names down, but couldn’t attend 
that day. 

Keystone Division has come to Harrisburg to 
stay and we expect soon to have a Division sec- 
ond to none in the state, as we have quite a large 
field to work where at least two hundred ladies 
can become members. Mrs. Wiltse said she nev- 
er organized a Division with better prospects 

In the evening we held a public installation of 
officers, at which quite a number of conductors 
and their wives were present. After the installa- 
tion ceremonies Chief Conductor Gilliland pre- 
sented us with a handsome altar Bible, from the 
members of Dauphin Division No. 143, O R C . 
which was received by our President, Sister Ross, 
who replied with appropriate words of thanks. 
The formal proceedings then closed and all pres- 
ent sat down to refreshments, consisting of ice 
cream and cake, provided by the ladies. All did 
full justice to the feast and enjoyed the social 
hour which followed. All present were well 
pleased with the manner in which they had been 
entertained. 

We will meet in Sible’s Hall, corner of Third 
and Cumberland streets, the first and third Wed- 
nesday of each month, at 2 p m . Where we will 
have the latch string on the outside of the door, 
and will be pleased to see any visiting sister who 
may be coming this way. With best wishes to 
all, I remain. Yours iD T. F . 

Mrs A H. Easthuwu. 

Division No 47 

• 

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Feb 18, 1894 
Editor Railivay Conductor : 

The Auxiliary to the O R C of this city is 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


progressing nicely. Our place of meeting is in 
the K. P hall on First Avenue, and the meetings 
are generally well attended. Our society is less 
than one year old and has i6 enrolled members, 
all good workers, who are abundantly able to car- 
ry it successfully forward. Since the organiza- 
tion of the first Auxiliary to the O. R. C. there 
have been 48 Auxiliaries formed. 

The first meeting of our Division in December, 
1893. we elected as officers for the ensuing year: 

President. Mrs. Chas. Ross; Vice President, 
Mrs. W. L. Francis; Secretary and Treasurer, 
Mrs R B. Chenoweth; Senior Sister, Mrs. W. 
H. Buttry; Junior Sister, Mrs. J. Neyholz; 
Guard, Mrs. Frank Barber, Chairman of Execu- 
tive Committee, Mrs F. Barber; Correspondent, 
Mrs. W. N Barr 

On or about Feb 28 our Grand President is 
expected here for the purpose of organizing an 
Auxiliary at Eagle Grove, Iowa. They have ex- 
extended a cordial invitation to our Division to be 
in attendance, and as many of our members as 
deem it possible will attend. 

Since our organization our ladies have given a 
number of very successful sociables. 

Mrs. W. N. Bark, 

Cor Sec. 


Bellevue, Ohio, Feb. 11. 1894. 
Editor Kail way Conductor : 

Autumn Leaf Division No. 12, L. A. to O. R. 
C.. held a public installation and banquet in their 
Division room in K of P hall Jan. 31, 1894. 

We extended invitations to our Grand Presi- 
dent and to three sister Divisions, No. 6, No. 1 
and No 25, but they were unable to attend, which 
we much regretted We also were greatly disap- 
pointed in not having our Grand President, Mrs. 
J H. M x>re. to install the officers There being 
a meeting of Grand Officers in Toledo on that 
date it was impossible for her to be with us. 
Mrs. Jas. Sweeney kindly offered to act as install- 
ing officer, assisted by Mrs J. J Hill. The fol- 
lowing officers were installed: 

President. Mrs Jno. R. Myers; Vice President, 
Mrs Geo. Harper; Secretary and Treasurer, 
Mrs. L C Brown; Senior Sister, Mrs Chas. 
Burgess; Junior Sister, Mrs. Thos Harper; 
Guard. Mrs R. A M>ers; Chairman Executive 
Committee. Mrs Thos. Conner; Corresponding 
Secretary, Mrs F C. Fess 

After installation the following program of vo- 
cal and instrumental music was very creditably- 
rendered : 

Instrumental Miss Clara Forsha 

Recitation — The O. R C Master Geo. Hill 

Instrumental Miss V Davy 


>47 

Vocal Miss Edna M. Sauer 

Vocal Miss Dora V. Brown 

Recitation Miss May Collins 


Assistant Chief D. J. Gillespie, being the high- 
est officer present, was then escorted to the pre- 
siding chair and presented with an elegant altar 
cloth, a gift from the L. A to Bellevue Division 
134, O R. C. Mr. Gillespie responded in a few 
well chosen remarks. After the presentation a 
vocal duet by little Ada and Susie Haynes was 
rendered. After the above program all joined in 
a social good time, and at the announcement that 
supper was ready all repaired to the banquet 
room and partook of a very good supper. After 
supper the banquet room wascleired and dancing 
was indulged in for a few hours. When the par- 
ty broke up all pr-sent assured us that they had 
spent a very pleasant evening. 

Our beloved sister, Mrs. F. M. Nye, was our 
Corresponding Secretary, but she has been too 
sick to represent us in The Conductor. We 
miss her dear face from our midst very much and 
hope she will speedily recover. 

We are still small in numbers, but are prosper- 
ing. which is all we can ask for 

As this has become quite lengthy and there 
may be others anxious for a little space, I will 
wish all a good, prosperous year. 

Yours very truly in T. F.. 

Mrs. F. C. Fess. 

Cor. Sec. No. 12. 


“Easter” and “Form.” 

Everyone, man. woman and child, knows what 
to expect as "Easter time draws nigh.” Store 
windows rival each other in the display of 
"Easter cards.” "Easter books” and "Easter 
eggs ” If one were 10 judge the people by this 
formal display of Easter offerings, he would 
conclude we were a very zealous Christian peo- 
ple. indeed That is, if he understood the sig- 
nificance attached to the "egg” on this occasion. 

Little children wild over the beautiful display 
in stores and windows, infected by the mania of 
giving, tax the parents’ pitience and pocket book 
in their desire to present all their friends with 
something in the shape of an "egg' on Easter 
morning, and why? Why give anything at that 
time, and why something in the sembiance of an 
"egg?” How many of them know why ? 

Just here it seems to me is the inconsis’ency of 
much form, at all times, with the masses. It is 
an expression of the letter without a thought of 
the spirit, which all form is supposed to repre- 
sent How many, in bestowing "Easter tokens.” 
stop to give with it the spiritual thought it is 

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148 

meant to symbolize. And of what use is the 
mere bestowal of such a gift without it. 

As the "stone was rolled from the Sepulchre,” 
and "Christ, the truth, came forth,” the living 
from the inanimate clay, so does life come forth 
from the closed shell of the "egg ” It is not to 
be insinuated that nearly all people, large and 
small, are ignorant of this significant, significance, 
not by any means. But does it not descend to 
mere mockery, if forgotten by both giver and re- 
ceiver? Does not any form savor of hypocrisy 
that is not the expression of an underlying senti- 
ment? The clasp of hands, the word of praise, 
all forms are soulless, void, when done for form 
alone. 

And not satisfied with the thoughtless giving, 
we must needs have eggs to eat, and plenty of 
them, too, some even priding themselves on the 
number they can digest on "Easter." turning a 
beautiful symbol into a block of stumbling, for I 
believe that gormandizing is considered sinful, 
even if it is eating too many Easter eggs. 

Even Christ’s overcoming the law of death was 
significant of a still deeper meaning than just 
that. It taught the lesson of the complete mas- 
tery of spirit over all flesh and all its environ- 
ments. Are we on the supposed anniversary of 
that great victory, to use: any symbol merely as a 
matter of form, forgetting the lesson it is intended 
to teach, in the pleasure of giving and receiving, 
and last of all, eatiDg? 

The fact of this being so often done is, of 
course, almost entirely due to carelessness. Some 
one adds, "and carelessness is not criminal.” 
Yet ignorance and carelessness often result in 
disaster as well as voluntary actions, and acting 
formality in anything is belittling to the soul of 
man. If we believe that Jesus rose from the dead 
many years ago on'Easter morn, and believe His 
rising has any bearing on our lives, are we not 
playing false to ourselves to let carelessness even 
make us neglect the thought that should always 
accompany this form of Easter giving? 

Mrs. N. D. Hahn 


Port Huron, Mich., Feb. 22, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

It is with pleasure that I again write a few 
lines in behalf of Michigan Division No 32 I 
feel it to be a duty as well as a pleasure to write 
for The Conductor and try and keep up an in- 
terest for our division. 

Our Sister Mrs. Helen McIntyre, who was 
elected president, resigned her office on account 
of pressing business matters and household af- 
fairs, and Sister Mrs. Sarah Daniels was ap- 
•pointed to fill the vacancy Our Junior Sister. 


Mrs. Aggie Davis, is recovering from a severe at- 
tack of malarial fever. Her pleasant counte- 
nance was greatly missed from our meetings during 
her illness, but we hope to see her soon at her 
office in our division room 

I noticed in the February Conductor an arti- 
cle from Detroit Division No. 44. and I am glad 
to hear that we have a division so near us. I 
understand a division has been organized at 
Grand Rapids with Mrs. C. G. Smith as presi- 
dent, and if all are as earnest workers as she is 
the division cannot help but prosper We know 
of her ability, as she was once a member of our 
division Wishing success to all readers of The 
Conductor, I remain 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. J. W. McCarthy, 

Cor Sec’y. 


Cleveland. Ohio. March 1. 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

With what a different feeling than formerly, 
before I became a member of the L A., I now 
turn over the pages of The Railway Conductor, 
and oh, so eagerly turn to the columns of the 
Ladies’ Department! A glance over the signa- 
tures, and familiar faces and scenes are before 
me. Then each contribution is carefully read — 
many of them penned by Sisters whose faces 
have been indelibly fixed in my memory — and 
tfhen I have finished I always feel like shaking 
hands or being even more demonstrative, not 
alone with those whose faces may be familiar, but 
with all the others as well. Their faces may be 
strange to me, but they, in the accepted sense of 
the word, cannot be strangers, for are we not all 
Sisters? I never read a communication from any 
of our L. A Sisters that I do not realize this re- 
lation and feel my right to claim them as friends 
and Sisters anywhere and everywhere. 

Sister Hahn’s article, "Is it Beneficial,” brings 
to our attention many truths of which we are 
often liable to be misappreciative. She is right, 
the L. A. ts beneficial, and experience teaches us 
that an intimate acquaintance with each other 
often proves to be one of the most attractive as 
well as instructive of these benefiis. We cannot 
long remain indifferent to the deserved merits of 
each and every Sister when brought into close 
relation with them. 

Criticisms should alwavs be avoided unless 
necessarily essential to the welfare of the Divis- 
ion. Cultivate "sisterly love" in every sense of 
the word, and our Sisters* shortcomings (should 
she be possessed of any shorter than can be found 
in our own "make-up”) will not trouble us very 
much In searching for the best there is in a 

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149 


Sister we will be surprised how much good and 
real worth we will discover. It is not essential 
to the interests of the Order, that we continually 
expose the faults and failings of our Sisters in an 
uncharitable manner. This should never be 
done! Charity should reign supreme in all our 
transactions as Sisters. 

By the way, incidentally, allow me to note the 
fact that the L. A takes the lead in Ladies' De- 
partment of the February number of Thb Rail- 
way Conductor, five pages being filled with their 
contributions while the Fraternal Department of 
tbeO. R. C. occupies but four, and more than one- 
half page of one of the four relates the good 
deeds of the wives of the Montreal Brothers — 
who are not of the L. A., but I am very sure 
should be — for their interest in the local division 
shows the right spirit. Montreal Sisters, why 
are you not joined with us in this great work? 
You could serve your husbands’ interests to so 
much better advantage by being organized as an 
auxiliary to the O. R. C. Let us hear from you. 

Thank you, Mr. Clark, for the privilege you 
extend in making us responsible for the success of 
the Ladies’ Department. Sisters, keep this in 
view, if the Ladies’ Department proves a failure 
from this time, Mr. Clark will throw all the 
blame on us, and probably we would deserve it, 
too. A word now and then from the correspond- 
ent of each division will keep the pages assigned 
os filled with interesting matter, and show to the 
readers of The Conductor that the L. A. is in a 
very flourishing condition. 

Right here I will begin my contribution 
for Bethlehem Division No. 1. which was the 
first intention of this article, but other thoughts 
intervening crowded it away, but only temporar- 
ily. as Division No. 1 is my home in the Auxil- 
iary and my highest interests in the Order are 
centered there. I am glad to record that our di- 
vision has wakened up considerably in the past 
few months, several things causing the general 
revival of interest In the first place, new 
officers who are giving perfect satisfaction. Sec- 
ond. a ball given in the interest of charity, at 
which an altar cloth was presented to the O. R. 
C Brothers of Division No. 14. Third, a visit 
of several days from Sifter J. M. Sewell, of 
Huntington. Ind . who came here and drilled a 
"team” in thenew floor work, which was exem- 
plified at the last Grand Convention by the Hunt- 
ington Sisters, and duly adopted by the Grand 
Division. Sister Sewell is the author of the work 
and deserves great credit, and the thanks of the 
whole Order for contributing so much toward the 
attractions of the lodge room. Fourth, we are 
now completing arrangements for a poverty 


party, "that us poor folks air a goin’ to hev,” 
March 15. "This reseption is to sellerbrate our 
Secon' Anniversary,” and we feel confident of its 
success, much more so than we did of our ball 
in January. We were very timid in making any 
unnecessary expense at that time, as times were 
so hard we feared we would not clear expenses, 
but we did far better than we hoped, and netted 
a sum to use to ligbteo some burdens which may 
be too heavy to bear As our next venture is tc be 
strictly a poverty affair, our expenses are down 
to the minimum and we are not worrying this 
time. In my next letter I will record the event 
and tell whether we enjoyed ourselves as poor 
folks should. 

Mrs C. P. Hodges, Div. No. 1. 


Denison, Texas, March 1. 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Turner Division No 28 is still to the front. 
We celebrated our first anniversary Feb. 22 by a 
surprise party on Mrs. C S. Williams, our past 
President. It was a complete suprise, but the 
charming hostess made everybody at home in a 
very short time. A sumptuous spread was pro- 
vided, and after the inner man was satisfied a 
handsome silver butter dish was presented to 
Mrs Williams. Our Prekident. Mrs Jno Ty- 
gard, made a very neat presentation speech, and 
the hostess responded gracefully A very enjoya- 
ble time was spent by all. May we have many 
such prosperous years as ‘93 has been. We are 
entering on our second year by offering a gold 
medal to the member who brings in the most pe- 
titions for the year, and we feel sure that our 
membership will be doubled We are also giving, 
a tea once a month at the members' homes, tak- 
ing the names in alphabetical order Our first 
one was at Mrs. R. T. Arthur's, and a very pleas- 
ant time was had. Yours in T F. . 

Mrs Cy. B , Cor 


A father in providing for bis family does not 
assist the strongest member first, nor does the 
strongest member either expect or desire it 
Every respectable man is a nationalist in his own 
home and a good deal of a brute in business 
His congenital traits are superior to his business 
traits God made his nature at the fireside: man- 
made his nature on exchange He is so consti- 
tuted, however, that he will do more for his fam- 
ily than he will for himself; he will do more for 
his country than he will for his family; and if he 
did but know it. he does best by himself who 
does best b> his family, and he does best by his 
family who does best by his country Human 
nature is made for socialized and nationalized 
activities, according to the testimony of common 
consciousness . — Mason A. Green, in Dona hoc' s 
for March. 


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Cleburne. Texas, Feb. 8. 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Oo February 1. last, Red River Division No 
262 celebrated its first anniversary with a ball 
and banquet, and I will venture the assertion that 
it was one of the most successful social entertain- 
ments ever given under the auspices of the Order 
in the Lone Star State. We were especially 
happy in selecting committees for this occasion, 
as all these gentlemen were fully up to the times 
in such matters and left nothing undone that 
could add in any measure to the pleasure of our 
guests. The friends who were present were de- 
lighted and expressed themselves as being con- 
vinced that the conductors were as capable in 
entertaining as they were in guiding the great 
iron horse with its train load of precious souls or 
the rolling commerce of this great country. 

The banquet was also equal to every demand of 
the occasion and it makes me hungry, even now, 
when I cast my minds eye over the delicacies 
that loaded the tables Thi-re were about 400 in 
attendance. and if their hearty commendation may 
be taken as a criterion, we have abundant reason 
for self congratulation upon the outcome of our 
first venture in the line of entertaining. 

Some portion of the credit for the success of 
our party must be given the officials of the G C 
& S F , who extended the courtesies of their road 
to all our neighboring friends, enabling them to 
attend and return home without delay at either 
end of their trip. We all join in returning 
thanks to these officials and hope to make our 
gratitude manifest by our never tiring efforts to 
accomplish the same results on the road as we 
did at the ball — success. 

Yours in P F . 

•'Observer 

Portsmouth. Va., Feb 10, 1S94 
Editor Railway Conductor : 


mence with this as the report of my first trip. 
On January 14 last we held our annual installation 
of officers with Brother Lewis Ellison as instal- 
ling officer and Brother Tom Clark as marshal. 
There was an excellent turn out of the members* 
which is at all times a pleasant thing to me. and 
all seemed highly pleased with the ceremonies as 
given by the officers named. The following 
Brothers will guide the deliberations of our Di- 
vision for the next twelve months 

J. W. Baylor. C. C ; A. L Roberts. A. C. C , 
J. C. Judkins. S. and T.; A. F. Naw. S. C.; J. 
A. Smith. J C ; W J Luke. I S ; J H Pru 
den O. S.; Division Committee: W F. Drum- 
mond. L N Cain and J A Smith 

At this, the beginning of a new year.it behooves 
us all to consider carefully whatever there may 
have been in the past twelve months that may 
serve to keep us from error in the time to come 
If we only use them aright. even our failures may 
be made to serve as beacon lights for our feet 
Whenever my mind reverts to this thought lean 
but recall our beloved chief. Brother Morris who 
but a short time since started on that last long 
trip we all must take, and the motto by which he 
was governed in his relations with his fellow 
men is as fresh in my memory now as when the 
words were first sp ken What could furnish a 
safer guide for a member of the Order than this: 
"Lo)al to my obligation and to my Brothers, let- 
ting nothing come between them.” If this state- 
ment could only find exemplification in the life 
of every member of the O K C in all this broad 
land of our s there would then be no Judas to be- 
tray. and every one who was enrolled under our 
glorious banner would be prosperous and happy 
Perhaps this will do for a trial trip and l will 
promise to try again, in the hope of doing better 
Yours Truly in P. F., 

Cor Div No 205. 


It has been some time since Division No. 205 
has been heard from through the columns of The 
Conductor, and. as I have been appointed to the 
responsible position of correspondent. I will com- 


Jackson, Tenn ..Feb 14. 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

I am surprised that so many of our correspond- 
ing Brothers, in their articles in Tub Conductor. 


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ignore the Auxiliaries and leave the ladies severe- 
ly alooe to hold up their own corner. Why, the 
very name of the order of our sisters suggests 
that help, aid and assistance, without which man- 
kind cannot exist — that is. the moral and social 
support of woman. Therefore, they should be 
encouraged in every way by the members of the 
O. R. C. in their noble efiorts, inspired by love 
and devotion to us. and their keen appreciation of 
our struggles in this great war of life. Every 
division cf the O. R. C. should have its Ladies’ 
Auxiliary as an incentive to worthy membership, 
and to unite the interest of the wives of members 
of the Order for moral and social improvement. 

Last evening, as ‘the somber curtains of night 
were pinned back by the stars and the beautiful 
moon leaped the skies," Ideal Division No. 39, L. 
A. to O. R. C.. gave Division No. 149 an enter- 
tainment that will ever be as a “living flower in 
memory's garden." The supper was superb; 
yea, fit for the gods! I will not attempt to give 
the menu, but will say that none of the dishes 
were served mentioned in Brother Sam Stewart's 
menu, given in his communication in the Jan- 
uary number of The Conductor. 

The main feature of tne entertainment was the 
presen a tion by the Ladies’ Auxiliary to our Di- 
vision of a beautiful altar cloth. It was pre- 
sented by Sister Robert L. Phillips with fitting 
and appropriate words that left a lasting impress 
on the heart of every Brother present, and was 
received for the Order by Brother G. B. Harris 
in a neatly worded reply of thanks in his well 
known, unassuming way, that expressed our due 
appreciation of the invaluable gilt. 

The altar cloth was made by the members of 
the L. A., of a fine drab tinted fabric, in the 
shape of elongated squares (if you will allow the 
expression,) the main center square being plain 
and fitting the top of the altar, while each of the 
elongated squares drops down, covering the four 
sides to a nicety. One side, or square, being 
beautifully embossed with golden butterflies, the 
opposite with exquisite white flowers; the third 
and fourth sides embossed with beautiful vari col- 
ored letters and figures, “Jackson Division No. 
149." on one, the opposite, “O. R. C." This, my 
Brothers, is a token we may well feel proud of. 

I must not forget to mention that, at this meeting, 
the ladies' ' Oh Why!” degree was most beautifully 
and solemnly conferred upon Brothers A. H. El- 
lington, W. A Gravett, Maurice Ranson. J. A. 
Cunningham and Sam Neff. Now-, this is a very 
interesting and enjoyable ceremony, but I am 
sorry to relate that the after pleasure of most all 
present was somewhat marred by Brother Mcll- 
wain losing his saddle “in the shuffle." At a 


1 5 1 

late hour we all dispersed to our homes, proud 
and happy that we were members of the O. R. 
C. and favored with such entertainments. 

Division No. 149 is in a flourishing condition 
and working harmoniously, having now eighty- 
four members and taking in all worthy material 
that comes within our jurisdiction. 

Yours in P. F., 

“Irish." 


Harrisburg, Feb. 21, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Last Sunday, at our regular meeting, we had 
quite a good attendance, there being forty-nine 
names registered; a better attendance than at 
any preceding meeting for qui*e a while. There 
is one particul *r thing wanted in Dauphin Divis- 
ion No 143. better attendance. Owing to the 
depression in busine>s railroad men are generally 
at home over Sunday, so there is no good reason 
for not having a good crovd at every meeting. 
We have some fine talkers on the business inter- 
ests of the Division and the Order in general. 
When we have a full h iuse all show a deeper in- 
terest and everyone gathers encouragement there- 
from. We want a revival in everything pertain- 
ing to the welfare of the Order, and every indi- 
vidual member has a work to perform to attain 
this great end. I have been elected correspond- 
ent to The Conductor by Dauphin Division, 
and this must answer as my first attempt at cor- 
respondence, but hope you may hear from us in 
the future. 

Yours in P. F., 

“Mox." 


Covington, Ky.. Feb 17, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

To day is the second anniversary of Blue Grass 
Division No. 322, which is claimed (by myself at 
least) to be one of the very best Divisions of the 
Order. We were started off two years ago to-day 
by Bro. Wilkins, with twenty- two members, six- 
teen by transfer card and six by initiation. Since 
then we have admitted by initiation thirteen and 
by transfer card thirty We have lost by trans- 
fer card one, expulsion one, death twb, suspension 
three and withdrawal one, leaving us fifty-seven 
members in good standing Of the original 
twenty-two, twenty were employed on the C & 
O Of the present members thirty-six are on the 
C. & O.. one on the S F & P, one on the Big 
Four, seventeen oa the L & N. and two are out 
of employment The Insurance Department is 
represented by thirty seven of them and thirty- 
one have paid their dues for the year and hold 
visiting cards. 


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152 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


But to resume out subject of last month. 

The fundamental principle of our Order is 
“equal and exact justice to all." The Grand 
Division, as at present constituted, does not em- 
body that principle to a very great extent. It is 
not altogether a representative body, that is the 
various Divisions and members of the Order have 
not equal representation in it. For instance, 
Division No. 89, with over two hundred mem- 
bers. has but one delegate, while Division No 
351, with perhaps but twenty members, has one 
delegate. There certainly is nothing equitable in 
that. Again, the delegate from Division No. 
34 1 will cost ordinarily at least three dollars per 
member, while the d -legate from Division 89 will 
cost, with the same rate of pay, only about thirty 
cents per member. Can that be equal and exact 
justice to all? The Grand Division as at present 
constituted, as well as not being a representative 
body, is too cumbersome an affair, it is too un- 
wieldy. The size of it should be reduced. It is 
said that “heavy bodies move slowly." The Grand 
Division is a heavy body that moves very slowly. 
If the weight of it was reduced, its speed would 
be greatly accelerated and the expense of its ses- 
sions would be reduced proportionately. It is 
our opinion that in Grand Division work fifty del- 
egates would accomplish more in three days than 
three hundred anl fifty accomplished at the last 
session in eight days, and that their work would 
be done more satisfactorily. 

My plan, then, is to amend Article II of the 
Constitutiun to the effect that the Grand Division 
shall consist of the Grand Officers, Past Grand 
Elective Officers, permanent members and one 
delegate for every five hundred members of the 
Order At the opening of the session I would 
have appointed, among other standing committees, 
a committee on apportionment, whose duty it 
would be to arrange the various Divisions into 
districts, composed of as nearly five hundred 
members each as possible, but no district to have 
more than five hundred and twenty or less than 
four hundred and eighty members, except where 
new Divisions are opened, then they should be 
temporarily assigned to the district to which they 
are contiguous. 

The estimated cost to the Divisions, and in 
making the estimate we have tried to be liberal, 
of a session of the Grand Division under the pres- 
ent plan of organization for delegates alone is not 
less than thirty-five thousand dollars, while under 
the plan proposed the cost would not exceed five 
thousand dollars, and the expense should be 
borne by the Grand Division. Each delegate 
should be paid a specified per diem of not more 
than five dollars for his attendance, including the 


actual time consumed in going and returning by 
the shortest traveled route by which free trans- 
portation can be secured. If free transportation 
can not be secured there should be allowed a 
sufficient sum to cover that item of expense. 

By this plan the cost of holding a session of 
the Grand Division would be so materially re- 
duced that it would be practicable to bold the 
sessions annually instead of biennially. On ac- 
count of appeals and questions that arise which 
the Grand Chief Conductor has no power to de- 
cide, many of which would be decided in one 
year, less time than at present, and for varions 
other reasons, this should be done. In that event 
the delegates should be elected for two years. 
Those elected in the districts with odd numbers 
to be seated at the session occurring in the year 
of odd number, and those elected in the districts 
of even numbers to be seated at the session oc- 
curring in the year of even number. Thus one 
half the delegates would hold over from one ses- 
sion to another, and any special committees that 
might be appointed to do any work during the 
intermission and report at the next session should 
be appointed from the members holding over 

As this article is already too long, I will leave 
the plan of selecting delegates, together with 
some other matters, for our next 

Yours in P. F . 

M D Felkner, Sec 


Kenton, Ohio, Jan. 24. 1894 
Editor Rail zv ay Conductor : 

We want most of all to know whether the right 
to strike, and the exercise of that right, will be 
the best means of dealing with present and future 
labor troubles In determining this, we cannot 
be guided solely by what the right to strike has 
accomplished for labor in the past. The world 
moves; and in the labor world, as in the mecban 
ical. or agricultural, or commercial, or moral 
world, old methods must either be improved 
upon, or be supplemented by new ones Some 
valuable lessons ought to have been learned by 
organized labor in the past decade We believe 
some of the most alert have been improving by 
past experiences, and a careful watching of the 
results of each battle between labor and capital, 
but the persistence with which the majority ding 
to old methods, leaves us to doubt whether all 
have gained knowledge by the defeats suffered, or 
the victories achieved. 

One lesson all ought to have learned is, that or- 
ganization will never include within its ranks any- 
thing like so large a percentage of the total labor 
element, as was at first thought possible P er * 
haps the ratio of organized labor to unorganized 
is now as large as it ever will be 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 153 


A second lesson all ought to have learned, is 
that capital is all the time employing new and 
more effective methods of dealing with strikes. 

A third lesson, that is made apparent as we 
mingle with organized laborers, is that the effect 
of strikes upon the individuals engaged in them 
has been to give to said individuals distorted 
views of the efficacy of the strike. The victorious 
striker is usually willing to hazard too much, and 
is willing to strike for too slight a grievance. The 
defeated striker will hazard too little, and can 
hardly be persuaded to join in resenting a wrong, 
however grievous it may' be 

In writing these propositions it is not my pur- 
pose to discourage worthy effort for industrial 
freedom My sympathies are naturally, first, last 
and all the time with the laborer. Yet if we suc- 
ceed it will be because we have met and dealt 
with facts as they are. We must do this. We 
cannot afford to ignore a single truth 1 have 
stated, if the battle of labor is to be a success. 
Many other facts might be set forth, that ought to 
be taken in consideration in our plans for the fut- 
ure, but, considering those only that I have men- 
tioned, it makes the answer to the question that 
forms the caption of this article, if said answer is 
to apply to the immediate future, somewhat 
doubtful. 

While I am writing this article word comes of 
the Northern Pacific trouble, and of the injunction 
granted to the receivers, enjoining the employes 
from striking. If such a measure cannot be dis- 
solved then we are a race of slaves. Under slav- 
ery systems the slave has nothing to say as to 
what he shall receive for his labor, and has not 
the right to quit one employer and go to another. 
These are precisely the conditions fixed by the in- 
junction of Judge Jenkins. The men are not con- 
sulted as to the reduction, and if the per cent, of 
redaction was doubled, the principles involved 
would be the same. Indeed, the amount of re- 
daction is not considered by Judge Jenkins. He 
guarantees to the receivers the right to fix the 
wages, and that wherever the amount is placed 
not a man shall quit work. If they had been re- 
duced to one-half or one-fourth the order would 
remain equally mandatory. If our laws may be 
so distorted we are no longer freemen. Some of 
the U. S. courts are being used to furnish the 
chains that bind us to our employers. Such 
courts no longer sit as umpires to decide disputed 
questions, but play first on one side of the game. 
The Roman slave was no more powerlessly 
chained to his oar than the N. P. employes 
would be chained to that corporation should this 
order prove to be good in law. 


Men, look well to your ballots in coming elec- 
tions. Let no party ties bind you, for I have no 
hesitation in saying that the ballot box and not 
the strike must prove the settlement of future 
labor troubles. N. R. Piper. 


Greensboro, N C., Jan. 4. 1894. 
Editor Railzvay Conductor : 

Raleigh Division No. 264 elected the following 
.officers Jan. 1, 1894: D. D. Jones, C. C.; J. R. 
Renn, A. C. C. ; C. B. Guthrie, S. and T. and 
Cipher Correspondent; F. C. Smith, S. C.; W. 
S. Witherspoon. J. C.; W. J. Lally, J. S.; John 
S. White, O. S.; Trustees, W. S. Witherspoon, 
D. D. Jones and C. B. Guthrie. We hope to do 
more this year than we have ever done before for 
the good of our noble Order. If all the members 
of the O. R. C. could but just see the great good 
that has been accomplished by the untiring zeal 
and energetic efforts of the faithful few in the dif- 
ferent divisions, if they could but just realize the 
many sacrifices that have been made by them to 
bring the Order up to its present standing, surely 
the brothers would not stand aloof and let the 
burden fall upon their shoulders alone. Let all 
turn out and help in the good work, and the com- 
plete success of our beloved Order is assured. 
Our principles and our work are too pure and 
noble to be .trampled down under the mighty 
power of the money king or the giant monopolist. 

Brothers, just take a few serious thoughts on 
the principles of our Order, and see if you will 
not be ready to stand up more fearlessly, for 
them If you live up to these principles you will 
not only be a better railway employe, a better 
servant for the railway company, but you will be 
a better husband, father, brother, son or lover; 
you will be a better maq in every sense of the 
word, morally, physically and mentally. Study 
and then practice living the true principles and 
mottoes of the “Order of Railway Conductors,” 
and if you don’t improve from what you are now, 
I tell you, as a Brother, that you have attained a 
state of perfect bliss that none of us have ever 
yet reached More anon. Buxtan. 


Denison, Texas, Feb. 21, 1894. 
Editor Railzvay Conductor : 

For nearly three weeks I have been confined to 
my room by sickness, and during all that time a 
member of the Ladies’ Auxiliary has been con- 
stant in ministering to every need and every de- 
sire. Of course you will have no difficulty in 
determining who she is. and every married 
Brother will appreciate the affection I feel for 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


t54 


her. She modestly disclaims having done any* 
thing more than her duty, but how much better 
this world would be if we all did as much. But 
she is not the only one; all the Sisters have been 
busy contributing what they could to make some 
one happy and drive the dark clouds away from 
the faces of those who have been troubled 

Last week the Sisters of Turner Division 
brought to a happy consummation one of their 
loving and thoughtful conspiracies. The first 
thing to be done was to prepare a supply of deli- 
cacies for the inner-man, after which they kindly 
took their husbands in tow and gathered at the 
home of Brother and Sister Stone. When all 
were assembled the party descended upon Brother 
and Sister Williams, who were not looking for 
company, and proceeded to paint things red Our 
involuntary host and hostess proved fully equal to 
the occasion, however, and soon had all present 
in the happiest possible of moods Not the least 
enjoyable feature of the evening was the token of 
esteem left by the ladies with Sister Williams 
when the hour for departure came. It is in such 
works as these -that the ladies are ever busy , and I 
can only say goon, and may God bless your every 
undertaking. I would inform Sister Bledsoe that 
we are at home. I am somewhat disfigured but 
still in the ring. 

Just as if sickness and its attendant expense 
and lack of work were not enough to make a man 
blue, the weather has been taking a hand lately 
and has been so gloomy and disagreeable as to 
almost make life a burden Notwithstanding the 
fact that I was ensconced in my wife’s best rock- 
ing Chair with my feet in close but not dangerous 
proximity to a warm stove, I am afraid some of 
her questions were answered in anythi g but a 
pleasant manner While in that unenviable 
frame of mind the mail carrier came by and 
handed me The Conductor, and the clonds soon 
passed away as I found myself shaking hands in 
spirit with the Brothers and Sisters from all over 
the country. All who are so 1 tting their light 
shine are truly doing good, for where there is 
light there is life and gladness. Even my wife 
has become a convert an 1 says she is glad The 
Conductor has come. 

Division No 53 is still in line and awake to the 
interests of the Order in general and of its indi- 
vidual members. There is an average attendance 
of twenty five Brothers at all its meetings Brother 
Eckman, of Division 59, is with us and we hope 
he may rec“ive encouragement enough to remain. 
He would prove a valuable addition to our ranks 
Brothers Darlington, Miller and others of our 
local committee are doing an excellent work and 
deserve commendation for the manner in which 


they are keeping things straight Brother Kol- 
lert, our S and T , is also the right man in the 
right place, and under his rule things must be 
done the right way or there is war in camp 

Business on the M., K. & T. is not so good as 
it was this time last year, but it is holding its own 
with the best in the country. Our Train Masters, 
Messrs. Sullivan and Bethard. are managing the 
service with credit to themselves and profit to the 
company. 

Now. *as Sister “C. B.” is no doubt going to 
give you a good letter, I will close. God bless 
our noble Order. Yours in P F., S. P. 


Knoxville, Tenn , Feb 26, 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Doubtless it will be a surprise to the Fraternity 
to see something in your columns from Division 
139. Although not heard from, we live and pros- 
per, — hold regular meetings, take in some new 
material, make pretty good collections, — try to 
understand the constitution and statutes, practice 
the principles of our grand Order and try to live 
right and help one another these hard times when 
jobs are so scarce and reduction of forces and 
cutting of wages seems to be the order of the day 
All the members get The Conductor and like it. 
Like a great many letters I see in The Conduc- 
tor, I have to say business is very dull here 
Some of the brothers are braking, and the few 
crews that are left are not making much time. 
All agree to the fact that we have a very live. 

• hustling’’ Secretary. May his shadow never 
grow less. 

Stanton, 139, enjoys the distinction of having 
the chairman of the General Grievance Commit- 
tee for the E. T. V. & G. system this year, that 
he can and will conduct any business placed in 
his hands, anyone who knows Joe rests assured 
As to weather, we are having all of our winter on 
the last part, and it pinches after having been so 
bright and fair. Our worthy brother, Ed Hul- 
bert, has resigned his position on the road to ac* 
cept a place in our Uncle Samuel's Pension 
Office at this place. This does not deprive us of 
his regular attendance on Division meetings 

If this is worth its space, insert it; if not. let it 
down tenderly into the yawning waste basket 
Yours in P F , 

“Irrkc.ular 


Laura Tell me, Uncle George, is that de 
formed gentleman what is called a crook 5 

Uncle George — No. indeed He is a bicyclist 

— Huston Transcript . 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


155 


Sunbury. Pa., Feb. 28. 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

When we were called upon to pay the last 
tribnte of respect to the memory of our late 
Brother W H. Priotz, Superintendent Reed 
kindly placed a train at our disposal and did every- 
thing in his power to alleviate the sorrow and 
lighten the expense of the family of the deceased. 
At a subsequent meeting of Division No. 187 
resolutions were adopted thanking Mr. Reed for 
what he had done, and were forwarded to him by 
a committee appointed for that purpose. Follow 
ing is the substance of the courteous letter we 
received in response to these resolutions. 
Gentlemen: 

I received your resolutions and beg to thank 
you for the same. I regret that what little aid I 
extended was called forth by such a sad occasion. 
W. H. Printz was, as I considered, one of our 
best men, and his loss is felt, not alone by those 
who knew him personally, but by others who 
could not fail to appreciate bis earnest, faithful 
performance of his duties. 

Yours Truly. 

A E. Reed, Supt. 

Brother Printz was, as he says, faithful in the 
performance of bis duties, and, further than that, 
he was faithful to his family in seeing that they 
were provided for after he was gone. How many 
of our Brothers can say, truthfully to themselves, 

' If I should be suddenly taken away, my wife 
and children are provided for." A good many of 
the Divisions allow a weekly benefit in cases of 
sickness or disability, among them being our own. 
We pay $5 per week after the first week, provid- 
ing the disabled Brother is square on the books 
at the time bis disability commences. How 
many tbere are who are continually in arrears 
when they might as well be paid in advance 
without the least discomfort Every conductor’s 
wife should see that be is square on the books of 
bis division, so that, in case of sickness, she can 
demand the benefit. 

I can now recall an instance of a Brother who 
was always back on the books in this way. When 
be came to be sick he received no benefit, of course, 
and his wife declared the Order a sham because 
it did not pay him $35, the same as it had Brother 
Brown, She said the officers of the Division told 
her they would not see them want but they could 
not pay him the weekly benefit, as he was not en- 
titled to it at the time his sickness commenced. 
Her husband had been a member of the Division 
for eight years, while Brother Brown, only eigh- 
teen months, and without understanding the 
necessity for living up to the law, she denounced 
the entire organization as a failure. 

In my opinion it would be much better if all 
the divisions were compelled to pay their dues 


quarterly, in advance. It would make less work 
for the secretary, less expense for the Division, 
and each Division would always know where it 
stood, financially. Some might say this was too 
much, but in the B. of R. T. the members must 
pay their February dues by January 15, and com- 
pare their wages with what we receive. I also 
understand the Firemen must pa^ in advance, 
while we are allowed to be six pionths in arrears be- 
fore being declared out of good standing. Again, I 
wish to urge upon the wives of the conductors 
the importance of seeing that their husbands are 
always square on the books of their Division. 

Yours in P. F., 

"Mack.” 

• 

Concord, N. H., Feb. 26, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

As I have some spare time, I thought I would 
write you a letter. I am from Division No. 11. 
Newton, Kan., but am sojourning in the capital 
city of the grand old Granite State, where I have 
made the acquaintance of a good many Brother 
conductors, and a fine lot of boys they are. Mr. 
W. R. Mooney, of Division 157, Boston, is the 
popular and efficient trainmaster of Concord 
Division of the Boston & Maine R. R., to which 
position he was promoted a year ago. He is a 
thorough railroad man, has a host of friends and 
is loved and esteemed by all who know him. Yes- 
terday I attended the funeral of Bro. Wm. H. 
Collis, of Division 335, who met with an accident 
last Thursday in the C. & M. yard, which re- 
sulted in his death His home being in Haver- 
hill, N. H., 85 miles north of here, Division 335 
bad a special train, consisting of a combination 
and a Pullman car. to convey the deceased 
Brother and friends to that point, where the re- 
mains were placed in the receiving vault. The 
engine and cars were neatly and heavily draped. 
Floral offerings were many and beautiful. Too 
much praise cannot be given Division 335 for the 
respect shown the memory of their departed 
Brother. Yours in P. F., 

F. L. Cass. 

• 

The Bellboy’s Idea. — " Is Dr. Bones, the great 
specialist, stopping here ?" asked the reporter, 

"De only specialist I knows any t’ing obou is 
Jimmy Muggins,” answered the bellboy. " He’s 
wid de * Tin Hoodo’ company, an' his specialty is 
de flipflap sedg and dqnce. And say, he’s great.” 
— Indianapolis Journal. 

The Minneapolis Journal Almanac for 1894 is 
one of the brightest and best of that class of pub- 
lications, and reflects great credit upon the enter- 
prising management of that paper. 


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At the quarterly meeting of the Baltimore and 
Ohio Southwestern, held February 26, last, the 
net earnings were shown to be $551,318. This is 
the first quarterly report made by the consoli- 
dated company, and although it is for the poorest 
quarter of the year, it shows net earnings of 
about $80,000 in excess of fixed charges. 

* * * 

A recent New York dispatch gives as current 
rumor a deal by which the Great Northern is to 
obtain the use of the Wisconsin Central from St. 
Paul to Chicago. With it goes the report that 
the Central is to be returned to the control of the 
company owning it, the receivership having been 
made necessary by the failure of the Northern 
Pacific to continue the lease and pay rentals. 

* * # 

Fred Close, secretary of the “North and South” 
railroad project, announced, the first of this pres- 
ent month, that the executive committee had let 
a contract to C J Jones and others for the grad- 
ing of 200 miles of roadbed northeast from 
Port Bolivar, on Galveston Bay. The contract 
price is about $1,500 a mile. Mr. Close also said 
he would shortly depart for the east to negotiate 
for 100 miles of steel rails; and that propositions 
had been received from a number of rolling mills. 
* * * 

The purchase of the Erie and Huron railway 
by a syndicate of New York and Cleveland capi- 
talists attracted considerable attention among the 
shipping interests of the country during the past 
month. This railway is in the province of On- 
tario, Canada. It is eighty miles long and ex- 
tends from Rondeau Harbor, Lake Erie, directly 
opposite Cleveland, to Sarnia, opoosite Port 
Huron on the St. Clair River. The road is 
crossed by all the trunk lines of Canada It was 
also reported that the company was figuring with 
the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company for the 
building of a steel transfer boat, capable of 
carrying twenty-one loaded cars and 600 passen- 


gers. This will probably operate between Ron- 
deau Harbor and the Port of Cleveland. 

* * * 

The announcement has been made in Duluth 
that James J. Hill has completed arrangements in 
London by which he will be enabled to immedi- 
ately carry out bis long contemplated plan of 
completing the branch of his system from Fosston 
to Duluth, a branch which is needed to give him 
a direct line from the head of Lake navigation to 
the Pacific coast. The line will parallel the 
Mesaba and Northern to the range and then pro- 
ceed directly west to Fosston. The only obstacle 
will be the obtaining of rights of way across the 
Indian reservations. Bills giving this permission 
are already pending in congress. The right of 
way into Duluth has been secured, and work will, 
it is said, be begun early this spring. Should 
this statement prove true it will compel the 
Canadian Pacific to extend the Duluth and Win- 
nipeg to the west. 

* * * 

A recent telegraphic dispatch from Cincinatti 
gives the following bit of railroad gossip that is 
peculiarly significant under the present con- 
ditions: Railroad circles are agitated over a let- 

ter from President Smith, of the Louisville and 
Nashville, to seven members of the executive 
committee of the Southern Railroad and Steam- 
ship Association, telling why his road withdrew 
from the association. President Smith makes 
sDecific charges against the agents of the receiver 
of the Queen and Crescent for indirectly and 
surreptitiously cutting rates, and asserts over bis 
own name that all receivers appointed by the 
federal courts, being government agents, are fla- 
grantly and persistently violating the inter-state 
commerce law Railroad men now think the war 
will not stop at hostilities between the roads, bnt 
will extend to a personal settlement by some 
means between Receiver Felton and President 
Smith. Meantime the inter state commerce 
commission will be asked to investigate the meth- 
ods of all receivers acting by the appointment of 
federal courts. 


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Brother G. D. Hansell, of i,m Monroe St., 
Topeka, Kan., is anxious to learn the present ad- 
dress of Brother R. J. Stender 

# * 

« 

Owing to lack of space a number of interesting 
contributions to both the Ladies' and Fraternal 
Departments are held over until the April num- 
ber. 

« « 

* 

' 'God help the poor. " says Money Bags. ' Such 
times as these were never known. Astonishing 
how business lags." Then sends a big fat turkey 
-home C. H. P 

V 

By a mistake in proofreading the article on 
page 126 of this issue, "The Robbers of Labor," 
is credited to W. H. Stewart when it should be to 
W. H Stuart 


Mr. Bailey, of Texas, has presented in the 
House of Representatives an anti-scalper’s bill, 
similar to that offered by Senator Cullom, and 
spoken of at length on another page. 

• * 

« 

New Divisions have been organized within the 
last month at Argentine, Kas , Valley Junction, 
Iowa, East Brady, Pa , and BrockviHe, Ont. 
All start out under favorable auspices and prom- 
ise to be strong links in the chain of Perpetual 
Friendship. 

« * 

« 

The invitations to the "Poverty Party” given 
by the Ladies’ Auxiliary, of Cleveland, Ohio, 
were models in their way, and, if the happiness 
of their design can be taken as a criterion, it 
oust have been an exceedingly pleasant affair. 

*** 

Brothers O. J. Cole, J. E. Day and William 
Merritt, of Division 97, will find it to their ad- 
vantage to communicate at once with Brother 
W. E S. Gibson, Secretary of their Division, 
P 0 . box 321, Roodhouse, 111 . 


We are under obligations to Bro’s W. Pedrick, 
Geo De Verges, J. F. Wishart, E. M. Draper, 
H. J. Porter, W. Z. Lindsey, C. L. Groves and 
others who neglected to send their names, for 
copies of The Conductor for March, 1892, so 
kindly furnished by them. 


Brother C. G Malotte, who was severely in- 
jured by being caught between an engine and 
the broken endgate of a coal car, while in the act 
of catching a car on the grade near Bedford, Ind.. 
on Dec. io, last, has brought suit against the 
E. & T. H. road for $10 000 damages. 

V 

Mrs Susan Gaming of 415 South Union street, 
Grand Rapids. Mich., would be pleased to learn 
the present address of her brother, M. B. Bar- 
tholomew. Any Brother who happens to know 
of his whereabouts will confer a great favor by 
writing to her at the address given. 

« « 

* 

Brother C. L Chamberlin has left the railroad 
service for a time and has taken charge of a hotel 
at Akron Iowa. Brother Chamberlin says he 
has lost no part of his interest in the Order and 
in the Brothers, and they will always be sure of 
hearty welcome from him. They, in turn, will 
wish for him every success in his new under- 
taking 


C. B. Nash, formerly a member of Division 
No. 55, will hear of something to his advantage 
regarding the settlement of an estate, by address- 
ing Geo. W. Rose, secretary of that division, at 
128 West Fifth St., Kansas City. Mo. Any 
Brother knowing the address of Mr. Nash will 
confer a favor by sending it to Brother Rose. 


The officers and employes of the Colorado 
Midland, who served under Supt. R. C. Bowdish, 
presented him with an elegant gold watch and 
chain on the occasion of his severing his con- , 
nection with that company. It was an elegant 

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, 5 $ THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


testimonial of the high regard in which Mr. Bow- 
dish was held by his colabjrers, and one of 
which he may well be proud. 

V 

Through the earnest efforts of the Hon. W. B. 
Mcllwaine. in the Senate of Virginia, a law fixing 
the question of liability in connection with the 
acts of fellow servants, eminently satisfactory to 
the employes, has been enacted. Division No. 
152 adopted* resolutions of thanks to Mr. Mcll- 
waine in which his efforts are highly praised. 

V 

Mrs. John McGregor, of No. 15 Kains street, 
St. Thomas, Ont., is exceedingly anxious to learn 
the present whereabouts of her husband, John 
McGregor. She has not heard from him since 
last May. and fears he may be dead. Anyone 
knowing of his location or movements during 
that time will confer a favor by sending her the 

informat i 01 at the address given. 

* 

* « 

The disastrous fire with which the Reliable 
Incubator and Brooder Co. of Chicago was vis- 
ited on the 2 1st ult.. hardly caused a break in the 
business of that enterprising firm With charac- 
teristic push they had moved into new quarters 
and had seventy-five mechanics at work the next 
day. But a few days elapsed before they were 
shipping as if nothing had happened. 

*** 

The editor wishes to acknowledge the receipt 
of invitations to attend entertainments given by 
Champaign Division, No. 298; Johnson Division, 
No. 67; Marion Divisioc, No. 268; Battle Creek 
Division. No. 6; Milwakee Division No. 46; Yel- 
lowstone Division No. 19 1, and Cleveland Divis- 
ion, No. 1. L. A. to O. R. C., and regrets exceed- 
ingly that a press of important business prevents 
bis accepting any of these kind remembrances. 

V 

If you hear a member complain that he does 
not receive Thb Conductor please say to him 
"If you will get your Division secretary to report 
you as entitled to it and to send your correct ad- 
dress to the editor you will receive it regularly.” 
We must depend upon the Division secretaries 
for reports. All who have been reported are on 
the mail list and The Conductor is mailed to 
each of them. 

* « 

* 

Time Tables -For the kitchen — are as import- 
ant as for ths railroad, as the foad thit supports 
the system must be hiked or cooked by equal rule 
and care. Every railroad man should see that 
his wife has a copy of the Cleveland Baking Pow- 
der Co’s Cook Book — as advertised on our last 
outside page in this number. This is a most 


meritorious article, and we take pleasure in call- 
ing our readers' attention to it. Sent free on 
receipt of stamps to pay postage. 

%* 

A vacancy is occasioned in the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission by the sad death of Judge 
McDiil. It is said that tne prompt appointment 
of his successor is important, on account of the 
volume of business on hand. Why not appoint 
the man who has been the efficient secretary of 
this Commission since its establishment? No 
more available man can be found, nor can there 
be found one better qualified to deal with matter* 
under this act than Edwin A. Moseley 

# 

Those of our readers who h ive been so unfor- 
tunate as to lose a limb will do well to read witb 
care the advertisement of the Winkley Artificial 
Limb Company, on another page of this issue 
These gentlemen are the inventors and possessors 
of a number of valuable improvements in their 
line, and their testimonials show their work to be 
giving excellent satisfaction. The fact that it was 
so superior as to take the gold medal and diploma 
at the World’s Fair should be enough of a guar- 
antee. You will find it profitable to address them 
before purchasing elsewhere. 

- 

Cy. Warman writes a very interesting descrip- 
tion of his trip on the ‘‘Exposition Flyer” over 
the N. Y C & H. R. R R. which appeared in 
McClure's Magazine. Among other good thiup 
he says: "A man who was drunk last night is 
not fit to run a train or engine to day. Men who 
never drink should be encouraged and promoted 
ahead of those who do I have always opposed 
the idea of promoting men strictly in accordance 
with the length of time they have served in any 
capacity. If all firemen knew that they would 
be promoted when they had fired a certain nnm* 
ber of years there would be nothing to strive for. 
They would be about as ambitious as a herd of 
steers who are to be kept until they are three 
years old, and then shipped.” Speaking of the 
greed of some men be says: "One young man, 
Hyatt by name, used to threaten to put himself 
into a receiver's hands when he made less than 
forty days a month; fifty days was fair business, 
but sixty suited him better. He kept it up for 
three years collapsed and bad to be hurried out 
of the country. I don’t know that be ever wholly 
recovered. He was a fine fellow physically, 
sober and strong, or be would have collapsed 
sooner. I am affraid the older engineers are a 
little selfish.” What Mr. Warman applies prac- 
tically to engineers and firemen can, witb equal 
force and propriety, be applied to conductors and 
trainmen, and his expressions are recommended 
to the care* ’ ‘bought of all. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


*59 


ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OF AFRICA 
MUTUAL BENEFIT DEPARTMENT. 

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, March 1; Expires April 30, 1894. 

Assessment No. 277 is for death of R B rhenoweth, January 7. 
Assessment No. 278 is for death of W. H. Printz, January 10. 


BENEFITS PAID DURING FEBRUARY 


Ben. 

No. 

Ass’t 

No. 

AMT 

FOR 

OF 

CAUSE. 

Cert No. 

Ser- 

ies. 

DIV. 

638 

273 

$3 000 

Death 

]. R. Stanton 

Infi. of Bowels 

4400 

C 

301 

639 

273 

3.030 

Death 

C. H Searl 

Accident 

1951 

C 

M 5 

640 

273 

1,000 

Death 

C. S. Neff 

Accident 

1521 

A 

339 

641 

273 

1,000 

Death G. W. Brown 

Accident 

2722 

A 

307 

642 

273 

1,000 

Death <E. C. Wock 

Peritonitis 

2548 

A 

177 

643 

274 

5,000 

Dis. 

E. V. Hilliard 

Loss of Hand 

28 

E 

M 9 

644 

274 

1. 000 

Death 

I W. Smith 

Accident 

385 

A 

89 

645 

274 

1. 000 

Dis. 

Jas. Camp 

Loss of Foot 

2723 

A 

307 

646 

274 

3,000 

Death 

G. V Barger 

Infl. of Brain 

4539 

C 

19 

647 

275 

2,000 

Death 

C. E. Myers 

Fever 

742 

B 

118 

648 

275 

3.000 

Death 

I F. Nesbit 

Suicide 

4389 

C 

180 

649 

272 

1,000 

Death 

E E. Smith 

Cancer 

3336 

A 

26 

650 

276 

3.000 

Death 

F. Ruckman 

Suicide 

2889 

C 

69 

651 

273 

1,000 

Death 

Jno. Pugh 

Accident 

3339 

A 

56 

652 

273 

1. 000 

Dis. 

B. 0 . Williams 

Loss of Leg 

837 

A 

220 

653 

274 

1,000 

Death 

J B Davis 

Accident 

4089 

A 

38 

654 

275 

3.000 

Death 

Waldo Converse 

Liver Dis. 

4322 

C 

325 

655 

276 

f.OOO 

Death 

J. E Reed 


8 SO 

A 

326 


NUMBER OF MEMBERS ASSESSED. 

Series A, 4.319; Series B, 2.550; Series C, 4.906; Series D, 361; Series E. 93. Amount of as- 
sessment No 277. $26,025; No. 278, $26,046. Total number of members 12,644. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT 


Received on Mortuary Assessments to January 31, 1894 $1,473 301.00 

Received on # Expense Assessments to January 31, 1894 25,99500 

Received on Applications, etc., to January 31, 1894 25.808.88 


$1,525, 104 88 

Total amount of benefits paid to January 31, 1894 $1,456,376.00 

Total amount of expenses paid to January 31, 1894 57.066.19 

Insurance cash on band January 31, 1894 11,66269 


$1,525, 104.88 


EXPENSES PAID DURING JANUARY. 

Postage $123; Incidental. $25.85; Salaries, $376.67; Fees returned, $3; Stationery and Print- 
ing. $18.25 ; Legal $75 Total, $546.77. 

The above amounts were paid out during the month but items of postage, printing, legal, etc., 
often cover supplies and work for more than one month, and sometimes several months. 


Received on Assessment No. 273 to February 20 $23.823 20 

Received on Assessment No. 274 to February 20 23.746 80 

Received on Assessment No. 275 to February 20. 10,753 00 

Received on Assessment No. 276 to February 20 3,912.00 


WM. P. DANIELS, Secretary. 


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fraijlor. 

On the 17th of January last, death invaded 
the circle of Division No. 175, taking from iis 
numbers Brother Edward W. Taylor. Brother 
Taylor had been in poor health for more than 
a year, and had spenfmost of that time travel- 
ing. in the hope that a change of scene and 
climate might prove beneficial. He was at 
Pine Bluff, Ark., when the final summons 
came. Deceased was a true friend, a devoted 
member of hts beloved Order, and a man 
whose noble and generous impulses won him 
friends wherever he was known. The sympa- 
thy of the members of Division 175 goes out to 
the bereaved family and friends in their great 
sorrow. They also feel under great obliga- 
tions to the members of Division No. 251, of 
Pine Bluff, for the tender and solicitous care 
with which they attended Brother Taylor in 
his last illness. 

At a regular meeting of Huron Division No. 
121, held January 4, last, resolutions were 
adopted expressing the sympathy of the mem- 
bers with Brother R. Addington and wife in 
the deith of little Alvin, their dearly beloved 
son, aged only four years. 

The charier of Lima Division No. 27, L. A. 
to O. R. C., is draped in mourning for the 
death of Sister Mrs. E. C. Sage, aged twenty- 
seven years. She leaves, to mourn her de- 
mise, a husband and little six months old son, 
Russell, who will never know a mother’s love 
and care. The funeral was attended by the 
members of Division No. 27 in a body. Some 
measure of the regard in which the deceased 
had been held was evidenced in the beautiful 
floral tributes offered in her memory. At a 
meeting of the Division, on February 22, 
resolutions were adopted expressing the sor- 
row ot the members, and their sympathy with 
the bereaved husband and little son. 

©ofcflroxte. 

Died, of consumption at the home of his 
mother in Saginaw, Michigan, Bro. Thomas 
A. Cosgrove, of Blue Grass Division No. 322. 
Deceased was a charter member of Blue Grass 
Division and one of its most faithful and 
efficient workers. The sincere sympathy of 
all will go out to the sorrowing relatives. 


|tmttetj. 

Brother Charles H. Penney, of Chanute Di- 
vision No. 265, died at his home in Ottawa, 
Kan., on Jan. 19, last. Deceased was an ex- 
emplary member of the Order, a good citiren 
and a loving and indulgent husband and father. 
His death brought a sincere sorrow to many 
outside the immediate circle of relatives and 
friends. The funeral was held at Ottawa and 
was attended by the members of his division 
in a body, a special train being tendered them 
for that purpose by the officials of the A. T & 
S. F. R. R. At a subsequent meeting of the di- 
vision resolutions were adopted expressing the 
sympathy of the members with the sorrowing 
family, also returning thanks to the officials 
for their courtesies, and to Engineer Matt 
Heller, Fireman Walker, Brakemen Elliott 
and Heminger, and Brother T. E. Barnett for 
their kindly and courteous assistence upon 
that same occasion. 

iftUUjouec. 

Bro. E. A. Hillhouse, of Division No. 149, 
was called to hig final reward on February 4, 
last. While in the performance of his duties, 
on January 30, he fell in front of an engine and 
received the injuries which resulted in his 
death at the time given. Bro. Hillhouse vras 
held in high regard wherever known and his 
death was an especially severe blow to the 
Division of which he had been an honored 
member. 

In the death of Bro. Martin Konan Interna- 
tional Division No. 48 has lost one of its oldest 
and most active members. Deceased had long 
been afflicted with cancer of the throat, and 
bore the suffering attendant upon that terrible 
disease, with the patient fortitude character- 
istic of the man. He leaves a wife and four 
children to mourn his loss, and to them will 
go out the deepest sympathy, not only of his 
Brothers in the Order, but of the members of 
Division 44 L. A. to O. R. C. 

gPH»*s«. 

At a recent meeting of Division No. 261 res- 
olutions were adopted expressing the sympa- 
thy of the members with their Chief Conduc- 
tor, J. F. Wilson, in the death of his well be- 
loved wife. In this sympathy the members of 
the Order generally will join. 


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The Railway CortDUcroft 


VOL. XI. CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA,. APRIL, 1894. NO. 4. 



CONTRIBUTED. 

BREAD’S BONDS. 


BY FRANK > 

CHAPTER VII — SERVICES DISPENSED WITH. 

In a few days notices were served on both Wil- 
tner and Robinson to the effect that the company 
had no further use for their services. The gratu- 
itous insult was offered in the notice that they 
wanted no agitators, or men who put unfriendly 
ideas in the heads of their employes, and they 
meant to have none of that kind in thdir employ 
if they had to stop every train on the road to get 
rid of them 

" It's d plain," said Robinson to Wilmer 

'that they want no men of ideas in th^ir service. 
In this free country to have ideas of economy, it 
seems, is to be deprived of the privilege of earn* 
ing a living. But the country is all right; it is 
the tyranny of the men conducting the business 
of the country, To such a bumptious fellows, the 
monied Czars of the land, a man dare not say his 

soul is his own. # D nice state of affairs." 

What scorn he condensed into this last remark. 
Robinson was a master of the art of scorn. 

"They don’t want us. We are agitators.” said 
Wilmer. ironically. 

"Services dispensed with — paid off— dismissed. 
The poor fools have not stopped our mouths by 
discharging us. " Robinson, with profound phi- 
losophy; felt his liberty, now that he was released 
from all obligations to the company. The two 
men walked slowly down the street, Robinson to 


1. MYERS 

his home and Wilmer to his boarding-honse. The 
reasons for their dismissal made them justly in- 
dignant. George P. Wilmer stopped at Robin* 
son’s gate. 

"The Irishman wondered what this country 
was made for, if a man conld not do as he 
pleased," observed Robinson, resting his elbows 
on the gate, “and I wonder, too, what liberties a 
man has who is free born and twenty-one years 
of age." 

“None that capital is bound to respect." re- 
turned Wilmer, with flashing eyes. 

“ That is, we are slaves to capital.” 

“At least onr living is dependent upon it.” 

“There is no liberty where capital rules,” said 
Robinson, in a rhetorical tone. 

“Money makes the mare go." 

“And it's all for money this world goes on, as 
the old song says.” 

' 'As the world is constituted to-day yon and I 

must have money money money the 

love of w4iich is the root of all evil filthy 

lucre." 

“Yes, we must have the 'root,'” remarked 
Robinson, smilingly. 

' ' Capital knows no law but that of greed, ” said 
Wilmer. 

‘ ' Ours is a case where capital has invaded the 
sacred precincts of mental liberty. The thumb 
and rack screw are no longer applied, but if yr 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


1 02 


dare to think in this latter day, capital tarns yon 
out of house and home and tries to starve your 
family. It has no soul, no love, no sympathy, 
and breaks your manhood by robbing you of your 
living. This is the very refinement of cruelty. 
There is no charity or brotherhood in it. 
Something needs to be done, and that quickly, or 
capital will have its impious foot on the neck of 
labor as effectually as Joshua did on the nfccks of 
the kings of Canaan." 

•• Labor, by divine right, is entitled to its share 
of its earnings,” observed Wilmer, as one reason- 
ing from a profound basis of political economy 
and emphasizing his remarks by almost .swiping 
Robinson's nose with his index finger, "but is it 
getting it? I’m a man and entitled to a good liv- 
ing for my work, but am I getting it? Capital 
should be not only broad and liberal but an hon- 
est custodian; an incorruptible trustee of the 
receipts of labor, and at stated times restore to it 
what it has earned. But these earnings it never 
hears of again. Capital, unable to withstand the 
temptation, has become a robber greater than 
Pillone of Italy, who robbed from the rich and 
gave to the poor. It has gained our confidence 
and then secretly abuses it. We laboring men 
create, and capital absorbs. If our wages were 
a fair share of the earnings, I would have noth- 
ing to say. I admit that capital is entitled to 
interest and pay for brains Jo manage it, but I 
deny that it is entitled to any increment over and 
above that. More than that is robbery." 

"Something must be allowed for the wear and 
tear of machinery," suggested Robinson. 

"I grant it." 

"Apart from this," declared Robinson, "the 
time is at hand for a union of hearts and hands 
of the labor world, and the building up of one 
vast brotherhood of interests that will be invinci- 
ble — a union that can demand and secure its 
rights. It is time to organize." 

"That's it. We must organize and co-oper- 
ate." 

" Capital will not pause to reason with us. No 
robber allows argument when his pistol is at the 
head of his victim. People of shallow opinions 
are always unreasonable. They are right and 
everybody else wrong. No one dare entertain 
views in their presence. That is an unpardon- 
able crime. They know, and. like Pythagoras, 
their ipse dixit settles it without reason No 
room for argument, for they know. I’m in favor 
of appealing to Caesar like Paul did; but I hope 
we ll come out better than he did. The Caesar we 
must appeal to is organized labor In union is 
strength." When Robinson spoke earnestly his 
eyes glowed like living coals. 


There was much more of this conversation. It 
grew quite dirk as they stood and talked. Before 
they parted they half formulated a plan of going 
forth and organizing the engineers of America 
into one grand union, to be called the Brother- 
hood of Locomotive Engineers. The idea was 
born, and grew and developed. It was almost 
the birth of a new era for labor. 

At the next secret meeting Robinson was elect- 
ed Grand Chief of the new order, and he was % 
commissioned to go forth and organize lodges 
everywhere throughout the length and breadth of 
this mighty nation. Wilmer was also authorized 
to assist him when necessary. Thus it was that 
these two men, out of a job, were put into a high- 
er field of work. They were what might be 
termed pioneer missionaries in the field of loco- 
motive engineers — self-sacrificing men in the 
cause of down-troddfen labor * But Wilmer never 
officially engaged in this great work. 

The day succeeding the secret meeting that sent 
these two heroes forth on a mission of love for 
their fellows, John M. Julius, the passenger agent 
of the road, quietly dropped off the train at Mar- 
shall Although he stated to no one bis business 
there, yet all railroad laborers well knew why he 
was there. The simple fact that he stated to no 
one why he came was sufficient evidence of his 
mission as a spy. 

With commendable manliness both Robinson 
and Wilmer sought out Mr. Julius for the pur- 
pose of asking the reasons for their dismissal 
from the service of the company. This official had 
just finished his noonday meal at the leading hotel 
in the town, when they approached. A well-fed 
man, after a good hearty meal, is always "at 
peace with all the world and all the rest of man- 
kind,” and striking bis own bosom congratulates 
himself. He was sitting in a chair smoking a 
postprandial cigar when the two men approached. 

"My name is Robinson," said Robinson, paus- 
ing before Julius and looking hardly at him. 
"and this is my friend Mr. Wilmer." Both men 
studied the effect of this announcement upon the 
self-satisfied man before them. He looked at 
them sharply and perhaps rudely, but he did not 
stir in his chair. All they noticed was that be bit 
his cigar harder. He knew them before, and 
they understood that. 

-'Glad to see you, gentlemen," be returned, 
just as if he had never seen them before. This 
was the first time they had ever exchanged words 
"Won’t you have seats?" He was provoking!/ 
self-complacent. 

“I have seen you before." said Robinson, who 
was unwilling be should think he was deceiving 
them. 


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>63 


“Very probable. Many know me whom I 
have not bad the pleasure of meeting personally. 
That is the happy fortune of railroad men.” How 
self-assured ! 

“Begging your pardon, but I believe you knew 
me before.” declared Robinson. 

“And I am sure you knew me before,” asserted 
Wilmer, as a cool second . 

“If so, you had escaped my memory. 1 meet 
so many people that it is absolutely impossible to 
remember all." 

“You are not. then, like old Hickory Jackson, 
who is said never to have forgotten a face,” added 
Robinson, with a tinge of scorn at this man's 
plausible subterfuge. The arrow struck where 
the archer intended and wounded the fellow’s 
vanity. 

“Not like Jackson,” Julius confessed, but he 
could not do otherwise then than say this. 

“All this nonsense aside; let us get down to the 
core of things,” began Robinson, in a serious 
tone. “We have come as men to ask for the 
reason for our summary dismissal from the serv- 
ice of the company.” 

“ I know nothing about it,” returned Julius, a 
little curtly. 

“Beg your pardon, sir, but you do.” asserted 
Robinson, firmly. The two men now sat down 
by his side. 

*' If you know, I need not tell you. ” remarked 
]ulius, who felt this to be an impracticable mo- 
ment for anger. 

“An official is not up to snuff,” put in Wilmer, 
“if he does not know the reasons for as import- 
ant a step as our peremptory discharge.” 

Robinson looked his approval of this. 

“ Important 1 That’s good,” sneered Julius. 

“Yes, important, sir,” said Wilmer, stung with 
anger by the sneer. A look from Robinson re- 
strained him. “We were not discharged for 
incompetency, ” in a milder tone. 

“You seem to know all about it,” laughing at 
their discomfiture. 

“We do; and so do you,” flung back Wilmer. 

’ I shall be glad to learn the reasons from you, 
then, for as I stated, I do not know.” Julius said 
this with provoking coolness and insinuating in- 
difference. He seemed to say by it that he was 
condescending to give them audience under any 
circumstances. Moreover, he was inclined to be- 
lieve they would not confess what they surmised. 

“ Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be 
wise.” remarked Robinson, cuttingly. 

“Your denial, if we are to believe it, makes us 
doubt your competency as an official,” sneered 
Wilmer, with singular emphasis. 

T do not take on myself any responsibility 


for the thoughts and opinions of others,” parried 
Julius, in what he regarded as a couf> cC etat. 
Taking his cigar from his lips be blew out a big 
whiff of blue smoke. 

“Nor do I.” returned Robinson, with lightning 
rapidity. The fellow was quick enough to see 
that the reply meant that the mental liberties he 
assumed belonged alike to every other self- 
respecting American citizen. The glance he cast 
at Robinson was sharp and quick, and he recog- 
nized a keener man than he expected to see. 
This conversation afforded him the very oppor- 
tunity he desired to scrutinize these two “vile 
sinners,” as the company denominated them, 
more minutely than he bad seen or heard of them 
before. In truth, that was chiefly his mission to 
Marshall. It is tame to say he was astonished at 
the strength of character he noted. They were 
men of principle and the soul of honor. 

“I claim the 'soul liberty’ that Roger Williams 
contended for,” observed Wilmer. 

“We do not differ on this,” said Julius, in a 
half conciliatory, half defiant tone. He shifted 
uneasily in his seat. Robinson rejoiced to see his 
disturbance 

“But to return to our request — what reasons 
for our discharge,” pursued Robinson, with that 
level- headedness that characterized him. 

“Well, sir, I have but to repeat that I know 
none,” replied Julius, with profane hauteur ffnd 
repulsive indifference. 

“Then, sir. I'm obliged to ask ivhy you are 
here to-day,” returned Robinson, promptly. 
Julius looked up. It was in his mind to tell him 
it was none of his business, but a prudent fear 
withheld the retort. The two men. however, saw 
the suppressed retort discourteous written upon 
his anger-lit face. It was but a momentary 
shadow upon his countenance, and then it was re- 
placed by an assured cut-and-dried smile. 

“ Oh, as to that,” he answered, “my duties take 
me anywhere upon the line, and I dropped off 
here simply to see how things in general are 
moving.” 

“Yes.” This simple expression burst from 
Robinson with such explosive dubiousness that 
Julius growled as if a salvo of cannon had been 
let loose at him. There was no room to doubt 
that they did not believe him. But policy dic- 
tated equanimity, and long schooling in methods 
of policy made him master of himself, if it did 
destroy his finer sense of justice and right and 
honor. 

“We can tell you why you are here.” inter- 
posed Wilmer. 

“Be glad to learn what 1 am here for,” with 
mixed irony and bombast. 


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1 64 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


* 1 To learn more of the < secrets that Sam Carey 
informed you about," said Wilmer, bluntly. 

“And what of it ?" 

"What of it? To break up the secret meet- 
ings by discharging all who participate 'in them. 
That's what of it " Wilmer arose, but he re- 
sumed his seat again. 

"We are men with hearts and sympathies.” 
said Robinson, "and we have families that are as 
dear to us as yours is to you. But because we 
have to think for ourselves you would starve 
them. Is it any wonder you provoke our hatred? 
Is it any wonder we met in secret sessions? 
Is it any wonder we have asked you for reasons 
for our discharge? Could we be men and do 
less? By the eternal gods we have a right to an 
honorable living, and we are going to have it." 

"Nobody hinders you;" a selfish grin of inso- 
lent satisfaction decorating his mouth, which was 
partly concealed by a short moustache, partly 
black and partly gray. 

" Every dog has his day," said Robinson, dis- 
daining to notice the fellow's cool impudence, 
"and you, Mr. Julius, you, a truckling hireling, 
'drest in a little brief authority,’ you will have 
yours — or I lay down my claim to prophecy.” 
Robinson nodded his head in emphasis to the 
words "you," and shook his long index finger. 

"I've got it now,” he retorted. 

•'Don’t you wish you knew who all belong to 
that secret organization that sneaks around in 
back places and holds meetings and concocts 
damnable plots against the sweet-scented railroad 
company, that never so much as thought a harm- 
ful thing in its dear little innocent life?" taunt- 
ingly sneered Robinson 

"And I will know, too.” 

"Not from Sam Carey," shouted Wilmer. 

" Not from Sam Carey," echoed a voice ap- 
proaching. All looked up in surprise. It was 
Sam Carey He paused before Julius and gazed 
at him petulantly. 

“Sam Carey!" cried Julius, in astonishment. 

"That’s ray name. I see you have not forgot- 
ten me.” 

"O, no," with a patronizing pleasantry. 

"But I have atoned for my crime of revealing 
these gentlemen's secret to you, and they have 
forgiven me, and I am one of them now and 
forever." 

"Sam Carey!" Julius exploded, — stunned at 
what he had heard. "What great opportunities 
of promotion you have thrown away," he added, 
reproachfully. Sam had spoken like a moral 
hero, and both Robinson and Wilmer looked at 
each other, as much as to say: "How we have 
been mistaken in Sam ! He'll do to tie to.” Sam 


need not have thus openly avowed his connec- 
tion. with this secret organization, but his doing so 
demonstrated his great strength of invincible 
manhood. This act was one of . magnificent 
courage, 

• * But I saved to myself my true friends " 

"And lost your opportunities." 

"And saved my self-respect." % 

"You were a fool." 

"And your mother reared a bigger one." Sam's 
eyes flashed. 

"You're a traitor to your best interests." 

" I've not asked you for a lecture or advice, sir. 
and I need no guardian." 

"Your impudence is intolerable," said Julius, 
savagely and commandingly, as a superior to an 
offensive inferior, an underling, a whipper-snap- 
per. 

"And your gall is equaled only by your ungen- 
tlemanliness.” 

Robinson enjoyed this little word-bout. 

" We’ve no further use for you. I dismiss you 
now from all further service to the company. 
Your pay ceases at once. " 

"The ears have come through the lion's skin,” 
chimed in Robinson. 

"Got out of me all you can get, and then sud- 
denly you discover I am a villain, eh?" 

"Never mind, Sara, we are free lances now," 
said Robinson, which bore a warning hint to 
Julius. 

"I’m not owned by any one now.V said Sam. io 
a light hearted off hand way. 

"Come on, boys," said Wilmer, walking away. 

Without curses or good wishes, sentimental 
adieux or Parthian arrows, these three men 
walked out of the hotel and left Julius alone with 
his tormenting black-faced thoughts. He took 
the first train out of town, glad to get away. 

CHAPTER VIII. — FOR CONSPIRACY. 

The three men walked away from Julius, much 
as one does from a snake he has just killed. 
They saw plainly that the officers of the company 
bore them irreconcilable hatred; but they were 
not asking for redress by reinstatement in their 
old places. Principle was higher than place; self- 
respect, than cringing submission. 

Since Sam Carey had now on two occasions 
demonstrated most signally his heroic qualities. 
Robinson and Wilmer were ready to wade in 
blood for him, if necessary. But this of course 
was needless. However, they did him a very * 
splendid service. They took him to the leading 
business firm in town and secured him a position 
as bookkeeper. In less than twenty four hours 
after he was so peremptorily discharged by Julius 
he entered upon the duties of the new place. He 


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was most gratefully happy, and liked the place 
mncb better than the old one. Instead of doing 
him irreparable harm, as Jnlius meant, be did 
him an inestimable favor. 

That evening, of course, he related the whole 
affair to Belle Grayson. She was extremely de- 
lighted. Just then she felt she was a hero wor- 
shipper and wanted to embrace him in her ecsta- 
cy, but prndence and maidenly modesty stood like 
invincible gnards over her clean deportment and 
heaven-sent honor. She almost regretted she had 
demanded silence on the subject of marriage for 
six months to come. At that moment she was 
ready to say "yes’* before he proposed. 

Is it barely possible that other young ladies 
ever feel in the same mood and want to say "yes" 
before the question has been popped? 

Bat Sam observed the injunction laid upon him 
by a whimsical young lady — the one he loved 
above all things on earth — and he opened not his 
mouth. At the bottom of his heart, however, it 
was a leading question. 

The next day Belle ran over to tell Tillie all 
about it. She was so elated that the news was 
too good to keep, and besides she was so generous 
she could not avoid dividing everything good she 
had with her warmest bosom friend. 

"I think Sam the best fellow on earth. I al- 
ways thought so. I think so now more than 
ever.” And she assisted Tillie to fold up a beau- 
tiful piece cf table linen she was ironing Then 
she took asmoothing iron and assisted to iron the 
dean white napkins and press them into a firm 
folded shape, and also smoothed and folded and 
stamped the heavy iron upon each one of a lot of 
dainty lace and linen and other handkerchiefs. 
While they worked they gossiped. Every time 
Tillie took a fresh, hot iron she touched it with 
her finger moistened by her tongue, to ascertain 
the degree of heat. And then she would spread 
out the garment and quickly pass the iron over it. 
All the time these two confidents were talking 
about their lovers. 

"Yes, Sam is a noble fellow for doing what he 
has done. Few in these days are made of that 
kind of stuff " And Tillie glanced up sweetly at 
Belle. 

"I almost wish I had not told him not to speak 
of marri ge for six months ” 

"Well, what did you do that for?” 

"I don't know.” 

"It won’t do to take risks that way. You 
might drive him away from you. Besides it's al- 
ways best to accept when he and you are both in 
the humor. He, may never be in the notion to 
ask you again.” 

"If he is no more faithful than that, /do not 


165 

want him, and I say good riddance to bad rub- 
bish. It's better to be free from an unloving, 
faithless creature than tied to him for life. If he 
changes before, he most surely will change after.” 
She struck the folded hankerchief a heavy thump- 
ing blow with the iron, as if in emphasis of her 
views. 

"Now, I did not put George off that way when 
be popped the — 

"C^ll it fatal question,” interrupted Belle, who 
loved to jest. Tillie laughed. 

“The sweetest, loveliest question ever asked 
woman by man,” amended Tillie. 

"Are you sure you did not make him feel you 
were jumping at the chance?” 

"I wanted to have him feel that I loved him 
with a mighty big heart above everything else in 
the world, and was willing to share even death 
with him. But I didn’t gush and make him lose 
confidence in my modesty.” 

"You sweet creature! And you are to be mar- 
ried in a month? I wish I knew how it feels to 
be engaged. All the other girls look at you with 
jealous, green-eyed envy. How proud you must 
feel, then! You are fixed for life. I'm always 
throwing my chances over my shoulder.” 

There was a little shadow in her heart. She 
did not look up, but ironed only the harder. In 
Tillie’s heart there came a wave of sympathy. 

"Sam has proved his faithfulness, and when 
the ban against him expires you will be wearing 
an egagement ring, mark my words.” 

"Think so?” 

"Of course I c^o.” 

"I’m glad you do. I guess I do too." 

While they were talking thus confidentially 
Sam Carey came in upon them unceremoniously 
and with agitated mien. His excited manner 
alarmed them. 

"Excuse me,” he puffed between his rapid 
breaths. • 

"Why — ” began Tillie. 

"Why, Sam!” exclaimed Belle. 

"I bring unwelcome news." he said. 

“What!” 

"What?” 

The two girls cried nearly in the same breath. 

"They have arrested George on a charge of 
conspiracy,” he announced in wild accents. 

"O, no!” exclaimed Tillie, growing as white as 
the table linen she had been ironing. 

"Sam Carey, do not say it,” cried Belle 

"Yes; an hour ago; be taken to Indianapolis 
next train.” 

"What has he done?” gasped Tillie. 

"Nothing under God’s heaven. It’s persecu- 
tion — fersecution — in a free country. There is 
no justice where money is king.” 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


1 66 

"What is conspiracy?” inquired Belle in the 
most intense excitement. Her eyes were big as 
moons, to use the common figure of speech. 

"It’s joining with others to do somebody some 
injury. Robinson would have been arrested, too, 
but he left last night on a mission of help for 
other workingmen. He would not run from an 
officer — not he. I’m glad he does not khow this, 
or he would come back and run his neck right 
into the noose; and he can do more good out than 
in.” 

"My goodness, what will we do!” cried Tdlie in 
the greatest distress. What a contrast in her 
feelings now and a few minutes ago! 

"He must have some lawyer to help him," 
suggested Sam. This was an idea to Tillie. ‘ I 
shall write to a young legal friend of mine there, 
and have him do what is right. O, he'll do it — for 
me.” 

This very exciting conversation did not con- 
tinue long. Sam hurried off to write a letter to 
his young legal friend, and Tillie sadly folded 
the last white napkin with the smoothing iron. 
Clearly did Belle see that it was her duty to com- 
fort her sorrowing friend, and well did she exe- 
cute this loving service. Both shed tears copious- 
ly, and there were long pauses of silence when not 
a word was uttered. Their tears fell like the re- 
freshing dews of heaven, and they were com- 
forted. Tears are the poetry of sorrow. What 
a beautiful thought must have been in the God- 
mind when He first conceived the idea of tears for 
sorrow! , 

It was not long after their tears had ceased that 
Belle remained. Her own household duties called 
her home. As she went she said consolingly: 

"It is not always cloudy ." 

"It is not always sunshine,” returned Tillie. 

As sgon as she was alone she set to work to carry 
out the idea that originated in her mind when 
Sam said he would write to bis youDg legal friend 
in Indianapolis. She said not a word of her plan 
to any one, and especially not to her parents, for 
they would opnose her and be possibly an insur- 
mountable obstacle in her way. The whole mat- 
ter could safely be explained, but it might result 
in great harm if defeated by over sensitive par- 
ents. The step she was about to take she herself 
could not approve from the conventional stand- 
point of high social breeding, but necessity knows 
no law. especially not the very flexible rules of 


super refined society— the polite laws of the "four 
hundred.” 

The family retired at the usual hour that night. 
Tillie made no concealment of ter sadness over 
the outrageous arrest of George Wilmer. Her 
mother whispered a sweet word of comfort in her 
ear as she retired. 

But the next morning the dear, good Tillie did 
not appear even when breakfast was ready. The 
kind mother thought perhaps she had cried most 
of the night, and was securing a little morning 
rest and she would therefore not disturb her. 
After all the other members of the family had 
partaken of the first meal of the day. the tender 
mother went to her daughter’s room to see what 
was the matter. It was barely possible she might 
be sick So she stole softly on tip-toe into the 
room. Not there! Where was her loved daugh- 
ter? Not there! Impossible! She was gone! 

' O, Tillie!” broke out the mother in agony. 
What had become of her? Where had she gone? 
Why? "O, Tilliel” was all she could utter. The 
bed remained undisturbed. The girl had not 
slept in it at all. 

On the table at the window that overlooked the 
green lawn and the beautiful yard the distressed 
mother found this brief note: 

"Don’t worry for me. dear mother. I go to 
Indianapolis on the midnight train and will stop 
at Uncle John's. I want him to get George out 
of the claws of the railroad company. Will be 
back soon." 

This note afforded some consolation Tbe 
dear girl was honest. She was at her Unde 
John’s, and had gone there for the noble purpose 
of helping her future husband Her Uncle John 
Emmet was an eminent lawyer. The good moth- 
er was half disposed to admire the pluck and 
courage of her wise daughter. 

When she revealed the facts in tbe case to the 
rest of the family, there was no scene 

"She ought not to have gone without telling 
us. That was wrong,” said the father. 

* 'No doubt she was afraid we would not con- 
sent,” apologized the mother. 

‘ The wrong was not in going, nor in the object 
of her mission, but in not confiding to us," said 
Mr. Dillingham 

The news caused Belle to rejoice and admire 
Sam Carey thought it was an act of the noblest 
kind he ever heard of. 


TO BE CONTINUED 


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167 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

THE MYSTERIOUS FOREST. 


A SOCIAL ALLEGORY. 
. P. PEBBLES. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

As they sorted again on their slow and painful 
march, pushing their way through the vines, 
brush and tall weeds that twined around them like 
living obstructions. Onetax remarked to his com- 
panion: "Are you certain that we are traveling 

in the right direction? 1 ' 

Socialist shook his head and replied: "I con- 
fess that I have been bewildered . for the last 
hour; and is it not strange that we have not heard 
a single groan from the Giant?" 

* "I do not remember of hearing him for the last 
two days," replied Onetax. 

By this time the others had come up, and now 
that the matter had been brought to their atten- 
tion, none of them remembered hearing the usual 
sounds of distress during that day or the preced- 
ing one. 

They looked at each other with mutual sur- 
prise, both at the strange fact itself, and that none 
had before noticed it. 

Philosophic, however, said quietly: "This 
need cause no particular surprise. It is well 
known that the sufferer remains quiet for days~at 
a time; but it is equally well known that his pain 
must cause a renewed outbreak. " 

At this moment a rustling was heard in the 
heavy foliage overhead. It has been related that 
the marked peculiarity of the forest consisted in 
the absence of all animal life, and the ordinary 
sounds that accompany animated nature. All 
stopped and peered among the branches over- 
head. They could only see a movement among 
the leaves, when a large bundle, apparently of 
black cloth, rustled and bounced from branch to 
branch until it fell lightly at their feet. Before 
either of them had time to speak the upper part 
was thrown back like a hood or bead covering, a 
human face smiled cheerfully, and a pair of shin- 
ing eyes cast quick glances from one to the other. 

**/ have been watching you for some time, and 
I offer my services as your guide. I never offered 
to guide a party before, as my rule has been to 
work with individuals." 

Their strange visitor continued to look with 
quick, penetrating glances from one face to the 
other. 

Onetax was the first to recover himself, and 
said laughingly, "Well, well, young man, this is 
rather an unceremonious way of introducing yoar- 
self," Aod then with a gesture of astonishment, 
"By Jove, he is not young! Metbusalah would 


be an infant beside him; yet, confound it! he is 
young, after all!” 

The surprise was not confined to the speaker, 
all had notiped the startling peculiarity of the face 
before them. Without a perceptible change in 
the features the countenance was that of extreme 
age and of early youth. It was not the result of 
sudden change, one look did not reveal old age, 
another youth; but if such a thing could tie con- 
ceivable, the same face represented decrepit age 
and vigorous manhood. Nor was this the only 
strange effect. Each one felt the face was a 
familiar one, one that should be well known to 
the onlooker; but every attempt to fix it in the 
mind's eye failed. The visitor seemed to under- 
stand the mixed emotions his appearance caused, 
and chuckled as if he enjoyed their confusion. 
•Turning to Onetax, he said: "Well, which is it? 
Old or young, strange or familiar?" 

The abashed man could only stammer: "I — 
don't — know!" 

The answer seemed to amuse the questioner; 
but he soon recovered his gravity. "Iam wait- 
ing for your answer." 

Socialist, speaking for all, asked; "Who are 
you; where did you come from, and what do you 
mean by your offer?" 

"To answer your last question first, I offer to 
guide you through the forest, giving you the true 
explanations of its mysteries. It is a custom of 
mine to Rffer my services to all who are bold 
enough to attempt to explore this waste, and who 
are sincere in their efforts to relieve the Giant. 
Only a few, however, accept them; and generally, 
I am insulted and cast off a few hours afterwards 
by those who do. My home is here among these 
pathless woods. I have many names, to you. my 
title is T. R. U. Interpretation. I have reason to 
believe," he added with dignity, "that the forest 
will never be explored, or the Giant relieved, un- 
til I lead the way." 

Oneftax by this time had recovered his wonted 
assurance, and while the others looked inquiring- 
ly and doubtfully at each other, said boldly: "I, 
for one, am opposed to following this confident 
guide; he may lead us into danger. You all know 
as well as I, that many have entered this forest to 
disappear forever; and this guide may have 
tempted them to destruction." 

The stranger smiled as he quietly said: "Many 
have sought me in vain after refusing my services 
when offered. " 

Socialist turned in perplexity to the others, and 


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1 68 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


noticed that Christian was looking earnestly at 
the stranger, and he thought he saw a quick 
glance of intelligence pass between them, as he 
said: "Friends, I fear that Onetax has spoken 

hastily; what say you to this offer -of this 

"Inner Voice," interrupted the stranger. Chris- 
tian started as he exclaimed: "I thought I knew 
him.” 

"I believe he is not an entire stranger to me,” 
said 3 Philosophic, calmly, "providing he has 
yet another name. But I propose that we ask 
him to remain with us, for the day at least, when 
we may better judge concerning his offer. Sure- 
ly," he added, turning to their visitor, "you 
would*not censure our exercising caution?” 

This suggestion seemed to meet the approbation 
of all, except Onetax, who shook his head; but 
murmured "that he was satisfied if the others 
were. 

The stranger nodded in assent, as he said: 
"Few have retained my services that long. Oh, 
how many have followed me for an hour! How 
many have met me with a smile, to cast me off 
with a frown!” 

During the entire time the stranger bad re- 
mained sitting or lying on the ground. The heavy 
cloak or gown that covered him concealing even 
the contour of his figure. With a shake or wrig- 
gle the head covering fell forward, and now noth- 
ing was visible but a pair of shining eyes that 
sparkled like twin stars. As, in some manner, 
peculiar to himself, he assumed an upright posi- 
tion without the sign of arms or legs, he seemed 
a bundle of black cloth armed with two eyes of 
superhuman brightness. (The historian* is now 
using the eyes of Onetax, as it afterwards was 
proven that each saw a different form.) 

To the announcement of Socialist that they had 
lost the way, but were searching for the Park, 
wherein the Giant was imprisoned, their guide 
chuckled, as he replied: "Every traveler be- 
comes lost from the second step taken from the 
beaten paths The Giant is now at work, sur- 
rounded by those who profit by his labor. Come 
and see. Afterwards." he added with a knowing 
air, "I will show you a quiet place where Chris- 
tian can give his lecture.” 

This evident knowledge of their past conversa- 
tion, brought a smile to the lips of all. but One- 
tax, who muttered aside, "a spy.” 

CHAPTER IX. 

With a gesture inviting them to follow the 
strange guide floated on before them. No feet 
seemed to touch the ground, nor was any move- 
ment of the limbs seen beneath the folds of the 
black gown He moved onward as if suspended 
by invisible cords, like the figures in a pup- 


pet show that are guided by unseen hands 
The leaves and bushes neither moved nor 
rustled as he passed through them like a mas 
of vapor. At any other place, under any circum- 
stances, the travelers would have thought them- 
selves the victims of a delusion, their reason 
would have rebuked their eyes, would have ap- 
pealed to their knowledge of oatural law and 
would have declared the thing they saw impossi- 
ble. But they expected strange, incomprehensi- 
ble things while in this mysterious forest, and 
they followed in silence. 

We do not know what others have met or seen 
in this pathless wood, but it is well known that 
many who have wandered from the beaten paths 
for even a short journey, have returned with dif- 
ferent views on the common affairs of liife, and 
with opinions changed on many things. Onetax 
pinched himself severely after looking intently at 
bis companions and their guide, then, as if satis- 
fied that it was not a dream, he followed without 
a word. 

The silent march continued for perhaps an 
hour, when a confused murmur of voices was dis- 
tinctly heard. It seemed like the humming 
sound that comes from a crowd at a distance 
Their guide kept on and they followed in silence, 
and gradually the sounds grew louder, when In- 
terpretation — to give him his chosen name- 
stopped, shook his head as if for silence; and in 
a whisper directed them to crouch down under 
the bush. 

Before their eyes was the beautiful park that 
our two explorers had visited five days before, 
but no longer silent or deserted. It was filled by 
a vast throng — a mixed assembly of both men 
and women seemingly of all ages and of all con- 
ditions of life. Sounds of laughter and loud 
talking were heard; but if at the first glance one 
thought it party of pleasure, a gathering of mer- 
ry-makers. the second look would show that 
many seemed anxious and ill at ease. When the 
explorers eyes had grown somewhat accustomed 
to the moving kaleidoscope they saw that some 
were laughing merrily, and others hurrying to 
and fro with looks of anxiety and deep concejm 
Some were lounging in the shade of trees convers- 
ing with smiling companions, while others were 
pacing along the walks with knit brows. Some 
again were sauntering slowly, either singly or in 
groups, as if enjoying the beauties of the place, 
and others walking moodily apart as if indiffer- 
ent to all around them. Some were stretched at 
full length on the grass either sleeping or read- 
ing as if trying to kill the time, others were sit- 
ting on the edges of the walks covering their 
faces with their hands as if they were biding the 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


tears they could not check. Some walked with a 
lordly air as if they were proprietors of all 
around them, others walked with a timid air as 
if they felt they were there on sufferance and 
hoped no one would notice them. Sometimes 
the merry peals of laughter would end with a 
long drawn breath that sounded like a sob, and 
now and then came a sound that seemed a groan. 
It was noticed that the laughing ones, the merry- 
makers and the better dressed were on the lawns, 
under the shade of the trees and around the 
fountains; while the depressed, the anxious ones 
and the meaner clothed were on the walks, and 
seemed afraid to step on the grass, indeed they 
were often led back to the paths by men in uni- 
form that had the bandies of pistols protruding 
from tbeir pockets, and who seemed to watch the 
movements of the crowd; they sometimes stopped 
and seemed to speak crossly to those on the paths, 
but when conversing to those on the lawns they 
would bow and cringe as though asking pardon 
for their interference. 

Our travelers crouched and watched this mov- 
ing throng in silence. It would be impossible to 
describe all the actions of the many actors in the 
active panorama that moved before their aston- 
ished eyes. But as their first wonder wore away 
ud tbeir eyes became able to distinguish separ- 
ate individuals among the crowd they noticed a 
om of herculean proportions working with hoe 
ud spade upon one of the flower beds. Many 
the others seemed busy rushing here and there, 
talking first with one man and then marking on a 
little book they would rush to another; but this 
man was the only one that was eqgaged in man- 
ual labor, the only one that worked on the beau- 
tiful pleasure ground to preserve and keep it in 
order. He worked steadily and paid no atten- 
tion to those around him, but every now and 
then he looked anxiously at the top of a post that 
was fixed in the ground a short distance be- 
fore him. It was noticed that similar posts 
were set up at regular intervals all over the place. 
From this and the anxious looks of the worker 
they concluded they were set up to divide the 
hours of labor. 

Interpretation, as if to answer their thoughts, 
whispered. "That is Labor; the park is solely the 
work of his hands, and his work preserves it in 
good order. " 

Onetax was on the point of asking, why don’t 
he escape, or make an effort to do so; but a second 
glance showed that the worker was enveloped in 
chains, that bung from his arms and legs; and 
could be traced from the worker along the ground 
until they seemed to reach the stone cell, which 
bad confined the Giant on their first visit. 


169* 

There even seemed words on the chains, 
as if they were named; the attention of the others 
being called to this, they managed to spell the 
word POVERTY bn one and COMPETITION 
on another. There were several other chains, 
but it was impossible to make out the inscriptions 
on them. 

"Remain here and I will help you to under- 
stand the scene, " whispered Interpretation. He 
floated from their side, and they watched him as 
he flitted noislessly among the crowd. He seemed 
invisible to the moving throng; no one noticed 
him or'moved aside as he approached, or seemed 
in any way conscious of his presence. ' Yet he 
affixed a badge with a name written on it to the 
breast or back of every one as he came near, but 
neither the person who received the badge or the 
others seemed to notice it in any way whatever. 

He stopped by the side of an old man, who 
with a basket on bis arm was running from group 
to group with an anxious look, and the words 
"Money Lender" shone on his breast; another 
who was pacing moodily along the walk received 
the name "Ruined Speculator," while another 
who was promenading gaily with a beautiful 
lady on his arm was entitled "Successful Specu- 
lator." A portly man who was strolling over the 
lawn with a lordly air of a proprietor, received the 
word "Capitalist" on his swelling breast A dis- 
sipated looking young man, who was reclining 
asleep under a tree fanned by one in bright livery 
was marked "Heir to Millions." An energetic 
man, who was talking loudly to a group that sur- 
rounded him received a badge with the word 
"Politician." It would be impossible to enumer- 
ate the many names given as their guide hurried 
from one to another; but in an incredible short 
space of time every one of the hundreds before them* 
had a badge that could be read by the watchers. 

This strange proceeding had for a time taken 
their attention from the worker, and when they 
looked they saw that two men were endeavoring, 
to attract his attention. One was on his right 
side the other on his left and Doth seemed to be 
talking at once. The laborer worked doggedly 
on, although at times he would stop and listen 
for a moment to the one on bis right who was 
marked "Trade Union," but he would look up at 
the post and resume his work while he shook his 
head doubtingly. The one on the left who bore 
the badge of "Political Economist" would even 
pluck the worker by the sleeve in his efforts to 
engage his attention, but the worker shook bis 
head scornfully and went on with his work. 

"I would like to hear what they are saying, ” 
whispered Onetax. 

Interpretation smiled and banded each one of 


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i7o THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


the four a small tube shaped like a trumpet, say* 
ing: “Put this to your ear." 

The events of the day had prepared our trav- 
elers to accept miracles withbut astonishment; 
and they were not surprised on placing the in- 
strument in position to hear the words spoken by 
those in the park as though they stood by their 
side. 

“See here," said Trade Union, “you know 
they don't give you half enough and you work too 
many hours a day. Suppose I go over to Capi- 
talist ^nd demand more pay; and if you say so I 
will tell him you won t work but eight h^urs " 

The worker shook bis head doubtfully as he 
looked at his ragged clothes, and the listeners 
heard the chains ring together as he raised his 
arm, and they saw that the two marked “Poverty 
and Competition" were twisted together and 
really formed but one chain. 

“If they won’t do what I demand for you then 
quit work. I — I can contribute a little for your 
support," continued the first speaker. 

“That would be a very foolish thing to do." 
said Political Economist. “It would interfere 
with the proper care of this park, and you would 
suffer as much as the rest. I think I can show 
you how to economize by living cheaper than you 
do, and by saving your allowance you may have 
something to keep you in sickness or old age." 

By this time a crowd had gathered around to 
listen to the conversation, and a severe looking 
man, dressed in black broadcloth. stepped forward 
and with much dignity, said: “Remember it is writ- 
ten 'man shall gain his bread by the sweat of his 
brow.’ " As he turned to continue his remarks 
they saw the words “Orthodox Minister" on his 
breast Trade Union interrupted him by saying 
with a glance around the park: “I suppose the 
people here don't have bread " The other drew 
backward haughtily as he said: “Beware, scoff 
not at the ones that Providence has placed in 
authority," and as if he dreaded violence he hur- 
ried away. 

A benevolent looking man marked “Prohibi- 
tionist" who had shaken his head at all that had 
been said, now stepped forward and said: “If 
my friend here, and all who either look idly on or 
profit by his work would resolve to drink water, 
leaving all other beverages aside, I am positive that 
everything would soon be all right. If I could 
only influence you," he continued, turning to the 
crowd around him, “to make a law prohibiting 
the manufacture and sale of all forms of alco- 
holic poisons, the poor Giant would save much 
more, the others could give him much more and 
.everybody would be happy and prosperous." 

Several others commenced talking, each en 


deavoring to gain the attention of the worker 
as well as the crowd of listeners, which was get- 
ting largeV every minute. It seemed that each 
speaker tried to drown. the voices of the others, and 
the result was a confused medley of sound from 
which no words could be distinguished. The Giant 
continued working with a sullen expression. He 
commanded those in front to stand aside and al- 
low him to work; and after one of his anxious 
looks at the post he bent his head and labored 
without paying the slightest attention to the ex- 
cited throng. 

While the crowd were still wrangling Capitalist 
was seen to walk leisurely towards Money Lender. 
He conversed a moment with him and the old 
man opened his basket and handed the other a 
small package, making at the same time an entry 
in a little book that he carried in his hand. Cap- 
italist took the package and placed it carefully oo 
the top of the post that stood in front of the worker 
He smiled patronizingly at the crowd, and waved 
his hand carelessly as he turned away. Some of 
the onlookers clapped their hands as if applaud- 
ing the action. One that stood bv the side oi 
the Giant plucked him*by the sleeves and pointed 
signifiantly at the package Labor cast a quid 
glance at the post and then resumed his work 

As this incident had somewhat quieted the 
babel of voices, Political Economist took advant 
age of the momentary cessation and said: ' Look, 
friends at the great improvement that modern 
knowledge has made, notice how much more ha 
mane the present system is than the one that pre- 
ceded " 

“Then the cruel overseer, armed with a whip, 
stood by the side of Labor and compelled him to 
\york, and he received no remuneration beyond 
the scanty food the slave driver allowed him 
Now the Giant is free, he works for a specified 
remuneration that is placed upon the posts and 
awaits him when his allotted work is finished. The 
right of contract is open both to him and Capi- 
talist; and instead of the cruel overseer, society 
provides guards to see that the contract is ob- 
served on both sides. Since the chains of feudal- 
ism and chattel slavery have Deen taken from the 
Giant be has been free, and has no serious cause 
for complaint." 

The speaker paused and there was a sound of 
applause, even Capitalist was seen to lanquidly 
clap his hands together. Labor bad never looked 
up nor ceased from his work during the harrangue, 
but when the speaker had referred to former 
chains thit he had worn, the watchers saw 
he smiled sarcastically and looked at the fou* 
chains that hung from his shoulders and enver 
oped his limbs as if be thought there were still 
enough left to cause some complaint 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


I 71 


The orator appeared to notice this look, and 
cleared bis throat, hemmed once or twice, and 
«as a boat to speak, when a bright faced, bustling 
little man, who bad pushed his way to the front, 
aid abruptly: "What is the practical difference 
if ter all, formerly be was fed that he might work, 
oow he works that be may feed himself. The 
heavy chains you removed kept him from 
Waving one spot; but I see there is enough left 
» prevent his running away altogether.” 

Political Economist turned angrily at the bold 


speaker, but appeared confused when he saw his 
face, and turned away, saying: 'T might have 
known it was you, but take my advice and leave 
questions alone that are above your comprehen- 
sion;" and he turned suddenly upon his heel and 
was soon lost in the crowd. The little man 
laughed as he said: "It's you that can't make 
bead nor tail out of the question, but I can see 
some of the mischief of those who claim they 
do." As he went away the spectators saw the 
name of "Candid Observer” on the badge on 
his breast. 


TO BB CONTINUED. 


IS SOCIALISM PRACTICABLE. 


BY JOSE GROS. 


4 

In the sweat of thy face shah thou eat 
y?ad ” The word bread there means, of course, 
ill that men may need to produce in order to 
mlize divine ideals on earth. It then means our 
own homes, the buildings and tools indispensible 
to all production and commerce, all, in fact, which 
may be the creation of human effort conducive to 
our healthy development. 

The sentence in question was addressed to the 
individual man, in singular. Society had not yet 
beeo organized when that divine law w%s formu- 
lated That sentence establishes the rights of 
private property, of property created by labor, 
by human effort, symbolized by the word 
suvat." That sentence totally and completely 
negatives the aims of all socialistic schools. It 
twst emphatically denies to society the right to 
:»trol that which individuals may create. The 
rah duty of society is to see that all individuals 
my obtain the full equivalent of what they pro- 
duce through honest labor, and through the con- 
trol of what labor has produced, each individual 
controlling his own share, alone, or in free co* 
operation with other individuals. The duty of so- 
ciety is also to 'see that public functions are under 
public control, and never under any monopolistic 
management. 

The two duties just specified form the sum 
total of society's functions. All else appertains 
to tbe individual, and is to be determined by him- 
self alone, in so far as his doings don't ii^erfere 
with public morality or sanitation. 

Socialism virtually says that the individual 
iball be at the mercy of society in all that relates 
to tbe individual life, the most important element 
to every one of us. It says that society shall de- 
termine what tbe individual may be entitled to 
receive for the labor he performs. That envolves 


the confusion of two fundamental conceptions, or 
rather, the cancellation of one of them. 

Labor is a duty enjoined t>y God to men 
Property is the tangible effect of a duty per- 
formed. God established the rights of individual 
property when He ordained labor as the cardinal 
duty of the individual, as the condition of human 
existence. 

Of course that human existence involves, in the 
divine mind, the social organization, but only as 
a group of individuals bound to respect all indi- 
vidual rights, those by God granted to men, any- 
how. That implies two sets of human duties; 
duties to every one of us as individuals, and 
duties to the social compact of which we may be 
units; and there is no need of any conflicts be- 
tween those two sets of duties. Just as every 
planet is subject to two motions, one turning 
over its own axis, the other around its center of 
gravity, and no conflict arises between the two; 
so is man subject to tbe two sets of duties we have 
mentioned, with perfect harmony to the full de- 
velopment of both man and society. 

All human calamities can be traced to the fact 
that we have never taught men those two sets of 
duties, and hence we have only developed an in- 
complete man, a lame human individual, bound 
to make the best of himself at the expense of the 
rest, and so forever making a failure of himself, 
because forgetting his duties as a social unit. Of 
course, the inevitable result has been a wild hunt 
after wealth fer se, wealth for the mere purpose 
of satisfying human vanities, wealth here and 
poverty there. We are disgusted with all past 
and present civilizations just because they have 
always, and forever, given wealth to the few and 
poverty to the many. That may be progress ac- 
cording to humaa infatuations That is no prog- 
ress in the mind of God. No amount of genius 


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2 


or virtue here and there can make up for the 
iniquities that such a forceful human progress 
embodies. 

And what does socialism propose to do for the 
suppression of our social diseases? It proposes 
to cancel certain grand individual rights, by God 
granted to them, as we have seen. Is there any 
wisdom in that plan? It presupposes that we can 
improve the individuil by really destroying some 
of the rights that constitute the individual, some 
.property rights, some rights by which he should 
fix his own earnings and decide upon his own ex- 
«rti >ns, in his own field of labor or business 
activities. 

What we should cancel or destroy, what we 
never should have allowed to exist, are individual 
rights to those natural elements that no individ- 
ual has ever produced; while giving to all the 
full enjoyment of such elements, on principles of 
strict equity to all. 

That which God has created through the ex- 
clusive use of His own forces, apart from all in- 
dividual human exertion, to give to some the 
monopoly of that and thus disinherit the rest of 
the human family; there is the crime at the bot- 
tom of all crimes, individual or social! And that 
crime makes all human progress a clean farce, a 
colossal cheat! 

Every decent man and real reformer should, at 
least, be willing to suppress that crime, if no 
other, because of its selfevident magnitude, be- 
cause of its fatal effects on the grand totality of 
social growth. All those who fail to work, in the 
suppression of that crime, miss the holiest joys 
on earth, and close their eyes to the grand symme- 
try of* God's laws. They all fail to comprehend 
that we have, as a matter of fact, three forms of 
wealth on the face of the planet, as follows: 

First. Wealth produced by individuals, not an 
atom of which should society take away from 
them, in any form or shape, unless indispensible 
If the nation is forced to defend herself against 
invading armies. 

Second. Social wealth, represented by ' an- 
nual land values," themselves the result of what 
men may be willing to give every year for the 
actual use of this or that parcel of land, in pre- 
ference to some other, such annual land values to 
fill all public and governmental needs for the 
equal good of all. 

Third. Natural wealth, that land which has 
not yet acquired any social value, because some- 
what far off from centers of population, such 
natural wealth to be opened to all, for use, in 
email parcels, free from all payment in any shape 


or sense, until population has imparted some 
value to such land. 

And do you know what would happen if. to- 
morrow, men should learn how to discriminate 
in regard to those three forms of wealth; and bos 
to deal with each one on principles of ethics, and 
good sense? What would happen is that the Thy 
Kingdom come, of the Lord’s prayer, would rap- 
idly become a reality, and cease to be the mere 
sentimentality it has been, because of wrong 
Christian teachings. 

We all know the wretched failure, that what we 
may call the churches of men , have so far ei- 
hibited on their impressions over humanity at 
large, the poverty of their results in the march of 
civilization, although wealth, power and influence 
have always been within their £rasp. Do you want 
to learn the reason why the churches have so 
miserably failed? The reason is extremely simple 
The churches have only preached a sentimental 
human brotherhood, never, or very seldom, a 
practical one, or a brotherhood of fact. The lat- 
ter can only be gradually evolved in proportion 
as we build up a correct social compact, resting 
on the simple cardinal principles we have indi- 
cated respecting individual rights, while teaching 
individuals all respect towards their social dnties 
duties of citizenship! 

Socialism would attempt to evolve a mechanical 
human brotherhood in opposition to the senti- 
mental one of the churches of men, when, what we 
need, is, the brotherhood of the golden rule, a s 
was preached by the Christ / Anything short of 
that will fail. And the golden rule in question 
must be incorporated in the human law, because, 
as long as it is not, men virtually say that they 
don't care for that rule; but prefer human laws 
or rules enabling each one of us to get the best of 
somebody else. 

Yes, while we cannot develop healthy nations 
but through healthy individuals, we cannot de- 
velop any healthy individuals but in so far as we 
teach them how to establish healthy laws, em- 
bodying the golden rule. Nothing short of that 
will ever give any permanent peace to men on the 
face of the planet. 


Takes Work Nowadays. — ** You niggers," says 
Underdose, “dat t’ inks you is gwine to git up 
dem golden stairs widout climbin', and climbin 
hahd; is mighty much mistakened. I des want to 
tell you right now dat de yellervator is stopped 
runnin eber since de daas ob ole 'Eijah.— 1*^* 
anapolis Journal. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

SINGLE TAX VAGARIES. 


173 


BY W. H. 

The object of the single tax is to destroy pri- 
vate property in land, i. e., to make land com- 
mon property. To effect this object, Henry 
George very correctly states that : "It is not nec- 
essary to confiscate the land, we can confiscate 
rent." When taxed with tne evident injustice of 
virtually confiscating the land from the present 
owners, single-taxers are wont to reply "that pri- 
vate ownership of jand is robbery; that landown- 
ers did not produce the land and can show no just 
title to it." Now. it may be at once admitted that 
equity does not permit private property in land. 
Bat are we justified in robbing present owners of 
that "unearned increment" of which thousands 
not now landowners have bee a the beneficiaries? 
For instance, under our system of private owner- 
ship. we compel say, a farmer to invest $5000 
before he can gain access to the land necessary 
for him to procure a living; having done so, are 
we justified in depriving him of the value of his 
land by confiscating its rental value? Or, take 
the case of a mechanic who has invested the 
savings of several years of honest toil in a borne 
site — our land system compelled him to do this 
before he could acquire the right to build a home 
—having done so, can we in equity deprive him 
of the money so invested by confiscating bis 
land s rental value? 

It cannot be claimed that either the farmer or 
the mechanic were robbers. They have not occu- 
pied more land than is necessary, in the one case 
for the purpose of producing a living, in the 
other, as a site for a hdme. They are not in any 
sense "monopolizers of natural opportunities." 
because they have not interfered with the rights 
of others, so long as there is sufficient land for 
the population. 

I agree with J. D. Mill that society has the 
right to dispose of the national wealth in any way 
that will increase the comfort and happiness of 
the nation as a whole, on the ground that society 
has created the wealth, and not those in whose 
hands it now happens to be. But I deny the 
right of society to single out the landowners as 
proper subjects of expropriation, while allowing 
the other exploiting classes to retain their wealth 
intact. The capitalist, as such, no more pro- 
duces capital than the landowner does the land. 
Both rent of land and of capital represent rob- 
bery of labor. The confiscation of rent, of 
itself, would not increase the wages of labor, as 
I have shown. Therefore, George's scheme of 
confiscation and robbery would be as useless as it 
is unjustifiable. 


STUART. 

But let us suppose we adopted the single tax. 
Our friends, the farmer and the mechanic, would 
be assured by their single tax friends that as users 
of land they were quite as well off as formerly — 
only as land speculators were they worse off — at 
which our friends shook their heads sorrowfully 
when they thought of the $5000 and $1000 invest- 
ed and lost since the selling value of land had 
disappeared. 

They were also informed that absolute owner- 
ship of land is not necessary to insure its best 
use; that only security for improvements is nec- 
essary. Well, let us see how securityfor tenure 
would be affected by a tax that would vary so 
greatly with increase of population and business. 
Let us follow the fortunes of our friends, the 
farmer and mechanic. The farm of the former 
was near a growing town that furnished a good 
market for his produce. As the town spread out 
in his direction his yearly tax increased. After a 
few years the rapid growth of the town made 
our farmer's land valuable for suburban resi- 
dences, factories, warehouses, etc. Finally a 
street car line was built past his property, and his 
land tax doubled and quadrupled, and he was at 
last forced to sacrifice his improvements, because 
not suitable for the new uses for which his land 
was desired, and seek "fresh pastures" remote 
from the possibilities of rapid improvement and 
increase of rent. 

Our mechanic had built himself a home, spent 
his spare time in making a pretty garden, and a 
thousand other little improvements. Having 
done so, he looked with distrust on all improve- 
ments in his vicinity as tending to increase his 
yearly land tax. The approach of business he 
regarded with consternation. But the town con- 
tinued to grow. In a few years a large govern- 
ment building was erected in the next block; 
business took a rush in his direction; his location 
became valuable for business purposes; his 
"single" tax, like the farmer’s, doubled and quad- 
rupled, and he was finally forced to move his 
house and abandon his thousand little improve- 
ments, taking care that his next location was in a 
part of the town so undesirable as to be dutside 
of possible "improvements" for years to come. 
Is it not evident that under such insecurity of 
tenure no poor man would dare risk the building 
of a home, lest increase in rental values would 
force him every few years to move or abandon 
his improvements. Under such conditions of in- 
security only the rich could afford to take the 
risk, for which we may confidently expect h 


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, 74 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

would amply recoup them s elves is increased rest brought about; the owners of the road bed of 


It is quite true, as George claims, that absolute 
ownership of land is not necessary to insure its 
best use Two conditions are. however, necessa- 
ry. (i) security of tenure for a specified and 
agreed period of time; (2) an agreed and fired 
annual rental. Neither of these conditions would 
obtain under a single-tar rtj^inu La n d values 
would be assessed annually or bi-ennially. as at 
present, and from the moment an owner bad 
erected his improvements, the land upon which 
the improvements were situated would be yearly 
up at auction to the highest bidder, i. e . virtually 
so. as George, himself, admits The owner, to 
retain possession, would be forced to pay the 
rental value for his land that others were 
willing to pay for it Under such conditions of 
uncertainty and insecurity improvements would 
be discouraged, and when made would be of a 
cheap and temporary character. Improvements 
adequate for a town of 10 000 population would 
be totally inadequate, both in size and architect- 
ural appearance, when the population had in- 
creased to 50.000. and as such increase in popu- 
lation is often effected in less than a decade and 
as under the single tax rental values of land 
would increase quite regardless of the income de- 
rived from the improvements, the improvements 
would have to be torn down or removed at great 
loss to the owners, with the prospect of the pro- 
cess being repeated in another decade, if the town 
or city continued to rapidly increase in popula- 
tion. 

This objection, alone, is sufficient 10 discredit 
the single-tax as a solution of the land question, 
an important factor, certainly, in the economic 
problem, but really of miner importance com 
pared with the question of the control of capital. 

In the March Conductor, Mr. W. P. Borland 
devotes considerable space in showing the enor- 
mous tax on industry through the private owner- 
ship of natural resources I certainly agree with 
him on that point. But when he attempts to 
prove that the trans f erence of the tax now ex- 
acted by private owners, into the public treasury 
would increase the proportion going to the actual 
producer, he makes a dismal failure He cites 
an instance in Michigan where the capitalist oper- 
ators of an iron mine generously offered to IceeD 
wages up if the wicked land owners would con- 
sent to a redaction of the royalties. But, of 
course, the wicked landowners refused, and the 
kind-hearted capitalists generously consented to 
continue operations on the basis of a reduction of 
25 per cent. This is very touching This is the 
very reason, no doubt, that the recent cut in the 
wages of the Lehigh Valley R. R employes was 


that railroad live in England, while tibe capital- 
ist owners of the rails, ties, and rolling stock are 
patriotic Americans, who would have gladly paid 
in wages all over a fair return 00 the actual capi- 
tal invested, but the wicked foreigners insisted 00 
their fall royalty for the nse of the road bed, and 
if it hadn't been from the willingness of the men 
to accept "a reduction" the road would no doubt 
have stopped running. 

This, no doubt, was the cause of the trouble 
with the Lehigh Valley Coal Combine; the Spring 
Valley * unpleasantness"; the recent •‘reduction” 
in the Carnegie Iron Works; why trackmen are 
pain 90 cents a day on the C . B. ft Q and 6j^ 
cents on the Nashville and Tennessee R. R. This 
is no doubt w by the W U. Tel. Co. are grinding the 
wages of their employes down to starvation point, 
because the telegraph post boles belong to land 
monopolists who charge the poor capitalists so 
much for the privilege that the telegraph compa- 
ny are forced to reduce wages or quit the busi- 
ness ! This is rich, indeed ! Seriously, now. 
how is it possible that the transference of the 
royalties now paid by the Michigan mine opera 
tors to private owners, to the government, will 
enable the operators to increase wages? Will 
Mr. Borland assert that if all the iron mines in 
Michigan were thrown open to-morrow, abso- 
lutely free from all rent or royalties, that the 
wages of the miners would be increased an iota? 
Will be assert that men without capital could, 
under such circumstances, compete with capital- 
ist methods of mining? He speaks in a former 
article of men being able to move ore at the ratt 
of 50 cents a ton, in wheelbarrows. Does be 
not know that steam scoop shovels do the work 
for 12# cents per ton? i. e.. at one-fourth the 
cost. This talk of the advantage of "free access 
ter natural opportunities ' to ran without capita) 
is tbe merest rot and rubbish. Think of the 
farmer without capital tickling the 'margin of 
cultivation” in competition with tbe bonanza 
farmer? Why, even the farmer who owns his 
land and is provided with machinery is being 
driven to the wall by bis capitalist competitor, 
who produces tbe staple cereals at one-tbird the 
cost of the average farmer. Fiity cent wheat 
pays the bonanza farmer 33^ per cent profit, 
while the average farmer at that price is forced 
to mortgage his farm to avoid starvation. U tbe 
average farmer, with modern machinery, is un- 
able to compete with capitalist methods of pro- 
duction, of what avail would "free access to 
natural opportunities” be to the thousands of 
unemployed in manufacturing centers, thousands 
of whom wouldn't know wheat from barley grow- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 175 


ia$ |n a field? What "natural opportunities” 
does the "Big 4" meat combine monopolize, that 
enables it to control both the price of meat on 
the hoof as well as on the hook? What ’ natural 
opportunities" does the Cotton Seed Oil Co. con- 
trol? or the sugar trust, or the flour trust, or the 
leather trust, or the steel rail industry, or a hun- 
dred other trusts and monopolies who neither 
control "natural opportunities” nor are aided by 
our fiscal system. Not one of these industries is 
a "special monopoly." the result of class legisla- 
tion. 

Mr. Borland says: "It is an utter impossi- 
bility for any one to point out a single one of the 
monopolies under which the people groan that 
has not been built up by special privilege of 
some sort or another, a perversion of the law 
which gave them the right to do things denied to 
other persons." To which I enter a flat and dis- 
tinct denial, with the exception which the law al- 
lows to inventors, and to authors, of exclusive 
right to the profits of their work for a few years, an 
arrangement that is perfectly just. There is no 
such thing as speotal privileges or monopolies 
that is granted to certain persons that is "denied 
toothers." Where is the law that prevents any 
man from acquiring land, or building a railroad, 
or a telegraph or telephone line, or engaging in 
any form of industry for which he has the neces- 
wry capital? Aye, there's the rub; the "neces- 
ary capital." Under any system of individual 
ownership of the means and instruments of pro- 
duction. capital will inevitably gravitate into 
the hands of a small class, who by journeying to- 
gether can make it impossible for the man with- 
out capital to compete. This is the raison d'etat 
of socialism. It proposes to substitute this sys- 
tem of individual ownership of capital by adopt- 
ing collective ownership. Free access to land 
and natural resources would not interfere with 
this concentration of wealth. Capital is king. 
The present program of Henry George and his 
scheme of social and economical reform is no solu- 
tion of the question; would not be even a pallia- 
tive. It commences by robbing the industrious 
farmer of his land, and the workman of his home- 
site; then destroys all security of tenure of the land, 
and perhaps robs them of their improvements, 
and having done so. turns them loose less able 
than ever to compete in the "death scramble" 
for a miserable existence in competion with capi- 
talisms. 

The reader will, of course, understand that 
under the single tax regime the capitalist class 
will control the machinery of production the 
same as at present. Capital will go un taxed, on 
the ground that it is a "good thing," whose pro 


duction would not be discouraged by being "fined” 
or taxed. The man who owns a million, or tea 
millions in government bonds, or in stocks, or 
steamboats, or ships, or who owns stock in sugar, 
leather, cotton-seed oil or agricultural imple- 
ment trusts, or in any form of industry in which 
the value of the land is insignificant, and there 
are thousands such, will escape all .share in the 
support of the government. We maintain fire 
departments and militia to save and defend this 
property, but they will be entirely exempt from 
all share in the cost of such protection. 

George has a great respect for capitalists. He 
claims that the adoption of the single tax will 
"increase the earnings of capital.” Interest, he 
holds, is the "wages of capital," the "just re- 
turn," as he puts it, for its "aid in production." 
Not a word is said in Progress and Poverty against 
the wage system. Capitalism and the wage sys- 
tem, from the Georgian point of view, is all right, 
providing the wage slave has free access to the 
"margin of cultivation," so that if he is dissatis- 
fied with the wages offered by his employer, he 
can go onto the "margin," and tickling it with a 
stick, bid defiance to the capitalist! By the way, 
Carnegie's men who struck at Homestead were 
in sight of hundreds of abandoned farms, which 
they could have obtained for a mere nominal 
rent, certainly less that a single tax would likely 
be; yet they accepted Frick's terms in preference 
to starving on the "margin." Singular is it not? 

As showing George's love for the capitalists, it 
may be mentioned that while denouncing land 
owners as robbers who produced nothing, and 
lived on the earnings of labor, he yet valiantly 
defended "Old Hutch." of Chicago, who a few 
years ago cornered wheat and made a couple of 
millions by the operation. As the single tax 
would not prevent this form of robbery, George 
boldly took the bull by the horns and defended 
"Hutch" as a public benefactor, and "corners" 
as a legitimate use for capital! Great is the sin- 
gle tax, and George is its prophet! 

Now it must be evident to the intelligent and 
well paid railroad employe, whose wage of from 
$30.00 to $50.00 per month (I know several below 
the rank of division superintendent who receive 
as high a $75.00 per month), enables them to 
five in comparative luxury and affluence, that 
the capitalist stockholders in our railroad corpor- 
ations receive a very inadequate and "unjust re- 
turn” for the use of their capital. Consider how 
impossible it would be for us to get along with- 
out capitalists and the wage system. Who, may 
I ask, feeds and clothes the sixty-five millions of 
Americans if it is not the 31,000 capitalists who 
by their "abstinence" have accumulated the ma- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


176 

jority of the nation's wealth, and instead of wast- 
ing it in riotous living, generously consent to ap- 
ply part of their honest 1 ‘savings" to productive 
purposes, and thus keep us all from starvation. 
Of course I am aware that labor produces all 
this wealth and only retains sufficient of it for a 
bare subsistence. The balance we hand over tp 
the capitalists to keep us employed and pay us 
our wages, but if we kept this wages ourselves 
instead of handing it over to the capitalists, it is 
only too certain, as Mr. Carnegie points out, 
that we would only spend it on liquor and idle 
away our time. How much better it is to do as 
Mr. Carnegie does, keep this wages and spend it 
on public libraries, soup houses and charity 
balls(?) 

It is also a well known fact that the principal 
diet of the railroad capitalist consists of * ‘water,” 
while the well fed railroad employe can at the 
worst look forward confidently to, at least, be- 
ing "in the soup." So that when Mr. George 
promises that the single tax will "increase the 
earnings of capital" he strikes a responsive cord 
in the heart of every honest worker. The man 
who can not clearly perceive the debt of grati- 
tude we owe the capitalists, and desire that their 
"earnings" should "increase," until it reaches 
that "just return" to which Mr. George says 
they are entitled for their "aid in production," 
such a man is deficient in the sense of justice, 
and the grey matter in his brain is altogether dif- 
ferent in kind and quantity from that which goes 
into the composition of the average single taxer. 

It must also be admitted that the one case of 
the capitalist mine owners cited by Mr. Borland, 
as showing the natural tender heartedness of 
that much maligned class outweighs all statistics 
regarding the concentration of wealth, all the 
census reports, all the history of strikes, and the 
testimony of every labor leader and reformer ' ' this 
side of sheol (?)" 


Mr. Borland takes great comfort in the thought 
that future discoveries may completely revolu- 
tionize methods of production so that it may be 
possible to retain our system of individualism. 
He asks. "Who can say what revolutions may 
be brought about by the full introduction of 
electricity as a motive power into our system of 
industry, and who can say what revolutions in 
the present system of industry may not occur 
within the next fifty years?" Very true, indeed. 
If socialists could only know the date of those 
important discoveries they could predict within 
a year or two the advent of the coming co-opera- 
tive commonwealth. If, for instance. Edison 
succeeds in extracting heat directly from coal 
without burning it, it would at once throw 50,000 
coal miners out of employment and reduce them 
to starvation, or force us to abolish capitalistic 
monopolization of the forces of nature. Every 
new invention, every discovery of science, every 
trust formed, every concentration of capital and 
business, renders fewer men necessary to the 
capitalists, who turn them adrift to starve. Only 
under a collective system of production and dis- 
tribution will all discoveries in labor-saving 
machinery, in science and knowledge, inure to 
the benefit of all. Any assumption to the con- 
trary is merely childish nonsense, which has not 
one iota of reason to rest on. A man who can- 
not reason this QUt clearly, is either deficient in 
mental acumen, or is so prejudiced as to com- 
pletely destroy his capacity for logical deduc- 
tions. 

In a future paper I shall show that the assump- 
tion that the single tax on land would produce 
sufficient revenue for all public purposes, is based 
on a shallow and ignorant fallacy, which reduces 
the theory to an absurdity below the contempt 
of even a bourgeois political economist of the 
peanut order. I shall also show that the reforms 
instituted recently in New Zealand are decidedly 
of a socialistic tendency. 


THE WAGES QUESTION. 


BY W. P. 

What determines the rate of wages? Under 
present conditions, and speaking generally, the 
necessities of the wage workers as influenced by 
their standard, or rate, of living. That is to say, 
wages always tend to the minimum necessary to 
support the worker in the average degree of com- 
fort demanded by his class, or at the standard of 
living of his class. This standard of living 
argument has furnished our statesmen with 
material for the exercise of much political flap- 


BORLAND. 

doodle. Legislation restrictive of foreign immi- 
gration is based upon the assumption of supposed 
evil results following the introduction of a class 
of wage workers who are accustomed to a lower 
standard of living than American workingmen* 
and statesmen have almost shed tears in their 
profound anxiety for the welfare of Americas 
workingmen, while pleading for the enactment of 
laws calculated to enable them to maintain their 
high standard of living. It is evident that if • 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


class cf wage workers are accustomed to a stand- 
ard of living that can only be maintained at an 
expenditure of two dollars a day, two dollars a 
day they must have as their minimnm wage; and 
as long as they insist on maintaining this standard, 
and can protect themselves from the competition 
of those who are accustomed to subsist at a lower 
standard, their wage will remain at the two dol- 
lar figure But if they are brought into competi- 
tion with a class of workers who can perform the 
same labor, and who are accustomed to subsist 
on an expenditure of but one dollar a day, the 
minimum wage must drop to the latter figure; thus 
following out the law of competition as expressed 
through supply and demand, and for the reason 
that capacity for labor is reduced to the rank of a 
commodity and must submit to the law governing 
commodities. The laborer is compelled to exert 
his power for the benefit of another besides him- 
self and is only able to retain in his own posses- 
sion that part of his product that represents the 
price of the only commodity he has for sale — his 
power to labor. We don’t ev$n need to appeal 
to facts to obtain this result by the inductive pro- 
cess of reasoning; the result may be obtained de- 
ductively, from the acknowledged relations of the 
factors of production, and it will correspond with 
the facts. Following out a partial understand- 
ing of the situation, those who have devoted their 
ittention to the betterment of the condition of the 
workingmen, have mistaken cause for effect; they 
have proceeded upon the theory that every effort 
should be directed toward the raising of the 
standard of living, thus raising wages to corre- 
spond with it. instead oi seeking to secure the 
laborer in the possession of the full product of his 
labor and leaving him to adopt any standard of 
living that suited him best. They have made the 
standard the determinator of wages instead of 
making wages the determinator of the standard, 4 
when if they would but for a moment consider 
their proposition in connection with the law of 
competition governing commodities its fallacy 
would become apparent. It follows, as a neces- 
sary inference, that individual economies, indi- 
vidual sacrifices of comforts or luxuries falling 
within the category of expenses necessary for the 
maintenance of the accustomed standard, can 
never benefit the workingmen as a class. Such 
economies will enable the individual who prac- 
tices them to save a part of his wages, and make 
his saving the basis for the acquisition of proper- 
ty which may, eventually, raise him above his 
class; but this can only occur to the individu- 
al who remains an exception to the rule. He has 
consented to subsist at a standard lower than the 
accustomed one, and has thus been able to make 


a saving at the expense of the standard; but as 
soon as these economies befcome general, as soon 
as all workingmen in a particular class have ac- 
customed themselves to practice economies at the 
expense of their standard, the benefit ceases The 
standard itself^ias then receded to a lower plane, 
and wages will fall to conform to it. This is the 
gist of the "iron law of wages." 

The standard of living argument enters 
largely into all of our economic legislation 
calculated for the benefit of the laborer; it 
is the chief argument of our tariff tinkers, 
and it is accepted, either tacitly or explicitly, 
by workingmen themselves. It is even 
accepted by those who are the most active in the 
propagaadism of the doctrine of individual econo- 
mies on the part of workingmen as a univers- 
al panacea for the ills of poverty. They point to 
the immense sums that workingmen might save, 
enough to afford them independence, if they 
would only consent to forego their expenditures 
for a whole category of articles which they might 
just as well do without. Yet, when it is consider- 
ed that these so-called useless expenditures are 
necessary for the maintenance of the accustomed 
standard of living, the argument is sufficient to 
stamp its propounders as either hypocrites or 
fools. By their own logic they are convicted of 
the effort to degrade workingmen by forcing them 
to a lower standard of living, and thus lowering 
their wages. As long as the iron law exists, and 
it does exist, the workers can expect no benefit, 
as a class, from the practice of the virtues of 
economy. They only reduce their standard of 
living, and transfer a portion of the fund that is 
necessary for their maintenance from their own 
possession into the possession of the capitalists 
who exploit them. Wages suffer for the benefit 
of surplus value. It's not a pleasant situation, 
truly, but it exists. And why does it exist? There 
is nothing natural about such a condition of 
affairs. It is natural for the average man to save, 
economize, lay by a store of wealth to provide 
against the contingency of a period of evil for- 
tune. If a whole class of men are unable to fol- 
low the promptings of this natural instinct with- 
out bringing evil upon themselves it can only be 
because they are subsisting in an unnatural at- 
mosphere, it can only be because they are robbed 
of their rights as human beings. I might remark, 
in passing, that a very obvious defect of the or- 
ganic principle of nationalism consists in the fact 
that it discourages this natural instinct of saving. 
I suppose the contemplation of the iron law raised 
such a phantasmagoria of evil in the mind of Mr. 
Bellamy that he saw no way of escaping its sinis- 
ter influence except by establishing a single Stand- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


178 

ard of living for the entire nation, and, too, a 
standard that would surely absorb the entire por- 
tion of each one's earnings without regard to their 
amount. But, whatever the motive, the plan of 
issuing credit cards giving each one an equal por- 
tion with every other one. of each gear's product 
of the national industry, and then requiring the 
return to the national treasury, at the end of each 
year, of all unexpended portions of such cards, is 
not calculated to encourage saving I wonder it 
never occurs to the nationalists that the credit 
cards of certain years might not be sufficient to 
cover the expenditure for those years In the 
event of such a contingency, I suppose a benefi- 
cent government might come forward with its 
savings and make up the deficiency, but it does 
seem as though a nation of free individuals who 
were compelled to delegate to their government 
even the business of saving their surplus earnings 
had fallen to the very lowest depths of incapacity, 
especially when we consiier them as citizens of a 
a state where exploitation of labor had entirely 
ceased. However, there are excellent reasons for 
the establishment of this anomalous condition; 
reasons that cannot be considered within the com- 
pass of this article. 

To return to the question, why does the 
iron law exist? Why are men compelled to 
accept as their wages only a bare subsis- 
tence? Primarily because they are not free 
men. Free men prefer short hours to long, high 
wages to low. If the free man works for another 
it will be at a rate of wages dictated, not by his 
necessities, but by his preferences. There will 
be no cringing on the part of the free man; no 
pathetic appeals to be allowed the mere chance to 
work; no dependence on the will of his fellow 
man for the opportunity to fulfill the God-given 
command to labor; no soul harrowing tramps 
through busy hives of industry, vainly seeking 
the chance to work, while anxiety for the welfare 
of the loved ones at home who are dependent on 
his exertions for their preservation from the 
pangs of hunger is tugging at his heart-strings, 
and turning his life into a hell upon earth; no 
fierce and unnatural competition with his fellows 
for the poor boon of being allowed to work, no 
fighting for a job. The free man will have, at 
least, the same natural rights as the rattlesnake— 
the right to use land, air, water, sunshine, all 
natural elements and forces, on equal terms with 
his fellowman, and the right to apply his labor 
for the satisfaction of his wants without let or 
hindrance — and that is all he needs. The de- 
sires, the instincts, the natural promptings of the 
free man may be relied on to settle the labor 
question, and settle it right. The free man will 


work for himself, not for a master. He will exert 
his labor for the satisfaction of his own wants, 
not for the wants of others. If he works for 
wages it will be because he chooses to do so, not 
because the necessities engendered by his envi- 
ronment force him to it, and he will need look to 
no authority outside himself to regulate bis hours 
of labor or establish humanitarian conditions for 
the exercise of his labor. For roan is human, 
and when he is free his humanity will assert 
itself. 

But. to return to the economic aspect of 
the wages question. We are confronted with the 
fact that labor-power, the only thing on God's 
footstool that workingmen can call their own. is 
included in the category of commodities and 
must submit to the general law of commodities; 
and, following out this law, the worker is obliged 
to sell his commodity for a price that merely 
answers to provide for his necessities. We ex- 
press this as a phase of the law of supply and 
demand. When a commodity is scarce upon the 
market while there is considerable demand for it. 
when the supply is not adequate to the demand, 
the price goes up. When the supply exceeds the 
demand the price goes down, and eventually 
settles at the cost of reproduction. This is wha 
happens to the workingman's commodity. Any 
measure, then, which increases the demand for 
labor will raise wages. We all know that in m 
new country where access to land is easy, and 
natural opportunities are not yet fully monopo- 
lized, wages are invariably high, and laborers are 
not subjected to the influence of the iron law. 
But as civilization progresses the supply of labor 
increases faster than the demand for it; wages go 
down, laborers become completely dependent oa 
the capitalists for their means of living, and are 
forced to be content with a bare subsistence as 
the price of their labor. This result is largely 
arrived at through alterations in the composition 
of capital. Some time ago a large manufactur- 
ing firm in Massachusetts adopted the eight hoar 
system. After trying it a year they gave it up 
and went back to the ten hour system. The 
manager said they could only make five per cent 
profit on their investment by requiring but eight 
hour's work, and that unless they could make a 
bigger percentage than that they would not be 
bothered with the management of a business. 
They would put their money into town and city 
lots, because that species of property would Cer- 
tainly increase in value as much as five per cant, 
annually, and that, too, without any trouble what- 
ever to the owner. In other words, they could 
make more by speculating in land than employing 
labor. 


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The value of land, as population increases, 
is a constantly increasing magnitude, because 
the supply is strictly limited and the de- 
mand constantly increases. This fact exerts a 
great influence ou the composition of capital to 
the detriment of workingmen, because increasing 
the relative supply of labor and thus decreasing 
wages. Suppose one has $10,000 to day. The 
best and safest thing that cao be done with it is 
to invest it in land in or near some growing town. 
Ten years from now the land will be worth 
$20,000, and one will have drawn to himself 
$10,000 of wealth for which he has rendered no 
equivalent whatever. The original capital will 
not have been put to its proper nse — the produc- 
tion o i wealth. Rather it has been used to pre- 
vent the production of wealth; used as a bar to 
prevent some persons from exercising their rights 
to the land, still the owner obtains an increase; 
and the personal element does not enter into the 
transaction at all. The owner may be a blather- 
ing idiot, incapable of a single rational thought, 
but as long as his ownership of the land is recog- 
nized he obtains the increase all the same. And 
be has simply robbed the labor of the country of 
$10,000, besides increasing the supply of laborers 
who must depend on others for a chance to work, 
thus lowering the rate of wages. This comes 
about by reason of the institution of private 
property in land Unrestricted ownership of 
land returns greater profit to the speculator in 
land than to the one who employs capital in the 
actual production of wealth What must one do 
with his $10,000 when the institution of property 
in land no longer exists; when the profits of land 
speculation have been destroyed ? He must put 
it into some channel where it will be active; he 
must use it so as to give employment to labor. 
He must put it into buildings, into machinery, 
into manufactory stock, into farm implements, 
into some form of actual wealth; he must use it 
a % real capital Not only must he do this, but 
eve^y other capitalist must do likewise, and as 
capital can only increase by calling labor to its 
aid, we should have capitalist bidding against capi- 
talist for the use of the workingman’s commodity, 
instead of as now. workingmen bidding against 
each other for the chance to earn a living. The 
composition of capital would be changed from a 
dormant into an active factor of wealth. Instead 
of being tied op in lands and franchises, to act as 
* leech upon the produced wealth of the nation, 
drawing its quotas of interest and dividends to 
satisfy the demands of its constantly increasing 
magnitude of value, it would be turned into the 
channels of real wealth production, thus increas- 
ing the demand for labor and so increasing wages. 


179 

There can be no compromise between tbe institu- 
tion of property in land and the rights of man. 

The labor question cannot be settled, the iron 
law cannot be escaped, while it is allowed to ex- 
ist. Herbert Spencer says. "Political Institu- 
tions.'' chapter XV : ‘ Complete individualization 
pf ownership is an accompaniment of industrial 
progress. From the beginning things identified 
as the product of man's labor are identified as 
his, and throughout the course of civilization, 
communal possession and joint household living 
have not excluded the recognition of a peculium 
obtained by individual effort. The individualiza- 
tion of ownership extended and made more defi- 
nite by trading transactions under contract event- 
ually affects the ownership of land. Bought and 
sold by measure, and for money, land is assimi- 
lated in this respect to the personal property pro- 
duced by labor, and thus becomes in general ap- 
prehension confounded with it. But there is 
reason to suspect that while private possession of 
things produced by labor will grow even more 
definite and sacred than at present, the inhabited 
area which cannot be produced by labor will 
eventually be distinguished as something which 
may not be privately possessed.” 

As the struggle for natural resources is ever in- 
tensifying, and as the possession of land gives 
greater and greater power to the owner, while it 
enslaves the user, it follows that the present sys- 
tem of land ownership is sweeping us toward a 
ferocious and fratricidal war for the possession of 
the earth. This struggle will result in one of two 
conditions. Either a vast and all-powerful landed 
aristocracy will enslave the American masses, as 
the citizens of old Rome were enslaved, or the 
present system of land holding must give way. 
And when the land is freed the laborer is freed. 
His power to labor is raised from the rank of a 
mere commodity and becomes an instrument by 
which he may produce use- values for himself in- 
stead of commodities for others, if he chooses to 
do so In a word, he is possessed of the same 
rights as tbe capitalist., and can meet him as a 
free man. I note that the criticism of Mr. W. 
H Stuart in the March Conductor is based up- 
on the supposed continuance of the iron law. I 
am, of course, much pleased to learn that my ob- 
jections to socialism are so "very crude” as to 
cause my socialist friends nothing but amuse- 
ment, as in that case it will be an easy matter for 
them to satisfactorily answer the aforesaid objec- 
tions, and when they have done so they may 
count me of their number. Social theories are 
nothing to me only in so far as their application 
conserves the rights of man. It is quite true that 
in tbe organic part of their doctrine the socialists 


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recognize tbe claims of mental labor, bat they are 
anable to establish any standard for tbe reward 
of such labor other than that which follows as a 
result of their thoroughly erroneous theory of 
value, — and who is able to estimate tbe value of 
the labor of a poet, a Longfellow for instance, 
and state its equivalent in muscular labor? — and 
it remains true that, critically, their use of the 
term profit is tbe commonly accepted one and is 
used to make op tbe term surplus-value. Mr. 
Stuart will hardly deny that tbe orthodox defini- 
tion of profit includes "wages of superintend- 
ence,” and in a rather extended reading of social- 
ist literature 1 have yet to meet with a criticism 
of the capitalist scheme of exploitation that gave 
the faintest inkling of an idea that the term profit 
was used in any other than its commonly accepted 
economic meaning. Indeed, tbe socialists reserve 
their choicest invectives for tbe "profit monger,” 
quite regardless of the fact that profit, so far as it 
consists of tbe fruits of exploitation of labor, is 
but an inclusive expression of the terms rent and 
interest. 

The Tiventieth Century , the leading ex- 
ponent of socialism in this country, says: "Tbe 
interest taker and the rent taker are great robbers, 
but the profit taker is the greatest of all. He not 
only has to take enough for himself, but he is re- 
quired to take for the other two as well.” If that 
is not tautology, and 4 confusion worse confound- 
ed.” I am unable to find a name for it. Further 
on, the enunciator of the above brilliant truth 
delivers himself as follows: " When business men 
realize that henceforth only those who hqld a 
monopoly can make any money, they will be 
ready to drop competition and hail the Co-opera- 
tive Commonwealth.” It would seem to me that 
when men came to fully realize that the power of 
monopoly was crushing out the life. of the nation 
they would rather be ready to kill monopoly and 
hail — FREEDOM. Mr. Stuart asks: "What is 
the proper 4 wages of superintendence?’ ” I frank- 
ly answer that I don’t know. ‘ The socialist val- 
ues that tbe same as other labor ” But what 
right have the socialists to value it at all? Under 
conditions of freedom, under free competition 
and divested of all special privileges, deprived of 
all vested rights and all the aids of monopoly, the 
law of supply and demand will adjust the "wages 
of superintendence” in a proper ratio with the 
wages of other labor, and I have no fear but such 
ratio will be a just one. That is rather a new 
idea, that idea of an ‘‘unearned increment” aris- 
ing from the exertion of the individual, and I 
have a suspicion that it is a ' 'very crude” one. 
However, the application of the single tax idea to 
the earnings of the individual so as to enforce 


equality of material condition, instead of apply- 
ing it to land values so as to enforce equality 
opportunity, is something new in economics [ 
must give Mr. Stuart credit for that exposition 
of the results of nationalism. Even Edward 
Bellamy could not have expressed it more dearly. 
And does Mr. Stuart really believe that under 
present conditions it is really superior ability 
that exacts "all above the margin of stupidity'** 
Does he really believe that the incomes of suck 
men as Gould and Rockefeller are tbe result of 
superior ability? I am quite sure he believes 
nothing of the kind. In fact, be admits that 
these incomes are tbe earnings of monopoly, spe- 
cial privileges, vested rights, etc., and not tbe re- 
ward of individual exertion — the wages of monop- 
oly, not tbe "wages of superintendence.” And 
here is where the confusion in the reasoning oi 
the nationalists appears The unjust incomes of 
such men as Rockefeller are the result of factors 
outside the individual; and yet. to secure justice, 
tbe nationalists would lay hands on the individual 
and decree that his income shall be exactly equal 
to the income of every other individual, no mat- 
ter what bis powers or his ability may be. It is 
rather late in tbe age of tbe world for the revival 
of the communistic idea, and it would be interest- 
ing to know just how the individual is goiog to 
get any more than what belongs to him when 
he is dependent wholly on his individual exertion 
for its procurement. Men do not differ so great- 
ly in powers as the vast fortunes of our day 
would seem to indicate. Iu the eyes of scieocr 
Mr. Rockefeller varies but little from one of his 
employes. He is not a particular represen tative 
of the type, and varies from it much as one 
monkey varies from the type of monkeys by de 
veloping a longer tail or a better set of teeth than 
tbe average. Stripped of his advantage over his 
fellows, bis special privileges, and Mr. Rockefel- 
ler would become what he is — a respectable Bap- 
tist deacon and a man among men, differing but 
slightly from the average of his type. , 

My critic says: "Eliminate rent and interested 
profits will absorb all over wages.” "Eliminate in- 
terest and rent, and profits will still retain all over 
the cost of subsistence of the laborer." 1 have 
my doubts about those sentences being properly 
punctuated. I have a suspicion that, by the 
improper placing of the comma, the printer has 
made Mr. Stuart say something he didn't ex- 
actly intend to say. Standing as they do, the 
assertions exhibit in a striking manner tbe con- 
fusion of thought I have before alluded to, and 
illustrate the idiosyncracies of logic which blind 
adherence to an abstract theory will force a per- 
son into Take the assertion in its first form 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 181 


“Eliminate rent and interest, and profits will ab- 
sorb all over wages." Certainly. Why not? 
Pray tell us of what profits will consist when rent 
and interest are eliminated? If any persons can 
find anything in profits, after rent and interest 
are eliminated, that is not due to personal exer- 
tion, to labor, and which should not come under 
the head of wages, I shall be pleased to have 
them point it out. In a former article I said: 
“The orthodox economic definition of labor, and 
its resultant, wages, is not broad enough to cover 
all that the terms really imply, being used to in- 
dicate physical or bodily exertion and the reward 
for the same; and, while the socialists recognize 
this fact in a general way, they give it no promi- 
nence in their analysis of surplus value." Mr. 
Stuart's assertion illustrates just exactly what I 
meant by the above quoted language. When the 
socialists are asked to define labor they say they 
mean “all physical or mental exertion applied to 
the production of wealth," but when they reason 
upon their definition they do so in the narrow 
and contracted economic sense of the term 
“labor." In fact, they must do so in order to 
avoid an obvious denial of the truth of the iron 
law In the light of our examination of this as- 
sertion of Mr. Stuart's, what becomes of that other 
assertion of his that* ‘Mr. Borland is incorrect when 
he states that socialists include ‘wages of super- 
intendence* in surplus value?" Stated in its sec- 
ond form: “Eliminate interest and rent, and 
profits will still retain all over the cost of subsis- 
tence of thelaborer," the assertion is simply silly. 
It is bis payments of rent and interest to the cap- 
italist for the privilege of being allowed to earn 
subsistence for himself and those dependent on 
him that impoverishes the laborer and forces 
him to be content with a bare subsistence. The 
payments are the result of conditions; they are 
exacted as an assumed equivalent for the privi- 
lege of using the land and capital necessary for 
the carrying on of the productive processes, 
which land and capital is the exclusive 
property of the employers of labor, and 
which property relation swells the profit 
of the capitalist by the whole amount of rent and 
interest, and places it out of proportion to the 
value of any personal service he may render to 
the productive process, and out of proportion to 
the reward of the laborers employed therein. 
The elimination of rent and interest implies the 
elimination of the conditions that produce them, 
implies a readjustment of the property relation. 
How shall the capitalist, when he is no longer in 
a position to exact rent and ioterest from the la- 
borer, go about to make his profit, his mere 
"wages of superintendence," absorb the whole 


of the product above the mere subsistence of the 
laborer? It would be interesting to know. 

The exploitation of the laborer is immanent in the 
present property relation, but it is not, as social- 
ists contend, necessarily immanent in the capital- 
ist mode of production — that is to say, the pro- 
duction of commodities instead of use — values. 
And “land owners are mere hangers-on of th^ 
capitalists." Let us look at the statement in the 
light of the facts surrounding the three items be- 
fore indicated. The total capitalization of the 
timber industry in the United States is not ob- 
tainable, at present, but the land value is the 
small item of $6,318,685,200. The total income 
from rent charges on the basis of this value 
was $421,245,680, while the total capital profit, 
including interest and “wages of superintend 1 
ence," was but $61,608,160, which will afford an 
indication of the proportion of capital value to 
land value in the composition of total value. The 
total capitalization of the coal mining interests is 
>342 .757,929, of which the land value .capitaliza- 
tion amounts to $226,685 046, or more than 67 
per cent of the whole capitalization. The iron 
ore capitalization amounts to $110,766,199, of 
which the land value comprises $78,574,881, or 
more than 71 per cent of the total capitalization. 
These are pretty fair “hangers-on" that are per- 
mitted to run away with three-fourths of the 
swag, are they not? I have a suspicion that they 
receive superior treatment to the majority of 
“hangers-on." And the mines “are under the 
full control of the capitalists," are they? Then 
why have the capitalists “to reckon with the 
owners of those natural resources," their “hang- 
ers-on," for their use? However, I stated the 
facts, and the facts are of record, with regard to 
this point, in the March Conductor, and they 
don’t correspond with Mr. Stuart's assertion. 

“Wages is governed exclusively by the supply of 
laborers seeking employment." Just so. Then, 
of course, the assertion that “the elimination of 
the private ownership of these mines and lumber 
industries would not in the least affect the wages 
of the laborers," is meant to imply that such a 
proceeding would not decrease the relative sup- 
ply of laborers seeking employment. Now, I do 
not believe it is necessary to go into any specific 
argument to show the fallacy, the utter absurdity, 
of that assertion. I believe the exercise of just 
the least bit of common sense will enable the 
reader to detect its fallacy at a glance. It is & 
little bit singular that capitalists go to so much 
trouble and expense, bringing all the powers of 
government to their ^id and entering into a great 
many shady transactions, to obtain ownership of 
these natural resources, if such ownership gives 


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1 82 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


them no power to control the supply of laborers 
seeking employment. Since power to control the 
supply of laborers seeking employment is the 
only thing that gives them power to control wages 
and exact surplus value from the labor of their 
workmen. In the last analysis, their investments 
in labor-power are the only ones from which it is 
possible for them to derive a profit, all other in- 
vestments are merely preliminary thereto, all are 
merely to clear the way for the absolute control 
and exploitation of labor, and one may be quite 
sure that when capitalists are going to so much 
trouble to acquire control of the natural resources 
of a country they know what they are doing. 
The beet-sugar factory argument is based upon 
the same assumption. Of course, if it is admitted 
that free land would have no effect in cfecreasing 
the relative supply of laborers seeking employ- 
ment for wages, it must be admitted that free 
land would not relieve the laborer from the pres- 
sure of the iron law. But can we admit that? 


Are not all the facts of history against it? They 
certainly are. If we assume that workingmen 
are a lot of blooming idiots who know no better 
than to keep right on producing beets in exchange 
for a bare subsistence, no matter what the con- 
ditions surrounding them may be, we can easily 
get Mr. Stuart's result. But if we assume that 
workingmen are intelligent human beings who 
know how to attend to their own interests we 
cannot get any such a result. With free land all 
about them, workingmen might elect to produce 
use-values for themselves instead of commodities 
for others, and who could prevent them from do- 
ing so? They might regulate the market supply 
of labor, and so the rate of wages, to suit them- 
selves instead of the capitalists. Why could 
they not? Workingmen in this country are not yet 
reduced to the condition of imbeciles, however 
they may be enslaved by the property conditions 
surrounding them. I must reserve consideration 
of Mr. Randolph's criticism, as this article is al- 
ready too long. 


OUR NEW YORK LETTER. 


The month just closing does not seem to be an 
eventful one as we look back upon it, and yet it 
has been signalized by one event that is entitled 
to go down to history — the withdrawal from pub- 
lic affairs of the greatest statesman that England 
has ever produced. That so momentous a step 
could have been taken without the shadow of dis- 
turbance of European, or even of specially 
British politics, is the best warranty that 
could be produced of the stability of 
British institutions and of the permanent 
nature of Gladstone's own work. It is a 
familiar enough truism that a man’s place is 
soon filled, but it is not often the case, as in this 
instance, that this is so because the man himself 
has so moulded his environment as to make his 
work carry itself on. But this is emphatically 
what Gladstone has accomplished in his wonder- 
ful career of that best sort of leadership which 
formulates and voices the genuine popular desire, 
as the latter grows and develops to one new 
point after another. All races of men have to 
confess to a deplorable share of that conservatism 
which is so closely akin to stupidity in absorbing 
new ideas, and while the English are, perhaps, 
really not much worse than our own people in 
this respect, they yet have enough of it to make 
the brilliant reformer, who is always a generation 
in advance of the slow march of popular thought, 
but slightly serveicable io helping along the prog 
ress to a higher civilization. But Gladstone was 
of a different type, and while he never went 


backward (as most men do at some time or other) 
he yet never got so far away from popular senti- 
ment as to lose popular sympathy. Perhaps the 
most significant proof of this has been the uni- 
versal respect that he commanded, even though 
no man in England has been more violently at- 
tacked by the modern representatives of barbar- 
ism whose privileges he so steadily* worked to 
break down. 

For any man to take up such a mantle was to 
undergo a supreme test of comparison; and it 
must be admitted, even by those who have been 
most inclined to distrust Roseberry because of his 
aristocratic origin, that he has met that test with . 
extraordinary success. To look at it without prej- 
udice. it would seem as if a really radical peer 
should be peculiarly entitled to confidence, and 
all the more if his radicalism were not tainted 
with the eccentricity which should set him at per- 
sonal warfare with the circle in which he had 
grown up; for nothing could better prove that his 
opinions were the result of intelligent conviction, 
and not a mere fad to be grown tired of and cast 
aside. Yet there can be no doubt that bis selec- 
tion as premier was dangerously near provoking 
a serious revolt, which was, after all, chiefly 
averted by a returning sense of the man's 
honesty and lack of pretentious cant. The re- 
sult would go far to indicate that the pitiless war- 
fare which Thackeray waged against shams of all 
kinds, was two generations later, bearing solid 
fruit in the way of cultivating an appreciation of 


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cmoerity. Sometimes it seems as if we needed a 
Thackeray in this country to enter on a similar 
campaign; if only to purge our boastful but really 
crude and undeveloped press of the humbug 
which often appears to be the chief purpose of its 
being. A signal instance is its treatment of the 
Breckeu ridge* Pollard scandal. That the atmos- 
phere of Washington is peculiarly favorable to 
affairs of this kind is perfectly well known to any- 
one at all familiar with the capital; yet.although the 
hardly concealed immoralities of our public men 
are easily condoned by Washington society and 
Washington correspondents as a rule, they turn 
to hound a single offender all the more eagerly 
that in his public relations he has been especially 
honorable, that he has not engaged in dirty in- 
trigues for power and influence, nor in dishonor- 
able speculations on the pestilent interference of 
government with the people's business, nor in 
the sordid scramble for spoils at the public crib 
that attracts so many others to Washington. 

Oo her own evidence in this notf celebrated 
case, the plaintiff is as singular an example of the 
innocent girl that she has been painted, as has 
often been presented to us. To willingly bear 
the relations of a mistress for ten years, without 
even the excuse that a mistress often has, that in 
daily companionship with a certain man she in a 
sense stands in the position of a wife, is surely 
more than an unsophisticated girl would do; and 
it is certainly a curiously dormant moral sense 
which does not awaken to a sense of shame until 
after the birth of three children, and when the 
man whom she undoubtedly had fasciaated by 
her cleverness, and from all appearances, by the 
strong animal nature which kept her in the path 
she was following, had definitely broken loose 
from her control. Yet on no better excuse than 
that Breckenridge has added to the weakness 
morally which he has displayed in common with 


183 

so many others, the folly of carelessness as to the 
manner in which he committed himself. and we 
are being daily regaled with a vindicative color- 
ing of the situation, in which is totally hidden all 
condemnation of other wrong-doers. 

We have lately had a local scandal of another 
sort, in which the same spirit of hypocritical 
humbug and jackal like eagerness to tear to 
pieces the fallen idol, has been most conspicu- 
ous. For years past Erastus Winam has been 
one of the most popular heroes of the reporters, 
and hundreds of his acquaintances in private life 
were only too anxious to court his favor, as his 
business associates were to profit by his methods. 
Yet all the time, everyone who had dealings with 
him knew that those methods were apt to be of a 
questionable kind. Too widely expanded, his 
speculations have failed, and ths whole pack 
which followed him have turned to rend him. 
The firm of which the whole world belived him 
to be a partner, and which never denied that re- 
lationship while it was profitable to them, are 
seeking to prove him a criminal, and alike in the 
public press and among his personal friends, the 
charge was mouthed over as a dainty morsel. 
Should it redly be proven that be embezzled or 
even forged when he found himself on the verge 
of rain, a truer morality might hive easily found 
more charity for him than it would accord to 
other offenses that do not come within the law; 
for the man who steals under the pressure of 
necessity is not really- half so bad as the man 
who lies and cheats and takes unfair advantage 
of his fellows in ways that are not quite lying 
and cheating, when he is prospering and had no 
dread of disaster to drive him on. It is doubtful 
even whether he is as bad as the mao who know- 
ingly holds his fellows in comparative slavery 
through appropriation of privileges which should 
be for the common benefit of all, and manipulat- 
ing of laws to make that appropriation more ef- 
fective. But the world cries up the one and cries 
down the other, and the game goes merrily on of 
punishing the evil which tails, while shutting our 
eyes to the evil which is successful. 

Edw. I. Shrivbr. 


copied. 

DISCIPLINE WITHOUT PUNISHMENT. 

■V OSO. R. BROWN. GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT OFTHK FALL BROOK RAILWAY, IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERING. 


The usual penalty for a serious violation of 
rules on American railroads is a dismissal from 
the service. Minor infractions are usually pun- 
ished by depriving the offender of employment 
for a fixed time, ten, thirty or sixty days — few 
roads have adopted the European .plan of direct 
fines — in my estimation, as a rule, these forms of 
punishment are as unjust and inhuman as they 
are uoneccessary. 

It is a well understood principle in jurispru- 
dence that a law without a penalty for its viola- 
tion partakes more of the nature of advice than 
of a law. 

The rules and regulations governing the run- 
ning of trains on a railroad are laws, and should 
be so considered, and penalties for their violation 
nre not wanting. 


The responsible officer or officers of a railroad 
mast act as judges, try every case, make every 
decision and punish every violator. It is not only 
their right, but their duty, to be strict in main- 
taining discipline. They have no right to excuse 
one offender and punish anpther. but must try 
every case on the calendar. 

Penalties are imposed for two purposes: First, 
to uphold the law and prevent its further viola- 
tion, and, second, to reform the violator. 

Punishment inflicted indirectly benefits thous- 
ands who do not violate the law as well as the one 
who does. 

It often occurs that the disgrace and injury 
occasioned by a strict enforcement of a sentence 
does more to ruin the guilty than anything else, 
and a wise provision has been made allowing 


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184 

courts to use their judgment as to carrying out 
punishments, this is known as "suspending sen- 
tence.” If the sometime offender does better, 
and is not guilty of the same or other offenses, the 
judge conveniently forgets the indictment hang* 
ing over him, but should be go on committing 
one misdemeanor after another, his "record” rises 
up to condemn him. 

I believe in, and practice "suspending sentence” 
with railroad employes. 

Officers of railroads differ from judges of the 
law in that they make the law and enforce it, 
while the judge administers the law as he finds it. 
If the people are dissatisfied with the laws they 
change them, but there is no appeal from the de- 
cision of the railway official, who performs the 
functions of judge, jury, executioner. 

Railroad officers who hire, discipline and dis- 
charge employes cannot be too careful in exercis- 
ing their authority, and no honest one can afford 
to decide on a single case without first "putting 
himself in the other man’s place.” In other 
words, treat him as he himself # would consider 
just and honorable if the sentence was to be pro- 
nounced on him. and the decision should be made 
impassionately, impartially, and giving him the 
benefit of all doubts. 

Accidents have happened on railroads since 
the starting of the "Puffing Billy” until to-day, 
and are likely to happen as long as railroads are 
operated. 

Every wreck,' every accident, every mistake, 
every loss has taught its lesson, and these are of 
no less value to the railroads and to railroad 
men than the successes. I practice making 
every mishap a lesson to every man on the road. 

It often happens that an accident or a 1 close 
shave” for one is the best kind of a lesson to the 
man who could be blamed, and, if he is retained 
in the service, he is a more valuable man than be 
would otherwise be or who could be hired to take 
his place. 

I am afraid that it would do me no good, and 
would do me harm, to lay me off for thirty 
days for any offense, and I am sure I would do no 
better when reinstated than if I had been allowed 
to continue in the service. I should feel as if I 
Had been ill treated, as if my family had been 
deprived of the necessaries and comforts that my 
earnings afforded them, and that they were the 
innocent victims of an injustice. * 

In order to make every accident and incident 
happening on the road a lesson to all the train- 
men, I established ten or twelve years ago, what 
I call a Miscellaneous Bulletin Board. 

On this we post up brief accounts of mishaps 
and other occurrences on the line, pointing out 
how such trouble could be avoided, etc. This 
Doard is closely scrutinized. We do not mention 
names, but. of course, the men know ‘ who’s 
who” in most cases. This board has done much to 
keep the men on their guard, prevented many ac- 
cidents, and shows them bow headquarters look 
at every case, instead of letting them discuss 
every accident around the roundhouse and ca- 
boose stoves and form their own conclusions — no 
two of which will be alike. * * * * 

Good men who have made some little mistake, 
are less likely to do so again, than men who have 
not yet tried the responsibilities of running trains 
and engines, or men who are not familiar with 
our road or work. If the responsible officer takes 


such an offender into his office, talks the matter 
over dispassionately and tells him that he is con- 
sidered too good a man to be discharged for in- 
competency. that the accident has cost so much, 
which the company will stand "this time," bat 
perhaps not the next, and tells him to * 'go and sin 
no more.” this has a tendency to make better and 
more successful railroad men of the ones that are 
naturally adapted to railroad work — and the 
"next time” comes only too soon to the man out 
of his sphere. 

There is nothing in this to disgrace him among 
his fellows, nothing to n^ake him feel revengeful 
or maltreated; but everything to make him feel 
as though he was encouraged and helped, and 
that bis final success depended solely upon him- 
self. Can as much be said of the plan that dis- 
graces a man among his fellows, that takes the 
comforts and, perhaps, the necessaries from bis 
home, that makes him a loafer for thirty or sixty 
days and puts him in the way of temptations that 
he would not find at his work, and that leaves 
him, in many cases in debt to the dealers who 
furnish him family supplies? 

On many roads there is a great want of cordial- 
ity or confidence between the men and the officials 
immediately over them. In too many cases a 
suggestion from a trainman to an officer would be 
resente'd as an unwarranted interference. It 
seems to me this is not in the interest of the rail- 
road company, however much it may enhance the 
dignity of the official— who is himself only "one 
of the hired hands,” with a little more responsi- 
bility. 

I have found suggestions from the men of vital 
importance in matters of detail, and ever y man in 
the service knows that the rule and motto at 
headquarters is, "Suggestions are Always in 
Order.” 

Train and enginemen see and know things 
about the road that an operative officer could 
never find out in his office. At their suggestion 
we have frequently made minor changes in time* 
table, etc., and every change has been an im- 
provement. The humblest man on a section 
may suggest something that will save the company 
hundreds of dollars, and, besides, thi« encourages 
men to think and become more interested in 
their work, and feel at liberty to modestly offer 
other suggestions. 

When a suggestion is made that is considered 
impractical the reason that it is so is pointed out, 
and both the man and the manager have learned 
something I am sure this rule makes and keeps 
up a friendly feeling between the men who plan 
the work and those who execute it. 

Roads that can afford to let one department 
fight another, who can afford to have hundreds of 
employes disinterested and dissatisfied with their 
work, who can afford to have the officers "out” 
with the men, and the men glad to see any hoped- 
for improvement a failure, are few and far be- 
tween. 

“The suggestions set forth in this article may 
not be practicable everywhere, but on a moderate 
sized road (Fall Brook has 257 miles all single 
track, with an average tonnage of about 6,000.00a 
yearly) where the superintendent knows all the 
men, or most of them, it has worked so well 
years that I have an abiding faith that it will 
work anywhere, and in every case in the interest 
of better service. 


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The Railway Conductor. 

B. E CLARK and WM. P. DANIELS, Managers. E. E. CLARK, Editor-In-Chief. 

W. N. GATES, Advertising Manage, *9 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland. O. 


INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION. 


One of the most important of the many labor 
convocations held during the past year, and one 
that should be of special interest to the railroad 
men of this country, was the Congress held in 
Zurich. Switzerland, during August. This Con- 
gress was international in its nature, btfing com- 
posed of representatives from the different rail- 
road organizations in England, Austria, Switzer- 
land. Italy, France and Holland, the call having 
emanated from the state last named. Many mat- 
ters of importance to railway employes were 
thoughtfully considered and a step toward secur- 
ing permanent benefit from the work was taken 
in the formation of an International Association. 
The delegates very wisely made this first step a 
tentative one, the body mentioned consisting only 
of a general or international secretary with a 
secretary from each of the countries represented, 
under him It was made the duty of this general 
officer to receive all important communications, 
to consider all matters of general interest ad- 
vanced, forward them to the national secretaries 
and through them to the different organizations 
and to the membership at large. It was thought 
that this would be a sufficient bond of union for 
the first year, but the delegates from France were 
chosen to draft a plan for permanent internation- 
al federation which they will report to the second 
Congress, called to meet in Paris during next 
October. 

Among the many questions considered by this 
gathering was that of Sunday rest. Formal 
declaration was also made in favor of the eight 
hour day and certain laws were passed which 
place the members of the different organizations, 
or syndicates, as they are called over there, in a 
position to assist each other morally and finan- 
cially in times of difficulty. 

G. Lhermite was delegated to visit this country 
stud extend invitations to the various railroad or- 


ganizations here to send representatives to the 
coming Congress. He spent a few weeks in the 
study of our systems, learning what he could of 
their plans of formation and the amount of bene- 
fit which has been derived from their operation. 
In speaking of the conditions in his home country 
Mr. Lflermite says the railroad men there, such 
as the engineers, firemen, switchmen, conductors, 
etc. , are all banded together in one powerful fed- 
eral ion. This federation is kept in the field of 
economics exclusively divorced from politics, and 
without affiliation with any of the other labor or- 
ganizations. One of its important features is a 
society, the purpose of which is to assist its mem- 
bers when sick and to provide a pension for such as 
are obliged to retire, from old age. Some idea of 
the importance of the work thus accomplished 
may be gathered from the fact that this society 
now has 70.000 members and is backed by a capi- 
tal of 10.000,000 francs. 

Through this gentleman a very urgent invita- 
tion is extended to the organized railroad em- 
ployes of the United States to send representa- 
tives to their Congress While it is not probable 
that any direct benefit could accrue to us, except 
in an educational way, from becoming members 
of this proposed International Federation, it is 
likely that in a meeting of this kind, with its at- 
tendant interchange of ideas, information could 
be given and received that would be found of 
value in shaping future policies and legislative 
enactments. If it should be found impossible to 
send a representative to the Congress of 1894. 
arrargements should be made to have the Ameri- 
can organizations represented in the future, 
should the meetings be continued as they prob- 
ably will The rapid transit of the present day. 
both on land and sea. has done much toward the 
unification of all peoples and their interests, and 
it would probably be a good idea for us to keep 
in as close touch as possible with our brethren of 
the Old World in a great many matters that may 
affect our future social and industrial relations. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

SITUATION ON THE UNION PACIFIC. 


The general facets surrounding the questions at 
issne between the receivers and the men in the 
employ of the Union Pacific have been abundant- 
ly amplified by the daily press and need no repe- 
tition here. Following closely after the action of 
the receivers of the Northern Pacific the receiv- 
ers of the Union Pacific filed with Judge Dundy 
of the federal district court at Omaha, carefully 
prepared schedules fixing the pay of the men in 
the transportation department at a point mater- 
ially below what they had received under the old 
schedules, which had been the result of an agree- 
ment between the representatives of the men and 
the company. Judge Dundy, on the ex-parte 
statement of the attorneys for the receivers, or- 
dered the new schedules into effect and accom- 
panied it with a restraining order, addressed to 
the men and others, which would compare quite 
favorably with that issued by Judge Jenkins in 
connection with the Northern Pacific. The em- 
ployes, through their chairmen, representing the 
O. R. C., B, of L. E., B. of L. F., B. of.R. T., 
S. M. A A., O. R. T. and the Union Pacific Em- 
ployes’ Association, connected with the Knights 
of Labor, immediately filed petitions in the dis- 
trict courts of other states into which the Uoion 
Pacific reaches. Judges Hallett and Riner, of 
Colorado and Wyoming, sitting together, after 
hearing both sides, declined to enter in their dis- 
tricts the orders of Judge Dundy and issued 
counter orders restraining the receivers from 
altering the schedules, either in regard to the 
rules or rates of pay, until such a time as a con- 
ference could be had with the representatives of 
the men. Appeal was at once taken to the circuit 
court, where Judges Caldwell and Sanborn ratified 
the position taken by Judges Hallett and Riner 
and ordered the receivers to meet the proper rep- 
resentatives of the men in a conference to com- 
mence on March 15 and continue, day by day, 
until an agreement could be reached. If, on 


March 27, there were any points of difference re- 
maining unsettled between them, they were to 
be submitted to the court. 

In accord with the provisions of this order the 
representatives of the organizations above named 
were summoned to Omaha at the time given, they 
being considered by the receivers as the proper 
representatives of their employes. There these 
representatives met with the receivers from day 
to day, and an earnest effort was made to settle 
the differences between them. The two questions 
about which there was the most difficulty in 
reaching an agreement were: the basis of comput- 
ing overtime and the rates of pay in the moun- 
tain districts. The basis for computing overtime 
in the new schedule was found to be not 
unfair to the men. and, in order to reach 
an agreement, was accepted by them, though 
it was not so liberal as the old. The 

proposition of the receivers provides that the 
men on the mountain divisions shall receive the 
same rate per mile and the same overtime as those 
working on the level or the open country. That 
men should receive more pay for handling trains 
on the mountains than on the level, should require 
no argument In the past this difference has 
been met by the payment of “constructive mile- 
age." A long series of conferences were held, but 
the receivers positively refused to continue the 
old policy or pay a higher rate per mile, and on 
March 27, in accord with the provisions of the 
order, this question was referred back to the 
court for decision. Precedents are numerous 
for the payment of the higher rate, both by 
means of constructive mileage and. the higher 
rate per mile, for the more difficult work. It is 
difficult to believe that the courts will find it 
other than consistent to provide some means by 
which the extra hardships, hazards and hours of 
labor attendant upon mountain service may be 
adequately compensated. 


PAYING THE PENALTY. 


The following dispatch from Toledo, Ohio, to 
the Chicago papers, under date of March 25, will 
carry with it a bit of very interesting and instruc- 
tive'history to railroad men generally and espe- 
cially to trainmen, who have all had a personal 
concern in the doings of the road in question : 

General Manager Ashley states that a 
meeting of the directors of the Toledo, 
Ann Arbor and North Michigan Road 
will be held at New York Tuesday, at 
which the resignations of the road's officials, as 


already announced, will be tendered, and also 
those of the complete board of directors This is 
said to be the last chapter in the game of freeze- 
out that has been going on against the Ann Arbor 
ever since the big strike a year ago. It is stated 
here that the Lackawanna has full control of tbe 
bonds on which the road is sold out, and will 
manage the line after Tuesday next. The road 
was built up from an unimportant country 
line to the trunk line it now is of more than 200 

miles in length. The embarrassment is said to 

leave the Ashleys in poor circumstances. A* 
one time they controlled a good part of the Micb* 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


igan lumber woods, and had very extensive real 
etfate holdings in this city. Ex-Governor Ashley is 
quite feeble, and will now make no attempts to re- 
gain his fortune. 

Three years ago this property was in a flourish- 
ing condition and was apparently gaining ground 
with the passage of every year. It was then un- 
der the complete control of the Ashley family, 
the father being president, with one of his sons 
for general manager and another for attorney. 
Nothing seriously threatened their success until 
they determined upon making a slight deduction 
id the pay of their men. This reduction was 
contested, and as no settlement could be made by 
the parties directly in interest, the officers of the 
various organizations were finally called in. Af- 
ter extended negotiations, which resulted in noth- 
ing, the officers proposed that the entire question 
at issue be arbitrated and to this the management 
agreed. Three citizens of Toledo were chosen, 
prominent business and professional men. who 
gave both sides a careful hearing and decided in 


187 

favor of the employes. Instead of accepting th& 
decision in good faith and attempting to carry 
its provisions into effect, the managers took ad- 
vantage of every technicality and method of evas- 
ion at their command, until they succeeded in 
making the service so uncomfortable that nearly 
all of our members left their employ, one by one. 
This failure on their part to apply the findings of 
the board of arbitration in good faith culminated 
in a strike by the engineers and firemen, and the 
foregoing dispatch gives its sequel Regardless 
of President Ashley's professed interest in his 
employes and his profit-sharing scheme, the bad 
faith exhibited by him in dealing with those em- 
ployes, and presumably with others, resulted in 
the withdrawal of patronage from the road and 
the fioal overthrow of the family management; 
whereas, if he had acted in good faith and had 
attached his employes to him, he prbbably would 
have retained control of the property and would 
be prospering today. 


A COMMITTEE’S REPORT. 


The report of the Committee on the Judiciary 
in the House of Representatives of the present 
Congress, upon a resolution to amend the Consti- 
tution of the United States by abolishing the 
practice of appointing federal judges for life, is 
very interesting. They recommend the adoption 
of the resolution and in support of the position, 
say. 

The framers of the Constitution gave life ten- 
ure to the judges of the courts of the United 
States with a view to secure their independence 
and impartiality, and thus in their opinion to se- 
cure to the people aod the government an exact 
and unbiased, non-political judiciary. More 
than one hundred years of expsrience have 
shown that this purpose of the framers has not been 
fully realized. Some of the judges are active 
participants in politics, and sometimes seem to 
be biased in their judgments, whether from in- 
terest or prejudice we are unable to say. We 
are proud to state that a majority of them are ex- 
cellent men of high character, and discharge their 
duties with great fidelity and ability, while on 
the other hand some have shown very little or 
no aptitude for judicial work, carelessness, bias 
or prejudice in some classes of cases tried by 
them Some others seem to feel that they are so 
far removed from responsibility to anyone that 
they do things from which they would entirely 
abstain were they more responsible. 

The standard lor the selection of judges by the 
president has not always been as high and non- 
partisan as it should have been, but this is not 
attributable to the fact that the term is for life or 
for good behavior. It is, however, one of the 
evils which is visited upon the people because 
there is no end to the judge’s term, and hence, 


whether he be an ignorant, a prejudiced, or un- 
necessarily harsh judge he must be endured 
while he lives or until he is placed on the retired 
list and pensioned with his full salary the re- 
mainder of bis life. 

It is a matter of public notoriety that within a 
great many states of the Union federal judges 
have become very unpopular with the people. 
They are frequently suspected of having no 
sympathy with the latter, and of exhibiting partial- 
ity toward corporations and personal favorites. If 
possible such impressions should be completely 
eradicated from the public mind. The purity and 
perpetuity of our institutions are as much, if not 
more, dependent upon the judiciary than any other 
branch of our governments, state and federal. The 
course of our judges should be so high and im- 
partial as to command the respect not only of 
the suitors but of all the people in every locality 
in which they hold their courts. Whether this 
disrespect and apprehension be well founded or 
not the dissatisfaction which prevails should be 
removed so far as practicable An impartial and 
learned judge who administer? the law as it is in 
a proper spirit of judgment and mercy never fails 
to win the confidence and esteem of the people 
among whom he presides. 

We believe that the most effectual way to re- 
move the dissatisfaction and restore confi- 
dence to the people in our jndiciary is by chang- 
ing the life tenure to that of a term of years 

We are fully impressed with the fact that the 
Constitution ought never to be changed except 
upon very weighty considerations, and to cure an 
absolute defect therein, but in this case we be- 
lieve it is essential 

The Federal Judiciary, with their life tenure, as 
Jefferson predicted about the beginning of the 
present century, have proven to be a corps of 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


sappers and miners to undermine, distort, and 
practically destroy all the checks and balances of 
the Constitution and to convert our government 
into a centralism. 

That the decisions made by Federal Judges in con- 
nection with railway affairs, were the ones which 
particularly influenced the opinion of the com- 
mittee seems a reasonable conclusion, from the 
following: 

By a series of decisions the Supreme Court has 
held that the power “to regulate commerce * * 
* among the several states’’ authorizes the build- 
ing of railroads, even from the Atlantic to the- 
Pacific, at the expense of the Federal Treasury. 
A clause which was intended by the framers 
merely to authorize Congress to secure the free- 
dom of commerce by preventing the states from 
obstructing trade and commercial intercourse has 
thus been perverted, enlarged and held to 
authorize the complete centralization of all power 
over the entire commerce of the country and all 
the carriers engaged in its transportation from 
one state to another. 

It follows from this construction that Congress 
can impose and have collected unlimited millions 
of dollars from the people and expend it in the 
building of railroads, regulating the width and 
kind of tracks, the kind of rails to be laid, the 
style and character of cars to be used in the 
transportation of interstate commerce, yea, pow- 
er to prescribe the number of employes, their 
nationality, the kind of uniform they shall wear, 
the number of hours they shall labor per day, 
and exercise complete legislative power over 
every question connected with the transportation 
of interstate commerce. 

In other words, the construction given is that 
all powers pertaining to persons and vehicles in 
anywise engaged in transporting interstate com- 
merce is vested in Congress without conditions 
or limitations. 

We believe that the railroad interests of the 
country should not be discriminated against by 
the courts, nor should the law be perverted or 
misapplied to favor them. They should in all 
cases receive even-handed justice from the 
courts. 

The report goes at length into interesting and 
astonishing statistics and comparisons, showing 
the vastness of the railway interests in the United 
States. It shows that the railway mileage of the 
United States was, on June 30, 1892. 171,563 

m il es — nearly one-half the railway mileage of 
the entire earth; that in the year 1892 the rail- 
ways of the United States carried 560,958,21 1 
passengers — equal in number to • 46 per cent of 
the population of the world; chat if these passen- 
gers were to be carried at one trip,* averaging 50 
to a car, 11,219,164 cars would be necessary. 
These cars, averaging them at 56 feet in length, 
would make a train 118,991 miles long, or one 
which would encircle the globe nearly five times. 
In carrying these passengers there were per- 
formed 317,538,883 train miles. One train, in 
order to perform this mileage, would have to 


make a trip from New York to San Francisco 
and return every ten minutes, day and night, Cor 
the entire year. Equally interesting comparisons 
are made, showing the immense number of men 
employed by the railways (aggregating 821,415). 
and the large amount of rolling stock used by 
them. Of these the most amazing is the show- 
ing that if all the freight cars in use on the rail- 
ways of the United States were coupled in one 
train it would reach from Boston to San Fran- 
cisco. back to Boston and as far as Chicago on 
the third lap. 

In conclusion the report says: 

The system of appointing judges to bold offices 
during good behavior, or for life, is of ancient origin, 
and was supposed to be necessary to make the 
judges independent of the king and his subjects. 

The progress in arts, sciences and civilization 
has been so great during the last century as to 
supercede the old machines and old methods aod 
to substitute the new and superior ones. Quite 
as wonderful progress has also been made in the 
science and methods of government, and it has 
been entirely in the direction of a higher develop- 
ment, recognition, and security of human rights. 
As the masses of people grow in intelligence, 
kingly, monarchial. and one-man power, by what- 
ever name called, wanes and is discontinued, 
which is in accord with the laws of nations and 
of God. 

Responsibility of governments to the governed 
is the fundamental principle to be observed and 
followed in all departments of government. Our 
Chief Executive's term is but for four years' du- 
ration, our senators six, our representatives twt>. 
and our judges are for life. Why should their terms 
of office be without limit? Are they so much 
more important factors in the solution of 
the problems of government than either of 
the others? And if they are, is it the best way 
to obtain their greatest assistance and most con- 
servative and wise decisions? We think not. If 
it be necessary thus to free a man from coercion 
or intimidation it would seem equally unwise to 
attempt by a life tenure to give him free rein to 
temptation, passion, and prejudice. 

Statistics given in the report show that out of 
forty-four states but four elect the judges of their 
courts of last resort, for life. Including these 
four, but five grant a term exceeding fifteen 
years, and again including the life terms, but ten 
grant a term exceeding ten years. Vermont ac- 
cords them but two years. 

Whether or not this proposed amendment will 
— if adopted — have the desired effect remains to 
be seen. We lay claim to being a progressive 
people living in a progressive age. Why would it 
not be well to make an effort to progress in our sys- 
tem of jurisprudence, and undertake to base con- 
structions and decisions upon common sense, 
right and justice as applicable to our day, instead 
of delving in the dust of ages for precedents and 
going, in some cases, back to laws against which 
our forefathers rebelled for a decision which is 
expected to apply now with even more force than 
when rendered, regardless of the radically 
changed conditions. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


189 


AN ABUSE OF 

A few months since, President Waite, of the 
Hocking Valley road, made an appeal for aid to 
the employes of that system, assuring them that 
the financial depression had so disturbed business 
that it would be impossible to continue opera- 
tions unless a reduction could be made in their 
pay . This statement was accepted and the men, 
realizing the stringency of the times and the 
difficulties under which many large interests were 
laboring, and being generally disposed to assist 
the company until the coming of better times, 
quietly accepted a cut of 10 per cent in their 
wages. On March 20, last, the annual meeting 
of the company was held in Columbus, Ohio, and 
a report was read by President Waite which did 
not agree in all particulars with the plea of pov- 
erty he had made to his men but a short time be- 
fore. In this report he found ample reason for 
congratulating the owners of the property upon 
the successful business done during the year, de- 
spite the terrible stringency that had menaced 
all their interests when the question of wages was 
under consideration. According to this same in- 
disputable authority the gross earnings of the 
road had been $3,280,362.05, expenses and opera- 
tion $1,808,735.50, leaving net earnings of $1,- 
471,626.55. After paying taxes, interest, and all 
other charges there was still a surplus left suffi- 
cient to provide a dividend of five per cent on all 
preferred stock and allow the expenditure of more 
than a quarter of a million of dollars upon per- 
manent additions to the property. This last 
item included the purchase of 11,000 acres of coal 


CONFIDENCE 

lands, through which the company hopes even- 
tually to control the shipment of that necessity 
from its tributary country. Congratulatory men- 
tion was also made of the increase in equipment 
by the purchase of larger afid better engines and 
cars and of equally important betterment to the 
road-way. The entire report was pervaded with 
a spirit of gratulation, which, while it could not 
but be grateful to the stockholders, could hardly 
bring much gratification to the men when they 
came to consider the part they had been made to 
play in making such returns possible. It would 
require the services of a better manipulator of 
facts than President Waite has yet proven him- 
self to be to make a five per cent dividend and 
large outlay in tbe way of permanent improve- 
ments coincide with his plea of poverty when 
seeking to force from the men a portion of their 
hard earned wages. Such dissimulation can 
never be made profitable in tbe long run. The 
employes have been contributing from their earn- 
ings for months, in perfect faith, thinking it their 
duty to assist the company when in trouble, only 
to find they have been duped, have been made 
the victims of what was so nearly a confidence 
game that it can draw no moral support from the 
high official position of those behind it. This 
duplicity must at once and forever destroy that 
confidence and respect which must exist between 
employer and employe, if the best results of that 
relation are to be obtained, and if there is any 
such thing as justice in this world, President 
Waite will live to have his shrewd invention re- 
turn to plague him. 


GREED REWARDED. 


Strikes and bloody riots have been so frequent 
during the past few years in the coal fields of the 
east that they now must be much more than ordi- 
narily grave to attract more than passing atten- 
tion from the rest of the world. The owners 
and operators of thesf mines have themselves 
only to thank for this condition of affairs and are 
entitled to no sympathy, even when most griev- 
ously suffering. It has been but a few years since 
the miners in their employ were steady, conserv- 
ative and frugal workmen, a large per cent of 
them native or English speaking, each of whom 
had a personal interest in the peace and prosper- 
ity of his community. Trouble with them was 
the exception rather than the rule, but they were 
self respecting and would not submit to imposi- 
tions nor oppression. For this reason their em- 
ployers drove them out and filled their places 


with ignorant and vicious foreigners whom they 
thought would be easy to drive. They have 
found, however, that there was loss rather than 
gain in the exchange. To these men from the 
slums of the old world freedom could mean no 
more than license, and the first sign of discord 
has been to them the signal for riots so fierce and 
blood thirsty as to defy the efforts of the ordinary 
peace officers and frequently call for the intro- 
vention of the state militia. Property and busi- 
ness have suffered at their hand^ until it seems as 
if their employers have received rather more than 
a complete reward for their un-American course 
in importing them. Before they are entirely free 
from the present conditions these coal barons 
may be brought to realize that it would have been 
cheaper in the end to continue the employment of 
American labor at American prices. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


190 


There is still another lesson to be drawn from 
this situation, and it is to be found in the con- 
trasts between the methods employed by these 
foreigners and by American workingmen when 
seeking to secure a redress of grievances. The 
latter have been and are to-day exhausting every 
means in their, power to secure a pacific settle- 
ment of such differences as may arise between 
them and their employers, preferring arbitration 
or appealing to the courts, and when driven to 


the last extremity, keeping every den tonstratioo 
of force rigidly within the bounds <4 law and 
justice. On the other hand the impo rted cheap 
laborer has hardly waited for an excuse to rebel 
and has apparently known no argum< *nt but the 
torch and gun. If there were no 01 her reason 
this should be sufficient for preserving, in so far 
as is practicable, the American labor market (or 
American labor, and should make impossible and 
criminal any such imnortations in the future 


The recent decision by Judge Grosscup in a 
case under the inter state commerce law, wherein 
he held, in effect, that no man could be compelled 
to criminate himself, has been taken by most of 
the great dailies of the country to mean the 
thorough devitalizing of the commission and of 
the law under which it acts. We do not under- 
stand it in that way. The Judge simply stated 
the law as it has always been under our constitu- 
tion, and in so doing left the Commission where 
it was before the point had been raised. The 
Commission still has all its original powers, the 
same avenues for securing proof of a violation of 
law are open to it and its decrees will carry the 
same weight they did before. 

• 

Railroad men in many portions of the country 
appear to be experiencing a decided change of 
heart in regard to seniority. The train men on 
the northern and southern divisions of the Gulf, 
Colorado & Santa Fe road recently petitioned the 
management to strike the "seniority clause" from 
their schedules. The words used by these gen- 
tlemen in closing their petition were doubly sig- 
nificant and worthy of consideration, being as 
follows: "Relying upon our past records and 
present performance of duty we are willing to 
take our chances, believing that merit and strict 
attention to duty will be fittingly rewarded." 
This request met with a ready response on the 
part of the management and the articles in the 
agreements between the trainmen and their em- 
ployers, governing this subject, were promptly 
repealed. 

The receot death of Kossuth closed a life that 
had much in i^ to inspire the true lover of his 
fellow man. A born republican he took up in 
early life the cause of his oppressed countrymen 
and waged a hopeless but none the less deter- 
mined war for their relief from the Austrian 
yoke. Although his hopes were defeated and he 
was compelled to finish a long life in exile his 
struggles were not in vain. Through him Aus- 
tria was compelled to give Hungary respectful 


recognition, and her people were gran :ed a suf- 
frage that was bnt little short of general. Truly 
his country's debt to him was greater than ever 
could have been paid, and in that debt all liberty- 
loving people participated. He was one of tb« 
few landmarks whose towering forms measure 
the progress of mankind, and when ttbe history 
ofthe Nineteenth century ccmesto be written by 
the philosophic historian, even the apparent fail- 
ure of bis cause will not dim the lustre of bis act 
ual achievement. 


The Sacramento Record- Union is of the opin* 
ion that the work of running down and capturing 
train robbers and wreckers should be given into 
the bands of a force of constables, organized and 
paid by the state. Under this head it says: 

"A force thus organized, in a few montbi I 
would become a powerful detective machine Its I 
head would have as complete knowledge as it is 
possible to acquire of the whereabouts and doioa I 
of all the crooks in the land. He would be e I 

communication constantly with every public and ! 

private detective bureau in the Union, and tbw 
his force would be, equipped as that of no *berifl 
or localized police can be. In fact, it is believed 
by the oldest and best detectives that the only 
way to put an effectual check upon highway rob 
bery is to systematize the means of pursuit. It 
is all done now in a slip shod, disjointed, and 
frictional manner. 

"The probability is that to maintain such a 
state constabulary would not cost the state to ex- 
ceed $20,000 a year, or not greatly more than 
the pursuit and capture in the case of three rob- 
beries now costs a single bounty. The $20,000 
would give salaries commanding the best ability, 
courageous, resolute, trained men. It would 
save to the tax payers five times the amount, since 
the present system is about the costliest that can 
be devised, and besides the burden of cost falh 
mainly upon counties least able to bear it, 
though the punishment and prevention of these 
great crimes is for the benefit and to the profit of 
the wealthier sections." 


The Railway Age of March 2, last, (Contained 
the following official "correction": 

A published report of a decision in the case of 
a suit against the P. C. & St. L. railway company 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


by a braketnan for damages, says that one of the 
conditions of membership in the Pennsylvania 
railroad company's relief department is that it 
bars the members from suing the company for 
damages in case of injury. Superintendent R. 
F. Smith of the relief department asks us to cor- 
rect this statement by putting the matter in this 
way : * ‘Employes becoming members agree in 

their applications that the acceptance of benefits 
from the relief fund shall operate as a release of 
all claims for damages against the company. 
There is nothing, however, in the agreement 
which makes it obligatory upon the member or 
requires him to accept benefits. No member is 
debarred from bringing suit against the company 
if he shall so elect He has the same right in 
this respect as though he were not a member. 
An injured member may either accept the bene- 
fits of the fund or rely upon the issue of a suit. 
He cannot, however, do both " 

In plain English, if he wishes to sue the com- 
pany employing him for injuries received in its 
service he must first surrender insurance for 
which he has paid. 

In the first case tried under the Co-Employe 
law in Indiana the presiding judge in hia instruc- 
tions to the jury said; "If you find from the 
evidence that injury to the plaintiff was caused 
solely by the negligence or incompetency of the 
conductor of the train and that the plaintiff was 
free from negligence contributory thereto, and 
that the injury happened to plaintiff while he was 
carrying out an instruction or command given by 
the conductor, then *the court instructs you that 
yon should find for the plaintiff, unless you find 
that the injury resulted from obedience to an or- 
der which would subject tbe employe to palpable 
danger. If you find that the injury complained 
of was caused solely by the incompetency of the 
conductor, and that the plaintiff was free from 
negligence contributory thereto, then you should 
also find for the plaintiff, unless you should fur- 
ther find that such incompetency was known to 
the plaintiff or by the exercise of reasonable care 
might have been discovered by him.” 

The jury found for the plaintiff and rendered 
verdict for damages in the sum of $5,000. Plain- 
tiff had lost an arm while employed on the Penn- 
sylvania Railway System. 

As the railway companies strongly opposed the 
passage of this law with one of the strougest lob 
fiies at their command, and it passed the state 
legislature only after a bitter fight, this fact 
makes it reasonable to assume that this case will 
fo appealed, and that it will not be settled until 
J t has been passed upon by the highest court hav- 
mg jurisdiction. The outcome involves much 
and will be watched with interest. 


191 

The subject of Sunday rest for employes has 
been given thoughtful consideration by the prog- 
ressive railroad managers of the country for some 
years past and, theoretically, they have been a 
unit in its support. In spite of this theory, how- 
ever, the tendency with the larger companies has 
generally been toward an increase rather than a 
decrease of work on that day. Fortunately this 
illogical course has brought its own reaction, and 
the past few months have shown many signs of a 
speedy reformation. One of the leaders in the 
practical solution of this problem is the Erie, the 
management of which recently took a decided 
stand by issuing an order holding all commoa 
freight in the yards at the ends of divisions from 
12 o’clock on Saturday night until the same hour 
of the night following. According to the provis- 
ions of this order only such crews were to be sent 
out during those hours as were necessary to han- 
dle the stock and fast and perishable freight. It 
also modified the passenger service, giving agents 
and operators much greater freedom on Sunday. 
It is estimated that this change affects fully 8,000 
men, giving half of them a full day’s rest and 
greatly lessening the burden upon the shoulders 
of the others. The men who handle the freight 
trains have every reason to be satisfied with the 
new order of things, as they not only have their 
Sunday rest, but their pay remains the same as 
it was before. They are paid by the trip and, 
while the common freight will be held for twen- 
ty-four hours, it will have to be moved eventual- 
ly, making the same number of trains and the 
same returns for them as under the old regime. 
There can be but little question regarding the 
profit to be ultimately derived from such reforms 
as this; not only by the men, but by their em- 
ployers as well. Men who are given abundant 
opportunity for rest and recuperation will more 
than return, in improved service, all that may 
have been lost to the company in giving it, to say 
nothing of the good will thus engendered. It is 
to be hoped that this good example may speedily 
lead all the great railroad corporations of the 
country into moving forward with the Erie in 
this line of efficiency, safety and economy of 
service. 


The Indianapolis News has been able to win 
prosperity despite the financial disturbances of 
the past year. Its annual circulation statement 
shows a gain of 5,000 in the daily average of 1893 
over 1892, a showing of which any similar publi- 
cation might well be proud. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

COMMENT 


In the initial number of the American Federa - 
tionist Mr. John Swinton takes a hopeful view of 
the labor situation, and as he gives utterance to 
thoughts that are in the minds of many thinking 
persons, in the following language, it is worth 
quoting: “Labor's battle is already half won. 
For when once the masses of the people in this 
country, or any other, give evidence that they are 
conscious that their sufferings are due to wrong- 
ful conditions which they themselves have the 
power to change, and whenever they make a de- 
termined protest against the continued existence 
of these false industrial and social conditions, I 
say that here is an assurance that the most seri- 
ous obstruction in the way of the advance has 
been surmounted. The first thing needed, and 
the hardest thing to bring about, is the moral ex- 
citation, the removal of the feeling of helpless- 
ness, the stirring up of the stagnant powers of 
human nature. Ail history, including our own 
American history, proves that this preliminary 
work must always be done before entering upon 
any great undertaking. Recall the agitation 
which preceded the Declaration of Independence, 
and that which preceded the election of Abraham 
Lincoln, I repeat that the manifestations among 
the masses, and the organization of labor, during 
the present generation, are most important inci- 
dents in the advance toward the conquest of those 
natural human rights which can be won, at least 
in this country, by agencies at once peaceable 
and irresistible." Yes, it is true, the battle of 
labor is half won. No person who reads history 
can fail to mistake the signs of the times, unless 
he is as blind as a bat at noonday: the forces 
that seem to be working against labor and press- 
ing it deeper and deeper into the mire of oppres- 
sion are really the forces that will burst its bonds 
and set it free. Labor is a giant in chains. But 
the giant is fast coming to realize that he has the 
power to cast off his chains and stand forth in 
all the grand and imposing strength of a glorious 
and free manhood. He is coming to realize his 
strength and how to use it, and the faint glimmer 
of light which precedes the rising of the sun of 
freedom for the giant may already be perceived. 

* # * 

Mrs. Lease spoke with prophetic vision when 
she uttered this : “Under the dark cloud of to- 
day there are portentious signs of a struggle that 
will convulse the world. Some radical social 
change is coming. The giant of labor in this 
country is aroused. The light of justice is in his 
eyes. Men will not starve in the sight of plenty. 


Aristocracy may well start from its slumber as it 
dreams of the French Revolution. It is a strug- 
gle for justice, and those who long ignore it can- 
not survive." She paid her respects to the church 
and its well fed preachers, as follows: “You 
profess Christianity and fail to practice it. You 
build monumental piles of stone and brick and 
dedicate them to God, and still you allow your 
children to starve. Your ministers are afraid to 
preach a doctrine antagonistic to plutocracy. 
You ask why your laboring men are leaving the 
church, and I answer, because the churches hold 
the hay too high for the sheep. Our social con- 
ditions have no part with the teachings of Christ. 
If you are afraid to attack the plutocrats then you 
need a new Christ, one who will hobnob with the 
rich and who will preach heaven for the rich and 
hell for the tramps." And who can dispute the 
truth of what she says? The church is the up- 
holder and defender of some of the greatest 
iniquities of our day, and the minister who comes 
out boldly on ' the side of the oppressed, who 
dares to get beyond merely formal platitudes in 
his denunciation of the robbers of labor, at once 
loses caste, and, in all probability finds himself 
out of a job. The church cannot expect to draw 
the laboring men into its fold while it preaches to 
them nothing but resignation to their lot. and 
upholds, or silently consenfh to, the iniquitous 
proceedings by which they are deprived of their 
rights as children of God. Workingmen have 
wonderfully benefited by the general increase 
in intelligence the last half century, and 
the religious platitudes that did duty a gen* 
eration ago, and were so satisfying to the 
average man, will not longer answer their 
purpose. The church must either give os a 
new deal or go down in the ruins of the social 
system it upholds. The church that holds fast to 
a minister who says, as did Rev. Joseph Cook of 
Boston, “I would secretly appoint a day in each 
district to bunt down the tramps*' is not one for 
working men to cotton to; they want a different 
sort of a religion than that. B. 


One of the excellent features in the adminis- 
tration of Monon Division No. 89 is its funeral 
benefit of $90. Secretary Dodson makes it a 
point to pay this benefit as soon as possible after 
the death, as that is the time when assistance is 
most needed and most appreciated. The division 
recently received a touching letter from the widow 
of Brother Smith, giving the best possible evidence 
of the value of this timely aid to afflicted families 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR, 

BORROWED OPINION. 


193 


We would direct attention to the article on an- 
other page from the pen of Mr. Geo. R. Brown, 
general superintendent of the Fall Brook Rail- 
road. 

Mr. Brown is one of a class of managers well 
nigh extinct — that class who only controlled mod- 
erate sized roads, and were personally familiar • 
with every detail and every man— the great sys- 
tems have done away, in a great measure, with 
such services, much to their detriment. 

Mr. Brown proposes a plan, or rather explains 
a practice of his in the disciplining of men that 
deserves more than passing notice from the men 
in similar positions on other roads. 

Has he not offered something better than the 
general run of treatment — lay off, blacklist, etc? 

If this was a mere suggestion from a young and 
inventive officer it might be passed over lightly; 
but it is not, it is backed by a dozen of years of 
successful operation — and no railroad man can 
inspect the Fall Brook road and not notice the ex- 
cellent service and good discipline. * * * 

Every man in the service knows that he will get 
fair treatment, that he will be reasoned with and 
given a show to explain his case, and to do better, 
and that no one but himself and “G. R. B." will 
know what was said or done. Every one of them 
knows that he is.expected to be thoughtful and 
careful, and to try and render the best service; 
but that he is not expected to be infallible nor to 
never make a mistake. 

The spirit of fairness, and frankness, and cor- 
diality, and co operation is in the air. and it's a 
poor man who don't want to do his whole share 
toward making a success of his daily work under 
such conditions. 

Isn’t there a lot of railroad officials in this 
country who would secure better service for their 
companies if they would introduce some of the 
Fall Brook methods? Is a good ‘'disciplinarian” 
necessarily a butcher or an executioner? — Loco- 
motive Engineering. 

It is always a wise policy to avoid strikes when 
such a thing is possible without sacrificing some 
vital principal of unionism. At this time, when 
the country is just about to enter upon a period 
of comparative prosperity, it is especially neces- 
sary to exercise cool judgment, so that no compli- 
cations are needlessly brought about which may 
hinder business and bring upon labor organiza- 
tions censure which is not always justly placed by 
the public. There are many unscrupulous employ- 
ers who would like to place the unions in the light 
of obstructing the return of good times, but this 
can not be done unless the unions walk deliber- 
ately into the traps set for them. — Neiv Era. 

The utilization of the power previously running 
to waste at the falls of the Niagara marks a new 
era in the industrial application of electrical en- 


ergy. By recent contracts the power of the falls 
is to be utilized not only for the operation of 
manufacturing plants in the immediate vicinity, 
but for motive purposes on ihe Erie canal, and as 
a source from which may be supplied power, light 
and possibly heat at far distant points. The city 
of Buffalo, being the most important point in the 
vicinity of the base of supplies, will undoubtedly 
profit most by the completion of this magnificent 
undertaking, in the cheapness with which power 
may be supplied for almost every kind of indus- 
trial purpose; but the influence will not be 
limited by the boundaries of any one city or 
state. The chief electrician of the enterprise is 
reported to have said that if neecssary the power 
generated by the falls could be transmitted in 
the form of electrical energy to Liverpool, and 
though there is no probability or necessity for so 
widespread a distribution, there is practically no 
limit to the extent to which this power may be 
utilized. — Railway Age. 

Though the times are hopeful for labor, and 
laboring men are studying iheir interests more 
closely today than ever before, the fact of this 
should not deter the laboring man from working 
with all bis might for further progress in this di- 
rection. The fact of the times being more hope- 
ful, and that men realize more fully than ever be- 
fore that labor has been unjustly dealt with, will 
not bring about results any more than a farmer 
can secure a good crop from his soil during a 
favorable season following an unfavorable one, 
without sowing the seed and tilling the soil. 
Agitation and hard work are as necessary during 
favorable as other times, and all men who are 
dependent on labor for subsistence should re- 
member the adage, to “strike while the iron is 
hot.” The eyes of the world are upon labor 
organizations today as never before and it be- 
hooves them to so affiliate with one another as to 
be able by their combined efforts to make their 
power for good felt in every community — Rail- 
way Carmen's Journal. 

The importance to which the system of electric 
traction has attained in so short a time can be 
best comprehended by an examination of some 
such publication as the Street Railway Journal. 
Where in former years were seen varieties of har- 
ness and of horse saving devices, with much space 
devoted to the selling price of horse flesh, we 
now see not even an indication that such a thing 
as a horse ever pulled a street car and in the 
place formerly devoted to such subjects can now 
be seen advertisements and descriptions of the 
latest and most improved form of fenders, con- 
duits, electric car heaters, trolleys, motors, steam 
engines, and other modern devices. — Railroad 
Employee. 


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Cleveland, O., March 27, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

In my last letter I promised to report whether 
we enjoyed ourselves "as poor folks should” at 
our Poverty Party, March 15. Could you have 
taken a peep at the assemblage gathered to "Sel- 
lebrate our secon anneversary," you would have 
seen nothing inconsistent with poverty stricken 
people except perhaps the bright and many 
colored patches placed over worn and torn gar- 
ments which lent a doubtful brilliancy to the 
ever moving throng. Intimate acquaintances 
were scarcely recognizable to each other, and 
many were the hearty laughs as mutual recogni- 
tion took place. "A good fiddler” was there "to 
fiddle for the poor folks to danse,” according to 
promise on the invitations, and a short program 
had been prepared, but on account of so much 
jollity and no seats only a portion of it was ren- 
dered. A recitation was given by Miss May 
Forbes which was very good indeed and well re- 
ceived, and one of the sisters of Bethlehem Div. 
No 1, L. A. to O. R. C., sang two solos. In be- 
half of this sister it was announced that she would 
sing the "enkore” first, fearing she would not re- 
ceive one should she sing the other "piece” first. 
This was done, and for the "enkore” she sang 
* ‘Bother the Men. ” This being so well received she 
then sang the other selection, "Love’s old Sweet 
Song,” demonstrating her fears to have been well 
taken, as no "enkore” was given to this, and she 
retired conscious of having "the best” of the 
audience. But the crowning event of the even- 
ing was the gift to Bethlehem Div. No. 1 
from Cleveland Div. No. 14. of some fresh 
meat (which they, of course, supposed we 
must be in need of) in the shape of a live — but, 
perhaps, if a portion of the presentation speech, 
which was ably delivered by Brother J. F. Lahiff, 
and who was most grotesquely rigged out in 
patches of all colors, is here introduced, you will 
enjoy it better than for me to tell you what it was. 
Am sorry I cannot give you the speech verbatim 
Bro. Lahiff was obliged, a few months since, to 
receive publicly, in behalf of Div. No. 14, O. R. 


C. t an altar cloth, which was a complete surprise 
to him and all the Brothers as well, and be 
wanted revenge and took it in this manner: 

Mrs. President and Sisters of the L. A. 

It is with pleasure that we have the opportunity 
of meeting with you this evening on the occasion of 
the second anniversary of your organization. We 
had the pleasure of meeting with you on your first 
anniversary, and may the memory of that meet* 
ing never be obliterated from onr miods. God 
bless the ladies ! Yon of Bethlehem Div. No. t 
have done much to bring the conductors more 
closely together in your social and charitable 
ways. [ Applause] I am proud to say I am a 
conductor, and that my wife belongs to your or* 
ganization. [Applause] About two months ago 
we had the pleasure of meeting with the most of 
you in one of Cleveland's most beautiful halls, 
and / was the mark ! But, ladies, I forgive you, 
and will now try to more fittingly express the 
gratidude of Div. No. 14. Sisters of Bethlehem 
Division, allow me to again thank you for that 
beautiful altar cloth which the members of Div 
No. 14 so highly appreciate, and to show their 
gratitude for that beautiful gift they wish to do 
something in return, so a committee was appoint- 
ed to investigate what was most needed in youT 
Division room, and after a most thorough invest iga- 
tion they reported you were deficient in your 
paraphernalia and could not carry out your new 
floor work without it. And now, Mrs. President, 
in behalf of Div. No. 14, O R. C., I present you 
with this beautiful Billy Goat, and now, ladies. I 
feel as though I had got even with you.” 

The president had been previously induced 
by stratagem to occupy a scat on the rostrum be- 
side the speaker and the goat was not in sight un- 
til the proper time, and when be baoded her the 
leading string attached to Mr. Goat, who was 
adorned with a blue blanket inscribed with white 
letters, on one side L. A. to O. R. C., and on 
the other Bethlehem Div No. 1. The shout that 
w ent upcompletely drowned the acceptation speech 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


which, without doubt, would have been worth 
reproducing here, could we have heard it. 

And now duty compels me to record the most 
embarrassing part of this most interesting event. 
We find that we have no goat at all: only a blanket 
for one. Sister Pennell very injudiciously 
handed the goat over to the small boys having it 
in charge, (which she now deeply regrets) and it 
transpires that that goat was hired for 50 cents in 
order that Bro. Lahiff might get even with us, 
but the Brothers of Div. No. 14 may expect to 
have their lives made miserable until we possesss 
a live goat in reality. 

The collecting of fines conducted by Sister 
McCutchin afforded much amusement, but small 
remuneration, as few were liable to heavy fines. 
Sister Forbes tested false teeth with a pair of huge 
iron pinchers with good results, securing fines 
which would doubtless otherwise have been 
evaded. Sister Blake sold plum pudding, mys- 
teriously compounded, for five cents a slice, and 
Sister Mullin and Miss Wood told fortunes for a 
nickle. Coffee and fried cakes were served at an 
early hour, everybody going home at 12 o’clock 
well pleased with the evening’s enjoyment. 

The finance committee. Sister Forbes, chair- 
man, report $3.80 clear profit, which to foor 
folks is a great deal, but we never expect to get 
rich giving Poverty Parties. All, however, pro- 
nounce Sister Forbes a success as chairman. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. C. P. Hodgbs. 


Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Feb. 16, 1894, 
Columbia Div. No. 37 L. A. to O. A\ C. : 

As our blessed Creator has given us health and 
strength to assemble in this hall, let us take upon 
us, each and all, the yoke of sisterly love, and 
start out on the new year hand in hand to work 
together for the upbuilding of our Auxilia y, and 
the cause to which it belongs. We need not re- 
view the past eleven months to convince ourselves 
of the pleasures this organization has afforded us. 
As we look into one another’s faces, we read there 
a welcome smile, and often times a tender word 
that touches our hearts, and calls forth a higher 
ambition to increase our interests and further ex- 
tend sociability. Our Grand President has said 
in one of her kind letters that the destructive force 
of individual greed and selfishness is at work in 
every organization. Dear Sisters, let us cast it 
from our hearts, if there be any such a feeling 
among us, and place therein a fountain of charity 
and true friendship and raise ourselves to a higher 
standard of nobility. 

Perhaps we may say to ourselves when Division 
day comes, well, I can’t go to-day, I have such 


195 

and such a thing to do Let us strive to make 
these meetings a specialty, and when we come let 
us bring with us a heart full of love and interest 
for the work and the cause. 

Let us make the sick and sorrow-stricken in 
our Order one of our chief interests, let us minis- 
ter to them in every way in our power. We can- 
not tell when sickness and sorrow may enter our 
homes. Come as it will, what a cosolation it is to 
know that we have a helping hand on every side, 
and a band of true and devoted Sisters, ever ready' 
and mindful of their duties to one another. If a 
Sister or one of her family be confined to their 
home by sickness, let us send flowers or a delic- 
acy of some kind, as a token of love for her. Let 
us live for something, let us do good and leave be- 
hind us a monument of virtue that the storms of 
time can never destroy. Let us write our names 
with kindness, love and virtue on the hearts of 
those with whom we come in contact, and we will 
never be ’forgotten. 

Let us tender to our President due respect for 
the efficient manner in which she has discharged 
her duties to this organization. On her proper 
judgment and official management for the year of 
’94 rests the welfare of our Order. Praise is due, 
not only to our President, but to the Sisters in 
general, who are to be congratulated* upon the 
success of our Auxiliary and the popular reputa- 
tion it has achieved. 

And now, as we are about to close our meeting, 
let us go to our homes with kindly feelings to- 
ward one another; prepare ourselves to make our 
next meeting one of unusual interest, and taking 
for our motto, charity and true friendship, let us 
endeavor to keep it sacred, even to the end of 
life. Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. W. H. Buttre. 

[This essay, full of good advice, was prepared 
for the Division and not for the Conductor. It 
is given to us by request of members and we glad- 
ly give it space regretting that we did not get it 
sooner. — Ed.] 


Toledo, Ohio, March 12, 1894. 
Editor Raihvay Conductor : 

No doubt all are patiently waiting to learn the 
name and number of the Division receiving the 
"Dustan medal ” Aftercareful consideration of 
all the reports submitted it was found that Bluff 
City Division No. 29, of Memphis, Tennessee, was 
the fortunate one, Cheyenne Division No. 31 being 
second in the contest. Many good reports were 
made, but one of the principal standards being 
promptness in making these reports, it became 
necessary to draw the line. The matter of decid- 
ing who was victorious in this contest, has been 


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do easy one I can assure the Sisters, but we have 
tried to be just. Let every division enter into 
this contest for the coming year, and keep a 
strict account of all its work. When the time 
comes each Division will be furnished a form for 
making the reports. I am sure that whoever gets 
the • 'medal” next year will meet more earnest 
rivalry than has as yet been manifest. The forty- 
nine Divisions we now have, and those prom- 
ised ns in the near future, will make the contest 
interesting to say the least. 

Mrs. J. H. Moork, G. P. 


Buffalo, N. Y., March 3, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

It is with pleasure that I write you from Col- 
umbian Div. No 40, L A. to O. R. C. Although 
one of the youngest Divisions in the Order we are 
making an effort not to be among the smallest, 
and surely in such a large field as Buffalo, with 
its two or three hundred O. R. C. men, o.ur efforts 
ought to be crowned with success. If all the O. 
R. C. men who are married were as anxious for 
our success as Brother M. O. Briggs our Division 
books would soon tally. Division 40 is greatly in- 
debted to Bro. Briggs for his earnest and zealous 
work in our behalf. At our election held Dec. 7, 
the following officers were chosen : President, 
Mrs. Austin Keating; Vice President, Mrs. M. 
Clark; Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. M. O. 
Briggs; Senior Sister, Mrs. Agnes Thompson; 
junior Sister, Mrs. Flora Tousey, Guard, Mrs. 
Mary Beck; Chairman of Executive Committee, 
Mrs. W A. Kelleher. 

We gave our first social at Columbian hall Jan. 
19th, and it proved a great success both socially 
and financially, so much so that at our last meet- 
ing committees were appointed for the second 
one. Since organization last April two of our 
charter members have been called upon to mourn 
the loss of their husbands, Sisters Thompson and 
Tousey, and we all felt the blessing of our Order 
at that time as it gave us the opportunity of show- 
ing our “True Friendship”* and sincere sympathy 
for those afflicted ones When their letters of 
gratitude were read in our Division we felt that the 
tie that binds us was indeed a blessing to us all. 
May God bless and prosper our beloved Order 
wherever it exists. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. A. Huff. 


Cheyenne, Wyo.. Feb. 28, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Cheyenne Division No. 31, L. A. to O. R C., 
was very much delighted a few days ago to re- 
ceive a letter from our G. P., Sister Moore, stat- 


ing that our division is “one of three” in contest 
for the Dustan medal. However, we cannot 
hope to be the “one,” as our range for charitable 
work is limited. 

The prevailing “hard times” are felt by us all, 
but not to the same extent as in the east and south, 
as but few railroad men have been thrown entire- 
ly out of work, and they not men with families. 

We were organized March 13, 1893, by De- 
partment G. P. Sister Foote, assisted by sister* 
from Denver, with eighteen members, and have 
three new members since. 

At our annual election the following officers 
were elected, some of them for the second term 
Sister R. G. Shingle, President; Sister C. G. 
Wolcott, Vice-President; Sister E. B. Bond. 
Secretary and Treasurer; Sister J. B. Howland. 
Senior Sister; Sister A. J. Schilling. Junior Sister; 
Sister W. E. Storey, Guard; Sister E. D. 
Woodmansee, Chairman of Executive Committ- 
tee; and Sister E. B. Bond, Corresponding Sec- 
retary. 

We have given several entertainments, all of 
which have been successful socially as well as 
financially. We feel that our organization is 
uniting the interests of the O. R. C. men, and 
that many pleasant acquaintances have been 
formed by its means, as introductions to each 
other and to our Sisters' husbands were quite the 
rule at our first meetings and socials. We have 
also secured as valued friends and acquaintances 
the members of our neighbor — Denver Division 
No. 23. 

We meet the second and fourth Wednesdays of 
each month at K. P. Hall, at 2:30 p. m , and 
should any of our sisters be journeying this way, 
they will find that “the latch string is always 
out,” and be assured of a hearty welcome within 
Yours in T. F. 

Mrs. E. B. B 


Grand Rapids, Mich , March 12, 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Rapid Transit Division No. 45, L A. to O. R. 
C., was instituted February 6, by the Grand 
President, Mrs. Jas. H. Moore, assisted by Mrs 
Jas McMillan, Mrs. J. Powers, Mrs E. W. Pur* 
rett, of Toledo, and Mrs T B. Watson, of Cedar 
Rapids, Iowa, all of whom we found to be de- 
lightful ladies and well able to fill the positions 
in which they were placed. 

The following officers - were elected for the 
coming year: President, Mrs. C. G. Smith; Vice 
President, Mrs. S. H. Wallize; Secretary and 
Treasurer, Mrs. W. G. Crabbe; Senior Sister, 
Mrs. H. Brink; junior Sister, Mrs. C, Westover: 
Guard, Mrs D. Matthews. 


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197 


The day was spent in initiating and instructing 
ns. A bappy incident of the day was the pre- 
sentation of a handsome set of orange spoons to 
Mrs. Moore by Mrs. Powers, on behalf of Mrs. 
Watson. They were accepted by that lady in her 
own graceful manner. 

In the evening a reception and public installa- 
tion of officers was held, which was well attended 
by members of Division 102, O. R. C., and their 
friends. The mnsic furnished was very enjoy- 
able and some who were unable to withstand the 
bewitching strains, "tripped the light fantastic” 
until time came for the serving of the refresh- 
ments. which was done by the ladies of the Divi- 
sion. 

Now I should like to ask the Auxiliary sisters 
what their purpose is, as all such organizations, 
and especially the O. R. C., are for the better- 
ment and progress of their members. Is the 
Auxiliary for the same purpose ? Being an O. R. 
C. man's wife, I feel interested and read the Con- 
ductor with pleasure, and by the way, why is 
it we never see a line from Oatley Division 102 ? 
One thing I have always noticed among them, and 
would like to mention, is their consideration and 
brotherly love for one another. Sisters, would 
we not do well to follow their example ? At the 
present time all is smooth sailing with us and 
may it be so all through our voyage, and may we 
not be wrecked, as predicted by some, on the 
turbulent sea of life. 

'Then come the wild weather, come sleet or 
come snow, 

We’ll stand by each other however it blow, 

Joy, pleasure or sickness or sorrow or pain, 

Shall be to our love as links to a chain." 

May God watch over and protect all railroad 
men in their perilous positions, and may his love 
guide and direct us in our Auxiliary. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. W. W. Long. 


Pueblo, Colo., March 19, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

It has been some time since you have had any 
news from Arkansas Valley Auxiliary No. 41, but 
we are still alive. We have had some little 
amusement this winter in the way of socials and 
have made some money. 

In January the conductors of Arkansas Valley 
Division No 36 installed their officers at an open 
meeting, to which their friends and also the 
Auxiliary were invited After the installation 
the ladies were invited to an elegant repast, 
served exclusively by the conductors, after which 
the conductors and their gentlemen friends were 


refreshed. Dancing was the amusement of the 
evening, and everybody pronounced the party a 
social success. 

The new officers of our Auxiliary are: Presi- 
dent, Mrs. R. J. Corey; Vice President, Mrs. 
Inda Ward; Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. 
Belle Slack; Senior Sister, Mrs. J. F. Covars; 
Junior Sister, Mrs. B. J Marlow; Guard, Mrs. 
C. E. Duey; Chairman Executive Committee. 
Mrs. W. B. Sturgeon. 

Our membership has increased very little this 
winter, owing, we think, to the dull times. Our 
meetings are very interesting. We have some 
"kickers," but I think they are a blessing rather 
than a detriment, as they keep us alive. A good 
K. P. brother says: "Blessed be the ‘kicker;’ be 
ripples the monotonous current of our existence 
and we experience some sensation; he has 
opinions and expresses them." 

Our Auxiliary jpeets in Riverside Block every 
second and fourth Thursdays in each monfh at 
2 :30 p. m. All visiting Sisters welcome. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. Inda Ward. 


St. Joseph, Mo.. March 2, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Not seeing anything in The Conductor from 
our Corresponding Secretary, and fearing that we 
might be forgotten by our distant Sisters, I will 
take it upon myself to send them the message 
that we are still in the land of the living. For 
the succeeding year we will work under the direc- 
tion of the following officers: President, Mrs. E. 
N. Foote; Vice-President, Mrs. B. F. Throop; 
Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. J. W Horan; 
Senior Sister, Mrs. Paul Vermillion; Junior Sis- 
ter, Mrs. C. F. Smith; Guard, Mrs. John George; 
Chairman of Executive Committee. Mrs J. H 
Zimmerman; Correspondent. Mrs. T. G. Harris. 
These ladies were duly installed on January 3. 
last, and under them we have every hope for the 
success of our Division during the coming year. 
We have already secured one new member and 
have excellent prospects for several more. The 
attendance has been good at all our meetings, the 
best of feeling prevails and we are in condition 
to overcome much greater obstacles than we have 
encountered in the past. There has been but lit- 
tle for us to do in the way of charity here but we 
responded gladly to a call from the Home in 
Chicago. I have the promise of Assistant Gen- 
eral Manager W. T. Allen, of the C., R. I. &P., 
at Chicago, that he will visit the Home at his 
earliest convenience, and he will do it, for he is 
interested in everything that makes for the good 
of the railroad men 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


198 

Several of our Sisters have had the misfortune 
to be surprised, recently, while in the perform* 
ance of their household duties. Among that 
number was Past President Sister Sims, whose 
home was invaded by a number of the ladies 
bearing well filled dinner baskets. Just before 
dinner was announced our involuntary hostess 
was presented with a very pretty syrup pitcher, to 
which she responded by saying it was her first 
surprise but she hoped it would not be the last. 
We are also having afternoon teas, like our Sis- 
ters in St. Louis, the first being given at the home 
of Sister Carey. There were twenty three in at- 
tendance and all had a pleasant time, besides add- 
ing quite a sum ot money to our treasury. This 
attempt was so successful that we are going to 
have them once a month hereafter and will fine 
all who are absent, but I fear this will not add 
much to our wealth, as all had too good a time 
before to stay away from the next. 

While en-route to Council Bluffs a few days 
since I met Sister Greer, of Denver, and from her 
heard of all the Sisters whom I met in their hall. 
Doubtless many of the Sisters will remember Sis- 
ter Bressnahan, who was their delegate to the 
convention. According to the report these Den- 
ver Sisters have been having an exceedingly fine 
winter. When it comes my turn to entertain I 
believe I will invite the Brothers, as I am confi- 
dent they would enjoy our songs and speeches. 
Brother Carey was the only gentleman at the last 
gathering and I felt sorry for him, as all the ladies 
wanted to talk to him and he was afraid of giving 
offense if he talked to one more than another. 

I am corresponding with a number of Divisions 
wishing Auxiliaries, so we are progressing, and, 
Brothers, don't you fear our failing, as when we 
start we are bound to go ahead. With best 
wishes for all, I am 

Yours Truly in P. F., 

Mrs. E. N. F. 


Cumberland, Md., March 13, 1894. 
Editor Raihvay Conductor : 

It is with pleasure that I announce the institu- 
tion of Maryland Division No. 46, Ladies Auxil- 
iary to the Order of Railway Conductors. We 
met for that purpose in I. O. O F. Hall, this 
city, on January 18. last, and were formally 
started on the good work by Mrs. B. F. Wiltse, 
of Philadelphia. The following officers have 
been selected to serve us during the coming year 
President, Mrs. J. W. Knee; Vice President, 
Mrs. L. P. Adams; Secretary and Treasurer, 
Mrs. J. W. Walsh; Senior Sister, Mrs. L. L*w; 
Juaior Sister, Mrs. A. C. Schmutz; Guard, Mrs. 
T. Domer; Chairman Executive Committee, Mrs. 


C. E. Walsh; Correspondent, Mrs. W. W. Dun- 
lap. We commence with seventeen charter mem- 
bers, all good workers, and expect soon to be able 
to add to that number. With greetings to all new 
Sisters and Brothers, and hopes for the continued 
prosperity of all, I remain, 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. W. W. Dunlap. 


Philadelphia, Pa., March 12, 1894 
Editor Raihvay Conductor : 

At the first regular meeting in December. 
Erickson Division No. 5. L A. to O. R. C . 
elected the following officers: President. Mrs. 
H. C. Rohrer; Vice President. Mrs. G W. 
Brown; Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. C. L. 
Springer; Senior Sister, Mrs. W. J. Maxwell; 
Junior Sister, Mrs. J. Reilly; Guard. Mrs. S. R. 
Stockton; Chairman of Executive Committee. 
Mrs. S. Horner; Correspondent, Mrs. H. C. 
Rohrer. The installation was held two weeks 
later, and was a fitting start for the new year 
Having taken in two new members during Janu- 
ary, the Division feels greatly encouraged, es- 
pecially as we have several more in sight On 
January 16 the Division visited our retiring Presi- 
dent, Mrs. B F. Wiltse, in a body and spent the 
evening. Before leaving we presented her with 
a handsome fruit stand, as a token of our ap- 
preciation of her services in the past. It proved 
to be a very pleasant evening for us all Hoping 
that we may all have a prosperous year, I remain, 
Yours in T. F,, 

Mrs. H. C R. 


Eagle Grove, Iowa, March i6, 1894. 
Editor Raihvay Conductor : 

Prosperity Division No. 49, Ladies' Auxiliary 
to the O. R. C. , was organized in the I O. O. F. 
Hall, February 28th, 1894. by Grand President 
Mrs. J. H Moore, of Toledo, Ohio. The follow- 
ing officers were installed : President, Mrs. J M. 
Harlan; Vice President. Mrs. W. R. Hammond; 
Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. G W. Burns; 
Senior Sister, Mrs. W. M. Boylson; Junior Sis- 
ter, Mrs H. M. Belt; Guard, Mrs. W.F.Dobsin; 
Chairman of Executive Committee, Mrs. Geo. 
Bonner; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. C F. 
Bacbelder Mrs. Moore was assisted in institu- 
ting the Division by the following ladies from 
abroad : Mrs. Barber, Mrs Ross and Mrs. 
Francis, of Columbia Division No. 37, Cedar 
Rapids. Iowa, and Mrs Johnson Mrs Elerke. 
Mrs. Milby, Mrs. Hoover, Mrs. McNalin. Mrs. 
Sullivan and Mrs. Wilcoxen, of Excelsior Divis- 
ion No 19, Des Moines, Iowa, and Mrs Simmons* 
of Enterprise Division No. 4, Ottumwa, Iowa. 


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THE RAILWAY 

We were greatly pleased to entertain our Grand 
President, Mrs. Moore, and so many Sisters of dif- 
ferent Divisions. Their presence seemed to give 
os great encouragement in taking up the new 
work. We have twenty-five charter members, 
all of whom seem very much interested and ready 
to assist in whatever they are called upon to do. 

I am sure we have as good and as well qualified 
officers as could have been selected, and all are 
stationed in the proper places, willing to work in 
harmony for the general good. May we ever 
continue in peace and happiness and be ever 
ready to lend a helping hand with sisterly love, is 
my earnest prayer In the evening, after the organ- 
ization had been completed a reception was given 
in the co2y residence of Sister Hammond, to 
which the O. R. C. members and a few of their 
special friends were invited. Mr. Hammond, in 
behalf of the ladies, made an address of welcome 
to the assembled guests, which made all feel at 
home. During the evening Grand President 
Mrs. Moore made an able address that pleased 
the hearers very much, and will ever be remem- 
bered by Prosperity Division and many others. 
Her remarks were made in behalf of the Auxili- 
ary to the O. R. C. During the evening the 
0 . R. C. members presented our Division with 
their Grand Chief Conductor's photograph and a 
handsome frame for our charter. They also made 
i generous and most acceptable donation to the 
treasury of the newly organized Division. We 
shall always remember the O. R. C. boys for the 
interest and kindness they have shown us, and 
tnay God's blessings rest upon them and may they 
ever be protected and led by His guiding hand. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. C. F. Bachbldbr. 


St. Louis, March 29, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

We. of St Louis Division No 11 L. A. to O. R. 
C .bave held our regular meetings through the past 
two months with nothing of special importance 
to report. We have gained one new member, 
Sister Eccles, who was initiated in January, but 
have lost Sister Robinson, they having removed 
to Mt. Vernon, Ind. We hope they may be 
happy in their new home, and wish them success. 
It was with sincere regret that we were compelled 
to accept the resignation of our secretary and 
treasurer, Sister Logan, but ill health forbade her 
attending to the duties of the office. Sister Lewis 
was unanimously elected to the vacancy, Sister 
Cory takiog Sister Lewis’ place on the executive 
committee. Death has again invaded one of our 
bo®es, this timj claiming Bro. and Sister Flory’s 
infant daughter Minnie. It was especially sad, 


CONDUCTOR. 199 

as the little one died on the train while Sister 
Flory was returning from Texas. They have 
our heartfelt sympathy in their affliction. Quite 
a number of our Division were present at the 
funeral. More would have been had it been gen- 
erally known. 

We have begun active preparations for our en- 
tertainment during the month of May. One of 
the specialties will be the conferring of the ' 'O 
Why” degree. 

I see in The Conductor that one of the Texas 
Auxiliaries has adopted the afternoon tea as a 
social feature. We have found ours very suc- 
cessful and pleasant. The last one with Sister 
Bacon was decidedly so, as the attendance was 
larger and sociability everything that could be de- 
sired. She kindly donated a dozen doilies, also 
two white aprons, which were all made during the 
afternoon and disposed of by raffle. The proceeds 
of the afternoon were five dollars and fifty cents. 

But one thing we must not forget, that the object 
of these gatherings is not financial but purely so- 
cial, the money part being an incidental; and also 
we should strive to get some non- members to at- 
tend. Brother and Sister Bucklaw celebrated 
the fifteenth anniversary of their marriage the 
24th. If showers of good wishes are of any bene- 
fit they will certainly celebrate the fiftieth. 

Yours in T. F. , 

Mrs. J. B. Frbnch. 


Sunbury, Pa., March 22, 1894. 
Editor Raihuay Conductor : 

It may be^hat some of your readers would be 
interested to learn how Eastern Star Division No. 
8 is flourishing. We have been doing very nicely 
in spite of our small membership, and feel that 
the future has better things in store for us. If 
the Brothers of No. 187 would only urge their 
wives a little we are confident that the smallness 
of our membership could be speedily remedied. 

A number of interesting socials have been 
given by our members recently, one at the home 
of Brother Shafer and another at that of Brother 
Frank Long, which were especially enjoyable. 
The only drawback to these gatherings was the 
absence of so many of the Brothers, but that only 
made the presence of those who did attend the 
more pleasant, and we hope they will all come 
again and bring their friends. Sister Kline al- 
ways does everything in her power to add to the 
success of these entertainments, and the music 
which she and Brother Shafer furnished, with 
fife and tin pan accompaniment, was one of the 
principal features of the program. One of these 
sociables will be held each month and a cordial 
welcome will be extended to all the Brothers and 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


their wives. Another pleasant social occasion 
was our trip to Westport, where we were enter- 
tained by Brother Geasey and family in a most 
hospitable manner. 

Sister R. Kline is doing most excellent work as 
Chairman of the Executive Committee, as indeed, 
are all our officers. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. J. H. Ellbnbbrgbr. 


Regret. 

A gleaming sail in the distance gray; 

A tender perfume wafted to me; 

As, vapor palled, the dying day 
Fades as a mirage at sea. 

In the gathering darkness the night winds sway, 
Shaking the branches fitfully; 

And the storm wraith liftetb her arms of spray, 
And my ships are out at sea. 

They were laden with wonderful hopes and 
dreams, 

(My ships when they went to sea); 

And those witching, beautiful hopes and dreams 
Were all the world to me. 

O, misty breakers that rise and fall, 

That rise and fall so ruthlessly, 

Bring ye never a word at all 
Of my ships that went to sea? 

A song once lingered upon my lips; 

(The sweetest of songs it was to me), 

But it died; for never a word of my Ships 
Cometh back from the distant sea. 

Up from my heart there cometh a wail; 

The bitterest wail of agony; 

But the cry is lost in the sobbing gale 
As my ships were lost at sea. 

Josephine Brinkbrhoff. 


Jacksonville, 111 ., March 25, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Being in possession to day of one of those 
lonely Sundays that come so often to the wives of 
railroad men, I will take advantage of the oppor- 
tunity to send an Easter greeting to The Con- 
ductor and its readers. I always enjoy reading 
what your magazine has to say about the railroad 
men. No class of men have truer or kinder 
hearts and none more actuated by higher motives. 
True it is that but few of them are provided with 
elaborate homes or have succeeded in accumulat- 
ing great wealth, but the reason for this is to be 
found in the generosity which prompts them to be 


always first in aid of the suffering and unfor- 
tunate. 

I cannot urge upon th? Sisters too strongly the 
inf^ortance of being content with their surround- 
ings. From sad personal experience I have 
learned the daoger attending discontent and hope 
that none who read this may be led into the same 
experience. A short time since my husband had 
a good run on the Chicago & Alton but, of course, 
vexatious things would happen occasionally, and 
I, foolish woman that I was, encouraged him in 
his feeling of discontent. The result is that he 
finally lost his job and is now compelled to go 
back to braking to support his family. All this 
might have been avoided by the exercise of a lit- 
tle patience and I hope none of the Sisters will 
be led into the same error. I would also urge 
upon them the importance of saving at least a 
little of each month's wages, as no one can tell, 
without trying, the sense of security to be found 
in a balance at the bank. Hoping that someone 
may be able to gather something of profit from 
these few remarks, I remain 

Yours in f F., 

Mrs. Phil. Smith. 


Marion, Iowa, Feb. 8, 1894. 
Editor Railiuay Conductor: 

I hope you will overlook my tardiness in send- 
ing in my report of Gloria Division No. 38. We 
did not elect our officers at the regular time, ow- 
ing to the sickness of a number of our members. 
But the delay was not without its good results, 
for by it we were permitted to see the installation 
of officers of our Sister Division, Columbia No. 
37, before our own took place, the 7th inst. A 
number of the ladies came up to assist, and we 
had a very enjoyable time. We were installed 
by their worthy President, Mrs. Ross; Sister 
Gibney acting as Grand Senior Sister. 

It lacks two months of being one year since 
we were organized. We have not succeeded in 
getting as many new members as we had hoped 
to. There were only eleven charter members, 
and it took some "push” to get started, but as 
there is no stand-still in this busy world of ours 
I know we will progress. 

I wish to speak of the Ladies' Department in 
The Conductor, and hope my sentiments in re- 
gard to the same are endorsed by all the Sisters. I 
do not feel that it is just what is due us, consider- 
ing the worthy object of our organization as an 
Auxiliary to the O. R.C., the small space allotted 
to us each month in the magazine, to call our 
own, and I wish the kind Brothers would use 
their influence in seeing our editor, Mrs. Hahn, 
put back in her old place, at its head. [W* 


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assume that had Sister Bell known as we do, that 
op to date, everything furnished by the ladies 
for the Ladies' Department has appeared, she 
would not criticise us on account of space de- 
voted.— Ed.J We will feel more "at home" with 
one of our members occupying the editorial chair 
of the Department. I hope this suggestion will 
meet the approval of the Sisters, and be re echoed 
by them until the object for which it is made is 
snstained. I never derived more solid enjoyment 
from any reading than I do from the columns of 
that Department, and grant the other Sisters ap- 
preciate it as much as I do. 

Marion Division No. 268, O. R. C., gives its 
inmial ball. February 22. and ours will be later 
cm. occurring Easter Monday. By means of 
these entertainments we hope to bring some 
foods into the treasury, aside from the pleasure 
we anticipate. 

I will now proceed to tell who are to be our 
officers for the coming year: 

President, Mrs. Sutton; Vice-President, Mrs 
Gilbert; Secretary and Treasurer. Mrs. Hahn; 
Senior Sister, Mrs. Bell; Junior Sister, Mrs. 
Hoagland; Chairman of Finance Committee, 
Mrs. Haggerty; Guard. Mrs. Parmenter. 

Hoping to please the Sisters, who are, I know, 
as anxious as I am to see the Department, 1 'our 
Department," flourish, and that they will add 
tbeir efforts to mine, I am 

Yours truly in T. F., 

Mrs. Jennie Bell. 


Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 25, 1894. 
t.ditor Railway Conductor: 

Perhaps the friends may not be averse to leani- 
ng that Erickson Division No. 5, L. A. to O. R. 
C . is not only active but flourishing. Our meet- 
ings are well attended, and the interest displayed 
fives promise of better things to come. Having 
served two years as President of Division No. 5, 

I have warrant for saying that the members are 
in perfect harmony and loyal to each other. 
Shortly after my retirement from the ofhce of 
President, the ladies, in token of their esteem 
and of recognition of my services, presented me 
with an elegant fruit basket, Mr. Schaeffer mak- 
ing the presentation speech. It was such a com- 
plete surprise that my feelings entirely overcame 
me, and Brother T. Stackhouse was obliged to 
accept in my behalf. I can assure the ladies 
that I appreciate the spirit actuating the gift, and 
shall always hold it among my most highly 
cherished treasures. 


On January 18, last, we installed Maryland 
Division No. 46, at Cumberland, with fifteen 
charter members. These ladies are full of inter 
est and enthusiasm for the new work, and can 
hardly help succeeding. I wish to acknowledge 
also the very kind reception extended by them to 
me while in their city. 

On February 1, in company with twelve ladies 
from Division No. 5, I instituted another Divis- 
ion at Harrisburg, Keystone No. 47, With thirty 
charter members. The installation was held 
publicly in the evening with the assistance of 
Mrs. Jas. Van Dyke, Grand Junior Sister. After 
the installation opportunity was given the Broth- 
ers to take their degree, and I must say they 
stood the ordeal bravely. In addition to the 
party mentioned Mrs. Meek, of Division 20, and 
Mesdames Van Dyke. Kline and Long, of Divis- 
ion 8, were present and assisted The reception 
here was also most hospitable, and we all en- 
joyed the every minute of our stay. The Harris- 
burg ladies are earnestly engaged in the work 
and have already taken in six new members since 
their start. The older Divisions will have to be 
on the alert if they are not passed by the younger 
Sisters Thanks are due Mr. and Mrs. H. W 
Myers for the very valuable assistance they have 
given in this work. Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. B. F. Wiltsr 


A more notable magazine in the names of its 
contributors than the March McClure's has rare- 
ly come from the press. Kipling. Herbert Spen 
cer, Robert Louis Stevenson, Conan Doyle, and 
Octave Thanet certainly make a list that it is hard 
to equal. And, what is more to the point, the 
contributions are quite as distinguished as the 
contributors. The short story by Mr. Kipling is 
one of his best; the short story by Octave Thanet 
is one of her best. Conan Doyle s cobtribution. 
"The Glamour 6f the Arctic " is not a story, but 
it has more than the interest of one, for it is an 
account of Arctic whaling, written with Dr 
Doyle’s best grace, from his own personal experi- 
ence. Herbert Spencer writes of his intimate 
friend of forty years, the late Professor Tyndall 
His own eminence as a scientist, added to this 
closeness of personal relation, gives his article a 
special interest. It is in part reminiscent; in part 
critical. Closeness 'and sympathy of personal 
relation gives a special value also to a biographi- 
cal and character study of Ruskin by M. H. Spi 
mann, editor of the "Magazine of Art." 




Cleveland, Ohio, Feb. 7, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The members of Cleveland Division No. 14 
desire to make public manifestation of their grati- 
tude to the ladies of Bethlehem Division No. i, 
L. A. to O. R. C., through the columns of The 
Conductor, for the beautiful present which re- 
cently so completely and overwhelmingly sur- 
prised them. 

The gift is a magnificent altar scarf and is 
doubly prized, as it is the handiwork of the dearest 
friends we have on earth. It was placed upon 
the altar at our regular meeting, Jan. 28, and 
upon opening the Division the members were 
called to their feet and while surrounding the 
altar, Brother John J. McVean, C C., accepted 
it on behalf of the Division in the following 
words : 

“Brothers, never within the scope of my ex- 
perience or imagination has anything presented 
itself, likely to make a deeper impression, than 
that the surprise attendant upon this beautiful and 
unexpected gift, has made upon us all. So artisti- 
cally designed, so skillfully executed, and, when 
unfolded upon our altar.so fully demonstrating the 
superiority of women in producing those things 
which tend to made life worth living. This mag- 
nificent gift is a marvel of artistic taste, both in 
finish and beauty of design, and shows our ladies 
to be fully abreast with the artistic progress of 
the world. The motive which inspired its crea- 
tion should spur us all to an earnest endeavor to 
make the world better and brighter, even though it 
be done a stitch at a time. In addition to a grate- 
ful expression on our part at this time we should, 
by word, act and deed in oiy daily lives continue 
to give expression until every home shall become 
a paradise on earth and life shall cease to be a 
burden and labor cease to be a toil. I accept 
this beautiful altar scarf on behalf of our Divis- 
ion and extend to the ladies of Bethlehem Divis- 
ion No 1, L. A. to O. R. C , our sincere appre- 
ciation of their gift." 


The committee need hardly attempt an expra 
sion in words of the gratitude of our Brothers in 
accepting the splendid gift which is so dear to u$ 
all, since it is the endorsement of friends to pm 
tect and please whom is the aim and object of 
the lives of true men. 

Yours Sincerely, 

J. F. Sahiff, 

C. Carlbtt, 

H. F. Teeters, 
Committee 

Seymour, Ind., Feb. 14. 1894 
F.ditor Railway Conductor : 

The irksome task of correspondent for The 
Conductor has been thrust upon me, and like 
the blind dog in the meat shop, I don’t know 
which way to turn, although •willing, I am aW» 
upon the fair escutcheon of literature. The above 
is my salutatory. 

The retirement of Mel. C. Whitcomb as Chief 
Conductor and Correspondent from Division No 
301, leaves a void in the ranks which none of us 
can successfully fill. His sincere devotion to the 
interests of the order and more aspecially oar 
local Division, has stamped him as a true, tried, 
and devoted Brother. Since the organization of 
Seymour Division be has been untiring in hi* 
efforts to promote its welfare, and especially to 
revive the attendance which had fallen off. Ill 
health seems his excuse from taking a leading 
part as heretofore. The Division entire joins in 
wishing Godspeed in his restoration, and that he 
will again take up his gifted pen to the delight of 
The Conductor readers. 

An article appeared in the Cincinnati En- 
quirer, of Sunday. February 4, emanating from 
the pen of their railway reporter, in which be 
extravagantly airs his vefbose opinion, that 
should a cut come on the B. & O. S. W. Ry , the 
trainmen would not raise a band in resistance, as 
on no other railroad in the country are the mea 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


treated with more consideration, and they hold 
their superiors in the highest esteem. In refer- 
ence to our superior officers we answer in the 
affirmative, that the most cordial relations exist 
between the general and local officers and the 
employes, but as to the prophesied reduction in 
salaries, oh, fie! we have contracts which call for 
thirty days' notiae before any change can be made 
by either officials or employes, and we feel secure 
under ours. 

The question naturally arises, do the officers 
endorse such articles, or does prophecy originate 
with the reporter for the purpose of inducing 
official courtesy. 

Capt. George Dunkle, formerly one of the O. 
& M. conductors, is at present visiting old friends. 
The Capt. recently returned to his first love, that 
of floating down the Mississippi river; he now 
occupies the important position of all-around 
liar and mule supervisor on the mud scow, 
“Blue Jeans," navigating the crystal waters of 
Laughrey creek 

Harry Johnson, president of the ' Sandwich 
Club," is in a direful strait, on account of his 
beautiful curly hair which of late has been fall- 
ing out. To remedy it he had recourse to a 
drunken Dutch barber, who applied his clippers 
—that had served a mule's tail a few minutes be- 
fore — consequently, Harry is a “beaut," large 
zebra-like furrows run zig-zag across his pate, 
and yet his India rubber smile never deserts him. 

Messrs. Loyd and Bowman, of the Cincinnatii 
Division, are old turfmen and rank with the best 
as to judgment in horse flesh. The weather sig- 
nal, one day last week, indicated a cyclone, fol- 
lowing immediately came a terrible roaring noise, 
it was helter-skelter here and there for every- 
body, people thronged the sidewalks and craned 
their necks at the fast approaching cloud; it 
came, alas, it passed, horses and jockies foam 
laden under the wire in the phenomenal canal- 
boat time of 4:35^. 

The fates have decreed that our Train Dis- 
patchers must soon leave us and take up their 
abode at Washington where, March 1, Supt. Mc- 
Mahan will establish his headquarters. Their 
going leaves behind sorrowing friends and neigh- 
bors who deplore to part with such courteous 
gentlemen and their families. Nevertheless, we 
w, ll drop in on them occasionally and perfume 
their sanctum with our Jackson county aroma. 

"Big" Mike Guerin is wearing crape upon his 
sleeve at the loss of his new caboose, it having 
been transferred to the Ohio division. His grief 
present is heartrending, and only subdued 
by the frantic cat-like screams of his brakemen, 
w bo will not be pacified. 


20 $ 

We have several delinquent members who 
should be handled without gloves; the idea of any 
member shouldering the burden of dues upon our 
urbane secretary is an 'imposition, and let me 
caution these poverty stricken conductors, if they 
don't come to the front and liquidate their liabili- 
ties their suspension will follow. 

What a beautiful sight and happy occasion is 
the gathering of the “bhoys" under the roof tree 
of some caboose, where the technology of the 
/'rail" is dispensed in full measure, and where in 
reverence you gaze upon the ethereal of Gaskill, 
Loyd, Johnson, Jackson, Guerin, Reily, Dunkle 
and Bowman, as with countenances child like and 
bland, they relate their thrilling exploits upon the 
hurricane deck. One by one their gold-leaf lips are 
sown broadcast upon the open mouthed listeners, 
until in the open door-way stands the rubicund 
form of “Red" Bryan, of St. Louis Division', who 
with upraised hands, starts in upon the latest. 
But. imagine his surprise, as the “gang" silently 
wrap their rain coats around them and stealthily 
retire, raurmering as they go, we surrender the 
“oven" to the champion. 

“Stabs." 


Atlanta, Ga., March 12, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

On Sunday, March 4, I made a motion in Di- 
vision No. 180 that the Division appoint or elect 
a corresponding secretary for The Conductor. 
I gave as my reason, above all others, that the 
next Grand Convention meets here in 1895, and 
that the members ought to have an assurance at 
least once a month that they will not only receive 
a hearty welcome from Division No. 180 and the 
people of the Gate City, but from all the Divis- 
ions of this sunny land of ours. To my great 
surprise 1 was nominated and elected t* fill the 
office for which I feel myself wholly incompetent. 
But they said untome, “write," and I hope the 
members will accept this apology, as it is the 
last one I ever expect to make; but if there is any 
blame going to be brought against the letters you 
will receive from me the remainder of this year, 
you will lay the blame on Division No. 180, and 
not on me. 

Well, Brothers, I want to assure you that you 
will receive a hearty welcome on your arrival to 
our town. We will meet you at the dopot with a 
two mule wagon to haul your baggage over into 
town. We will also bring the spring wagon and 
the carriage for the ladies, as it may be rainy 
when you arrive. As to the boys, they can walk, 
as the walking will be good about that season of 
the year. There will be a special committee ap- 
pointed to meet you at the depot and escort you 


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over into town; it will also be the duty of the 
committee to assure you that you are at the right 
station and that this is .the town you are to visit. 

Our Ladies’ Auxiliary will be at the hotel to 
meet the ladies and take them off your bands, 
and will see that they are well entertained and 
taken special care of. Our Ladies’ Auxiliary was 
organized November last, its membership 
now numbers about fifty, and new members 
coming in every meeting; so you may rest assured 
that the ladies will be nicely entertained. 

After you have brushed up and got a good din- 
ner, you will have some of the Brothers calling; 
among the first will be Brother Humphries, who 
will want you to come with him over to the city 
marshal's office and see the big safe where he 
keeps the city’s money he has collected from de- 
linquent taxpayers. 

The next call will be likely to be from Brother 
■George Evans, who will want you to take a ride 
with him on the electric street railway; he will 
try to make you believe that Atlanta has 200 
miles of street railway, and over a part of which, 
he is boss; and if you listen to him long enough 
he will make you think he is telling you the 
truth. 

Brother Zack Martin will call for you and take 
you around to the Chamber of Commerce, where 
he spends most of his time running city govern- 
ment and looking after city politics, and for pas- 
time and exercise he runs the passenger train on 
the A. & W. P. R. R. 

In my next letter I will tell you where the boys 
will invite you to go with them, and their respec- 
tive runs; some of the boys will want you to take 
a little trip with them, in the little red caboose 
behind the train. 

Yours in P. F., 

Mike Mahan. 


Salisbury, N. C., March 10, 1894. 
Editor Rail-way Conductor : % 

Asheville Division No. 318 is not dead, but I 
must admit it has been sleeping so far as corre- 
sponding with The Conductor is concerned. 
We are now in as good or better shape than we 
ever have been. All the men of standing are 
members of the Order. So, in spite of our short 
membership list, when any Brother strikes a 
member of 318 he will find a "thoroughbred.” 

Our worthy chief, Brother Thomason, still has 
his old run on the Murphy Division. A. C. C., 
T. Wakefield, has emigrated to the C. of Geor- 
gia. Brother Hanger (The Kid) and Brother 
Spaugh (Old Jim), are still riding the Irish mail 
between Salisbury and Asheville. Brothers Bun- 
-son and Camp are fixtures on the A. & S. local, 


and will be found most of the time at their homes 
in Spartanburg, S. C. Brother Crawford has 
a long smile on him — he is nearing the glam 
windows. Brother L. E. Perry is with us again 
and is a wheel horse. 

Last but not least, for he is a two hundred 
pounder, is Brother Z. T. Underwood or Bach- 
elor Jack. He evidently has a life lease on the 
French broad local, with the assistance of Broth 
er J. W. Allison Brother Zack is a great friend 
of all the boys. Any one visiting our region will 
miss a great treat if they do not visit Old Zack 
In R. & D. Car 107 no bachelor conductor h 
fixed better than he. For his cab and home he 
has a good officer’s car with four rooms. The 
first thing you will notice as you enter his recep 
tion room is a life size photo of our worthy 
Grand Chief. Facing him is our Train Master 
These are the most distinguished, but he has photos 
of twenty conductors and friends, all nicely framed 
The car is elegantly furnished; and he has a 
library of one hundred choice books, nicely 
bound and in a fine case. You will always find 
Zack in good humor, and it is a great place to 
loaf, but be sure to leave before it is late, for he re- 
tires very early. Yours in P. F.. 

W. W Barber 


Taylor, Texas, March 20. 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

It is with pleasure that I am able to repor 
San Gabriel Division in a flourishing condi tic* 
Our membership is steadily growing, most by 
transfer cards, and we have every reason to be 
pleased with the gain thus made. We are trying 
to do good to the full extent of our ablities. Ooi 
Chief, G. W. Bartholomew, and our Secretary 
Ed. Dwyer, are always on hand, and you koo* 
that insures good meetings. The members gen- 
erally are alive to the necessity of constant work 
for the good of the Order, and together we hope 
to make 256 second to none. 

Yours in P. F., 

A. F. Bateman 


Rock Island, 111 ., March 20, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Division No. 106 is booming, and the boom 
gives evidence of being permanent. The Order 
is the proper thing on the * 'Great Rock Island 
Route,” and it is so nominated in the bond. No 
other road in this country says the Order of 
Railway Conductors shall have preference in hir- 
ing men. We are very well satisfied here 
Yours in P. F.. 

"Rock Island ’ 


\ 

1 


1 

4 


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205 


Tiburon, Calif,, March 13, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

II may be that your readers will be interested 
in learning something about the San Francisco 
3 t North Pacific R'y, which now claims my serv- 
ices. It is a standard gauge road running from Ti- 
buron, six miles across the bay from San Francisco, 
to Ukiab in Mendocino county, a distance of 113 
miles, with branches in the Sonoma Valley, 
Gnemville. Sabastopol and Donohue, bringing 
the total up to 180 miles. There are about twen- 
ty engines in service and three steamers, Tiburon, 
a passenger boat; The Ukiah, a very large freight 
and passenger boat with double tracks capable 
of carrying tbirty-six cars at each trip; and the 
]. M. Donahue, an extra passenger boat. The 
road runs through some of the best dairy regions 
of the west and accordingly does a good milk busi- 
ness Among the conductors are David Mc- 
Laughlin, J. K. Smith and W. J. Hunter, of 
Division 115, and several others whom I have 
fonnd to be most pleasant gentlemen. I like the 
road and its officers and men very much, while 
Cor scenery "The Donahue Route" cannot be 
bettered in California. The Conductor comes 
regularly and is a most welcome guest. The 
death notices always bring sorrow, and it does 
seem that there have been more of them than 
usual lately. The death of Brother* J. R. Stan- 
ton brought a personal grief to me, as he was an 
old and valued friend, we having been together 
on the N. Y. W. S. & B. in *83 and ’84. It will 
be thirty years on the 10th of next June since I 
was promoted to the rank of conductor, and it 
makes me sad to look back upon the friends of 
those early days and think how few are still alive. 
I must expect to be called for that run at any 
time. Let us all keep our lamps trimmed and 
filled so we may make it in safety. 

Yours in P. F., 

M. G. P. 


Kansas City, Mo., March 14, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

In coming before the Brothers I ask them to 
overlook whatever I may say that might to some 
be obnoxious, asking you to believe that what I 
say I believe is for the best interests of the con- 
ductors and brakemen of this country. 

The thing that to day is agitating the minds of 
the conductors, more than any other, except 
"wages," is seniority, and how to get rid of it. 
The conductors are more to blame for this curse 
than any one else, and consequently are more in- 
terested in its abolishment. The abolishment of 
seniority cannot be accomplished by sitting in 
our Division rooms and looking at each other, 


neither can it be done without the conductors 
spending some money to bring it about. This 
question has got to be pushed and pushed, with a 
vigorous hand, if it is to be accomplished at all, 
and there is not one who reads fhis but who be- 
lieves it can be accomplished if it is pushed. In 
approaching the B. of R. T. on this question we 
want to be fair and honest with them, we want 
to throw to the winds our own selfishness and 
deal squarely and fairly with them. If we have 
a good man braking for us we must let the sup- 
erintendent into the secret of his being a good 
man, remembering that it was because you your- 
self was a good man that that old grey headed 
conductor of twenty or thirty years ago 1 spoke a 
good word for you and you was brought to 
notice and promoted as the result of your being 
faithful to his, the conductor's interests. Do not 
allow yourselves to believe that there are not men 
in our ranks selfish enough to keep a good 
brakeman braking for a lifetime, simply to satisfy 
their own ends, for there are just such conduc- 
tors, and I, myself, was a victim of just such 
treatment in my early days on the Mo. P. R. R.. 
and by members of our Order, and there are 
members who can attest to the truth of what I 
say. 

Seniority is a curse, because it destroys the 
utility of a man's past experience and abil- 
ity, causing him to descend to the very bottom of 
the ladder, and with discouraged step climb the 
second, and perhaps the third or fourth time up 
the same road he traveled ten, twenty or th.rty 
years before. 

Seniority is a curse, because it destroys a 
man's ambition to build him a home, knowing 
full well that if he is unfortunate enough to get 
out of a situation on any one line of road he may 
be compelled to tramp from one end of this land 
to the other, to be met with the same response 
to his inquiry for a situation, "we have seniority 
here or I would be glad to give you a place as 
conductor." 

I do not wish to destroy the . percentage from 
the ranks, but I want to prevent the promoting 
of incompetent men to the position of conductor, 
thereby bringing disgrace and shame to our pro- 
fession. I am in favor of forcing seniority to the 
fullest meaning of the word, if the members of 
the O. R. C. and B. of R. T. are not in favor of 
its abolishment, compelling the senior man to 
take the place belonging to him by seniority, and 
if he is not qualified to pass a creditable exami- 
nation, let him step out of the ranks entirely and 
make room for a man who has the ambition to fit 
himself for promotion when it comes to him. 

Now, Brother conductors, I hope to see the 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


earnestness and unity shown that is necessary to 
bring about the abolishment of this, the greatest 
curse either the B. of R. T. or the O. R. C. have 
ever had to contend with. It is good only, for 
the man who is qp good for himself, and is flood- 
ing the country with a surplus of railroad men to 
an alarming extent. Will we destroy it? are you 
willing to assist in its downfall? is so, let us hear 
from you and see your work in the field, for there 
is room for all. W. Welch. 


Wilkes Barre, Pa., March 15, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The Monthly Circular from the G. S. & T. states 
that Division 147 had a few “scabs,” and when 
they were tried and convicted for violation of 
obligation they were suspended. Now. I want to 
ask Division 147 where they got the law allowing 
them to do business in that way. If these men 
were tried for violation of obligation (which they 
must have been), the law says the convicting 
ballot expells them. I was in New York City 
Sunday, March n, where I visited Division 54, 
and a more entertaining lot of members I never 
met, especially Brothers Claw, Dale, Heitzman 
and Cramer. While in New York I learned there 
was in view a Grand United Convention of 
organized railroad men and others, and Brothers 
Weize and Dale informed me that the purpose of 
the meeting was to do away with strikes and seek 
our rights through the legislature, which I, for 
one, heartily endorse. The sooner the clause in 
our constitution which prohibits us from discuss- 
ing politics is stricken out, the sooner corpora- 
tions will learn that labor has rights they are 
bound to respect. I think this will be the largest 
gathering of railroad men ever held in this coun- 
try, and as it will last three days, it will certainly 
be able to thoroughly discuss many questions of 
interest to us all. 

Now, a word about the unfortunate Brothers 
who are still out of employment, owing to the 
late strike on the Valley. These men gave up 
good situations in order to be loyal to their 
Brothers and their Order, and it is my opinion 
they have not received proper recognition for the 
noble stand they took. Like the members of the 
other organizations concerned they should have 
had three months’ pay. They have been idle 
now four months, and have received pay for but 
one month. They may well ask, what is money 
in the protective fund for, or why are we organ- 
ized. when some of our Divisions will vote to put 
us off with one month's pay? I cannot see where 
their eyes are, or do they expect to never get in 
trouble themselves? If they do, they can rest 
assured that the Lehigh Valley boys will be the 


last to cut them short in anything they rightfully 
ask. Now, as I have said enough for once, and 
likely more than I should, I will close for this 
time. Hoping the L. V. boys will be dealt with 
justly, I remain, Yours in P. F., 

James Finley. 


Keithsburgh, 111 ., March 24. 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

In Castle Hall, Sunday, March 18th, 1894. 
twenty nine exceptionally fine looking men, rep- 
resentatives of nine different railways. They came 
for the purpose of organizing a new Division of 
the O. R. C. W. P. Daniels, Grand Secretary 
and Treasurer of the Order, was our organizer. 
A special train was run from Peoria by Bro. 
James Anderson, of Peoria Div. No. 79, hauled 
by Engineer Cbas McMains. With such men 
in charge of the train it is useless to say it was 
manned O. K. The meeting was called for 130 
p. m., but it was a little later when Bro. Daniels 
rapped for order. It was 5:30 p. m. when the 
new Division closed its first session. - The name 
of the neW' Division is Mississippi Division No. 
367. Officers elected: H. H. Smith. C. C. ; 
O. E. Eckley, S. and T. ; Jo)m Warren, A. C C.; 
F. M. Johnson, Senior Conductor; F. M. Platt. 
Junior Conductor; Matt McCarthy, Inside Senti* 
nel; W. W. Dugan. Outside Sentinel; Division 
Committee, ‘Matt McCarthy, F. L. Carter, F. M. 
Platt; Matt McCarthy, Cipher Correspondent. 

Several of the Brothers brought their wives 
and daughters with them, and in the evening at 
6:30 a banquet was given at the Windsor Hotel, 
which was participated in by the ladies and a 
merry time was had. There were present Broth- 
ers Scott, Stewart, Howat, Metzer, Pool, Rogers. 
Anderson, Brush, Pitney, Houghton, and Carroll, 
of Div. 79; Corneau, Vahey and Avery, of Div. 
260; Hedrich, of Div. 245; Marshall, of Div. 83; 
Webb and Cole of Div. 4; Crane, of Div. 55; 
Carter, Warren, Carroll, Smith, Eckley, Johnson, 
Platt, McCarthy and Dugan, of Div. 367 and 
Mesdaraes Scott, Corneau, Howatt. Brush, 
Houghton, Vahey, Carroll. Metzger and Rogers. 

The ladies looked at the town, while the boys 
attended Division, and the general impression 
seemed to be that Keithsburg was a very hospita- 
ble place. 

Come back again, brave men and fair ladies, 
and be assured you will be welcome. 

A vote of thanks was extended to E. McNeil. 
General Manager, J. P. O'Brien, General Super* 
intendent, W. H. Voorhees, Superintendent, and 
E E. Kirwin, Train Master. Iowa Central 
for the courtesy of a special train * * 4,e w4L kind 
favors extended. Gentlemen, asf^fftff some re- 
turn; it shall be given. 

Yours in P. F., 

H. H. Smith 


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We are pleased to note that the senate has rati- 
fied the appointment of Brother V. P. Hart a^ 
postmaster at Sedalia. Mo. 

V 

Mississippi Division, No 367, was instituted at 
Keithsburg. 111 ., on the 18th ult., by W. P. Dan- 
iels, Grand Sec. and Treas. 


If Wm. Stark, formerly of Port Stanley, On- 
tario. will communicate with S. S. Engle, Box 48, 
Tekoa. Washington, he will learn of something 
to his advantage. 

V 

Brother M. J. McGowan, of Division No 157, 
bas retired from railroad life and taken charge of 
a mercantile business in Barre, Vt. The best 
wishes of the Order will follow him in the new 
venture. 

v 

Brother Wm. Sloan, of Division Nd. 48, who 
has been for a number of years employed as 
Depot Master for the D. G. H & M. and G. T. 
R. R's at Detroit, has retired from railroad life 
to take charge of his farm near Troy, Mich. 

v 

Brother L Snider, of Division No. 107, was so 
unfortunate as to meet with an accident on the 
14th of March last which resulted in the loss of 
bis right foot. The sympathy of the entire Or- 
der will go out to Brother Snider, and all will 
hope for him a speedy recovery. 


Division, No. 41; Grand Junction Division, No. 
325, and Bluff City Division, No. 29. L. A. to O. 
R. C., and only regrets that pressing business 
makes it impossible for him to participate in the 
pleasures of all these gatherings. 

* * 

* 

S. H. Moore & Co., Publishers of Ladies' 
World , appear again in our advertising pages 
with another splendid premium offer. It will 
surely pay our lady readers to read it, as it affords 
an opportunity to get 200 varieties of flower seeds 
free with a three months' subscription. We 
have dealt with this firm for several years and 
know them to be reliable. 

V 

A soap that “heals while it cleanses" is what 
the labor element wants — whose hands are be- 
grimed with honest toil. Such is claimed for 
Glen's Sulphur Soap, advertised in our columns 
for the past three years, and the proprietors have 
again renewed their advertisement with us, be- 
cause they find this fact is appreciated by rail- 
road employes. 

V 

The members of Chas. Murray Division, No. 
293, are arranging for their annual ball, which 
will be given in Martine’s Hall, corner of West 
Madison and California avenues, Chicago, 111 , 
Wednesday ever ing, May 2 These gentlemen have 
proven their ability in the way of entertaining 
their friends, and all who attend on this occasion 
are assured a pleasurable evening. 


Brothers F. S. Stimsoa. of Division No. 1, and 
I A Beck, of Division No 87, have gone into 
business together under the firm name of Stim- 
wu. Beck A Co., at 2908-2910 Wentworth ave. , 
Chicago, 111 Their many friends in the Order 
w *Il wish for them abundant success in the new 
^dertaking 

The editor It*?' received invitations during the 
P 3 *! month to attend entertainments given by 
Charles Murray Division, No. 293; Major Morris 


Mike, better known as Red Walsh, a brakeman 
and switchman, home at Centerville, Iowa, has 
worked on the Texas Pacific, Santa Fe in Texas, 
Wabash, Soo lines, etc , and switched in Kansas 
City, is an all-round crook and dead beat of the 
worst kind I will make it an object to any 
Brother or railroad man that will give me his 
present address and occupation D J Savill, 
2534 Polk st., N E., Minneapolis. Minn. 

* * 

* 

In the Ann Arbor case Judge Ricks congratu- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


lated himself that he had prevented a gigantic 
strike. Judge Caldwell, by his action in the 
Union Pacific case, in giving the men and organi- 
zations full hearing in and recognition by the 
court, established a precedent in striking contrast 
with the action of Judge Ricks in the "Clover 
Leaf " case, and has done more to prevent the 
likelihood of strikes than his ever been done by 
all the other federal judges combined . 

V 

A man claiming to be C. L. Bailey, L E. 
Bailey, etc., has been presenting himself to mem- 
bers in the east as a member of Division No. 142. 
This Division has but one Bailey and he is in 
Council Bluffs. He has never been east of Chi- 
cago. The hard times are producing a good 
crop of "beats.” Don't be imposed upon. Good 
and interested members can prove themselves as 
such without any old receipts or leather backed 
letters. 

* # 

* 

Reports have reached us that a party bad a 
plate, in imitation of that from which our Divis- 
ion cards are printed, made at St. Louis, and 
that counterfeit cards are on sale in Chicago. If 
these reports prove true we will call ours in and 
issue new ones. In the meantime beware of 
recognizing as a Brother any person presenting 
a card, unless the one presenting, can unques- 
tionably prove himself entitled to same. 

* * 

* 

A monster union meeting of members of the 
O. R. C., B. L. E., B. L. F , B. R. T., O. R. T. 
and S. M. A. A. has been arranged to take place 
at the Lenox Lyceum, Fifty-eighth street and 
Madison avenue, New York City, on May 27, 28 
and 29. The purpose of the meeting is to con- 
sider and, if possible, agree on a line of action 
to be followed in the direction of securing such 
legislation as may be deemed beneficial to the 
interests of railway employes, at the hands of 
national and state legislators, regardless of any 
party politics. The question of resorting to an 
effort to secure an arbitration law will also be 
exhaustively discussed. State organization for 
the purpose of carrying out any policy adopted 
will be perfected. The arrangements for the 
meeting have been left with Divisions 54 and 104 
of the O. R, C., and their reputation m matters 
of this kind, added to that of those who have 
direct charge of arrangements, furnishes guaran- 
tee of perfect arrangements, large attendance, 
earnest work and good results. The executive 
committee are Bro. C. E. Weisz, chairman; Bro. 
T. G. Ross, secretary; Bro C. H. Dale, treas- 
urer, and Brothers J. E Brazee, A. J. Clow, 


C. F. Heitzman and G. T. Close. These 
have decided that this meeting shall sur- 
pass in every way the one held in New 
York in January 1891, and which is well remem- 
bered as a brilliant and complete success. 
Special arrangements are being made for hotel 
accommodations at special rates. Any communi- 
cations addressed to the Executive Committee 
at 15 Warren street, New York City, will receive 
prompt and careful attention. Several Grand 
officers will attend the meeting. 


Judge Jenkins* Decision . 

On April 6 Judge Jenkins handed down bis de- 
cision on the motion to modify the injunction 
order issued by him in connection with the action 
of ihe Northern Pacific receivers reducing the 
pay of their men. We wish to make it perfectly 
plain that no exceptions were taken, by the men 
or their representatives, to any of the particulars 
in which thik document restrained from the adop- 
tion of unlawful methods, from forcible or un- 
lawful interference with the property. The 
right of employes to quit is, after a fashion, con- 
ceded by Judge Jenkins. He asserted, two or 
three times during the hearing, that the men 
might quit and go to Texas, if they so desired. 
After conceding this right he undertakes to show 
that it is proper for the court to restrain them 
from "'quitting thfe service of the company in such 
a manner as to cripple the property in charge of 
the receivers or binder the operation of the 
road.” If the men have the right to "quit and 
go to Texas" and practically all, or any large 
number of them, should decide to do so at a 
given time, it would, of necessity, result in 
"hindering the operation of the road.” 

The motion made was to modify the order by 
striking out those portions which restrained the 
men from conspiring together to quit * "and from 
so quitting the service of ihe receivers as to 
cripple the property or hinder the operation of 
the road," and the officers of the organizations, 
"from aiding, recommending, approving or ad- 
vising others to quit the service of the receivers 
of the N. P. R'y, on January 1, 1894, or at “T 
other time." In reference to this latter* clause 
Judge Jenkins says: 

It is said, however, that the clause restrains an 
individual from friendly advice to the employes 
as a body, or individually, as to their or bis best 
interest in respect to remaining in the service of 
the receivers. Read in the light of the petitions 
upon which the injunction was founded 1 do not 
think that such construction can be indulged by 
any fair and impartial mind. It might be used 
as a text for a declamatory address to excite the 
passions and prejudices of men, but could not, I 
think, be susceptible of such strained construc- 


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THE RAILWAY 

don by a judicial mind. The language of a writ 
of injunction should, however, be clear aud ex* 
plidt. and, if possible, above criticism as to its 
meaning. Since, therefore, the language of this 
particular phrase may be misconceived, and the 
restraint intended is in my judgment compre- 
hended within the other provisions of the writ, 
the motion in that respect will be granted and 
the clause striken from the writ In all other re- 
spects the motion will be denied. 

Regarding the propriety of issuing injunctions 
in matters of this kind we quote the following 
from the same decision : 

If the combination and conspiracy alleged and 
the acts threatened to be done in pursuance there- 
of are unlawful, it cannot, I think, be success- 
fully denied that restraint by injunction is the 
appropriate remedy. It may be true that a right 
of action at law would arise upon consummation 
of th~ threatened injury, but manifestly Luch 
remedy would be inadequate. The threatened 
interference with the operations of the railway, 
if carried into effect, would result in paralysis of 
its business, stopping the commerce ebbing and 
flowing through seven states of the union, wreak- 
ing incalculable injury to the property aud caus- 
iug great public privation. Pecuniary compeusa 
tion would be wholly inadequate The injury 
would be irreparable. Compensation could be 
obtained only through a multiplicity of suits 
against 12,000 men scattered along the line of 
this railway for a distance of 4,400 miles. 

Contrast this with the following, taken from 
Jadge Caldwell's decision in the Union Pacific 
case: 

When property is in the custody of receivers 
the law declares it to be a contempt of the court 
appointing them for any person to interfere with 
the property or with the men in their employ. 
No injunct ional order can make such unlawful 
interference any more of a contempt than the 
law makes it without such order. Such orders 
have an injurious tendency, because they tend to 
create the impression among men that it is not an 
offense to interfere with property in posses- 
sion of receivers or with the men in their employ 
unless they have been especially enjoined from so 
doing. This is a dangerous delusion. To the 
extent that a special injunction can go in this 
class of cases the law itself imposes an injunc- 
tion. For this reason no injunctional order will 
be entered in this case. 

The difference is apparent. The logical con- 
clusion to reach from an analysis of Judge Jenkins’ 
position on this point would be that, in case such 
action was taken by the employes, the corpora- 
tions, with interests at stake, would be unable to 
reimburse themselves for losses sustained except 
by individual suit against each of their employes 
participating, and that it is the duty of a court 
of equity to protect those interests of the corpor- 
ations regardless of how much or in how far the 
interests of the large number of employes may 
suffer. The right of working men to organize is 
recognized by United States statute and even 
Judge Jenkins, after an exhaustive effort to justify 


CONDUCTOR. 269 

his position, admits that the men have a perfect 
right to quit. If one has the right to quit, then a 
thousand have the same right, and if they choose 
to exercise that right in concert "decently and in 
order," and refrain from all unlawful acts, we do 
not believe that any injunction against thsir so 
doing will stand, 

That Judge Dundy, of Nebraska, does not 
think much of the action of Judge Jenkins is evi- 
denced by the following language used by him in 
court on the 6th inst : 

Now I have got myself into difficulty, as you 
can readily see, by following the example Judge 
Jenkins made in the Northern Pacific case when 
he allowed a schedule reducing the pay and fixing 
in the order that the parties were bound to com- 
ply with it when no notice, not a minute, was 
given I do not propose to get myself in that 
shape again and be denounced in open court, 
where I have to preside at times. I followed his 
order, though mine was less stringent than his, 
when he did not give the men a minute's notice, 
and now I am denounced all over the country for 
doing the very thing he did, when I was following 
a precedent he set. 


The Decision in the Union Pacific Case. 

We would gladly give the full text of the decis- 
ion handed down by Judge Caldwell and con- 
curred in by Judge Riner on the fifth inst., but 
lack of space forbids. We give the most import- 
ant portions and such as will give a clear idea of 
the decision itself, as well as the grounds upon 
which it is based. 

Introductory the decision says: 

On the 13th day of October. 1893, on a bill 
filed for that purpose this court took into its 
possession, control aud management the Union 
Pacific Railway system, embracing the Union 
Pacific Railway proper and some fourteen other 
constituent and allied roads, which together con- 
stitute what is known as the Union Pacific sys- 
tem. 

Whether the bill states a case of equitable cog- 
nizance justifying the appointment of receivers 
has not been mooted on this hearing, and we, 
therefore, express no opinion upon that question. 

The system of which this court assumed the 
management and control comprised 7,700 miles of 
railroad and about 3,000 miles of water communi- 
cation, and had in its employ over 22,000 men. 
The great body of these men had been in the em- 
ploy of the company for a considerable length of 
time, some of them for as much as a quarter of a 
century. The relation of these men to the com- 
pany and their rate of wages were determined in 
the main by certain written rules, regulations and 
schedules, some of which had been in force for 
more than a quarter of a century, and all of which 
had been in force substantially as they stand to- 
day, for a period of eight years and more. These 
rules, regulations and schedules were the result of 
free and voluptary conferences, held from time 
to time, between the managers of the railroad 
and the officers and representatives of the several 
labor organizations representing the men in the 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


different subdivisions or branches of the service, 
viz . : The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, the 
Order of Railway Conductors, the Order of 
Railway Telegraphers the Union Pacific Em- 
ployes’ Association and the Brotherhood of Rail 
way Trainmen. These labor organizations, like 
the rules, regulations and schedules, had become 
established institutions on this system many years 
before the appointment of the receivers. Two of 
the ablest railroad managers ever in the service 
of this system, and probably as able as any this 
country has ever produced — Mr. S H. H. Clark 
and Mr. Edward Dickinson, now general man- 
ager of the road — testify that these labor organi- 
zations on this system had improved the morals 
and efficiency of the men and nad rendered valu- 
able aid to the company in perfecting and putting 
into force the rules and regulations governing the 
operation of the Union Pacific Railway, which, 
confessedly, have made it one of the best man- 
aged and conducted roads in the country. The 
managers of this great trans-con tinental line testi- 
fy that it has been their policy to bring it up to 
the highest standard of efficiency and to afford to 
passengers and property transported over it all 
the security and protection attainable by the ex- 
ercise of the highest degree of intelligence on the 
part of those engaged in the operation of its trains, 
and they cheerfully bear testimony to the fact 
that their efforts in this direction have been sec- 
onded and materially aided by the labor organiza- 
tions which are represented in this hearing The 
good opinion of the men entertained by the man- 
agers seems to be shared by the receivers, for in 
their petition to the court in this matter they de- 
clare: "That the employes, generally, upon the 
Union Pacific system are reasonable, intelligent, 
peaceable and law-abiding men." 

The recognition and endorsement given the or- 
ganizations named can not but be pleasing to 
every loyal member, and should be an incentive 
and an encouragement to us in the further pur- 
suit of the policy which we believe to be right. 

After reviewing the various steps taken by the 
receivers, aad the different orders issued by dif- 
ferent judges, including the order of Judges Cald- 
well and Sanborn, by which the receivers were 
directed to hold conferences with the proper rep- 
resentatives of the men. the decision continues 

It would serve no useful purpose here to state 
the causes which, in the opinion of the court, 
prevented an agreement between the conferees 
upon rules, regulations and schedules for the 
other branches of the service It is sufficient to 
say that they were of a character which do not 
in any degree militate against the usefulness or 
efficacy of conferences or the ability or fairness 
of the conferees Freed from the state of things 
brought about by the erroneous proceedings of a 
majority of the receivers m the beginning of this 
business, it is highly probable that the conferees 
would nave agreed upon all the schedules Fail- 
ing to agree the matter was brought before the 
court in accordance with the order made by the 
circuit judges At the appointed time the receiv- 
ers appeared in person and by attorney, and the 
employes by the officers of the several labor or- 


ganizations to which they belong, and by their 
attorneys. UpoD calling the case for beariog the 
court directeu an order to be entered setting 
aside and vacating the order of the court made 
on the 27th day of January. 1894 approving the j 
rules, regulations and schedules framed by the I 
receivers without notice to or conference with the 
employes affected thereby, and also setting aside 
and vacating the order of injunction entered at 
the same time. The court then announced to 
counsel that tbe rules regulations and schedules 
in force when the receivers were appointed were 
still in force and would be held and treated as 
prima facie just and reasonable, and that the 
burden was cast upon the receivers to show that 1 
the wages received by the court’s employes un- ' 
der the existing regulations were in excess of a 
fair, just and reasonable compensation for tbe 
service performed, taking into consideration all 
the circumstances and in view of the existing con- 
ditions 

The hearing proceeded on these lines, and tbe 
court listened for a week to the testimony of wit 
nesses. 

Before stating the conclusions we have reached 
upon the facts it will be well to state the leading 
principles which courts of equity must keep in 
view in this class of cases When a court of 
equity takes upon itself the conduct and opera- 
tion of a great line of railroad the men engaged 
in conducting tbe business and operating tbe 
road become the employes of tbe court, and are i 
subject to its orders in all matters relating to tbe 
discharge of their duties, and entitled to its pro 
tection The first and supreme duty of a court 
when it engages in the business of operating a 
railroad is to operate it efficiently and safely. No 
pains and no reasonable expense are to be spared 
in the accomplishment of these ends Passenger* 
and freight must be transported safely If pas 
sengers are killed or freight lost through the 
slightest negligence to provide all the means d 
safety commonly found on first class road*, the 
court is morally and legally responsible. An es- 
sential and indispensable requisite to the safe aod | 
successful operation of the road is the employ- 
ment of sober, intelligent, experienced and eapa- 
able men for that purpose. When a road comes 
under the management of a court on which tbe 
employes are conceded to possess all these quali- 
fications — and that concession is made in the 
fullest manner here — the court will not, upon 
light or trivial grounds, dispense with their ser- 
vices or reduce their wag-s And when tbe 
schedule or wages in force at the time the court as 
sumes the management of the road is the result 
of a mutual agreement between the company and 
the employes which has been in force for years, 
the court will presume the schedule is reasonable 
and just, and any one disputing that presumption 
will be required to overthrow it by satisfactory 
proof. 

It is suggested that upon this question the court 
ought to be governed by tbe recommendation of a 
majority of the receivers 1 be suggestion is 
without merit in this case for several reasons 
Four of the five receivers are not practical tail 
road men. and arc not familiar with the subject, 
two of them are hawsers residing in New York, 
one a merchant residing in Chicago and ooe a 
railtoad aceountaui. ha\ing. doubtless, a thorough 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


21 1 


knowledge of the books of the company, bat 
knowing nothing about the wage schedules. 
These four gentlemen are eminent in the line of 
theic professions and pursuits and entirely 
capable of managing the financial affairs of this 
great trust, for which they were, doubtless, 
selected, but their opinions upon the subject of 
wage schedules is confessedly of little value 
The court shares in their anxiety to have an 
economical administration of this trust to the end 
that those who own the property and have liens 
upon it may get out of it what is fairly their due. 
But to accomplish this desirable result the wages 
of the men must not be reduced below a reason- 
able and just compensation for their services 
They must be paid fair wages, though no divi- 
dends are paid on the stock and no interest paid 
on the bonds. It is a part of the public history 
of the country, of which the court will take 
judicial notice, that for the first $36,000,000 of 
stock issued this company received less than two 
cents on the dollar, and that the profit of con- 
struction represented by outstanding bonds was 
^3.929- 328 34 These facts are disclosed by the 
report of the "commission of the United States 
Pacific Railway Company” in 1887, of which Mr 
Anderson, one of the receivers in this case, was 
a member (See report, pp. 51,137.) There 
would seem to be no equity in reducing the wages 
of the employes below what is reasonable and 
just in order to pay dividends on stock and in 
terest on bonds of this character. The recom- 
mendation of the receivers to adopt their sched- 
ules cannot be accepted by the court for another 
reason. That schedule was adopted without 
affording to the men or their representatives any 
opportunity to be heard. This was in violation 
of the agreement existing between the company 
and the men, by the terras of which no change 
of the schedules was to be made without notice 
to the men and granting them a hearing This 
was a fundamental error. The receivers should 
have given notice and invited the men to a con- 
ference even if there was no contract requiring it. 
In answer to this objection to their mode of pro- 
ceeding jt is said the order of the receivers and 
the order of the court extended an opportunity to 
the men to protest against the new schedules 
after their adoption. The men could have small 
hopes of a fair and impartial hearing after the 
receivers had prepared new schedules behind 
their backs, which were declared by the receivers 
and the court to be prima facie, just and reason- 
able. This was very much like first hanging a 
man and trying him afterward It is small con- 
solation to the victim of the mob to be told he 
shall have a trial after he is hanged. It is fur 
ther said that the receivers had the right to re- 
nounce the old schedules and adopt the new ones 
because the old ones were mere executory con- 
tracts. There are some executory contracts 
which receivers may renounce, but they cannot 
claim the benefit of such contracts and at the 
same time renounce their burdens This is pre- 
cisely what was attempted to be done by the re- 
ceivers in this matter; they renounced the old 
schedules and adopted new ones reducing wages, 
but seemingly with no idea of absolving ths men 
from the duty of continuing to work and operate 
the road, for in their petition they ask that their 
schedules be confirmed by the court, "and all of 


the said employe* directed to on form theretj." 
The receiv-rs w *re the first to break the contract 
between the court and its employes, but if the 
converse had been the case the court could not 
have directed or enjoined the men to continue ip 
its service Specific performance of a contract 
to render personal service cannot be e 1 forced by 
injunction, by pains and penalties, or by any 
other means. For a breach of such a contract 
the only redress the law affords is a civil action 
for the damages 

The court is asked to apply to the employes in 
its service the principles of the early English 
statutes, which, by the imposition of heavy pains 
and penalties, forced laborers to work at fixed 
wages, and made it an offense to seek to increase 
them or to quit the service of their employer. 
The period of compulsory personal service, save 
as a punishment for crime, has passed in this 
country. In this country it not unlawful for em- 
ployes to associate, consult and confer together 
with a view to maintain or increase their wages, 
by lawful and peaceful means, any more than it 
was unlawful for the receivers to counsel and 
and confer together for the purpose of reducing 
their wages A corporation is organized capital; 
it is capital consisting of money and property. 
Organized labor is organized capital; it is capital 
consisting of brains and muscle. What it is law- 
ful for one to do it is lawful for the other to do 
If it is lawful for the stockholders and officers of 
a corporation to associate and confer together 
for the purpose of reducing the wages of its em- 
ployes, or of devising other means of making 
their investments profitable, it is equally lawful 
for organized labor to associate, consult and con- 
fer with a view to maintain or increase wages. 
Both act from the prompting of enlightened sel- 
fishness, and the action of both is lawful when 
no illegal or criminal means are used or threat- 
ened. 

It is due to the receivers and to th? managers 
of this property to say that they have not ques- 
tioned the right of the labor organizations to ap- 
pear and be heard in court in this matter, 
and what they have said about these organizations 
has been in commendation of them and not in 
disparagement Men in all stations and pursuits 
in life have an undoubted right to join together 
for resisting oppression or for mucual assistance, 
improvement, instruction and pecuniary aid in 
time of sickness and distress. Such association 
commonly takes place between those pursuing the 
same occupation and possessing the same inter- 
ests. This is particularly true of men engaged in 
the mechanical arts, and in all labor pursuits 
where skill and exoerience are required. The 
legality and utility of these organizations can no 
longer be questioned 

The action of the receivers is objectionable 
upon another ground It would be difficult to 
devise any action better calculated t> provoke a 
"strike ” The method of adopting the new 
schedules was calculated to arouse resentment in 
the breast of every self-respecting, intelligent 
and independent man in the service While they 
might have been willing to acquiesce in the re- 
duction of their wages, they were quite sure to 
revolt against the manner of doing it Whatever 
may be the legal right of a railroad corporati -»n 
to reduce the wages of its employes or discharge 


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212 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


them in a body without giving them an opportun- 
ity to be heard, a court of equity will not act in 
that manner or approve the action of its receivers 
who have acted in that manner. The receivers, 
no more than the court, should have undertaken 
to determine what wages were just and reasonable 
without giving the men an opportunity to be 
heard. It is fundamental in the jurisprudence of 
this country that no court can rightfully make an 
order or render a judgment affecting the rights of 
one who is absent and who has had no notice. 
The requirement that the court or any other tri- 
bunal shall hear before it decides is much older 
than Magna Charta or our constitution. It was 
written in the book 3,000 years ago that "He 
that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is 
folly and shame onto him.” 

A further and conclusive answer to the conten- 
tion in favor of putting the receivers’ schedules 
in force is found in the fact that Mr. Clark, the 
only one of the receivers who is a practical rail- 
road man. testifies that they ought not to be put 
into force without "some modifications.” 

As a result of the old code of rules and sched- 
ules this company has been able to bring about 
into every branch of its service, at reasonable 
cost, intelligent and capable men who have care- 
fully guarded and protected its property and busi- 
ness interests until the train service upon the 
Union Pacific is to-day equal to any of the great 
railway systems of the country. Upon the ques- 
tion of the reasonableness of the old schedules 
wi have had no trouble in coming to a satisfac- 
tory conclusion. 

The record shows that all that portion of rail- 
road mileage where excess mileage has been al- 
lowed runs through either a mountainous or des- 
ert country, where the men engaged in the opera- 
tion of trains have to contend with heavy grades, 
and where the winters are long and often severe, 
and where the hazard of operating is necessarily 
greatly increased There is practically no agri- 
culture and the cost of living is much greater 
than in an agricultural region. As stated by Mr. 
Dickinson: ' It is a pretty tough place to live.” 
The system of paying excess mileage, Mr. Mc- 
Connell testifies, has been in vogue ever since 
the road was built, and was allowed because the 
company had difficulty in obtaining men who 
would stay in that region of country. If this 
system was a good thing for the company when 
operating the road, it is a good thing for the 
court when operating the road. As a result of 
this system men of intelligence and character 
have been induced to enter the service and to estab- 
lish permanent homes in regions of country where 
there is practically no business except the business 
in which they are engaged, and where, for many 
reasons disclostd by the evidence, it is not desir- 
able to live. A system of rules and regulations 
by which the comp my has been able to bring 
into its service and retain for twenty five years, 
in some instances, the class of men who have 
appeared before the court at this hearing, is cer- 
tainly commendable, and meets the entire ap- 
proval of the court. 

In the opinion of the court the allowance made 
by the schedules now in force is just and equita- 
ble when all the conditions are considered. 
The employes, under the present system, share 
the burdens of diminished business. They make 


less mileage and get less pay per month. The 
rate now paid is not higher than the rate paid 
on other lines operated through similar country 
and under like conditions, and. in the opinion of 
the court, is not higher than it should be for the 
service rendered. 

Some of the empldyes with large families to 
support are seldom more than a few days wages 
in advance of want, and if their present wages 
were materially reduced they could not live 
The highest and best service cannot be expected 
from men who are compelled to live in a state of 
pinch and want. 

It is a gratifying fact that the officers and rep- 
resentatives of the labor organizations of which 
the men interested in this hearing are members 
have unanimously assured the court that what' 
ever judgment is rendered in this case will be ac- 
cepted by the men as a settlement of the dispute, 
and that in no event, after such a hearing as has 
been accorded to them in court, will they 
"strike.” We are confident these assurances will 
be kept. 

When property is in the custody of receivers 
the law declares it to be a contempt of the court 
appointing them for any person to interfere with 
the property or with the men in their employ. 
No injunctional order can make such unlawful 
interference any more of a contempt than the 
law makes it without such order. Such orders 
have an injurious tendency, because they tend to 
create the impression among men that it is not an 
offense to interfere with property in possession of 
receivers or with the men in their employ unless 
they have been especially enjoined from so 'doing 
This is a dangerous delusion. To the extent that 
a special injunction can go in this cla ?9 of cases 
the law itself imposes an injunction. For this 
reason no injunctional order will be entered in 
this case. 

In conclusion we may be indulged in giving ex- 
pression to the hope that in future differences 
about wages between courts and their employes, 
at least — and we would fain hope between all em- 
ployers and employes — resort may be had to rea- 
son and aot to passion, to the law and not to 
violence, to the courts and not to a ‘'strike.” It 
is a reproach to our civilization that such differ- 
ences should result, as they often have, in per- 
sonal violence, loss of life, destruction of proper- 
ty, loss of wages to the men and loss of earnings 
to the employer, and, when they occur on great 
lines of railroad, great damage and inconvenience 
to the public. 

An order will be entered in the district of Ne- 
braska continuing the present schedules (subject 
to the modification as to delayed or over time) in 
full force and effect and setting aside the order 
made by this court on the 27th day of January. 
1894. 

Also an order directing the receivers to cause 
500 copies of a complete record of this cause, in' 
eluding the pleadings, evidence, opinion and or- 
ders entered in the several districts printed and 
distributed as provided in the order 

Also an order requiring the receivers to pay the 
expenses of employes attending the confer- 
ence ordered by the circuit judges and while at- 
tending this hearing. 

An order will be entered in the districts of Col- 
orado and Wyoming modifying the orders eo- 


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THE RAILWAY 

tered in those districts on the 26th and 27th days 
of February, 1894, to conform to the order now 
entered in the district of Nebraska, relating to 
the rules, regulations and schedules of pay. 

We ot course concur in every opinion ex- 
pressed. and we hope that organized labor will 
not be insensible to the importance of the prece- 
dent established, the far reaching effects of which 
cannot now be estimated, if they can even be 
conceived. We were indeed fortunate in having 
this hearing before a judiciary eminently just and 
fair and wholly fearless, as well as no respector 
of persons. We do not doubt but that the doc- 


CONDUCTOR. 213 

trine here laid down will be accepted generally as 
good law. If so, it is but a step farther to bring 
these controversies into the courts for adjudica- 
tion when the property whose interests are in- 
volved is not in the hands of a receiver. If the 
aid of the Inter-State Commerce act can be in- 
voked by a railway company to prevent its men 
from making trouble for the road, why should 
not the men invoke the aid of same law in their 
interests? The interests of the people in the un- 
interrupted movement of Inter-State Commerce 
are equally at stake. 


ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OF AMERICA. 


MUTUAL BENEFIT DEPARTMENT. 


Cedar Rapids, Iowa, April 1; Expires i*lay 31, 1894. 

Assessment No. 279 is for death of H. H. Lohman, Feb. 1 4. 


BENEFITS PAID DURING MARCH. 


Ben. 
No. 1 

Ass'll 

No. 

AM'T. 

FOR 

OF 

CAUSE. 

Cert No. 

Ser- 

ies. 

DIV. 

656 

275 

$3,000 

Death 

H. Dixon 

Bronchitis 

3599 

C 

3 

657 

275 

3.000 

Death 

H. W. Adkins 

Accident 

3602 

C 

89 

658 

275 

3.000 

Death 

W. I Barnes 

Accident 

541 

C 

304 

659 

275 

5.000 

Death 

W. R. Sykes 

Accident 

47 

E 

304 

660 

276 

3.000 

Death 

O. S. Tousey 

Suicide 

1963 

C 

2 

661 

273 

I.ooo 

Death 

P. A. Deltgen 

Accident 

2549 

A 

337 

662 

276 

3 000 

Death 

J. K Webb 

Accident 

2716 

C 

125 

663 

274 

2,000 

Death 

J. W. Atwood 

Accident 

41 

B 

55 

664 

278 

2,000 

Death 

W. H. Prinz 

Accident 

1062 

B 

187 

665 

276 

3.000 

Death 

S. W Mitchell 

Pneumonia 

1121 

C 

148 

666 

277 

3.000 

Death 

R B. Chenoweth 

Congestion 

1956 

C 

58 

667 

277 

3,000 

Death 

T. A. Sellers 

Pyaemia 

2 rg8 

C 

208 


NUMBER OF MEMBERS ASSESSED. 

Series A, 4,582; Series B, 2,603; Series C, 4,870; Series D, 372; Series E, 91. Amount of as- 
sessment No. 279. $26,341. Total number of members 12,774. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 


Received on Mortuary Assessments to February 28, 1894. $1,502,471.00 

Received on Expense Assessments to February 28, 1894 25,99500 

Received on Applications, etc., to February 28, 1894 26.209.66 


fi. 554. 675 66 

Total amount of benefits paid to February 28, 1894 $1,491,376 00 

Total amount of expenses paid to February 28, 1894 57,878.06 

Insurance casji on hand February 28, 1894 5,421.60 


Si. 554.675 66 

EXPENSES PAID DURING FEBRUARY. 

General expenses, $9.25; Assessments refunded $18; Postage. $333 50; Incidental, 45c.; Sal- 
aries, $37667; Fees returned, $9; Stat iouery and Printing $65. Total, $811.87. 

The above amounts were paid out during the month but items of postage, printing, legal, etc . 
often cover supplies and work for more than one month, and sometimes several months. 


Received on Assessment No. 275 to March 20 $24,111 00 

Received on Assessment No. 276 to March 20 12,526 00 

Received on Assessment No. 277 to March 20 3,174.00 

Received on Assessment No. 278 to March 20 2,979.00 


WM. P. DANIELS, Secretary 


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l$lc£ean. 

The home of Bro. F. J McLean. Chief Con- 
ductor of Division No. 106, ha* been desolated 
by the death of his youngest child, Ruth The 
funeral was held Sunday, March 18. and the 
members of the Division gave evidence n f 
their sympathy in a beautiful floral ottering 

Division 335 is in mourning for the death of 
Bro. Win Corliss, who was killed while coup- 
ling cars in the C. & M. yard at Concord sta- 
tion. Bro. Corliss had been a railroad em- 
ploye for more than six years and was very 
popular with his fellow workers, all of whom 
extended their most sincere sympathy to the 
bereaved family. The funeral was held in 
Haverhill, N. H . and was largely attended bv 
railroad men and the U. O. P F.. of which or- 
der he was a member. 

^oljneton. 

At a recent meeting of San Gabriel Division 
No. 256, resolutions were adopted expressing 
their sympathy with Bro. W. L. Johnston in 
the death of his wife, Mollie, aged twenty-five 
years. A true wife and devoted mother.” — 
no higher eulogy can be pronounced on any 
woman Two little girls and one baby boy are 
left with their father to mourn her loss. 

Clebratj. 

On the 25th day of March. 1S94. Bro Scott 
Debray met his death by being thrown under 
the cars while in the discharge of his duty in 
the Harrisburg yard. The mysterious way in 
which he met death makes it very sad, ind°ed. 
as no person seems to know how it happened. 
He had been a member of Dauphin Division 
143 for a number of years and on April 1st the 
Division took proper action on the death of the 
Brother by appointing a committee to draft 
resolutions of respect and sympathy, a copy of 
which will bt ?nt to the bereaved wife and 
children. 1 

^tamper. 

Bro. Wm. Stamper, one of the charter mem- 
bers ot Division *03, was fatally injured while 
in charge of his train at Clay City, Kv.. on 
March 17 last. There is a high platform at the 
station mentioned which clears only a few 
inches and Bro. Stamper was caught by it 
while standing on the front end of his caboose 
and rolled under the wheels, sustaining injur- 
ies from which he died the next day. De- 
ceased was 52 years of age and had been in 
railroad service 27 years, a great portion of 
that time having been spent in tbe employ of 
the J. M. & I. Ry. He leaves a wife and one 
child, to whom the sincere sympathy of all 
will be extended. The funeral was held at 
New Albany and wan largely attended by the 
Order and by members of the Knights Temp- 
lar and I O. O. F. Bro. Stamper was one of 
the most popular and most efficient members 
of 303, and his death leaves a vacancy in the 
ranks of that Division that will be difficult to 
fill. 


(Gilbert. 

For the first time in its histoi}- death ha-s in- 
vaded the ranks of Gogebic Division No. 253 - 
taking with him our esteemed brother, Charles 
Norman Gilbert. His death was caused by in- 
juries received in the performance of his du- 
ties at Ellis Junction, Wis., on the M. A N 
Division of the C. M. & St. P. Ry. at 2 30 p m.. 
Feb 28. He was about to couple bis engine 
to the train when be discos ered chat the link 
in the tender would have to be changed to 
draft iron in car. and while attempting to do 
this slipped and fell, the wheels of the engine 
passing over both legs. As soon as possible 
after the accident he was taken to Marinette. 
Wis. His wife, who was at Green Bay, where 
he resided, was accompanied to Marinette by 
Bro. Wm. Woe I ford. Thi-v arrived two hours 
and forty-five minutes before Bro Gilbert died. 
He remained conscious to the end and passed 
away in his wife's arms. I he funeral was 
held in Ashland Sunday. March 5. under the 
auspices of the O R. C. and K of P., deceased 
having been an honored member of both or- 
ganizations. He was a loving and devoted 
husband and a loyal Brother, one whose death 
will leave a permanent sot row wherever he 
was known. Unfortunately, he was not a 
member of the Benefit Department, and his 
wife is left without means of support aside 
from the ministrations of friends who surround 
her in this time of trial. The members of 253 
feel themselves under many obligations to the 
Brothers of Milwaukee Division for the kind- 
ly and thouehtful services they rendered our 
Brother and his sorrow-itricken wife. 

Sttrfaltt. 

Mrs. Ettie Wright, beloved wife of Bro. W J 
Wright. Secretary and Treasurer of Division 
116 died at their home in Tyler. Texas, March 
27 last. The funeral wa< held at Mmeola the 
following day and was largely attended. By 
this death Bro. Wright has been deprived of a 
true and loving wife and his two little ones of 
that princely treasure, a mother's love and 
guidance. No greater loss can come to any 
family and the kindly and heartfelt svmpathy 
extended the bereaved ones by the members of 
116 will find echo in the heart of every Brother 

$KuUin. 

Bro. E. Mullin, of Grafton Division No. 190, 
has been doubly bereaved by the death of his 
wife on January 12 last and by tbe death of his 
son only eight davs thereafter. At a subse- 
quent meeting of his Division resolutions were 
adopted expressing the sympathy of all the 
members with him in this great affliction, and 
in this the Order generally will joiD. 

llninctj. 

1 iie Home of Bro. J J. Rainey, of Division 
133, has been desolated by the death of bis 
wife, who was railed frotn him on Feb. it last. 
This death leaves-two small children without 
a mother s loving care and guidance To the 
bereaved husband and little ones will go out 
the sincere swupath}. not only of tbe more 
immediate friends and Brothers, but of all to 
whom their grief is known. 


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The Railway Conductor 


CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, MAY, 1894, 


CONTRIBUTED 


BREAD’S BONDS. 


BY FRANK A. MYERS. 

chapter ix. lieve that I, a perfect stranger, was there in his 

manly contempt. behalf. When I told him that I was your uncle 

It was early morning when Tillie arrived at the and that you were at my house, he saw through 

home of her Uncle, John Emmet. The family *t He knew you had sent me. He is not in 

was surprised, but pleased to see her. jail, but he is kept in durance vile in one of the 

When she had partaken of a good, refreshing offices and one of their hired police officials 
breakfast with the family, and informed them of stands guard over him They do not intend to 
the health and happiness of her family, she dis- prosecute him. for they have no legal charge to pre- 
closed to her attentive uncle her mission there, ter against him I went to the president, Mr. Mana- 
Witb-some halts and breaks and retracings to ger. and told him they would better discharge 

gather a lost thread here and there, she told the him and send him home or they might get them- 

story of George s arrest. The wise uncle, a man selves into very serious trouble over this affair, 

of keen penetration, understood. She need not He was foolish enough to ate that they did not 

tell the relationship that existed between her and intend to prosecute him, but arrested him simply 
George. to scare the others at Marshall and break up that 

"Never mind," he said easily and with a kindly little secret organization. Then I scared him by 
smile, "never mind We will fix all this tangled saying that George could turn the tables on them 
snarl to-day, and George will be a free man before aDd arrest all of them for conspiring to imprison 
night.” him falsely. My interest in his behalf scared 

She was not as sanguine as he was, but his Mr. Manager. He told me they would release 
declaration gave her so much comfort. Her an- him at once, provided I would not push this mat- 
swer was: ter any further. Of course I could agree to noth- 

*T hope so.” ing of that sort. George has a good case against 

"No doubt of it in the world.' them, if he desires to prosecute it." 

He went forth from the house, and no one saw "Oh, I'm so glad," cried Tillie in extreme de- 
him till his return at the time of the noonday light. The sun had burst through the dull, 
meal. Then he announced: leaden sky brighter than ever. Uncle John was 

'T have seen George Wilmer I must say first the greatest man that ever lived — except George 
that he is a noble fellow. He could scarcely be- Wilmer. a" 


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THE RAAlVA 

“I shall be proud to have so fine a fellow in the 
family,” laughed Uncle |ohn. It pleased him to 
see her blush deeply. 

“And — I too," returned TiTlie under a sudden 
inspiration and looking up archly and with ele- 
vated brows. 

In a few minutes after they had finished this 
midday meal, Mr. Emmet announced that he was 
going out to bring back George. His twinkling 
eyes rested on Tdlie, who enjoyed his good- 
natured jesting and lightsome spirits Around 
him everything moved in a circle of peace and 
contentment. The very elements of his nature 
were of the old-fashioned geniality and happiness. 

The first thing he did when he departed from 
the house this time was to send a telegram to Til- 
lie’s parents,' stating that she was safe and sound 
at his home and would not be at home till the 
next day She bad confessed that she left home 
without the consent or knowledge of her parents, 
leaving only a brief explanatory note behind, and 
this telegram was simply to inform them of her 
safe arrival at bis home. 

This social duty dispatched he proceeded 
straightway to the office of Mr. Manager. A few 
very pointed words to that gentleman — yes, let 
us call him that this one time yet — induced him 
to surrender George to Mr. Emmet without ask- 
ing any questions When George was brought 
into the office and made acquainted with the fact 
of his restored liberty, he turned to Mr. Emmet 
and said: 

“To you, my dear friend, I am profoundly 
grateful. I can only wish for your life to be full 
of such joys as it would have were you to have 
the power to order them. But this man,” turning 
to Mr. Manager with a dark scowl on his manly 
face, “but this man I have no wishes of any kind 
for. He has sought Aq ruin me, but I am not so 
contemptibly mean md so wholly lost to my own 
sense of self respect as to desire even to curse 
him.” 

This was the bitterest reproach this man ever 
felt. He knew he had earned the vilest hatred 
and most profound anathemas of George Wilmer, 
and because that gentleman had the grand man- 
hood to withhold all this he felt his own puniness 
in the presence of such a superior nature. Even 
Mr. Emmet was surprised at this rare exhibition 
of genuine nobility Mr. Manager was so dis- 
concerted and stunned that he could not find 
words for a response, and he saw them depart 
with not only a sense of shame but a feeling of re- 
gret. 

When they arrived at Mr. Emmet’s home, Til- 
lie, unable to restrain her gladness, rushed up to 


V CONDUCTOR, 

George and holding out her hand looked up con 
fidingly in bis face and said: 

“Free — free, once again!” 

“Yes, free again. To you and Mr Emmet 
here I owe an everlasting debt of gratitude " I 

They were persuaded to remain until the next 1 
morning before starting back to Marshall Mr. 
Emmet explained that he had sent a telegram to 
Mr Dillingham and they would not now be un 
#asy in the least at Tillie s absence 

The magnanimity of George Wilmer was still 
further demonstrated by his disinclination to pros- 
ecute the company that had tried and signally 
failed to do him irreparable injury. Mr Emmet 
declared that in all his life he had never found 
a man before who was framed on so broad and 
forgiving a basis. This man of law offered to ( 
prosecute the case for nothing, if George would 
consent to it, bat the victim of perjured villain} ; 
said he would consider the matter and later ^ 
would say what he would do. 

They spent a very happy evening with Mr 
Emmet’s contented, charming family. 

CHAPTER X. j 

POSTPONED. I 

Very early the next morning George and Tillie | 
bade the family of Mr. Emmet good-bye — gran- 
tude and love predominant elements in their hearts 
— and took the first train for home. George held 
the hand of “Uncle John" — soon to be — a little 
lpnger and a little more warmly than he usually 
did others on such occasions, and remarked: 

' Some day I hope to be able, Mr. Emmet - 
he wanted to say “Uncle John,” as Tillie alway: 
called him — “to entertain you at my home 
as a specially honored guest. I never shall forget 
your disinterested kindness to me.” 

“Not at all, sir; not at all, my good fellow. I 
am glad I was able to help you But I shall be 
glad to visit you in your own home — where Tillie 
shall preside with such becoming grace and fit- 
ness.” 

Tillie’s large blue eyes, encircled by a liberal 
aureola of white, lifted blushingly to her uncle s 

They were off. 

Once seated comfortably in the car, that whirled 
through green fields and past echoing woods 
everything fresh with the invigorating dews of 
the morning, they looked out upon the passing 
panorama with a delight that can only be engen- 
dered in a heart unspeakably full of tender love 
What tremendous glories there are in this beauti- 
ful world of ours, if only the eyes and heart are 
open to behold them. George free, returning 
home, happy in each other’s presence— why 
should not heaven have been let down to them 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


during the silent night when they slept, and per- 
chance dreamed 

“I'm thinkfog of you.Tillie, ” said George, lean- 
ing toward her in the car seat so as to be easily 
heard. At least George would like to have this 
said as the reason for his leaning his shoulder 
against hers. Everybody knows what dual rea- 
sons are in his mind for all bis love acts — the real, 
and the one as an explanation to others 

The look she gave him as she made return 
spoke more to his eager soul than her actual 
words : 

“And I of my successful, romantic journey in 
your behalf. I acted on the spur oi the mo- 
ment.” 

' Do you regret it? ” 

“O* no, no! I only regret the necessity that 
forced me to leave home secretly and without tell- 
ing even father and mother.” 

“That — O. that ij a small matter, easily reme- 
died 

“I hope so " 

“I know so. It was the grandest act of your 
life. Can I ever forget it? It proves you the 
rarest of gems. I’m proud of you, proud of your 
independence to act on your own conclusions 
when an emergency arises.” 

'*1 was afraid you would not look at it that 
way. If you approve of it, it is all right.” 

“You never did a nobler thing.” 

Thus the conversation ran on for a long time. 
They were so absorbed in a sweet, selfish love — 
all love' is selfish — that they forgot the glories of 
the green fields, the solemn woods, and the brill- 
iant sunshine. At that moment they were not 
living in the macrocosm but in the microcosm of 
self Life was sweet. As they neared Marshall, 
reverting to the practical affairs pi life, George 
said: 

“I shall now be obliged to leave Marshall in 
order to find work. Of course I can't get work 
there now " This was said sadly. It meant 
parting from the sun of his life, the dear one of 
his heart. She had not thought of it before, and 
the announcement fell upon her like a heavy 
blow. Tear? came to her eyes as she asked: 

“Where will you go?” 

“I don t know yet. Perhaps to Chicago. And 
it may necessitate a postponement of our wed- 
ding ’ 

"My love will go with yon.” she uttered, with 
heroic self-sacrifice. “Whatever nas to be I pa- 
tiently submit to." This was said with such 
characteristic reserve fjrce that it encouraged 
him. 

“I felt assured I could rely on you. When I 
get a new place and save a little money ahead I 


shall come to claim you. It is hard to say this — 
to leave you — but it must be done. I cannot re- 
main idle. 

“Go, and my poor blessing go with you And 
if the test of absence affects our love for the 
worse, it is not a worthy one. In my school days 
I received a merit card from one of my teachers 
and it had these grand old words on it: 


‘ Tis said that absence conquers love 
But oh believe it. not ! 

I’ve tried, alas, its powers to prove, 

But thou art not forgot.' 

I may say that I have not tried to forget you, but 
I know that absence conquers not love.” 

“I was just wondering whether you tried to 
forget me.” 

Despite the serious subject both smiled. It 
was a golden journey together, just after the 
clearing away of the dark cloud, that thty never 
forgot, and years afterward talked about it with 
refreshing enthusiasm. 

When they reached home, Tillie explained the 
whole thing to her parents, and they forgave her. 
When Mr. Dillingham heard the whole story he 
“guessed” she was not much to blame, from her 
standpoint, for going away without telling him 
about it first. He didn’t know but he would have 
y ithheld his consei t, but now — well, it was all 
right 

As soon as Belle Grayson heard that Tillie was 
at home — how quickly gossip spreads in a small 
town, where everybody knows everything — she 
ran over to see her. 

“O, Tillie you naughty thing! You ran away 
and didn't tell me ! ” she exclaimed as she beat 
her over the shoulder playfully. 

“Couldn't help it — had to,” she laughed back, 
while shrugging her shoulders. 

“And George is at home, too? ” 

“I brought him along.” 

“You went to get him out of the ugly claws of 
the wicked company, and succeeded.” 

“Uncle John did.” 

“You told Uncle John to? ” 

“Yes .” 

“Sweet girl ! " 

“I couldn’t help it A blind impulse drove me 
to it.” 


“The blind cupid.” 

“Perhaps ” 

“Perhaps! Rather of course. Hasn’t Shakes 
pere or some other fellow said, 

‘Love is blind, and lovers cannot see? ’ 

Of course he has ” 

When these two confidantes were together th< 
never knew how long they talked. 


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i 


218 THE RAILWA 

Tillie explained that George was going away to 
find work, and that therefore their wedding was 
indefinitely postponed. They sighed over this 
distressing hitch in the smooth course of love, 
but Belle found some consolation in it for reasons 
which the reader knows. 

CHAPTER XI. 

POSTED. 

When William D. Robinson heard of the arrest 
of his friend George P. Wilmer his indignation 
knew no bounds. He used some pretty severe 
American adjectives to express his contempt for 
the soulless corporation that would do such a 
mean, scurvy act, an act that true manhood 
spurned with righteous disdain. He was in 
Cleveland, Ohio, at the time, and he sat down and 
wrote George an encouraging letter, saying that 
the blood of the martyrs is the seed of success 
and that a more glorious day was dawning for op* 
pressed labor. The incident of the arrest and 
persecution of George be used with good effect 
wherever he went. In the letter he wrote that 
he was meeting with wonderful success in organ- 
izing the engineers into a bond of unity that 
would greatly improve the respect for them and 
their business and in time enhance their wages. 
This labor prophet, this father of the order of 
Locomotive Engineers, spoke more wisely than he 
was given credit for. But the founder of the 
Brotherhood saw further and deeper than the 
mere surface indications. 

About this time he found that his name was 
coupled with that of Wilmer’supon the proscribed 
list of working men. In brief, as it is called now, 
these two valiant, self sacrificing men were black- 
listed. Robinson especially was “posted” as a 
dangerous man; an “agitator,” and engineers 
were positively forbidden, under pain of peremp- 
tory dismissal, to carry him on their engines. 
The viciousness and maliciousness of the railroad 
officials hounded him at every step, and he en- 
countered indescribable difficulties as a conse- 
quence. But he never yielded. He went on with 
a brave heart and a dariDg spirit and did his in- 
valuable work, which to-day is a monument of 
glory to his memory. 

An affectionate good by was exchanged be- 
tween George and Tillie, and he set out for 
Chicago with a determined purpose to find work. 
But when he reached there and applied for work, 
he discovered that no one would have him. 
Everywhere he went he met with the same re- 
fusal — rebuff — when he disclosed his name. With 
a sort of fear and trembling the men at labor 
themselves turned away from him. He had been 
“posted," too, and the effect was very apparent. 


Y CONDUCTOR. 


What could a blacklisted, proscribed labor-seeker 
do? With weariness and disgust he^at down and 
wrote the case to Tillie. He tried to suppress his 
feelings, but they insensibly appeared upon the 
written page. The story of his seeking work and 
the refusal that the announcement of his name 
brought in every instance were told with not a little 
pathos, but he declared with intuitive vigor that 
there was work for him somewhere and he would 
persist till he found it. 

From place to place, a comet in the labor world, 
he went, but the managers of railroad industries 
everywhere had received a printed notice of the 
“posted” man and with disdainful disregard of 
human necessity turned him away. 

“I will never change my name for the bread of 
favor,” he mused, “and I shall not surrender my 
identity for all the corporations of the earth com- 
bined. It would be cowardly to kill ray name for 
bread, and unfair to the brotherhood of man to 
yield at so petty- headed resistance.” 

At last he found work in Denver, and as he ap- 
plied himself with an honest man's endeavor, day 
by day, his noted contentment came back, and he 
was himself again. It was a delight to write to 
“her” his pleasure in his daily labors and his 
hope that their separation would not be of long 
duration. Hope is one of the bright, eternal ele- 
ments of frail human nature. It lifts the veil 
when darkness engulfs the despondent and reveals 
beautiful scenes just ahead, It is the deity within 
man, speaking of the glories of the future, and 
exorcising the imps of gloom and shadow. 

Robinson, in his evagations about the country 
founding new lodges, met George in Denver. 
They went to one of the best cafes in that boom- 
ing city and ordered oysters, which they partook 
of with a workingman's relish at the close of a 
day of useful labor. While discussing the meal 
and washing it down with a bottle of champagne, 
they conversed about the recent personal events 
of the past. For these two men to meet and 
converse was an infinite satisfaction In 
a sense their troubles were mutual. Those 
who came and went saw them, but simply 
observed two men in animated talk under 
the glare of the yellow gas light. Now and then 
they were noticed to make their expressions em- 
phatic by blows with clenched fists upon the table 
until the plates bounced and rattled. 

“It is a damnable exercise of liberty." said 
Robinson, “that pursues a man in bis honest ef- 
forts to secure work and defrauds him out of a 
living. Willing but powerless It is an unmiti- 
gated crime these companies practice to hound a 
man to death. This bloody method of ’posting.' 
as it is called, must be stopped, suppressed. Aod 


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. 


as a band of brothers we must stand together and 
by opposing end it. We must protect one an- 
other. 

"I know — I have seen — I have felt the cilrsed 
vengeance of these hate- pursuing dogs of dream* 
less capital, and I say I shall oppose such black- 
listing methods as long as I shall live," said 
George in an angry rhetorical tone. 

'The remedy is in union. I'm glad to say I 
am meeting with golden success. Every dog has 
his day. and it willnot be long until the voice of 
labor will be beard and its curse will be respected. 
Labor is the salt of the earth; but if the salt have 
lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?" 

Labor is not conscious of its strength It is 
a tiger chained so long that its native force is 
ground out of it. By the gods its helpless cries 
for mercy must be heard." George brought his 
fist down with vigor. 

The little germ planted in that dingy little 
back office in Marshall is growing like the stone 
cut out of the mountain, and it will roll down and 
fill the whole earth. I'm not merely speaking in 
tropes." Robinson saw into the misty future 
further than do most men these speculative days 
of the nineteenth century. 

When these two labor apostles retired for the 
night, they felt as if they had found a resting 
place — the consolation of mutual sympathy in the 
dark hours of their toils in behalf of labor-en- 
slaved humanity. 


CHAPTER XII. 

l’bnvoy. 

Christmas was near, and Tillie and Belle were 
both busy over their approaching nuptials. Both 
were to be married on Christmas, in the church 
—a double wedding. Their dresses were to be 
tbe prettiest ever worn by a bride in that town, 
and they gave much attention to the making and 
fitting of them, going to the dressmaker as often 
as three times a day. 

The wedding supper was a union affair, and 
the covers were laid in Tillie s home They be- 
lieved in union, too — in a double sense on this 
occasion Many guests had been invited, and 
they were planning a recherche affair. It was to 
be tbe greatest social event that had ever oc- 
curred in that town. 

Duties unexpected crowded thick and fast upon 
them, so that they were too busy to think much 
about tbe culminating event before the altar 
when they should solemnly plight their vows of 
love to tbe young men they had consented to 
marry. They would think of that when- the 
awful moment should arrive. 

There were cakes and pies to bake, and a turkey 


219 


to be dressed and roasted, and oyster dressing to 
be prepared, and blanc- mange and Charlotte 
Russe and cookies and cranberries and ielliesand 
many other delicacies to be arranged for the exten- 
sion table in the dining room, and they were fly- 
ing about like a new cook, desirous of making a 
favorable impression, in a large western eating 
house. They were assisted by one of the best 
caterers in the town, and still they imagined they 
were doing most of the work in preparing this 
great, sumptuous feast. It was more the effect 
of the pressure of accumulating circumstances, 
however, than of real work. 

On Christmas eve, just before retiring, these 
two young friends of ours stood beside the large 
table, now in position to receive the last prepared 
articles of the regale on the morrow. The table, 
adorned with snow-white linen, was between 
them, and the light of the gas above shed a bright 
lustre upon the scene. Two large collections of 
fresh flowers stood one at either end, and a large 
glass cake stand occupied the center. A fine, 
iced cake lay upon the cake-stand, and a white 
linen napkin covered it. The two friends were 
well satisfied with the prospect. It was a beauti- 
ful scene. 

"The dinner," said Belle, looking as blooming 
as a Vasar school girl, "will be a fine affair, and 
I think everybody will enjoy it." 

"We certainly have taken pains enough to make 
it rich and palatable," returned Tillie, glancing 
over the table fondly. 

"I’m glad the fuss and worry is about over 

"And so am I." 

"This is our last evening alive," said Belle, 
with a laugh and a jesting motion of the shoul- 
ders, at the same time drawing up her eyebrows 

"What do you mean? " quickly inquired Tillie. 

"O, only that we put off our honorable names 
to-morrow and take on new ones. Off with the 
old and on with the new." she uttered gayly as she 
whirled around in a waltz-like movement. 

"You seem to think marriage a jest, Belle.’ 

"But I do not by any manner of means. I re- 
gard it as the most eminent step in life — some- 
times a fatal one. But what’s the use of tears on 
a festive wedding occasion? Tra, la, la, la 
and she whirled around again several times more 
lively than before. 

"I believe you are happy, Belle ". 

"Why not? Hain’t you ? " 

"Yes, of course. But I don't feel that way. 

For answer Belle sang softly : 


"Mollie, put the kettle on ! 
Mollie, put the kettle on ! 
Mollie. put the kettle on ! 
And lei’s drink tea. 


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Sukey, take it off again ! 

Sukey, take it off again ! 

Sukey. take it off again; 

They're all gone away." 

“What a little rowdy you are," cried Tillie, 
laughing till the tears brimmed her eyes. 

“This is the last of Belle to night. She be- 
comes Mrs. Carey to-morrow." 

"I'll be proud to be known as Mrs. Wilmer.” 

“And won’t Mrs. Carey be glad to visit Mrs . 
Wilmer and gossip about the people of the town 
and repeal the ‘latest news' ? Tillie, do you think 
we'll ever dwindle down to old, wrinkled -faced, 
gray-haired gossips? " 

“If we didn't know better, I'd think we would. 
I heartily detest a gossip." 

“Wouldn’t it be funny to see you a real Mrs. 
Gadabout?" Her ringing, merry laughter drove 
every shadow away from the heart of Tillie. 

The two girls retired together. 

Early on this merry Christmas morning, when 
the little children were examining theft stockings 
to see what Santa Claus had brought down the 
chimney during the night for them and shouting 
in happy glee, and the elder ones were wishing 
each other a merry Christmas, these two brides- 
elect dressed themselves in their rich, elegant 
wedding gowns, fastened bride's roses in their 
hair, and were ready for the ceremonial part of 
this happy event. They were rosy pictures of 
health and happiness. 

When the two couples marched slowly up the 
aisle of the crowded church, every neck was 
craned to see. The wedding march ceased as 


they paused in from of the minister at the altar. 
The ceremony was short but befitting the sol- 
emnly grand occasion. And when they bad 
quietly walked out again, everybody arose and 
followed after. 

Never before was there such a grand wedding 
in that town. Everybody said they bore them- 
selves with much graceful dignity and perfect 
composure. It was a nine-days wonder for the 
old, experienced gossipers. 

At the dinner table George Wilmer was most 
felicitous in his remarks, and he put everybody 
in a good humor. Belle felt proud of Sam Carey, 
who easily said as funny things as George. The 
feast was not only heartily relished by all but un- 
stintingly complimented. Tillie and Belle ex- 
changed knowing glances whenever anything good 
was said of the meal. O. yes, in that day and 
place they openly praised the good things they 
ate. 

It was a happy wedding dinner. 

Only a year or two ago George and Tillie were 
living in Chicago in their own little home very 
happily. Two interesting children blessed their 
home George was a distinguished member of 
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. The 
order had acquired such recognition from rail- 
road corporations that blacklisting was impossible. 
George always regretted that Robinson could not 
be present at his marriage. 

The last we heard of Sam and Belle they were 
still living in Marshall, had a family of four 
children, were doing well, and were happy. 


THE END. 


THE MYSTERIOUS FOREST. 

A SOCIAL ALLEGORY. 


BY H. P. PEEBLES. 


CHAPTER IX CONTINUED. 

By this time Labor, whu had been working 
assiduously, paying no attention to the many 
around him, only to motion those aside that stood 
in his way, had finished working the ground up to 
the post. Now he laid down his working tools, 
placing them carefully in a pile, rolled down his 
shirt sleeves, wiped his grimy hands, shook the 
dirt from his clothing, and then took the package 
that had been placed on the top of the post. 

In an instant he was surrounded by the crowd, 
who apparently had been waiting for this. Each 
one had his hand extended as he struggled and 
pushed to get near the Giant All were talking, 
or rather shouting and in the clamor and din of 


the many voices only one word could be dis- 
tinguished by the watchers. Theoneword “give.'’ 
appeared to come from every throat The Giant 
seemed confused and st^od still, holding the 
package tightly, covering it with both hands, 
while the noise and confusion increased. People 
came running from all parts of the park and the 
throng grew larger. A few stood aloof and 
looked on with eager looks; aod some who 
lounged lazily under the shade trees smiled scorn- 
fully at each other and seemed to mock the efforts 
of the crowd; but they were few in comparison 
to the many that jostled each other in eager 
anxiety to reach the side of the Giant Two men, 
(one marked “Employment Agent.' the other 


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22 : 


Saloon Keeper ') were endeavoring to unclasp 
the bands that held the package; and their “give, 
give!'* rang clear above all the confusion . The 
crowd was composed of both sexes, and the 
women were as eager and as pushing as the men. 
One tall, lank, angular woman, with a severe and 
solemn countenance, marched around on the out- 
skirts of the throng, bearing a banner, that she 
waved over the heads of the others. This sen- 
tence was inscribed in large, white letters on the 
blue ground of the banoer: “Give to the For- 
eign Missions " Even Orthodox Clergyman had 
for the time laid aside bis dignity, and although 
he stood on the edge of the crowd, his hand was 
extended and his “give" could be heard at times 
above tne din. The tumult and noise increased 
as the Giant began to unroll the package, and 
after having pushed those away who had laid 
hold of him. he banded portions of it first to one 
and then to another. 

The scene then became a pandemonium of 
shrieks, the ones who had received a portion be- 
ing surrounded in turns by eager groups, and 
those who received from them became the center 
of another struggling knot of people Several 
had taken hold of the chains and were apparently 
endeavoring to attract the attention of the Giant 
by pulling them. Two or three had grasped the 
one marked “Poverty," and one of these attract- 
ed their attention by the grim silence he main- 
tained. while he clung with both hands, and 
shook the^bain until they could hear it jangling 
above all the other noise. The word “Pawn- 
broker" was read upon his back. 

The Giant finally held his empty hands above 
his bead, as if to prove that all had been dis- 
tributed. Some who were near him appeared 
surprised and disappointed; a few looked at him 
appealingly; others examined his clothing, feeb 
ing bis pockets, and still others seemed angry 
and shook their clenched fists in his face while 
they appeared to threaten him; but the greater 
part of the crowd were gathered in little knots, 
pushing and struggling around those who had 
received portions of the packet. 

Suddenly the crowd parted, as if by a precon- 
certed signal, and a lane was left open from the 
Giant to the stone cell. The Giant looked appeal- 
ingly at those around him, and for the first time 
a look of horror and fear came in his face. He 
appeared to struggle; braced himself; dug his 
heels in the earth To the surprise of the four 
watchers he began to move slowly forward 
through the open lane, but without taking a step. 
He straggled violently and evidently w«.s impelled 
onwards against his will and by some unseen 
farce. Interpretation whispered the word 


“chains ” They saw they were taut. The 
mystery of his movement forward was explained 
the chains were pulling him to the stone cell. 
How they were fastened; what unseen pow< r 
pulled them forward, were questions beyond 
their knowledge. The 6iant struggled in vain, 
and after one cry for help, threw himself on his 
back and ceased to struggle. A bitter, sullen ex- 
pression, with a convulsive twitching of the face* 
showed that former experiences had taught him 
the futility of ail efforts to release himself. But 
few of the people present paid any attention lo 
this strange scene; the greater part were yet sur- 
rounding those who had received portion* of the 
the package, either directly from the worker or 
from the subdivisions of it from others, and 
never raised their eyes. The ones who were 
sauntering on the lawns seemed to be utterly in- 
different. The watchers were pnzzled, and 
Philosophic whispered, “Perhaps they do not see 
him; he may be invisible to them as Interpretation 
was." But their guide pointed to several men, 
who were walking by the side of the Giant as he 
was being dragged over the sward. True, it 
could not b»e an invisible scene to the crowd 
“Trade Union" walked disconsolately beside him 
and frequently shook his head. Candid Observer 
was watch ing the scene with a look of commiser- 
ation. They even heard him murmur, “i‘m 
sorry for the poor fellow." Two women followed 
the scene with eyes filled with tears, and men 
in uniform — marked “Police" — walked up and 
down the open lane with clubs in their hands to 
see that none intruded. As the Giant moved on 
wards the crowd closed in behind him. How it 
was accomplished; how the cell was opened; 
how it closed upon the sufferer the crowd pre- 
vented the four from seeing; but a groan assured 
them that the Giant was once more enclosed in 
the stone prison. 

chapter x. 


It is # night ; absolute, impenetrable night 
night in the depths of the dark, mysterious for 
est Night, positive, not relative; for no re- 
flected light from the sun glanced from the moon 
or came from the distant suns to lighten the 
heavy blackness. Silence has clasped hands with 
darkness, and drawn us within their embrace; 
we shudder at the touch. No cheerful night 
breeze ruffles the drooping leaves, plays caress- 
ingly with the overhanging foliage, or bows the 
heads of the tall weeds. You listen vainly for 
the hum and buzz of the flying insect, the chirp 
of the familiar cricket, the call of the night 
bird, the hoot of the distant owl, and the thous- 
and other noises that make a night in the woods 
a concert of tuneless harmony. The atmosphere 


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seems thick, heavy and oppressive with its weight 
of darkness and silence; it seems to enfold yon 
as a blanket; and instinctively you raise your 
hands to push it from you as if it was tangible. 
An indescribable sense of loneliness overpowers 
you. Speak, whisper, move, you can not. Some 
great crisis is at hand; some overwhelming 
calamity is impending; ages on ages have been 
ripening the spell that culminates at this 
very moment. Nature waits the signal, 
and as a breathless statute you stand waiting, 
dreading, fearing, hoping — you know not what. 

'Nor eye, nor listening ear an object finds, 

'Tis as the general pulse of life stood still; 

And Nature made a pause— an awful pause, 
Prophetic of its end." 

But, hark! Listen! Surely a sound came 
You shut your eyes involuntarily in spite of the 
intense darkness; and listen for the crash of 
fallen worlds. Again the sound; it is the mur- 
mur of human voices. The spell is broken. You 
draw a long breath of relief, and struggle to 
restrain a shout of laughter, as you wonder how 
it was possible for your imagination to play such 
a trick with your better judgment. A few steps 
through - the underbrush and the voices become 
more distinct; another step, another bush pushed 
aside, and a glimmer of light from a camp fire 
gleams and dances through the brush like a thing 
of life. 

In a little clearing, under the branches of a 
mighty tree, three men are reclining on blankets 
around the fire. One leans forwards and throws 
an armful of brush on the embers, and a moment 
afterward the bright blaze leaps up, twisting, 
twirling, crackling, with a loud hum that seems a 
shout of delight in conquering the all pervading 
darkness. By the increased light, we recognize 
our three travelers, Socialist, Christian and 
Philosophic. A few hours before we left the four 
watching the strange scene in the park; where, 
then, is the lively Onetax, and what has become 
of their strange guide? 

As the flames leap higher and great bands of 
light shoot here and there between the openings 
in the underbrush we can recognize the spot. It 
is the same little glade they had left that morn- 
ing; where the two had sat and thought for days 
over the mysteries of the imprisoned victim; 
where the two lost brothers had found them and 
where Christian had met the other travelers. 

Novel writers and dramatists frequently use the 
conversations of the heroes to unravel the intrica- 
cies of the plot, and may not a truthful historian of 
more weighty matters use the same means? 

"I cannot yet understand why Onetax should 
so suddenly determine to return home, and 


abandon the exploration." and Philosophic looked 
inquiringly at the others. 

"He seemed* dissatisfied from the time we ac- 
cepted the services of the guide," answered 
Christian. "When finding him determined to 
leave the forest immediately Interpretation kindly 
offered to guide him to the outskirts by the short- 
est route, you remember how fiercely he told him 
be could find his own way without a guide." 

"I was astonished," said Socialist, "when he 
so abruptly told us of his determination to leave 
us. I begged him to remain, even bid him re- 
member that he had railed at others for ventur- 
ing a little way into the forest and then returning 
with no real knowledge. But I could not move 
him. He insisted he had discovered all that was 
necessary, his plan for clearing this waste away 
and releasing the giant was completed, all be de- 
sired was to gain a sufficient following to execute 
it. He would not even wait until morning, and 
refused to hear any particulars of the plan 1 had 
thought of. Telling me he had heard enough to 
know that I dreamt of overturning laws and cus* 
toms that sprung from nature itself." 

"Let us hope that he may return home in 
safety," said Philosophic. "He is a sincere man 
with unusual abilities, and had he the patience to 
thoroughly explore the mysteries of the forest, I 
would expect much from him.” 

For a few moments nothing more was said, and 
the three looked thoughtfully at the little fire. 
The red, cheery blaze had sunk to a small, bluish 
flame; and its merry hum of applause had 
changed to an occasional snap and splntter of de- 
fiance at the darkness it could no longer pene~ 
trate. 

"Do you think we will meet our guide again," 
inquired Socialist. "It was a strange leave tak- 
ing he made, after bringing us to the old cafnping 
place, saying we might see him in the morning or 
we might never meet him again ’ 

"I think,” said Christian, quietly, "it will de- 
pend greatly upon ourselves as to whether we 
meet him soon again, although he goes and comes 
strangely, and at the most unexpected tiroes and 
places. I owe him my peace of mind, as well as 
my settled belief; but he would suddenly disap- 
pear at times when I thought I needed him the 
most. But I am beginning to believe," he added 
with a smile, "that it was better for roe to work 
my way slowly along by ray own efforts, be al- 
ways came to my assistance at critical times *' 

The words of Christian seemed to confound bis 
hearers, and in the dim light they looked at him 
with surprise, as if looking for a further explana* 
tion, but he bad folded his arms and was gazing 
intently at the fading fire with an expression tbal 


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showed hi* thoughts to be wandering far away 
from bis present surroundings. 

"You did not recognize him, until he called 
himself Inner Voice," said Socialist, breaking the 
silence after a prolonged pause. 

'’He has many names and many forms, and, 
although I did not know hi m, I had been expect- 
ing to meet him at every step from the first mo- 
ment I entered the unexplored parts of the for- 
est," answered Christian. The latter saw that his 
companions wished to question him further, and 
said: "i will tell you all I know concerning our 
guide of to-day, when I relate the reasons that led 
me to undertake this journey, and explain, as I 
have promised, why I believe in the religion of 
Christ and why I have refused to change my 
name in spite of the many demands made upon 
me to do so." He looked at the others inquiring- 
ly as be continued: "Perhaps it is now too late, 
and you are tired? If so I will defer my account 
until to-morrow." The others replied that they 
preferred to hear him then. 

Philosophic, it is true, looked worn and tired, 
the hardships and exposure of the preceding days 
told painfully on bis weakened physical powers 
Naturally delicate, his haggard face and drawn 
counterance showed that nature had, with him, 
almost reached the limit of her endurance. Nev- 
ertheless he joined Socialist in requesting their 
companion to fulfill the pledge he had given and 
relate his religious experiences. 

Socialist heaped some heavy pieces of decayed 
wood on the fire, and arranging themselves on 
their blankets before the ruddy blaze, Christian 
commenced bis narrative, to which the others 
listened in silent interest. 

The account of Christian's life, his religious be- 
lief. and the reasons that led him into the great 
forest, demand a separate chapter. Before, how- 
ever. we settle ourselves by the side of his com- 
panions, and unseen by them the narrator joins 
the two listeners, let us return to the fugitive One- 
tax; and using the prerogative of a historian, give 
a brief account of his after life and actions. 

After two days of wanderings he emerged from 
the forest by accidently coming across one of the 
paths that wound here and there on the outskirts of 
the wilderness. On his return he gathered his 
friends and boasted a great deal of his trip, to 
which they listened with awe and wonder. He 
published several books that attracted much at- 
tention. He graphically described, the depths of 
the mysterious forest, that checked and retarded 
the growth and progress of humanity, and wrote 
eloquently on the sufferings and wrongs of the 
Giant, denouncing boldly his oppressors. He still 
insisted that "free air" was the only remedy, that 


223 

it would make the sufferer happy and con tented 
and cause the forest to decay and waste away, 
and claimed that it would cause the chain marked 
"poverty" to rust and fall from the limbs of the 
worker. As to the one marked "competition," 
he insisted that it did the victim no harm, and 
rightly used was beneficial. He spoke of Social- 
ist as a dreamy plodder, that he had left to wan- 
der in the depths of the forest, where he would 
probably perish from want and exposure. 

It has been said that some personal friends of 
Onrtax have privately besought him to renew his 
explorations, as a second trip might give him a 
different idea as to the utility of his remedy; but 
he treated this as an insult. Indeed, by a haughty 
and overbearing manner, he has already alien- 
ated many of his former friends, although he has 
at present many ardent admirers and folio wefe. 
Some of his enemies have circulated the story 
tnat he found, while wandering in the forest, an 
old note book that had been lost by an early ex- 
plorer, and that he stole from this the ideas that 
he has written of as his own. 

But from the facts given in this history it is- 
more than probable that his remedy is the result 
of the days of silent meditation passed by the two* 
explorers in the little glade. 

For the first time, the writer regrets that he is 
writing facts instead of fiction, recording real in- 
cidents instead of romances, otherwise he would 
gladly send Onetax a second trip into the forest, 
give him a wider, truer, broader view into the- 
mysteries of the desolate wastes. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Christian began his narrative as follows. 

"Both of my parents died while I was an in- 
fant, and I was taken into the family of my uncle, 
the father of my cousin, Orthodox* Churchman, 
who, to render him full justice, treated me in all 
things as one of his sons. My cousin was nearly 
the same age as myself, and we shared religious 
instructions; but from the first there was a 
marked difference in the effects of the same 
teachings. Whether from natural perversity or 
from an instinctive groping after truth, I know 
not; but the main cause of all my boyish punish- 
ments sprung from asking irreverent and — as 
they were termed — blasphemous questions. I 
enquired why did God harden Pharoah’s heart? 
Why did He punish all the Egyptians for the 
sins of the king; and received for an answer a 
darkened bedroom and bread and water with 
ample time to think over my transgression. 

If I turned to ray cousin with doubts and 
queries, as one who might share my confidence, 
he bad but one answer, and I regret to add that 
the same claim animates his belief to this day v . 


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224 THE RAIL WA 

"I i you don't believe all that is in the Bible, you 
will go to hell.’ 

The most dreaded dream of my childhood was 
being thrown into a pit of dames in spite of my 
•cry ‘I do believe ’ 

As I grew older I learned to stifle my doubts, 
but the study of the Bible — as t Me inspired word 
of the living God — became a painful task. 

As I approached manhood and mingled with 
xny fellow men, experience had a surprise forme. 
I believed that men — raised under Christian in- 
fluences — rejected Christianity from one cause 
only, inherent wickedness; that they knowingly 
chose evil rather than good, deliberately refused 
the appeals of conscience, and more, that the fact 
was always acknowledged in hours of self-com- 
munion. But I met men of irreproachable con- 
du#t and moral life, sincere, true and devout 
•men, who assured me that conscience had com- 
pelled them to relinquish a former belief in 
Christianity, and if I succeeded in reaching the 
confidence of these men I discovered invariably, 
it was the Bible and its teachings they rejected, 
and not t)ie teachings of Christ 

The character of Jehovah had from childhood 
filled me with a repugnance that I had struggled 
against in vain. The God of Moses bore no 
affinity to the father of Christ. One was the di- 
vine protector of a tribe, a shield to guard and a 
-spear to destroy all other nations; the other was 
a beneficent creator, the giver of life, a father to 
be trusted by all who bore the human form. For 
years the internal conflict went on. Reason re- 
jected the infallibility of the Bible, while con- 
science clung to the words of Christ. Reason 
told me that the theology of the Mosaic age was 
now obsolete, and the morality of Israel took no 
account of other nations; conscience whispered 
that the religion of Christ can never grow old. 
Age cannot tarnish it, increased knowledge can- 
not weaken it, progress cannot destroy it, for it 
is a religion of purity and love. It cannot be 
improved, for a life short of perfection, is so far 
short of the Christian life. Yet such was the in- 
fluence of my early teachings, I could not sepa- 

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V CONDUCTOR. 

rate the two. The one implied the other, they 
were two halves of one whole, the opposite and 
equal arms of the religious balance. 

I cannot enter into any of the details of this 
long struggle, a struggle that awaits the Christian 
faith, and that will eventually sweep dogmas and 
creeds from the faith as the dust and ashes that 
defile the temple. The future must draw the 
lines between Christ and the Bible. 

I must, however, explain the great step that led 
me from the darkness and doubt into the light of 
faith, and that forced reason to clasp hands with 
belief. 

I asked myself the question: Suppose 1 had 
listened to the words of Christ? Suppose I had 
heard his doctrine from his own lips? Would l 
have follo wed him? Would I have the doubts 
that afflict me now? 

1 finally decided to take the Synoptic Gospels, 
and cull from them all the direct words of the 
Master; and then study the teachings ot Christ 
free from all the comments of the apostles. He 
certainly gave his disciples authority to teach his 
doctrine; but gave no directions for them to write 
creeds or to compile a written guide. Let us take 
it for granted that they were honest in writing 
and recording the teachings of Christ. But 
whether they were divinely inspired or not, the 
words of Christ are sufficient, and certainly He 
completed His mission, and left no authority for 
any additions to the doctrine. For more than 
three centuries his words supported the faith, 
and primitive Christianity begar to lose its pris- 
tine purity from the hour the Council of Carth- 
age compiled a written word of faith. 

When 1 had completed the selection, and had 
compiled a manuscript that contained all the re- 
corded words of Christ. I commenced its study 
with the endeavor to forget that any other source 
of doctrine or belief existed, to forget entirely 
the old Bible and the balance of the new. and to 
eliminate from my mind all the teachings of 
childhood a* well as the sermons heard in later 
years.” 

INTINUED. 


ECONOMIC DREAMS. 

BY IOSB GROS 

Truth is one and indivisible. To strive for thought. Then, we should never forget that a 
truth is to strive for happiness. That means to mere assertion of our own, or from our opponents, 
carefully weigh all that other men may have to is not going to have much influence in the ad- 
say against what we ourselves assert, as the re- vance of humanity. Assertions should rest on 
suit of our investigations in this or that line of historical facts, or on natural laws, or on self* 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 225 

evident principle*, easily apprehended by most the prices to be paid by the raw products. Be- 
people because appealing to the plain common cause even the bulk of our farmers are nothing, 
sense and experience of ihe bulk of humanity. but slaves, either tenants or saddled with mort- 
Two radical economic schools are now fighting gages and debts of all kinds, 
for future supremacy in the life of nations. One Some of our brother reformers are bent upon’ » 
of them proposes to simply socialize land rents, looking into all economic phenomena through a 
The other proclaims that nothing will do but the a key-hole, here and there — that one near Los 
socialization of capital, and the destruction pf Angeles, for instance We prefer to kick the 
rent The latter school is attempting a pretty door wide open, and let the eye sweep through 
hard job. and vve are sorry for the friends who the whole landscape of the industrial fabric. Let, 
are trying to get so much. They are bound to be then, our readers ascend with us up to altitudes 
disappointed, because wishing to obtain more from which we may take a birdse) e view of the 
than it is right. whole nation, through general estimates easily 

The socialization of rent is strictly ethical, be- apprehended by the average mind, 
cause rent is a social product The socialization We may have the equivalent of 10,000 factories 
of capital is essentially unjust, because capital is and commercial concerns of a certain importance, 
the product of individual exertions through mus- employing an average of 250 people each; aver- 
cular and brain power, while rent is but the re- age buildings and machinery worth $500,^00; 
suit of competition for the actual use of certain average land value of land improved and in use 
natural elements, indestructible in themselves, another $500,000, with at least $500,000 in land 
The destruction of rent, proposed by socialism, value from land kept idle. Total, $10,000,000,000 
is then just as impossible as that of chemical land values, $5,000,000,000 improvements, and 
affinity, because the result of social evolution. 2,500 000 workers — wage slaves — in the 10,000 
Socialism is, therefore, at war with ethical and factories or concerns. Back of those 10,000 large 
natural law. No wonder that our socialistic concerns we may have 500,006 stockholders, an 
friends are forever forced into wild assumptions, average of fifty for each concern. Each one of 
and bewildered by their own confusions of them is more or less of a private capitalist and a 
thought. private monopolist. That is what enables thenv 

In the March number of The Conductor, one to place part of their capital beyond their direct 
of those friends asserts that "wages being gov- control, and under the management of a few offi- 
erned by the necessities of the laborer, free land cers with salaries that would make the old Per- 
would not in the least improve his condition.” sian satraps look foolish. 

About five lines below we Are told that "wages As a general rule our 500,000 stockholders in 
are governed exclusively by the supply of labor- the 10,000 factories, etc . control at least $60,000 
ers seeking employment." and. by emphatic im- private capital — say, $20,000 labor created wealth, 
plication, the natural necessities of the laborer $20,000 improved land values, and $20,000 idle 
have nothing to do with the wages. It is only the land values Hence, individually or as members 
scanty necessities forced upon the laborers by the of corporations, etc , X>ur 500,000 above meu- 
absence of free land, that rule wages, and so land tioned chaps control, say $15,000,000,000 labor- 
monopoly is the bottom cause of all starvation created values, $15,000,000,000 improved land 
wages, of all wages failing to represent the total values, and $15,000 000,000 idle land values A 
product of labor. little more or a little less, with none of the syme- 

Take now that beet sugar factory near Los try indicated, only to have the problem more 
Angeles, spoken of by our friend We know that easily grasped, would not change the essence of 
the profits of that factory are immense, although the actual facts by which alone our monopolistic 
it only works a few months in the year. The capitalists, as a grand total, control our industrial 
modus operand/ of all such and similar concerns fabric to day 

is simple enough. Either the corporation or the Now listen to what that old crank, that crazy 
principal parties have previously secured the con- vagabond, the Single Taxer, has to say on the 
trol of most of the land from which the raw pro- above figures, or any others that you may prove to 
duct can be had the cheapest that the factory be more correct, 

needs for its operations. A portion of that land The $15,000,000,000 idle land values would be- 
is used, and the rest is kept out of the market, come the property of our wage slaves, under the 
That process, carried on all through the nation, single tax, and that would be a clear loss to our 
evolves a mass of wage slaves. The factory near monopolists. The process would be gradual, of 
Los Angeles, like every other, can then fix the course In about twelve years most of our now 
necessities of the workers, and so the wages, or wage slaves would have become capitalists. The 


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226 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


mere suppression of taxes on labor products 
would have placed in their hands not less than 
$15,000,000,000 in actual capital, besides the free 
land in question, some of it subject to certain 
economic rent, lower than what the workers pay 
to-day to our monopolists. The latter who are 
to-day obtaining not less than $2,000,000,000 per 
annum from monopoly rents and land sales, 
would lose, in twelve years, far over $24,000 000,- 
000 from that source alone, because land values 
are on the increase year after year. 

The above totals are far from representing the 
grand shifting of values which would take place 
from the monopoly fund into the labor fund, in 
the course of twelve or fifteen years. We may 
give more details in future articles, of what . a 
single tax social status would bring about. We 
do not like to give too much solid food at any one 
,meal. 

. We now desire to call the attention of our 
readers to the absence *of logic and business grasp 
peculiar to many of our socialistic friends We 
don't doubt their good intentions; but regret, with 
a mixture of amusement, the> hallucinations under 
which they labor. They insist upon the queer 
conception that the wagon can always control the 
team. The team is labor under freedom of con- 
tract, and so in free contact with well located 
land. The wagon is capital proper, the miserable 
plow worth $10, useless unless a worker handles 
it all right, or the $10,000,000 factory, useless 
also until connected with quantities of land, with 
coal, iron, timber, or capacity for use in some 
form or other, and also with 5, 000 landless men 
begging for a job because literally kicked out of 
God's universe by the iniquity of human laws. 
And so with all other factories, great or small. 
And so with all big farms in need of large capital, 
and yet unable to produce one-third per acre of 
what the average worker can raise with but $50 
worth of tools. Are we not justified in calling 
that — Economic Dreams? 

That the men whom we have educated for sev- 
eral generations should be more helpless than the 
savage, even with free access to all land, even 
with the skill they have acquired, and the few 


hundred dollars that many of them have saved, 
that assertion alone proves that our poor social- 
ists are sunk down into a ditch of despair from 
which none of their frantic efforts can bring them 
out. Our race would not be worth saving if it 
had sunk half as low as they proclaim or imply. 

And what about that eternal song of, “Beware 
of rent, interest and profits? " They remind us 
of the average priest or minister howling to their 
congregations, “Beware of the devil, the world 
and the flesh ! " Methinks that if we should be 
aware of our own selfishness, our desire to live at 
the expense of each other through laws of monop- 
oly, the only real devil, that then we would never 
be troubled with the world and the flesh. The 
world would then be a group of men respecting 
each others’ rights. The flesh would be the glo- 
rious earthly envelope of our glorious soul, in peace 
with God and humanity, and so enjoying the 
present glories of the present heaven on earth ! 

That shall be the case when we are aware of 
land rents* not being pocketed by the wrong part- 
ner. Neither interest nor profits shall then 
trouble us any more, as socialists would see if 
they only could drop the spectacles of their own 
economic dreams ! 

The last preceding sentence was intended as the 
end of the article, when in comes to us, from first- 
class authority, a group of data on beet sugar fac- 
tories We have but seven of them. They pro- 
duced about 44,000,000 pounds of sugar in 1893, 
nearly 80 per cent of that from the three largest 
factories, one of .them being that near Los An- 
geles. The amount invested in the seven facto- 
ries is about $2,000,000. The protection they 
have received in the last four years alone, through 
bounties and duties, represents more than the 
$2,000,000. The bounties alone for 1893 were 
$860,000. The people have then furnished the 
whole capital of the seven factories, and more, 
too, in four years, through those methods of taxa- 
tion which the single tax would suppress. And 
how dreadful that would be ! 

And still our capitalism does not represent class 
legislation, as some of our innocent socialists as- 
sert ! 


THE ESSENCE OF ROBBERY. 

BY W. P. BORLAND. 


Whenever by any means persons are compelled 
to deliver up to others any portion of tjieir legiti- 
mate property without their full and free consent, 
or when they are compelled to deliver up prop- 
erty, or exercise labor, for the benefit of others 


without receiving a complete equivalent therefor, 
they are the victims of robbery; no matter what 
name may be applied to the fruits of sncb rob- 
bery, or under what legal sanctions the process of 
robbery may be conducted. The essence of rob- 


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THE RAILWAY 

bery consists in taking without rendering a full 
equivalent, and it matters little to the victim 
what name is applied to the fruits of robbery, or 
what social or legal conventions' may operate to 
render them legitimate, the effect oa him, as a 
person deprived of what justly belongs to him, is 
the same. As long as the person robbed can be 
be kept in ignorance of the fact that he is the vic- 
tim of robbery be exercises no concern abont the 
matter, and generally remains on the best of terms 
with his robber, but the moment he obtains 
knowledge, the moment it becomes clear to him 
that be is the victim of robbery, that moment he 
is seized with an uncontrolable desire to obtain 
justice, to procure his own from the hands of the 
robber, and be never rests content until it be- 
comes clear to him that he has recovered his own, 
or, at any rate, put an end to the process of rob- 
bery, from the operation of which he was a suf- 
ferer This principle of resistance to robbery is 
inherent its human natute; it is, in fact, the bot- 
tom principle of all civilization, of all progress. 
It is only as men have tamely submitted to rob- 
bery in some form or other that civilization has 
declined and nations have decayed and perished, 
and it is only as they have resisted, and rebelled 
against robbery, that tbey have advanced in civ- 
ilization and sound national growth, and that men 
enjoy whatever measure of liberty they have to- 
day Although this spirit of resistance to rob- 
bery is purely an expression of the ego in human 
nature, is wholly an egoistic principal in its pri- 
mary development, there is no principle of altru- 
ism that is competent to subdue or nullify its ac- 
tion. No considerations of public, or collective, 
good— and such considerations have been urged 
with every show of reason and plausibility — have 
been of sufficient weight to suppress this egoistic 
sentiment so far to bold altruistic communi- 
ties together for any length of time, after any 
considerable number of their members have be- 
come convinced, whether rightly or wrongly, that 
they were being robbed, that they were being de- 
prived of what justly belonged to them by the 
necessities of their compact. The historical evi- 
dence on this point is complete, and of the most 
convincing character; and it is a fact that, al- 
though socialists and those who magnify altruism 
delight to call individualism “an infernal doc- 
trine, “ socialism has gained strength only in the 
direction in which it has developed the ego and 
made concessions to the spirit of individualism. 
Were it not that socialism promises a better de- 
velopment of the ego, were it not for the conten- 
tion that the socialistic regime alone is compe- 
tent to guarantee complete individual liberty, 
socialism would be as devoid of life as thesphynxs 


CONDUCTOR. 227 

of Egypt, and would scarce be able to number a 
corporal s guard, comparatively speaking, among 
its supporters. This fact — and I present it as a 
statement of fact, not a mere obiter dictum — is 
sufficient to expose the absurd inconsistency of 
those socialists who declaim against the princi- 
ples of individualism; and the influence which 
gives prominence to the fact has an important 
bearing on the theories of socialism. 

One of the bitterest criticisms directed by so- 
cialists against the present system refers to the 
use of money, in that by such use of money, and 
thrdugh the influence of what Marx calls “the 
fetichism of commodities," the exploitation of the 
laborer is hidden from his view. By reducing 
his reward to the standard of a money payment 
the laborer is completely divorced from his na- 
tural relations with the product of his labor, and 
his real relation to the capitalist who employs 
him is concealed; it is made to appear that the 
laborer's wage is commensurate with the value of 
the labor he contributes to the productive pro- 
cesses. and the fact that be is, by the mere exer- 
cise of bis labor, contributing surplus-value for 
the benefit of the capitalist does not present itself 
to his view. He (the laborer) receives the price 
of his labor in money, and the fact that he may 
reproduce this price by the exercise of but five 
hours’ labor, while he actually works during ten 
or more hours for the benefit of th* capitalist, is 
concealed by the appearance of equivalence which 
the money form of value establishes between his 
labor- commodity and the price he receives for it. 
His real relation to social production, as a crea- 
tor of products, does not appear; he appears to 
work for so much money; and the value he cre- 
ates in exchange for that money does not enter 
into his calculations at all, because the basis for 
such calculation is destroyed by the operation^ 
the money form of value, which form is but the 
natural expression of the complete evolution ot a 
system of commodity production — capitalism. 
There is a great deal of truth contained in this 
criticism. The money form of value does, cer- 
tainly, conceal many irregularities: and what 
Carlyle called the “cash-nexus” is used to cover 
up injustice and establish many unnatural rela- 
tions throughout the social organism. While it 
is true that the money form of value conceals in- 
justice. it is my opinion- that the socialists have 
unduly magnified the importance of the “cash- 
nexus" idea. 

But it is not my purpose to state the basis of 
that opinion here. I have merely adverted to the 
idea for the purpose of calling attention to a partic- 
ular development of its antithesis, which socialists 
will have to contend with, and which no princi- 


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228 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

pie of altruism is competent to override and put concerning the socialistic postion. it would be 


out of sight. Socialism proposes to get rid of the 
"fetichism of commodities." which is concealed 
in the money form of value, in the most efffctual 
manner, by abolishing money entirely and estab- 
lishing perfectly clear and distinct relations be- 
tween the laborer and his product. Nothing can 
be simpler than the socialistic scheme of estab- 
lishing the value of products on a basis of the 
quantity of labor-time re 4 uired for iheir produc- 
tion. and awarding to each producer his propor- 
tionate share of such prooucts as estimated* by the 
same rule of value — the labor time expended in 
production. There is nothing ambiguous about 
such a scheme; the relations of the producer to 
his product stard out clear and distinct, and if he 
fails to receive ihe full product of his labor there 
is no unnatural value relation to cover up the fact 
and conceal it from his view. He will be able 
to instantly detect any irregularities tending to 
deprive him of the full product of his labor, and, 
whatever the necessities of the socialistic state, 
that natural spirit of resistance to robbery will 
assert itself whenever It shall appear to him, 
whether rightly or wrongly, that such irregulari- 
ties exist. The establishment of this unambigu- 
ous relation has manifest advantages from many 
points of view, but from the point of view which 
concerns itself with maintaining the integrity of a 
purely altruistic commonwealth the advantages 
are not so manifest. In the first place, as I have 
before pointed out, in order to secure the free dis- 
tribution of labor in a proper economic ratio with 
the demand for the various products, throughout 
the entire arena of social production, the social- 
ists have been led into a complete abandonment 
of their theory of value. This result has come 
about as a concession to the principles of individ- 
ualism; it is the only thing ihat enables so- 
cialism to maintain the faintest show of strength 
as a social theory, but, it must be remembered, 
that in abandoning their theory of value they 
have not appeared to do so. They still insist 
that labor-time is the absolute measure of value, 
and. although, when seeking converts from the 
ranks of the individualists, they descant on the 
obvious advantages which their organic pro- 
gramme presents for the preservation of individ 
ual liberty, and the fact that the law of supply 
and demand would be fully utilized by them for 
the purpose of determining the value of individual 
labor, they still, critically, denounce individual- 
ism as an “infernal doctrine" and pour out with- 
out stint the phials of their wrath upon the “in- 
iquitous” law of supply and demand Perhaps, 
in order to obtain a better development of the 
subject, and in order that there be no mistake 


well to present *an authoritative utterance on this 
point. I know of none better than the following 
quotation frofti tjie work of M. Deville. Marx's 
French commentator, which I quote at second 
hand, as the original work has nat yet. to my 
knowledge, been translated into English, and I 
am unfamiliar with the French language: 

“It is, in the same way, by exciting self-inter- 
est that we shall secure the performance of labor 
especially dangerous or repugnant by an increase 
being made in the price of an hour of ordinary 
labor. It will be laid down, for example, that 
four hours devoted to these ungrateful tasks will 
be equivalent to six or seven hours of common 
labor. In all this, moreover, there will be noth- 
ing laid down arbitrarily; the difference, for the 
same gain, between the time employed in ordi- 
nary labor and that employed in disagreeable la- 
bor, will vary in accordance wkh the supply and 
demand of labor belonging to the last category.” 

Observe that it is upon the "exciting (of) self- 
interest” that the socialists rely to secure har- 
mony in the economic adjustments of their Co- 
operative Commonwealth. Quite an anomalous 
condition of affairs, certainly, when it is com id 
ered that "self interest” is indicated as a monster 
that has been the author of all the terrible evils 
which are present in the society of to-day. The 
nationalists carry their concession to the spirit of 
individualism to the absurd extreme of reducing 
the day’s labor even to the insignificant length 
of ten minutes ! whenever it shall appear neces- 
sary to secure the free movement of a body of la- 
borers towards a particular industry. However 
the nationalistic application of Marx’s theory of 
value is in some respects unique, it is all their 
own, and they are really more logical than their 
European brethren, but it is the socialistic theory 
proper, in its effect upon the individual, that I 
shall consider before alluding specifically to na- 
tionalism. The effect upon individual working- 
men of establishing a disproportion between the 
number of hours worked in different occupations, 
for the same reward, will appear clear enough to 
those who think sufficiently about the matter, in 
the light erf a full understanding of all the circum- 
stances surrounding the producers of wealth. It 
is, of course, to the interest of each worker to re- 
duce the period of labor in his own particular oc- 
cupation to the lowest possible point, and also, 
to establish as great a disproportion as possible 
between the period of labor in his own occupation 
and the period in all other occupations, in favor 
of his own occupation. This, because of the fact 
that the greater the disproportion that existed in 
favor of a particular occupation the greater would 
be the reward, proportionate to the reward in oth- 
er occupations, which the worker in such oocu 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


pation would receive for his hour's labor. Here 
is an element of discord and rivalry that would 
sorely make its appearance, and which would 
surely tend to disrupt the harmony of the social* 
istic state and render its task of carrying on the 
productive processes by the free movement of in- 
dividual producers one of considerable magni- 
tude. to say the least. The worker who received 
a definite quantity of his own product, cloth for 
instance. »n exchange for the exercise of five 
hours' labor, would be liable to look with sus- 
picion on the producer, of iron, for instance, who 
secured an equal quantity of cloth in exchange for 
but one or two hours* labor; and he would cer- 
tainly entertain the feeling that he was being 
robbed, by reason of the existence of this condi- 
tion, unless it could be made perfectly clear to 
him that the ironworker's product was, justly 
and actually, four or five times as valuable as his 
own. There is no ambiguous form of value to 
cover up the relations of the producer to bis prod- 
uct; the clothworker receives a definite quantity 
of cloth solely for the reason that he has contrib- 
uted five hours of his labor-time to the process of 
social production, and the ironworker receives the 
same quantity of cloth for the sole and only rea- 
son that he has worked during one hour’s time in 
the process of social production There is the 
issue squarely made up between the two sets of 
workers. The value relation is clear and distinct, 
and there is no way to cover it up. The iron- 
worker gets five times as much cloth for his hour's 
labor as the clothworker gets, and the clothwork- 
er is only able to procure one-fiftb as much iron 
for his hour's labor as the ironworker can secure. 
It is to the clothworker's interest to reduce this 
ratio of exchange as much as possible, while it is 
to the ironworker's interest to maintain or even 
increase it. The ratio may be reduced by reduc- 
ing the period of labor in clothworking or in- 
creasing the period of labor in iron working. 
Either of these measures the ironworker will re- 
sist, since the one will tend to reduce the quantity 
of cloth he can get in exchange for his hour’s la- 
bor, and the other, in addition to the first result, 
will make his period of labor more exhausting and 
onerous. Here will be an occasion for the exhi- 
bition of the deadly strife and competition be- 
tween the diverse sets of workers throughout the 
socialistic state, which socialists now so roundly 
condemn and which they so confidently predict 
would be destroyed by the application of their 
theories. 

It may be urged that the good of the entire so- 
cial body would be the paramount consideration 
in the view of the workers, which would induce 
them to acquiesce in the disproportions estab- 


?29 

Jished between their various products and labors; 
and that self-interest would occupy a subordinate 
position instead of being the ruling consideration, 
as now. But socialists are hardly in a position to 
urge this point, seeing that the disproportions 
themselves are allowed for the very purpose of 
“exciting self-interest" and bringing it to the 
front. Theoretioally, the problem would work 
itself out without friction, by the free movement 
of workers between the various industries tend- 
ing to establish equilibrium. But .here, again, 
the practical operation of this free movement 
might differ vastly from its theoretical working 
out. The iron worker, or other laborer, who 
was enjoying the distinction of having his labor 
valued at four or five times the rate of other la- 
bor, would be inclined *to resist the influx of 
laborers into his field of labor that would surely 
reduce the value of bis labor, proportionate to the 
value of other labor, and render his period of la- 
bor of greater duration, and more exhaustive to 
himself. And it is not so certain, either, that the 
workers would be inclined to such thorough free- 
dom of movement as to secure fntire economic 
harmony throughout the divers categories of pro- 
duction and distribution, even supposing that 
such freedom of movement encountered no re- 
sistance from the workers themselves. When 
men are once relieved from the fear of want and 
assured of the right, and the opportunity, to ex- 
ercise their labor in their chosen occupation, 
which they have probably been habituated to for 
a considerable period of time, they are not likely 
to rush pell mell into some other occupation upon 
the mere assurance of a slight reduction in the 
hours of their daily labor. They would be much 
more likely to remain in their chosen occupation, 
while entering a vigorous protest against the in- 
equalities in compensation from which they were 
convinced they were tfie sufferers. They would 
be likely to consider that, by the operation of 
these inequalities, they were the victims of rob- 
bery; and the socialist administration would 
thereupon encounter a very well defined spirit of 
resistance to such robbery unless the dispropor- 
tion was, in some way, removed. Statistics 
might be produced, ad libitum, plainly marking 
out the economic necessities of the situation, and 
justifying the administration in the establishment 
of the disproportions as they then existed. It 
might be shown that the good of the state re- 
quired that things should be allowed to exist just 
as they were, but what sort of a showing would 
be competent to cover up the fact that one man 
was working five times as long as another, for 
the same reward, in a state where labor-time bad 
been adopted as the absolute measure of value? 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


230 


The socialist administration would, eventually, be 
compelled to take the bull by the horns and com- 
pel the various bodies of workers to distribute 
themselves in a proper economic ratio throughout 
the arena of social production. The attempt to 
secure a thoroughly harmonious result, one that 
would avoid enormous waste in production, by 
appeals to self-interest, would certainly prove to 
be a dismal failure. There is a gre^t deal of 
truth in that observation of Schaffle's “The bare 
labor-cost value, as it has been formulated up to 
now, invests the whole economy of socialism for 
the' present with the character of an Utopia." 

Would socialism destroy rent, interest and 
profits? I am quite certain it would do nothing 
of the kind. As at present formulated, socialism 
is not competent to suppress these factors, as it 
leaves many loopholes through which the master- 
ship and exploitation against which it inveighs 
can break in again in broad streams. Socialism 
does not deny the right of private property in the 
means of enjoyment, and there is no principle of 
socialism thatjwould prevent accumulations of 
such property; it does not f interfere with the laws 
of bequest and inheritance; it permits the indi- 
vidual to use, or dispose of, his own property in 
any way he sees fit, short of using such prop- 
erty as a means of. income. It follows that so- 
cialism would permit free buying and selling 
(with no view to profit) and, also, gratuitous lend- 
ing. lake the item of grain, for instance: the 
total quantity produced in any one year repre- 
sents a definite quantity of labor-time employed 
in its production, but the quantity of grain itself, 
which is the product of this labor, will vary in 
accordance with the exigencies of the seasons. 
The product of grain, for a given effort, depends 
not upon the will of man, but upon the fortuitous 
movements of nature. This year the exercise of 
a definite quantity ot labor-time results in a prod- 
uct of one million bushels of wheat. Next year, 
by reason of a bad season, the same quantity of 
labor-time is embodied in no more than half the 
present quantity of wheat. This raises the price 
of wheat to double its present price, because the 
same quantity of labor is embodied in half the 
quantity of wheat, and the worker who is now 
receiving a definite quantity of wheat in exchange 
for a check for one hour’s labor must next year 
deliver up a check for two hours' labor in ex- 
change for the same quantity of wheat. Now, 
what is to prevent the far-sighted citizen of the 
socialistic state from anticipating the event of a 
bad harvest, and accumulating a considerable 
supply of wheat at the lower price? Would the 
social administration refuse him the right to do 
this? Would it say to him, “you have no right to 


exchange your tabor for wheat for the purpose 
of storing it up with the view to future use. even 
when the exchange is made in strict conformity 
with our own rule of value?" There is no prin- 
ciple of socialism that would permit, or justify, 
the denial of this right; and if it is not denied, 
the individual who exercises it is the receiver of 
profit from the labor of others. He is enjoying 
the use of wheat at a lower price than his fel- 
lows. Under any proper system of value, the 
problem would solve itself automatically Under 
a system that had regard for utility as a factor 
in. the determination of the magnitude of value, 
the bare prospect of a bad harvest would raise the 
present price of wheat to a figure commensurate 
with what it might be in the future, and render 
the effort to obtain profit by reason of any con- 
templated rise in value entirely harmless, be- 
cause left without a motive to support it. But. 
because held down to its theory of bare labor- 
cost, the socialist administration is in no position 
to take advantage of this economic movement of 
value; it must continue to deliver its present stock 
of wheat to those who demanded it, at a price 
which just answered to cover its bare labor-cost 
of production. The only way to escape the di- 
lemma is for the socialist administration to lay 
hands on the liberty of the individual, and decree 
that he shall have no right to apply his labor to 
the accumulation of a stock of wheat with a view 
to future use; the individual must be refused the 
right of holding in his own possession any more 
than a specified quantity of wheat, which will 
only answer to supply his present needs. How- 
ever, that is not socialism, as at present formu- 
lated, and when the decree is made there will be no 
reason for the socialists to talk any further about 
freedom of consumption and individual liberty, 
as when such a principle is admitted into the so- 
cialistic program there is nothing left upon which 
to hinge an argument for liberty, and socialism is 
deprived of its greatest charm for the masses. I 
use this one item merely for the purpose of illus- 
tration; the development of the idea may be ex- 
tended almost indefinitely. 

In a thousand and one different directions, and 
with an almost infinite number and variety of 
products, would the ingenuity of man be able to 
extract profit from the labor of others through 
the operation of the socialistic law of value 
And what would prevent an individual who might 
have accumulated a quantity of wheat at a low 
price from selling his wheat again, to others who 
stoDd in need of it, at a price below that de- 
manded by the state? Suppose he had given a 
check for one hour’s labor in exchange for each 
bushel of his wheat while the new price estab- 


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lished by thf state was a check for ten 
hoars' labor in exchange for each bushel. 
The individual would then be able to sell 
his wheat at a considerable reduction from 
the state price, while still retaining in his own 
possession a very considerable profit as a result of 
the transaction. And in what way shall he be 
prevented from doing this? The laws of the so- 
cialistic state would not permit such a transac- 
tion. Of course they would not; but if it were 
only sufficient to know that the commission of any 
act would be rendered impossible by merely plac- 
ing it in contravention of law. the problems 
which society is called upon to solve would be 
much simplified, indeed. Unfortunately, we can 
not always be sure about these laws. A transac- 
tion like the above would need to be kept ex- 
tremely shady, certainly, but that might easily be 
done; the ones who profited by the scheme would 
not be likely to make much of a kick about the 
matter, and they are the only ones who would need 
to know anything about it. There would be de- 
veloped a little profit making machine, inside of 
the big anti-profit machine; and the little ma- 
chine would derive its support from the big ma- 
chine's own instruments. And even a strictly 
communistic regime does not seem to be compe- 
tent to the task of entirely suppressing interest, 
as we may learn from the history of the Russian 
Mir. The Mir was a strictly communistic society; 
all property was held in common; yet, within 
these societies, interest grew to be so great an 
evil as to stamp the interest takers with an espec- 
ially opprobrious epithet. They were known as 
“Eaters of the Mir." There is no reason to sup- 
pose that, in the management of their incomes, 
persons would act much differently after social- 
ism had become established than they do to day. 
There would always be some devotees of joy, 
who, in pursuing the pleasure of the present mo- 
ment, kept themselves in a chronic condition of 
poverty, and who were never possessed of quite 
enough labor notes to go around. There would 
be others, again, cautious, close calculating citi- 
zens, misers, if you will, who always had an eye 
for the future, and who continued to pile labor 
notes upon labor notes with the view of provid- 
ing against the exigencies of fortune. Now, 
what would prevent the citizen who stood in need 
of labor notes to provide for some present want, 
from discounting his income, by borrowing a 
quantity of labor notes from the person who had 
plenty of them and agreeing to repay them some 
time in the future? This transaction would be 
perfectly legitimate; there is no principle of so- 
cialism to forbid it. Agreed, but the transaction 
would only be allowed on the distinct under- 


23I 

standing that there was to be no payment of in- 
terest. Very true, but can anyone recall a pro- 
hibition against usury, in the entire history of 
usury laws, that has been effective? Can it be 
shown that any sort of an arrangement is compe- 
tent to suppress usury when two inrHv duals are 
facing each other, the one willing to give usury, 
and the other anxious to take it? I wish to bor- 
row one hundred dollars There is a very strict 
prohibition against the taking of interest. I give 
my note for one hundred and ten dollars to the 
person who is willing to loan me the money, and 
receive one hundred dollars in exchange for it. 
On the face of the transaction there is no evi- 
dence of interest. The interest is covered up in 
the principal in such a way that it is impossible 
to detect its existence; the principals to the tran- 
saction are the only ones who need know any- 
thing about it, and the social machine that has 
burdened itself with the task of suppressing in- 
terest has not a peg upon which to hang a cause 
of action. As long as gratituous lending is al- 
lowed there is no way of suppressing interest, 
and when gratuitous lending is forbidden there 
need be no more talk about individual liberty. 

I cannot but think that the nationalists have 
foreseen some of these contradictory aspects of 
scientific socialism, and have formulated their 
programme with the view to avoid them. The 
nationalists avoid the difficulty which might arise 
as a result of the inequalities in material condi- 
tion that would be established by reason of ine- 
qualities in payment for the different classes of 
labor, by establishing a complete equality 
of payment for all labor without any 
distinction, whatever. They are thus far 
logical in their application of Marx's theory, 
that they recognize the fact that if labor- 
time is the absolute measure of value, one man's 
labor is just as valuable as another’s, and should 
receive the same reward. But they knock their 
logic all in the head again when they make an 
absurd attempt to establish an appearance of in- 
dividual liberty, by decreeing differences in the 
duration of the labor day as an inducement for 
workers to freely distribute themselves through- 
out the different occupations, in a proper eco- 
nomic ratio to correspond with the needs of pro- 
duction. The nationalistic labor day would vary 
from a maximum duration of, say, eight hours — 
and even that may appear excessive to the nation- 
alist-down to a minimum duration, as Dr. 
Leete tells us, of ten minutes; and the reward 
would be exactly equal to each. We may sup- 
pose that when the year’s product of the national 
industry came to be divided, there would be 
enough to assign to each worker a product equal 


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232 

in value to three thousand of our dol- 
lars, or ten dollars for each day’s work, 
on a basis of three hundred working days 
in a year. Then, one worker would receive 
ten dollars for ten minutes’ work, while another 
received ten dollars for four hundred and eighty 
minute’s work. One would be paid at the rate of 
a dollar a minute, while the other would get two 
and one-twelfth cents a minute. One would get 
sixty dollars an hour, the other would get one 
dollar and twenty-five cents an hour. One would 
work *400 hours for three thousand dollars, the 
other would work 50 hours for three thousand 
dollars. And this is what the nationalists denom- 
inate equality! This is what they want us to be- 
lieve represents entire absence of exploitation! 
I wish I could believe they were right, as I have 
some very good friends who are traveling the 
nationalistic road and I would wish to travel with 
them. But the nationalists go much further than 
this in their search for equality, by restricting 
the currency of their credit cards to the single 
period for which they are issued. As, for in- 
stance, the cards which are issued for this year’s 
product would have no more value than so much 
blank paper, after the cardk for next year’s prod- 
uct had been issued; they would not be received 
at the national storehouses in exchange for goods. 
Thus, the person who failed to spend every parti- 
cle of his income in the year for which it was 
issued could not spend it at all; the evidence that 
he was entitled to receive a certain quantity of 
products would be useless to him. And this is 
what they call freedom of consumption! I can 
conceive of no measure better calculated to en- 
force equality of material condition, nor for the 
creation of a nation of reckless spendthrifts. 

One of the greatest ev Is in the present society 
lies in the vast amount of unproductive consump- 
tion, or in the disproportion that exists between 
the numbers of those who work productively and 
those who do no work, between those who live by 
the product of their own labor and those who 
live by the product of the labor of others. How 
does nationalism regard this problem? National- 
ism is particularly strong on this point. The un- 
productive consumer would be a rara avis, in- 
deed, under nationalism; he would not be toler- 
ated. Let us see The industrial army of the 
nationalists is composed of all persons between 
the ages of twenty-one and forty-five; males and 
females after reaching the age of forty five be- 
come pensioners, unproductive consumers, and 
all persons below the age of twenty-one are also 
unproductive consumers. Thus, it is, the ones 
belonging to the industrial army who are sup* 
porting all the others; they are the only pro- 


ducers in the nation. Only about 30 per cent of 
the population of the country,* counting both 
males and females, is included between the ages 
of twenty and forty; the exact ratio is 310 to the 
thousand Giving the nationalists the benefit of 
the four year’* longer period, we may say that 40 
per cent of *he citizens of the nationalistic state 
would be producers, while 60 per cent would be 
unproductive consumers, and this will correspond 
with the statistics of the German Empire where 
39 per cent of the population is included between 
the ages of twenty one and forty-five. And it 
must be remembered that of this 40 per cent 
nearly half are females, whose productive power 
must, of course, be rated much below that of the 
males; and an indefinite number of these pro- 
ducers are to work but ten minutes a day! It is 
hard to give such propositions as this any 
serious consideration, when they are advanced as 
remedies for the problem of unproductive con- 
sumption. Six persons out of every ten in the 
nation, idly consuming the product of the labors 
of the other four, two of which four are women, 
does not present to my view a very much better 
condition cf affairs than we have to-day I can 
see but little difference between compelling one 
to support others in idleness, by requiring pay- 
ments of rent and interest for the privilege of 
living upon the earth, and requiring him to sup- 
port others in idleness by forcing him to become 
a soldier in Mr. Bellamy's industrial army. 

A few words, in conclusion, to my critic, Mr. 
Randolph: I may say that much of this gentle- 
man’s criticism is entirely without point; for the 
reason, probably, that he proceeds on the hypo- 
thesis that the acceptance of socialism is the only 
thing that is conducive to “original thinking," 
and when he intimates that socialism furnishes a 
better development of “freedom of demand.'" 
“than there would be under any conceivable in- 
dividualistic state of society,” I must doubt his 
competency as a critic of the principles of indi- 
vidualism. Mr. Randolph should understand 
that I am not posing as a defender of the present 
system, and that I am in no wise “enmeshed in 
the capitalistic net.” The consequences I pre- 
sented, and which he attempts to criticise, are 
logically deduced from the economic principle of 
socialism; and he would much better have at- 
tempted to show that my conceptions of that prin- 
ciple are erroneous than to enter into a pointless 
condemnation of the wage system of industry. 
Mr. Randolph has not the slightest warrant for 
translating my “freedom of demand” into ' free- 
dom of contract.” I said not one word that gives 
him the faintest authority for placing an arbitrary 
definition on the terra I used. My definition of 


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“freedom of demand ’ was clear and unambigu- 
ous. and I even brought the eminent socialist. 
Dr. Schaffle. to my aid so as to explain exactly 
what I meant. I can only say that the person 
who attempts to extract two meanings from my 
definition is much more desirous of using an 
ignoratio elenchi than a legitimate argument. 
Again, at the very outset of my article, I gave the 
socialists full credit for the intention to preserve 
“freedom of demand ” I showed that the social- 
ists were thoroughly anxious to maintain com- 
plete liberty of the individual in all his household 
arrangements; and I think I showed that the ap- 
plication of their economic principle was not com- 
petent to correspond with their intentions. Mr. 
Randolph could hardly have failed to observe the 
point towards which he should have directed his 
criticism, were he a thoroughly competent critic. 
Now, as a socialist, I would be pleased to have 
Mr. Randolph produce his authority for the as- 
sumption that “freedom of contract" would be 
preserved under socialism. “Freedom of con- 
tract" is a term that refers wholly to a particular 
development of the capitalistic regime; it has no 
meaning whatever apart from the wages system 
of industry, and what right have socialists to as- 
sume its continuance under socialism, which pro- 
poses to tear up the wages system root and branch, 
which buries the capitalistic regime forever out 
of sight? When socialists present such argu- 
ments as this, it can only be assumed that they 
are ignorant of their own theories. Socialism 
means status, not contract. The citizen of the 
socialistic state would occupy a definite position, 
and enjoy a definite reward, solely for the reason 
that he was a citizen of the state, not because he 
bad entered into any contract for the enjoyment 
•of his position, or the reward connected with it. 


If we pay any attention to the generalizations of 
such men as Sir Henry Maine, socialism repre- 
sents a step backward in the progress of human- 
ity. Maine has shown, and also Professor De 
Laveleye. that the progress of the race has, inva- 
riably. been a movement from status to contract. 
Socialism is a movement backward, again, from 
contract to status. However, we need not con- 
cern ourselves much with these generalizations, 
we may find plenty of material for inductive spec- 
ulation in the contemplation of current facts. It 
is quite true that the assumption that “socialism 
would be under the necessity of making laws 
against private production" is a “conjecture," or, 
rather, a deduction, of ray own. I am quite 
aware that the collective now presents many 
economical advantages over the individual system 
of production. But I have many, and weighty, 
reasons of ray own for believing that this is be- 
cause the -collective system now represents much 
less than a general condition. I have not the 
space here to present arguments on this point, 
but if Mr. Randolph reads the present article 
carefully he may take note of one particular di- 
rection in which the profit system might operate 
to undermine socialism. Mr. Randolph is wrong 
in the assumption that I have admitted that the 
spirit of invention would be stimulated by social- 
ism; in fact, what I did say was quite the con- 
trary, and the reasons why the government would 
be compelled to either accept every invention 
offered or discriminate in its selections, were 
quite fully presented in my article. Mr. Ran- 
dolph should confine himself to the point. I am 
pleased to have any socialist criticise any objec- 
tions of mine to the socialistic program; I am 
always in search of truth in the domain of social 
science. But I want honest and competent crit- 
icism, that I will always welcome. 


A FIN DE SIECLE “FAKE. 


BY W. H. 

Ricardo’s law of rent, which Henry George has 
adopted, and upon which the single-tax theory is 
based. «#ay be expressed by the formula: “Rent 
of land is determined by the excess of its produce 
over that which the same application can secure 
from the least productive land in use." 

Let me give a simple illustration of this law. 
Say that the land of a country is divided into 
three grades, of varying productivity. Let us 
number them i, 2 and 3. Until grade No. 1 is 
taken up no land has any rental value, but as 
soon as grade No. 1 is exhausted it possesses a 
rental value, measured by its excess of product- 


STUART. 

ivity, with the same labor, over grade No. 2. 
Let us call the difference of “rent" ten. Until 
grade No. 2 is all appropriated, No. 3 will have 
no value, it will be what is economically ex- 
pressed, “at the margin of Cultivation." vVhen 
grade No. 2 is all in use, it will bring in rent the 
excess of its productivity, with the same labor, 
over grade No. 3. Let us express this as ten. 
But now, grade No. 1 has a rental value, as ex- 
pressed by its excess of productive capacity over 
grade No 3, of twenty. This is economic rent. The 
law is assumed to act under conditions of abso- 
lute freedom. No disturbing factors xp change 
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254 

or vitiate the law are contemplated or provided for 
in Ricardo’s theory. But under present condi- 
tions of land ownership, a disturbing factor of 
enormous effect has been introduced, namely: 
land monopoly. 

Let us see how this affects rental values. Sup- 
pose. before land of grade No. 1 had been all 
appropriated, certain speculators had obtained 
possession of the remainder; they could demand 
as Tent” its excess of productivity over grade 
No 2. and if, when all of the best grade was in 
use. they succeeded in getting possession of grade 
No. 2, they could manifestly demand at once as 
rent of No. i, its rental value over grade No. 3. 
This would be "monopoly rent,” due to the 
monopolization of unused land. This is what 
now obtains. 

Under conditions of freedom, under which 
the law of rent is assumed to operate, rent in 
this country Would be nominal. Not rqore than 
five per cent of our land is in use. Land of the 
first quality is not all in use. Certainly not in 
regard to agricultural land. The only land upon 
which rent would arise would be the more favor- 
ably situated sites in our towns and cities. But, 
under our system of land monopolization, rent is 
enormously increased. Monopolization of land 
has the same effect as the reduction of its area 
and extent. 

It is evident that in the illustration I gave, that 
rent would not commence until all land of grade 
No. 1 was exhausted. Therefore, the extent and 
area of grade No 1 is an important factor in de- 
ciding when rent shall commence. If before it 
is half used, the rest of that grade is monopo- 
lized, rent commences that much sooner, and 
increases with every dimunition of the area of 
free land, through the monopolization process. 

Under present conditions, nearly all land is in 
the hands of private owners. Present rent is 
not, therefore, "economic” rent, but 1 monopoly” 
rent, or competition or rack rents, due altogether 
to the monopolization of unused land. Here is 
where the absurdity of the single- tax theory 
appears. Henry George ignorantly overlooked 
the important change that land monopolization has 
effected in increasing rent. He assumed that 
present rent was economic rent. There is not a 
word in Progress and Poi'erty that would indi 
cate that he had the slightest conception of the 
difference; on the contrary, in answering a cor- 
respondent in the Standard he stated explicitly 
that present rent was what the single-tax was 
designed to confiscate. In his "Letter to the 
Pope” he for the first time shows that he per- 
ceives the difference between "economic” and 
"monopoly” rent. 


But the single-tax theory is based on the sup- 
posed sufficiency of a "single" tax on land to 
provide all necessary revenue for public pur- 
poses It is evident, however, and is continually 
insisted upon by single- taxers, that the adoption 
of the single tax would utterly destroy monopoly 
of unused land. This is true. Therefore, under 
a single-tax regime . all land, both urban and 
agricultural, not needed for immediate use. would 
be abandontd by the owners from inability to 
pay the tax, and as we have 90 per cent more 
land than there is present use for, rental values 
would enormously decrease to perhaps one-temb 
of that obtained under present conditions. This 
reduces the single- tax theory to an absurdity, and 
shows upon how insecure a foundation Henry 
George raised so pretentious a theory . 

As a mere scheme for raising the largest possi- 
ble revenue from land, our present land system 
is probably the best that could be devised. It 
prevents the virtual monopolization of the entire 
continent* the private owners of which continue 
to pay taxes to the community, much of wbi:b 
land will be required for use within the next cen- 
tury. This is why asse$kors undervalue vacant 
land; they know that if assessed at its full value, 
as the law directs, the owners would be 
forced to abandon it, and by throwing it upon the 
market would enormoujly reduce the taxable 
value of improved land, and thereby reduce the 
revenue for public purposes. 

It has been urged against this view of the case, I 
that the reason vacant land is under-assessed is j 
because ' 'boodle” has been used to influence the 
assessors. That this is true in many cases may 
be admitted. But the practice of undervaluing 
vacant land is universal; there is no exception. 
There must surely be one honest assessor in the 
United States. Those, however, who take this 
view of the matter must explain how the system 
would improve under a single-tax regime . where 
the action of the assessors in properly assessing 
vacant land would virtually work confiscation of 
the land Here, indeed, would be chances for 
the "boodlers” to put in their work to some pur- 
pose. 

It is. therefore, clearly perceived that the en- 
forcement of our present land laws would have 
the effect of throwing upon the market millions 
of acres of the*best agricultural land, which the 
owners are now enabled to hold out of use be- 
cause it is assessed at from one-fourth to our 
tenth of its value. The same holds good in re- 
gard to urban property, fully one- third of which 
could not be held out of use if present laws re* 
garding valuation were enforced Under such 
conditions, rent would, as I said before decrease 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 235 


to at least one-tenth of that now obtained. Here 
is a reform that will effect all the good that the 
siogle-tax would effect, and without any confisca- 
tion or robbery. Owners are aware of the laws 
governing land valuation and could not justly 
complain of their enforcement. Until public 
opinion is educated up to the justice and neces- 
sity of enforcing present laws, it is idle, and a 
waste of time, to urge so drastic a measure as 
the confiscation of land, as proposed by the 
single- tax theory. 

The gradual increase of the assessment of 
vacant land, and the adoption of a graduated 
income tax, would have the effect of absorbing 
the "unearned increment" both of land and capi- 
tal. Such sources of revenue could be used for 
the purpose of acquiring control and ownership 
of monopolies, by the state. 

Let me briefly recapitulate the arguments urged 
against the single-tax theory. i. We have 
pointed out the injustice of confiscating from 
present owners the unearned increment, in which 
all previous owners have shared. We have seen 
that the confiscation of rental values is virtually 
and practically the confiscation of the land No 
justification can be offered for the expropriation 
of the land owner, while leaving intact the accu- 
mulations of other classes of exploiters. Land 
monopoly is only one form of exploitation, not a 
•hit less respectable or unjustifiable than other 
forms of robbery. 

2 We have seen that a tax that would so 
greatly vary with increase of business and popu- 
lation, would entirely destroy all security of ten- 
ure of land and improvements Under such 
conditions of insecurity, permanent improve- 
ments would be discouraged. No poor man 
would risk the erection of a home in a growing 
town, lest increase in population might in a few 
years force him to move or abandon his improve- 
ments through inability to pay the continual in- 
crease in rental value of his home site. This 
uncertainty would be taken advantage of by the 
rich to extort increased rents for the use of im- 
provements on account of the increased risk. 

3 Under our present condition of private 
ownership of the machinery of production, it is 
evident that mere access to land or natural op- 
portunities, to the man without capital, would be 
useless. Our present agricultural class, although 
provided with machinery, and often owning the 
fond they till, and with years of experience, are 
king rapidly expropriated through the effects of 
unrestricted competition among themselves, and 
a gainst capitalist methods of production. The 
fomanza farmer produces the staple cereals at 
one-third the cost of the small farmer. The 


same holds good in all forms of industry. Great 
aggregations of capital conducting business on an 
immense scale, with all the costly modern appli- 
ances for saving labor, render it simply impossi- 
ble for the man without capital to compete. He 
is, and must remain, the virtual slave of those 
who control the modern tools of production. 

4 We have seen that the single-tax theory is 
based on an ignorant and shallow fallacy, viz: 
the assumption that present rent is economic 
rent, and that it could be transferred without 
diminution from the pockets of private owners to 
the state. We have seen that present rent is due 
to monopolization of unused land; that the adop- 
tion of the single- tax would make it impossible to 
hold land out of use; that consequently all land 
not needed for immediate use would be aban- 
doned by the owners through inability to pay the 
tax, the necessary result being, that immense 
quantities of both agricultural and urban land 
would be thrown upon the market, which would 
undoubtedly cause an enormous decrease in 
rental values, to perhaps ten per cent of present 
rent. This reduces the single- tax theory to an 
absurdity, and exhibits in a striking manner the 
shallowness of the Georgian philosophy. 

We have also seen that the enforcement of 
present laws regarding the equal assessment of 
improved and vacant land, would have the same 
effect of compelling owners to abandon millions 
of acres of the best agricultural lands to public 
use. Urban land would also be similarly affect- 
ed; probably one-third of such land would be 
thrown upon the market at enormously reduced 
values. 

This reform is a practical and legal one, and 
would effect the same results, in regard to throw- 
ing open natural opportunities, as the single-tax 
would effect. 

Finally, we have seen that the single tax offers 
no solution of the economic question It offers 
to the man without capital — a class that com- 
prises .95 per cent of the population — all that can 
be made at the "margin of cultivation,” i. e., on 
land of no rental value, with the poorest tools in 
use. The difference between what can be made 
on land of no rental value, and on land of the 
highest productivity, would be confiscated by the 
state, in the shape of the single tax. The differ- 
ence that can be made between employing the 
poorest tools in use, and those of the greatest 
productive capacity, would be confiscated by the 
capitalists as "interest," or the "just return," as 
George terms it, for their "aid in production.” 
The "Iron law” of wages would still be in full 
force and effect. All the advantage the adoption 
of the single-tax would have over present condi- 


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236 

tioos is, that there would be plenty of free land, 
upon which the man without capital might raise 
sufficient to support a bare existence. But we 
have seen that the enforcement of our present 
land laws would effect the same purpose. In 
other words, the single- tax theory is the Jin de 
siccle economic ‘ ‘fake, " par excellence. 

* * * * ***** 

In the April Conductor, under the caption, 
“The Wages Question, " Mr. Borland shows 
clearly what determines wages, viz: the supply 
of laborers, “that wages always tend to the mini- 
mum necessary to support the worker in the 
average degree of comfort demanded by his 
class,” that as long as labor is treated as a “com- 
modity,” wages will be determined by the supply 
of this “commodity,” i. e., will be subject to the 
laws of supply and demand of other commodi- 
ties. He also shows clearly the fallacy in * ‘sav- 
ing,” showing that saving by living below the 
usual standard of comfort, can only be of bene- 
fit to individuals; that when such economies be- 
come general, the standard of living is lowered, 
and wages decrease to the amount necessary to 
maintain the lowered standard of comfort or of 
living. He says: “If a whole class of men are 
unable to follow the promptings of this natural 
instinct (i. e . the instinct of saving) without 
bringing evil upon themselves, it can only be 
* * because they are robbed of their rights as 
human beings.” 

This is quite true, yet Mr. Borland complains 
that nationalism makes no provision for the 
gratification of the saving instincts. Why should 
it? As men will not be “robbed of their rights 
as human beings” under nationalism, why should 
they make provision for an instinct that will be 
unnecessary? 

To one who believes in the nationalism theory 
and its corollary, the Law of Diminishing Re- 
turns, some provision might be expected for the 
time when the earth would become overpopu- 
lated and cease to furnish sustenance for its in- 
habitants. But scientists repudiate Malthus 
and his theory. They believe that at no period 
in the future history of the world will it be over- 
populated, or that the earth will ever cease to 
furnish sustenance for its inhabitants. Under 
the organization of industry proposed by nation- 
alists, the present population, working the same 
hours as now, could produce in one year sufficient 
to furnish sustenance for ten years. To “save” 
under such conditions would be idiotic. Certain- 
ly we shall make wise provision against any fail 
ure of food crops, but in other respects nature 
will furnish abundance, and the saving instinct 
will disappear as unnecessary. Nor does nation- 


alism, as Mr. Borland states, propose a universal 
standard for the whole nation. Each member of 
society will adopt any standard of living that 
pleases him. If anyone chooses to live on corn 
beef and cabbage, he can do so, or, if he is epi- 
qurean in his tastes, his income will enable him 
to gratify his tastes in that regard. I assure Mr. 
Borland that it “never occurs to the intelligent 
nationalist that ihe credit cards of certain years 
might not be sufficient to cover the expenditure 
for those years,” and they regard the 'assumption 
that “in the event of such a contingency * * * 
a beneficent government might come forward 
with its savings and make up the deficiency.” as 
extremely laughable. The idea of the ' govern- 
ment” making up a deficiency for the “people” is 
good. Pray who is the “government.” under a 
nationalist regime , if it is not the “pepple” them- 
selves. The government cannot own anything 
apart from the “people.” Therefore, we regard 
the statement that follows — “but it does seem as 
though a nation of free individuals, who were 
compelled (sic) to delegate to their government 
even the business of saving their surplus earnings, 
had fallen to the very lowest depths of incapaci- 
ty” — as childish nonsense, that even a single tax- 
er should be ashamed of, particularly so when it 
is added, “especially when we consider them as 
citizens of a state where exploitation of labor had 
entirely ceased.” Exactly, this is why we regard 
the proposition as childish. In a social system, 
where all labor exploitation has ceased, “saving" 
will cease to be a virtue, it would be a vice, as 
unnatural as it would be unnecessary. 

Mr. Borland says the reason the “Iron law” 
exists is because men are not free. He says: “If 
the free man works for another it will be at a rate 
of wages dictated, not by his necessities, but by 
his preferences. * * * If be works for wages 
it will be because he chooses to do so,” which is 
mere nonsense. “Wages" means part of the pro- 
duct. and no “free man" ever did or ever wiD 
work for part of the product; the man who does 
so is a slave and not a “free” man in any sense 
The very raison d'etre of socialism is to make 
men entirely “free.” so that the term “wages” 
will become obsolete and meaningless. 

Mr. Borland says: “The value of land as popu- 
lation increases is a constantly increasing magni- 
tude, because the supply is strictly limited and 
demand constantly increases.” Almost the con- 
verse is true. The general tendency of land is to 
decrease in value, if we except urban laod in a 
few cities where population has continued to in- 
crease rapidly. Certainly agricultural land has 
decreased in this country during the past decade, 

probably 40 per cent, and in the Neyr England 

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states to at least one-fourth of its former value. 
Tbe«ame is true of Great Britain, and in Ger- 
many, according to D N« Wells, land has depre- 
ciated to half what it was at the close of the 
Franco-Prussian war. And it is certain this down- 
ward tendency will continue. The concentration 
of capital will render fewer places of business 
necessary. For instance, when the whiskey trust 
was formed a few years ago, 74 out of the 87 dis- 
tilleries were closed. 13 doing the business for- 
merly done by 87 under competitive conditions. 
There can be no question that within a few years 
cpitalists will take charge of the retail business, 
as the ice companies of New York have done, and 
as the wholesale liquor dealers are now doing, 
and as Armour is doing in the retail butcher busi- 
ness. There can be no doubt that this system 
will extend until it covers all business. This will 
greatly reduce the force of men employed and 
enormously reduce the number of retail places of 
business, in fact, the capitalists are doing for pri- 
vate profit what socialists propose to do for the 
general good. The same tendency is observable 
in agriculture. Capitalist competition destroyed 
the value of the agricultural areas of the New 
England states, and is seriously effecting the val- 
ues of all agricultural land. It is not only possi- 
ble. but very probable, that land in this country, 
both urban and agricultural, will be as low, if not 
lower, an twenty years, than it is now, i. e., if the 
capitalist system holds out that long. 

Neither is it true that capital invested in land 
is more profitable than other forms of invest- 
ments The Jews, who are the leading financiers 
of the world, rarely speculate in land; it is too 
slow and uncertain for them. Enormous sums 
are annually lost by individuals through the dec- 
rement of land values. A few days ago the 
newspapers recorded the sale of a manufacturing 
town in Alabama, including some scores of build- 
ings. for a few thousands of dollars. The writer 
has an unpleasant recollection of selling some 
property a few years ago for one thousand dol- 
lars that 20 years previously cost $8, 000. 

Mr. Borland holds that, when private property 
in land is abolished, the money invested in such 
property will be invested in productive channels. 
"He (the capitalist) must put it in some channel 
where it will be active; he must use it so as to 
give employment to labor. He must put it into 
buildings, into machinery, into manufacturing 
stock, into farm implements. # * # Not only 
must he do this, but eveyy other capitalist do like- 
wise * * * We shall have capitalists bidding 
against capitalists for the use of the workingmen's 
commodity, instead of as now, workiugraen bid- 
ding against each other for a chance to earn a 


237 

living." This is certainly rich! So that really, 
the great trouble is, that we have not factories 
enough to do the business; we are not raising 
wheat enough to supply the demand; there are 
not enough distilleries, breweries, iron works, 
glass works, wholesale and retail stores, not 
enough railroads, steamships, coal, iron or silver 
mines, that in fact the reason 3.000,000 able bod- 
ied men are idle is because there is not sufficient 
capital to furnish the necessary plants to set them 
to work! While the fact is, that never, in the 
history of the world, has capital been so plentiful, 
and interest for the use of it so low. Over 250 
millions in the New York banks, for which there 
is no demand. In the San Francisco banks are 
15 millions lying idle, aDd which can be bor- 
rowed, on proper security, at 4 per cent, a lower 
rate than has ever been quoted in California. As 
a matter of fact, there is a plethora of capital, 
and capitalists are pushed to find use for it at any 
rate of interest. It is the same in Europe. The 
Bank of England has recently reduced its rate of 
discount to two per cent. The British govern- 
ment are cashing their treasury paper for 1-9-16 
per cent interest. Competition among capitalists 
for laborers! The idea is ridiculous. Every con- 
centration of capital, any new labor saving device, 
reduces the number of laborers required to do 
the work of production. It is altogether proba- 
ble that, if our population doubles during the 
next twenty years, that the number of laborers 
required to do the work of production will not ex- 
ceed more than 25 per cent more than is now re- 
quired, and important discoveries in the use of 
electricity for motive power, or some cheap man- 
ner of extracting heat from coal, or the invention 
of new machines that will displace great bodies of 
laborers, may make human labor almost superflu- 
ous to the capitalists who control those forces 
In which case it ma/ be necessary to destroy 
four fifths of the babies, in order to keep the pop- 
ulation within the proper limits required for the 
needs of the capitalist system of production, or, 
force us to adopt socialism, i. e.. collective con" 
trol of the means and instruments of production. 

I fear it will be a hard struggle with Bro. Bor- 
land when the alternative is presented to him, 
but I hope "Bettie and the babies" will win. 

I am sorry to see that Mr. Borland, like all 
other single taxers, ignores awkward arguments 
when presented to him. In my March article I 
gave an illustration of the capitalist mode of pro- 
duction, near here, in the shape of a beet sugar 
factory. The capitalists do not own the land, 
nor do they want to. Making sugar is five times 
more profitable than owning the land. The fac- 
tory pays S4 50 per ton for the beets. I have 
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238 


reason to believe that the factory could pay $6. 50 
per ton for the beets. But they are under no ne- 
cessity to do so. The producer pays a tax of 50 
cents per ton in the shape of rent to the land- 
owner. Now the question I asked, and the ques- 
tion is fundamental and must be answered by the 
single-taxer, is, if the land was free of all rent, 
would not the capitalist owners of the factory be 
enabled to reduce the price paid for the beets by 
the amount saved to the producer by the elimi- 
nation of the rent paid to the private landowner. 
If not, why not? Is not the producer of the beets 
as well off at $4.00 per ton as he was formerly at 
$4 50? In what way would he be better able to de- 
mand an increase in the price of his beets than 
he is at present? Will the monopolization of 
machinery or capital be any less effective under 
the single-tax than at present? Come to think, 
single taxers contend that, under a single tax 
regime , it will be impossible to monopolize ma- 
chinery. Ah! now I see the “cat ” When we 
adopt the single-tax, and the raiser of beets is not 
satisfied with the price offered by the factory 
owners, he will build a factory himself! Every 
beet raiser « will own his own factory! Great 
scheme that!! 

It will be the same way in agriculture. If the 
“hand" on the bonanza farm don’t like $12.00 per 
month and his board, he can start a bonanza farm 
of his own! The necessary result follows. The 
bonanza farmer will be compelled to come to 
terms p. d. q. If he wants men he will have to 
pay his “hand” what the aforesaid “hand” could 
make on a bonanza farm of his own! The single- 
tax is deep, but the outlines of the “cat” are as- 
suming colossal proportions (?). Seriously, if 
Mr. Borland really believes in the single-tax the- 
ory, and I do him the credit to sometimes doubt 
it, let him show explicitly how the man without 
capital would be any better off under a single-tax 
regime. Let him take a farmer, a mechanic and 
a common laborer, and show in what regard they 
will be in any better position to compete against 
capitalism under a single-tax regime than at pres 
ent. We don't want rhetorical enotoraontade or 
sentimental gush. We want facts, not fancies. 
An exposition of this question will do more to es- 
tablish the scientific basis of the single-tax theory 
than wastirg a column and more on a technical 
analysis of the term “profits,” as he did in his 
March article. 

Mr. Borland does not like the way socialists 


value “wages of superintendence." He asks. 
“But what right have the socialists to value it at 
all?" Indeed! is it always usual for sellers bf a 
commodity to put their own value upon it. and 
must we accept their valuation? He asks “And 
does Mr Stuart really believe that, under present 
conditions, it is really superior ability that exacts 
all above the ‘margin of stupidity?' Does he real- 
ly believe that the incomes of such men as Gould 
and Rockefeller are the result of superior ability? 
I am quite sure he believes nothing of the kind.” 
I assure Mr. Borland he is mistaken, in the two 
cases he mentions. I am certain it is “superior 
ability " For countless ages the strong and cun- 
ning have lived on. the weak and ignorant. In 
one age it is superior military skill that enables 
the successful warrior to devastate* a continent 
and reduce the inhabitants to bondage In our 
present industrial age the superior exploiter is a 
successful “lord of industry." instead of a suc- 
cessful warrior, or robber, or pirate. Gould and 
Rockefeller have the qualifications that would 
have made them successful robbers or pirates un- 
der former conditions. They both started with 
nothing, with probably no better opportunities 
than Mr. Borland possessed; they had no “special 
privileges" or monopolies that Mr. Borland might 
not have had access to. But they had the “su- 
perior ability" that enabled them, under indivual- 
istic conditiois. to make as much money in 
twenty-five years as a thousand men lik* Mr. 
Borland or myself could make in a thousand 
years. The Standard Oil Company acquired an 
immense capital without the aid of any “special 
privilege" that was “denied to others." And un- 
der conditions of absolute “freedom," such as in- 
dividualists, “run mad,” sigh for, a few men of 
“superior ability," like Gould and Rockefeller, 
will be enabled to absorb the major portion of the 
wealth that millions may create. This is why 
socialists put their own valuation on that sort of 
“ability." Under the present competitive scram- 
ble, such men are the Napoleons of industry who 
devastate a continent in their greed for wealth 
Under socialism their wings will be clipped and 
iheir peculiar “ability” put to better use, viz., for 
the purpose of increasing the general wealth, in- 
stead of their own exclusively. 

I fhall have to defer further consideration of 
Mr. Borland's article to a future paper, as this 
one has exceeded proper dimensions. 


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OUR NEW YORK LETTER. 


People who believe in socialism have two or 
three admirable opportunities just now to illus- 
trate the working of their theories; the most un- 
qualified of which is Gov. Tillman’s attempt to 
run one entire state by one-man-power. Leaving 
out the violence and uncouthness of the doughty 
governor's character, setting aside altogether the 
correctness or fallacy of the particular things 
that he happens to believe in. it remains that he 
is a pronounced and so far comparatively suc- 
cessful exponent of the theory that people 
ought to be made to do things; of which less de- 
cided phases appear in the various movements to 
forbid people from drinking whisky or playing 
cards or reading books or looking at pictures that 
happen to offend the sensors in power; or to 
compel them to use certain kinds of currency or 
to engage in or refrain from certain kinds of 
business. The aristocratic political circles of 
Sooth Carolina, on whose toes Tillma? is stamp 
ing with such fearful vigor, are not much to be 
pitied. They sowed the wind, they are reaping 
the whirlwind. They studiously cultivated the 
idea that might was right, that those who could 
compass power were in no way bound to con- 
sider those over whom power was held, that 
where fair means were futile to encompass a pur- 
pose that they considered for the benefit of the 
community, then fraudulent and violent ones 
were all praiseworthy, and now they are getting a 
dose of their own medicine. But however justly 
they may be rewarded as a class, it is not a pleas- 
ant picture to see a whole community thus ter- 
rorized. That Tillman has a majority at his 
back must be a fact, or he could no more main- 
tain his position than could the carpet baggers; 
but in the opposition which be meets and over- 
rides so ruthlessly, is equally strong evidence 
that there is a minority against him worth con- 
sidering. And the circumstance of his expressing 
the will of a majority, however ignorant and 
bigoted, depicts in all the plainer colors how 
pitiable must be the case of a people who con- 
sent to abandon their individual privileges in 
favor of a majority which shall dictate to them 
what they shall eat and drink and how they shall 
obtain it. 

Yet another side of socialism is brought into 
view by the recent disclosures of the Carnegie 
frauds and the co-incident blunders in building 
our lauded warships. Socialists are fond of dis- 


claiming against the hap-hazard methods of pro- 
duction when each producer is guided only by the 
light of what he conceives to be his own interest; 
and of telling how much better things would be 
managed were it only done in accordance with a 
conscious plan, carefully figured and mapped out, 
and to which all citizens must conform. But in 
all the history of modern mercantile ship build- 
ing there is probably nothing that will quite 
match the colossal stupidity of the errors made 
in construction of the New York, intended to be 
the prize vessel of the navy. This does not mean 
that government work, as such, is necessarily 
worse done than private work; but only that it is 
subject to the human liability to mistakes, and 
that these are less apt to be checked when the 
stimulus of direct self interest is lacking to 
create direct responsibility. 

When it comes to the other and darker element 
in the case — that of the frauds alleged to have 
been committed in respect of the armor furnished, 
it would not be quite fair to lay this at the door of 
socialistic tendencies also, except to the extent 
that the Carnegies are one of the shining lights of 
the essentially socialistic policy of protectionism. 
No one ought to be surprised at the state of affairs 
developed, for in iron trade circles — and the writer 
knows whereof he speaks — the reputation of the 
firm would by no means preclude the expectation 
that they would willingly take advantage of all 
possible chances to increase their Drofits on a 
transaction. Luckily, the consequences are not 
likely to be serious if defective armor has been 
furnished to the war vessels; for the probabilities 
are very remote that they will ever have to serve 
in any other capacity than that of show pieces on 
which to flaunt the national emblem. It is get- 
ting to be quite a moot question whether warships 
of the present patterns, at least, are going to be 
of use even to the nations that have not grown 
beyond the point where it is necessary — or their 
rulers think it is— for them to fight now and th"*n, 
a question that will only be settled by the next 
great naval combat, if that ever comes off; but 
for the United States, it is certainly one of the 
most inane extravagancies possible for us to go on 
squandering great sums of money on toys for the 
amusement of our otherwise idle naval officers; 
only to develop some such fatal defects as sunk 
the Victoria and came near sinking the New York 
and now said to threaten about every one of the 


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240 


new vessels which have been built We might 
better spend the money on Coxey's crazy scheme 
for securing good roads. 

So far as we can judge from the n^ws reporter 
(for at this point of view there is not the slightest 
ripple of public interest to give any other material 
for estimate), the half-cracked horse dealer who 
has led his handful of tramps over the Alleghenies 
with such remarkable success, may, after all, 
stand some chance of exciting a genuine sensa 
tion. Thus far, it has been palpably a sensation 
manufactured out of the whole cloth by the news- 
papers, so far as the east is concerned. In fact, 
if one remarkable piece of information is any 
clue, the circumstantial reports of the progress of 
the army which the New York papers have been 
publishing, were written in their home offices and 
not on the line of march at all, as they reported to be. 
This sample scrap was the grave statement that 
Coxey was following the old National Road from 
Pittsburgh to Cumberland, when in reality, he was 
proceeding at right angles to that road, and at 
the time the statement appeared, something like 
100 miles from its nearest point. It seems impos- 
sible that such an error could have been made 
on the spot, and this opens up the suspicion that as 
is so customary with them, our somewhat "fresh” 
journalists, alike in their ridicule and their mag- 
nifying of the movement, have been evolving 
things rather than describing them. There is 
beginning to be in the last few days, however, a 
distirct sense of uneasiness lest the very gro- 
tesqueness of this demonstration may bring into 
activity as a more serious agitation might not, the 
seething unrest that beyond question permeates 
the people of the whole nation; ana the chief 
danger, as ever, now is that if they should strike, 
they may in the blindness of their rage, only 
rivet their bands all the more firmly. 

The pitiful conclusions to which our worthless 
senate has reduced the tariff discussion, which 
started on so high a plane in the house, is cer- 
tainly not encouraging to progressive men, as an 
indication of the popular apathy which will per- 
mit such unworthy trifling with so grave a sub- 
ject; nor is it a pleasing reflection that a subject 
which concerns our daily life was crowded out of 
sight for a time by the Breckenridge trial, now 
happily fading from memory. It is sickening, 
loo, to see that the spirit of hypocrisy with which 
we deceive ourselves so often, was strong enough 
Xo bring about the verdict which was found in 


that trial, and to inspire a journalistic conspiracy 
that so strongly resembled the similar one a few 
years ago against Sir Cbas. Oieke — though that 
had far greater excuse — of which all honest 
British journals are now heartily ashamed. . That 
a man should pay the penalty for his sins is fair 
enough, if only all men do; but that only a man 
should so pay when to sin he has added such 
imprudence as may put him in the power of a 
designing woman, is disgraceful, and that the 
eagerness to hound a man because he has always 
had a high public reputation, whatever his private 
life may have been, should go so far as to paint 
a self confessed wanton in the character of an 
innocent child, is more disgraceful yet. 

One other abuse was brought strongly to light in 
this trial which surely needs correction -the license 
given to counsel before a jury in the way of sup- 
plementing and distorting evidence. It is the 
theory of the law that a jury can only consider 
the evidence, and that the function of counsel is 
solely that of so formulating that as to make it 
clear; but like most other theories of the law. this 
is not the real practice. Counsel are habitually 
permitted by the court to make regular stump 
speeches and to iuject all sorts of unwarranted 
inferences through side remarks, even while they 
will strain every infinitesimal technical points 
that have no bearing whatever on the real merits 
of the case. A still more conspicuous instance of 
this was seen in the recent suit against Russell 
Sage for damages to the young man who was in- 
jured in his office at the time of Narcer s attempt 
on his life. Sage undoubtedly owed the dam- 
ages in all justice, and probably every decent 
man rejoiced to see the verdict go against him; 
but the fact that he is such a disreputable old 
skinflint and robber under legal forms, was no 
excuse for the outrageous way that he was treated 
by opposing counsel, both in cross-examination 
and in argument. Like all privileged classes, 
the lawyers get worse as they go on in their 
mummified method of dealing with mutual rights 
which ihe law is supposed to enforce, but which 
are dealt with in accordance with the customs of 
generations ago. and thus tend to increase the de- 
pendence of common people for their protection 
on the legal caste; and in their disregard of their 
own specious maxims supporting ordinary fair- 
ness when these happen to stand in the way of 
accomplishing their ends. 

Edw. J. Shrivbr. 


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Our readers who write to any of the firms advertising in these columns are requested to mention 

The Railway Conductor. 

E. E CLARK and WM. P. DANIELS, Managers. E. E. CLARK, Editor-In-Chief. 

W. N. GATES, Advertising Manager, ag Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, O. 


A. R. U. AND GREAT NORTHERN. 


There is much in the Great Northern strike to 
grieve the friend of organized labor and much in 
it that must make him fear for the future if such 
methods are generally to obtain. No cause can 
win anything beyond a temporary triumph in this 
country if it cannot command the endorsement of 
that intangible but none the less potent force 
known as public opinion On first thought, and 
even on first action, the public may be often 
wrong, but it is safe to say that movements 
founded in malice and unchecked ambition and 
forced by treachery and deceit cannot long retain 
general support The great danger to all organ- 
ized labor from such outbreaks as the one in ques- 
tion is to be found in the fact that the people gen- 
erally, when they come to understand thoroughly 
the men and motives backing them, will not con- 
fine their condemnation to the responsible parties, 
but will include all bodies made up from the 
same classes of workmen and having, ostensibly, 
the same objects. With a decent regard far the 
good opinion of their fellow men and to the end 
that they may not be led to condemn, in this in- 
stance at least, beyond the limits of desert, it be- 
hooves all who believe in organizations of work- 
ingmen and believe that their best good is only to 
be obtained through honorable and upright meth- 
ods. to condemn any attempt to revive a species of 
warfare long since renounced by the most ad- 
vanced thinkers and most successful leaders who 
have taken part in the great wage struggle of the 
past half century. 

In order that the responsibility for this attack 
upon the best interests of labor, for it can scarce- 
ly be regarded in any other light, may rest where 
it of right belongs, we may be pardoned a brief 
resume of the events leading up to it. During 
last February a committee representing the en- 
gineers and firemen in the employ of the Great 


Northern held a conference with the officials and 
a schedule was agreed upon which became effect- 
ive March i In March a committee of the con- 
ductors and trainmen met for the same purpose, 
but were unable to reach a satisfactory agree- 
ment. Their Grand Officers were then called, 
Brothers Morrissey and Garrettson responding, 
but they also failed to settle the points in dispute. 
After m-iture consideration it was determined to 
refer the entire matter back to the men for them 
to decide by vote whether they would accept the 
proposition made by the company or would go to 
tne extreme in opposing it The officials of the 
company with whom they had been in conference 
were informed of this decision and were told that 
they should be notified of the result of the vote 
as soon as it was received. A vote was ordered 
and, so far as we are at present informed, the 
men voted to resist the change proposed. The 
poll was not allowed to be completed, however, as 
outsiders had interested themselves who were de- 
termined there should be but one result. Several 
of the trainmen on the general committee that 
had failed to effect an agreement with the man- 
agers were members of the American Railway 
Union and, regardless of the vote then pending, 
regardless of the pledge virtually made in their 
behalf to await its decision and in absolute treach- 
ery to the men they had been chosen to represent, 
they joined issue with James Hogan, one of the 
organizers for this new body. The first fruit of 
this alliance was the following message: 

Butte, Montana, April 13, 1894. 

C. W. Case. General Manager: 

I am instructed by your employes to say that, 
unless the wages, schedules and rules of all 
classes of employes that were in effect prior to 
the first cut made August, 1893, are restored and 
switchmen at Great Falls and Helena receive 
same pay and schedules as at Butte, and that the 


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242 

management agrees to meet representatives of the 
employes at Minot not later than ten days hence 
and formulate schedules accordingly, all classes 
will quit work at 12 o'clock, noon, this 13th day 
of April. James Hogan. 

It is safe to say the railroad history of this 
country contains no more remarkable and, at the 
same time, more thoroughly characteristic docu- 
ment than this. It requires no education as a 
railroad specialist to understand the utter unrea- 
•aonableness of a demand which would allow the 
manager of a great railroad but three hours in 
which to decide so momentous a question. To 
consent would be to deliver his company, bound 
hand and foot, into the power of the one who 
made the demand, and who, so far as was then 
known, had no authority for representing those 
employes beyond his own unbounded assurance. 
The improbability of such a demand being com- 
plied with under any conditions, and the “stand 
and deliver" tone with which it was made, leave 
but one possible inference: they knew their de- 
mand would not be granted, and it was so timed 
and worded as to make a strike inevitable. If 
anything further were needed to prove that the 
personal ambitions of someone made this strike 
absolutely necessary, while the good of the men 
was but a cloak for this necessity, it is to be 
found in another portion of the correspondence 
between the officials of the road and these “lead- 
ers" of labor. One of the most potent means 
used in working the men up to the proper pitch 
was the declaration, often made, that the Great 
Northern was importing men from the east to 
take the places of all its old employes. When 
Supt. Bryan learned of this he at once wired an 
authoritative denial and received from Chairman 
Riker, of the strikers’ committee, a reply worthy 
of place beside the message before mentioned, 
neither of which should be omitted from the next 
compilation of railroad classics. The portion of 
this communication of most interest in this con- 
nection was the following suggestive sentence: 
“If you feel disposed to treat for terms you can 
do so at any time after 12 o'clock to-morrow, Fri- 
day. April 13." In other words, we are deter- 
mined to strike and nothing shall be allowed to 
prevent. If you have terms to propose, you must 
wait until we have blocked the opei^itions of your 
road and have shown the world what we can do. 
then we may find time to talk with you regarding 
the rights of the men. Can any other construc- 
tion than a fixed determination to strike, at what- 
ever cost, regardless of the interests involved, be 
placed upon this language, and does it not show' 
some outside consideration to be much more 
deeply involved than the simple interests of the 
employes? 


The lack of honesty marking these proceeding! 
is again clearly shown in the appeal made to the 
passions 4 )f the men by declaring it to be the pur 
pose of the company to supplant them with im 
ported workmen The falsity of this should have 
been apparent from the first, and now, several 
weeks have passed without any of these outsiders 
materializing. 

It would be difficult for the ordinary mind to 
reconcile with the usual standards of honest; 
and fair dealing, the forcing of this question to 
an issue when it was being voted upon by two orga- 
nizations including in their membership most of 
the employes of the road in their respective 
classes. The officers of the road had been in- 
formed that such vote would be taken with the 
promise that they should be notified of its re 
suit before further action should be taken. Con 
mon honesty would seem to require the fulfill 
ment of this pledge. 

It has been the proudest boast of this latest 
friend of labor that it was firmly and unalterably 
opposed to strikes. On every occasion wber? 
there could be any possible policy in it the prop's 
ets of the new dispensation have boldly it 
nounced the strike as a barbarous relic of tk 
dark ages, and the man who advocated it as ik 
cowardly assassin of labor's brightest hopes. It 
its initial number The Railway Times , official 
organ ot the American Railway Union, gives tb? 
following editorial and authoritative exposition of 
the principles of the organization on this poict 

“And here it should be said that The Raihiv\ 
Times will seek, under the guidance of the Amen 
can Railway Union, to adjust differences between 
employer and employe by means other than the 
strike, the boycot. and kindred devices, and that 
in doing this it will not hesitate to volunteer hinb 
to employers as well as to employes. In this era 
of light and knowledge it will not be the purposed 
The Railway Times to obscure the light, nor be 
little knowledge that results from education, bold 
ing that it is wise to prevent a strike, while it £ 
the culmination of viciousness to provoke a strike ( 
without regard to who are the aggressors. 4 * 

* * * Every petty misunderstanding, mrv 

grievance, real or imaginary, will not be swollen 
to proportions which demand all the untold snen 
fices and sufferings incident to war — and 1 
strike is war. The Railway Times will point 
out the inconsistency of laboring for a higher 
and broader education, a better knowledge 
of men and affairs, of economics in all their reh 
tions to human welfare, and then, at a critical 
time, discarding all the knowledge gained and 
resorting to old-time methods when ignorance 
reigned supreme.” 

In a petition presented by the American Kail 
way Union to Judge Dundy in connection with 
the Union Pacific matter may be found the fol- 
lowing statement 

“Members of the American Railway Union. *u 


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•organization composed of all classes of railway 
employes, and having for one of its prime ob- 
jects the cultivation of harmonious relations be- 
tween employer and employe with a view to the 
adjustment and regulation of all differences that 
may arise, without recourse to strikes, which we 
deprecate as costly to both sides, and injurious 
to the public at large." 

Other and equally strong assertions of this 
same great principle, actuating the American 
Railway Union when seeking to gam favor with 
the public, might be multiplied without limit. It 
has been the dress parade cry of every organizer 
since the first union was formed, but that it never 
was intended to be anything more is shown by 
the action take in the case under consideration. 
At this writing two liberal and fair propositions 
to submit the differeces to arbitration have been 
refused by the A. R. U. 

In this connection it may not be out of place 
to call attention to another little inconsistency. 
One of the daily papers recently contained an ex- 
pression made by Vice-President Howard of his 
high regard for the old organizations, and the re- 
peated assurance that the A. R. U. was in no 
way antagonistic to them. In the same article 
be repeatedly stigmatized those same organiza- 
tions as colossal failures. While at various times 
and places the most contemptible false charges 
have been made against their officers for no other 
purpose than to create discord in the ranks. The 
fact of his friendship or enmity can carry no 
weight save as his utterances tend to throw light 
upon the methods of duplicity and double dealing 
employed. His declaration of friendly feeling 
was intended to mislead the members of the old 
organizations just as unmeant opposition to 
strikes was intended to mislead railroad managers 
and the public generally, and both are entitled 
to the same amount of credence. 

No argument should be needed to convince 
thoughtful workingmen that no organization can 
do so much for them as one made up from mem- 
bers of their own class and devoting every effort 
to their exclusive interests. A conglomerate body 
made up from all classes, means of necessity a 
division of interests and a corresponding division 
of the time and attention given each, m aking the 
best practical results impossible. A cause must 
be weak and nerveless if it needs to be bolstered 
up by malicious and unfounded attacks upon 
men who have proven faithful to every duty dele- 
gated to them, or if it has no principles to affirm 
and maintain to its members and the general 
public alike. 

For several years the cry, among many leaders 
of men in railway employes' organizations, has 
been, “Get together." The prophecy has been 


CONDUCTOR. 243 

freely indulged in “United we stand, divided we 
fall." These arguments have been strongly ad- 
vanced by the very ones who now are doing more 
to divide the men against each other than has 
ever been done by any man or combination of 
men. The old organizations have been “Getting 
together." The year just passed has witnessed a 
multitude of examples where the committees and 
officers of the B. of L. E., B. of L. F.. B. of R. T 
S. M . A. A. , O. R. T. and O. R. C. have sat in har- 
monious council, seeking to work out the best inter- 
ests of the men directly interested, and of the rail- 
way employe generally. In some instances the rep- 
resentatives of other organizations have partici- 
pated in the conferences. Harmony was estab- 
lished and the future was bright. As a represen- 
tative of the classes above mentioned no new 
organization can have any legitimate or useful 
mission, and the efforts to disrupt the old it order 
to build up the new are not in the interests of the 
men nor do we believe# they are prompted by a 
sincere wish to serve the best interests of the 
men. While preaching “Get together" the origi- 
nators of this move have entered the wedge 
which, they must know, will divide, and by every 
means at their command they seek to drive it 
home. Had they sought to gather in and care 
for the unorganized classes of employes and in 
that way “Get together," their advent would have 
been bailed with delight and such assistance as 
could have been given by the old organizations 
would have been cheerfully accorded. In the 
severe criticisms passed upon the old organiza- 
tions, great stress is laid upon the claim that they 
are “One man powers"; that the will of the mem- 
bers is thwarted by the exercise of arbitrary 
power on the part of the officers, and it is said 
that when the men want to strike, and so vote, 
they are prevented from so doing, by the verto of 
the executive. We assert unqualifiedly that there 
is not an instance where the men have secured 
the lawful majority in favor of a strike and have 
been prevented from striking by the veto of the 
executives, either singly or collectively, since the 
adoption of the federation plan. It is easy to 
make the general charge, but it cannot be sub- 
stantiated. It is also easy to charge men who 
for years have stood under the calcium light of 
public gaze and the scrutiny of the membership 
of these organizations, with being bribe takers, 
but unless the charge be proven, it falls harm- 
lessly among thinking and reasonable men The 
will of the membership of the old organizations 
is laid down in their laws; their officers at e obli- 
gated to administer them and the greatest cause 
for complaint against these officers now is the 
fact that they have performed their duty am 4 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


244 

lived true to their obligations. To condemn the 
organizations as failures because during a time of 
financial depression and hard times, unequaled, in 
our history, they have carried out the wishes of 
the members directly interested and have accept- 
ed temporary reverses rather than precipitate 
war, is equally as unrecsonable as would be the 
claim that because the hard times came the Re- 
public is a failure. Considerable criticism has 
been indulged in because the officers of the old 
organizations did not rally to the support of ihis 
move. They have been denounced because they 
declared for the laws and principles they are 
sworn to defend. They ate accused of under- 
taking to assist the company in defeating the 
men. This accusation is false The officers of 
the old organizations made no move and gave 
utterance to no declaration until such declaration 
was asked for by members employed on the 
Great Northern road. When their advice was 
requested they gave the only advice they could 
give without perjuring themselves. They were 
true to the interests placed in their hands. They 
were placed in very much the same position as 
was occupied by the “Supreme Council of the 
United Order of Railway Employes,” at the time 
of the strike of the K. of L. on the N. Y. C. & H. R. 
R. R. The declaration of the position of the 
“Supreme Council” was prepared by the now 
President of the American Railway Union, was 
endorsed by the Vice President of the A. R. U., 
and an extract from it is: “It now becomes nec- 
essary for the Supreme Council to say that, owing 
to the fact that the Order of the K. of L. is not 


a member of the federated order of railway 
employes, the laws of the Supreme Council do 
not permit more than it has done, to aid the K. 
of L, and its inability to participate otherwise in 
the strike is now known and appreciated by Mr. 
Powderly.” The only difference between this 
declaration and those made by the officers of the 
old organizations is that this one is (as described 
by a newspaper reporter) “A stone concealed in a 
jar of honey.” The others 3 frank expres- 
sion shorn of any apologies for doing their duty. 

Dealiogs in which labor organizations are a 
part must be conducted upon a business like, 
straightforward and honest basis and in a manner 
calculated to give the organization standing as 
well as to build for it a good reputation. Time 
will demonstrate that lasting good can be pro- 
cured in no other way. Labor organizations, in 
order to succeed must be built up with care, upon 
a sure foundation, each stone carefully fitted and 
laid and with no defects covered with mortar or 
whitewash. A good reputation is as essential to 
the success of a labor organization as it is to a 
bank. Effort is being made to mislead the work- 
ingmen and to go back to the motto: “He shall 
take who has the power and he shall keep who 
can.” 

If the workingmen of America will deliberately 
espouse such a cause and sanction such methods 
then, indeed, have the struggles and sacrifices of 
the past 50 years been worse than wasted, and 
the progress and elevation of labor is but an 
empty boast. 


CLAIMS 

Once more we refer to the investigation, or- 
dered by the House of Representatives, into the 
action of Judge Jenkins in issuing his famous re- 
straining orders against the employes of the 
Northern Pacific and the officers of the organiza- 
tions of which they are members. 

These injunctions contained provisions which 
had never been a part of any similar orders issued 
by federal judges, and in which most important 
questions are involved. The officers of the organ- 
izations decided to test this case and to resort to 
every lawful and honorable means to secure re- 
lief from the burdens imposed, as well as to pre- 
vent, if possible, the establishment of a danger- 
ous precedent upon which other judges might 
base similar action. 

The portions of the order objected to were: 

“From combining and conspiring to quit, with 
or without notice, the service of said receivers 
with the object and intent of crippling the prop- 


PROVEN. 

erty in their custody, or embarrassing the opera * 
tion of said railroad, and from so quitting the 
service of the said receivers, with or without no- 
tice. as to cripple the property or to prevent or 
hinder the operation of said railroad ” * # • 

“And from combining or conspiring together.' 
or with others, either jointly or severally, or as 
committees, or as officers of any so-called labor 
organization, with the design or purpose of caus- 
ing a strike upon the lines of railroad operated 
by said receivers, and from ordering, recommend- 
ing, approving or advising others to quit the 
service of the receivers of the Northern Pacific 
Railroad Company on January 1st, 1894, or at 
any other time; and from ordering, recommend- 
ing, advising or approving, by communication or 
otherwise, the employes of said receivers, or any 
of them, or of said Northern Pacific Railroad 
Company to join in a strike on said January 1st. 
1S94, or at any other time, and from ordering. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


245 


recommending or advising any committee or com- 
mittees or class or classes of employes of said 
receivers, to strike or join in a strike on January 
1st. 1894.^ or at any other time, until the further 
order of this court.’' 

It was decided that these questions should be 
brought before the people in the most forcible 
way We wer6 unable to understand why, if 
this was a fair construction of the law. all of the 


for the issuance of any injunction (let alone one 
like this), hence its issuance was an abuse of the 
process. How nearly these claims were estab- 
lished we leave the reader to judge from the fol- 
lowing letter and the evidence of General Mana- 
ger Kendrick. For want of space we omit por- 
tions of the letter which are descriptive of the 
hardship which would fall upon the N. P. Ry. 
Co. in the event of a strike, and which have no 


eminent judges who have passed upon these 
questions had failed to discover it. If it wa> not 
a fair construction of the law, we assumed that it 
was fair to inquire into the reasons which influ-, 
enced or prompted the action. There is but one 
body which has authority to inquire into such 
questions, and we decided to ask the House of 
Representatives to make such inquiry. 

Looking for one who would earnestly cham- 
pion the cause we naturally sought a friend of the 
working man and found him iu the person of 
Hon L E. McGann of Chicago. The earnest 
and efficient efforts put forth by him have, more 
than all else beside, brought about the investiga- 
tion Mr McGann introduced a resolution in 
the bouse directing the committee on judiciary 
to make investigation into the action of Judge 
Jenkins, "Especially with regard to the legality 
and propriety of said order and injunction and 
make report thereon with specific recommenda- 
tion as to what action, if any, should be taken 
by Congress in regard to the issuance of such or- 
der and injunction and also to prevent a recur 
rence of the conditions now laid by such order 
and injunction upon railway employes on the 
said Northern Pacific road, those engaged upon 
other roads, officers and members of labor organi- 
zations throughout the country and all persons 
generally." 

This resolution was passed and the duty of 
making investigation was delegated to a sub- 
committee consisting of Hon. C. J Boatner, of 
Louisiana; Hon Wm. L. Terry, of Arkansas, 
and Hon. Wm. A. Stone, of Pennsylvania. This 
committee met in Milwaukee. Wis , on the 9th, 
and entered upon the investigation Upon the 
one side there were examined as witnesses, 
Messrs Sargent, Wilkinson. Wilson, Arnold, 
Ramsay and Clark On the other side, Receiver 
Oakes. General Manager Kendrick and Attorneys 
Curtis, Miller and Spooner. It was claimed that 
the order was without precedent; was an im- 
proper and oppressive application of the power 
of the court; and infringement upon and abridge- 
ment of our constitutional rights. In that the 
object sought and attained was to bring to bear 
the power of the court to compel men to work 
against their will, and that there was no occasion 


direct bearing upon these claims, or upon the 
cl^tim that the injunction invaded personal rights 
and liberties of the officers of the organizations 
in prohibiting them from "advising, etc.," the 
men to leave the service of this company. 

The letter is dated at St. Paul and addressed to 
Mr. George P. Miller: 

"I send you herewith the or.ginal of a letter 
this day received from Mr. Kendrick, which kind- 
ly carefully exirame. I send also a copy of 
the same letter to Senator Spooner to-night. 

‘ The order which was obtained and the writ 
issued thereunder, recently at Milwaukee, con- 
cerning a strike, is very full and admirably 
drawn, yet there is one feature of the case which, 
it seems to me, this order does not fully cover; 
*nd on this view of the case Mr. Oakes, Mr, 
Kendrick and all the operating officers here agree. 
It is this: That we ought to have another order 
issued prohibiting the controlling powers of the 
various organizations from ordering a strike. 
There are a very large number of Northern Pa- 
cific employes in each of the eight branches men- 
tioned in Mr. Kendrick's letter who will not strike 
unless ordered to do so by their superior officers; 
and it is to prevent this order being issued that I 
think we ought to address our very bpst attention 
now.. ***** 

"The petition should be broad enough to pre- 
vent the various labor organizations from taking 
any steps tending to facilitate or assist in the 
making of an order to strike It should prevent 
the thirty-two people, with whom our operating 
officers are to meet and have conferences tomor- 
row, from making reports advising a strike. It 
should also prevent the officers of each of the 
local organizations from taking any part in or- 
dering or promulgating a strike, and the com- 
mittees of such organizations should also be in- 
cluded. It will be necessary, of course, to in- 
clude the head officers who declare or order 
strikes in the first instance * , * * 

"I suggest to you, for the consideration of 
yourself and Senator Spooner, another proposi- 
tion, and that is whether or not you cannot obtain 
from the court an order restraining the employes 
of the Northern Pacific, under the peculiar cir- 
cumstances surrounding this case, from quitting 
the service of the company in the winter time, 
without giving the company at least 15 days no- 
tice as suggested by Mr. Kendrick in his letter 
This has never been done by any court, but 
the reasons for so doing are apparent, from the 
letter of Mr. Kendrick, and the petition which 
you proposed recently upon which the other or- 
der was obtained, and also the opinion of Judge 
Ricks in the 54th Federal Reports, page 746. 

* * * * * * 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


246 

•‘There are the conditions surrounding the em- 
ployment of the men, which may be considered 
in this case, and it seems to me to be fairly with- 
in the equitable power of the chancellor to com 
pel these people, inasmuch as they have had, 
practically, six weeks’ notice of this reduction 
and have not yet determined what course to pur- 
sue, not to quit the company s service without 
giving it at this time of the year at least fifteen 
days’ notice in writing Yours very *ruly, 

James McNaught. 

Counsel for Receivers.” 

Mr. Miller testified that this letter was pre- 
sented to Judge Jenkins as reason why the injunc 
tion should issue and that the same was read by 
the juJge before the restricting order was signed 
It would be an insult to the intelligence of the 
judge to question the fact that he knew just what 
he was doing and why it was desired that he 
do it. 

Mr. Kendrick testified that no threat or talk of 
strike had been indulged in by the representa- 
tives of the men; that he had no good reason to 
believe that the officers of the organizations con- 
templated advising a strike; that he knew it was 
necessary to poll the men; that he krew such vote 
had not been taken, and that he believed it would 
take at leajt two weeks to take such vote. In re- 
ply to question, "Why then did you apply for in- 
junction?” he said, "I thought it was a good time 
to get one.” We do not wish to be understood 
as criticising the management of the road. We 
believe they nude a mistake, but they had an ob- 
ject to attain, and if they could use the United 
States courts for that purpose they had a perfect 
right to do so. We criticise the action of the 
judge who. in his desire to protect and serve the 
interests of one party, apparently loses sight of 
the rights of the other, while he stands expected 
to be the unbiased and unswerving custodian of 


the rights of both. Hi« attention was practically 
called to the fact that no court had ever under- 
taken to compel free men to work against their 
will, and yet the order issued contained the words. 

• And from so quitting the service ot the said re- 
ceivers, with or without notice, as to cripple the 
property, or to prevent or hinder the operation 
of said railroad.” 

Judge Jenkins says the men have an unques- 
tioned right to quit; that personal liberty is not 
restrained, yet he declines to modify the restrain- 
ing, order by striking out the provision which pro- 
hibits men irom ' so quitting " "with or without 
notice,” "as to hinder the operation of said rail- 
road ” It needs no argument to prove that 
if any large number, and in a thousand not 
improbable cases, a small number, or even an in- 
dividual, should quit, the operation of the road 
would be ‘ hindered. ” 

The decision is paradoxical. The ground 
taken we believe will prove untenable. Appeal 
has been taken to the higher courts, but if the 
House of Representatives is largely composed of 
men who compare favorably with those who have 
brought about and conducted this investigation, 
in point of fairness and interest in the welfare of 
the people, it is safe to assume that the legislative 
branch of the government will provide against 
such misconstruction or misapplication of the in- 
tent or spirit of the laws, by the judiciary, before 
a decision can be secured from the highest tri- 
bunal. The question of railroad receiverships, 
as at present created and conducted, opens up a 
most interesting subject for the consideration of 
our legislators, and if they are not blinded by 
prejudice they will find much that the interests ot 
the people and the government demand should 
be corrected. 


SEEN THROUGH DIFFERENT GLASSES. 


The Railway Age commenting upon the de- 
cisions of Judges Jenkins and Caldwell, says: 

"Some confusion of principles has been devel- 
oped from the recent judicial decisions concern- 
ing railway strikes. At the investigation at Mil- 
waukee this week into the decision of Judge 
Jenkins restraining the Northern Pacific employes 
from engaging in a strike the heads of the labor 
organizations and also the chairman of the con- 
gressional committee expressed the opinion that 
the "court had no more authority over the em- 
ployes than the officers of the road had before it 
passed into the hands of the receivers ” Going 
still farther the decision of Judge Caldwell in the 
the case of the Union Pacific employes was to 
the effect that a court may compel the officers of 
a road which happens to be in its bands to in 
crease the wages of employes and may prohibit 


them from making schedules and rules for the 
government of the employes. According to these 
views the powers of the court are for the 
restraint and punishment of the employer but 
only for the protection of the employes; a view of 
the relations of labor and capital which does not 
conform to the common sense of equity or to the 
general tenor of judicial decisions, and in the 
nature of things cannot stand. A court of equity 
may not show favoritism or exercise its posters 
for oppression It must do exact justice to all 
parties before it and neither employers or em- 
ployed should desire anything else • 4 * 

In neither case was the right of employes to 
insist on higher pay and to quit peaceably if ^ 
demand was not granted jeopardized or abridged 
****** 


After all no great principle was at stake. The 

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THE RAILWAY 

righls of labor were just as safe before as after 
these ruling*; the rights of capital are not injured 
by the announcement of principles already well 
understood. But unfortunately the use which is 
being made by agitators of these judicial utter- 
ances will tend for a time to widen the breacn 
between capital and labor which fair minded 
men were hoping to see closed " 

The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution 
of the United States provides that ‘ Involun- 
tary servitude, except for crime," shall not exist 
We would be glad to have the Age explain how 
tbe application of the words and from so quit- 
ting the service of said Receivers, with or with- 
out notice , as to cripple the property, or to pre- 
vent or hinder the operation of said railroad," 
quoted from Judge Jenkins' restraining order, 
differs from involuntary servitude, if there be in 
the service those who wish to quit. The idea 
that the employes of a bankrupt railway com- 
pany — made so by questionable financiering and 
perhaps placed in charge of the courts for the 
purpose of avoiding the payment of honest lia- 
bilities — are deprived of their personal and con- 
stitutional rights, or any part of them, by the 
appointment of a Receiver, and the operation of 
the road under direction and protection of the 
court, is un-American, paradoxical and unreason- 
able 

The Age says “a court of equity may not show 
hvoritism or exercise its powers for oppression, 
it must do exact justice to all parties before it 
and neither employers or employed should desire 
anything else." 

As between two Judges, one of whom affords 
to both parties a full and free hearing, before 
deciding, the other of whom decices without any 
Hearing or investigation, but upon wholly ex 
Parte statements, there is but little question as 
against which the charge of favoritism would (if 
made) lie. “Exact justice" can never be adminis- 
tered on ex parte statements As to desiring any- 
thing more, we can answer for the employed. We 
desire only justice. We seek no favoritism at the 
hands of either the Legislative or Judiciary 
branches of the government. _.^i 

We see nothing inconsistent in the claim that 
the court may direct the action of its receivers in 
Ihe matter of fixing rates of compensation to- be 
P*id employes and the rules to govern them, 
while they may not say that the employes shall 
not quit the service. The court has, beyond 
doubt, a right to fix the compensation of the re- 
vivers and every one employed under 
hem The court cannot, however, say that 
*uher tbe receivers or those under them shall 
work for the compensation offered. The receiver 


CONDUCTOR. 24 7 

may resign, the one to whom the place is offered 
may decline it, the employe may quit. The court 
is (or should be) powerless to force unsatisfactory 
or distasteful service upon any The truth of 
the matter is that in many cases railroad com- 
panies go into voluntary bankruptcy and secure 
the appointment of receivers upon application of 
the debtor instead of the creditor, for no other 
purpose than to secure some “favoritism," not 
necessarily from the judges personally, but from 
the strained construction of the laws which the 
judges have announced. We are not a compen- 
dium of law, but fcave heard it said by those who 
ought to know, that our laws nowhere authorize 
Federal Judges to appoint receivers. If this is 
so it would seem that the whole question is one 
of assumption of authority on part of the judi- 
ciary and it seems clear that the precedents set, 
point directly to an oppressive exercise of the 
power of the court. The position of the Age 
seems to be that the employe should be amenable 
to the court while the receiver should be left to 
exercise his will without let or hinderance. We 
are not willing to embrace the opinion that 
“After all no great principle was at stake." A 
great principle is directly at issue and a great 
problem is being solved. The attention of the 
whole nation has been arrested and fixed upon 
this question. * The duty of our legislators is 
plain and their acts must stand the tests of the 
convictions ot their constituency. Comparing the 
decisions the Age says: 

In one decision the court extended its protec- 
tion over the public by an order against threat- 
ened violence, and in the other case peace was as- 
sured by requiring the owners of the property to 
pay for it. 

We (as well as all others who were in a position 
to know) know that in neither case was a strike 
probable. In neither case was a strike threat- 
ened or talked of by any representative men or 
representatives of the men. The evidence of the 
general managers of the two systems, given at 
hearings before Judge Caldwell at Omaha, and 
before the congressional committee at Milwaukee, 
corroborates this statement. The effort to convey 
the impression that Judge Jenkins, by his action, 
prevented a strike, is “Crying wolf when there 
was no wolf," and it is used as a log rolled out to 
attract attention from the real points at issue. A 
few, radically inclined, among the employes gave 
loud expression to their individual opinions. To 
accept their expressions as a fair gauge by which 
to determine the feelings of the whole, would be 
about as reasonable as to listen to a lecture, on 
his belief, delivered by an atheist, and then de- 
clare that the American people were infidels. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

RESULT OF AN INVESTIGATION. 


TV sub-committee from the Committee on 
JodiciAry of the House of Representatives, to 
srbom was delegated the investigation of the 
action of Judge Jenkins in issuing his (in)famous 
restraining orders against the employes of the 
Northern Pacific Railway Co and the officers of 
the organizations to which those employes be- 
long. have made their report. That every claim 
made by us against the Judge’s action was proven 
and that every charge made was well founded, is 
shown by the report of a majority of the commit- 


the sole reasons for the action. Your oommititr 
also finds that no measures looking to a strike had 
been inaugurated, nor does any seem to have 
been in contemplation, nor does it appear that 
any of the per-ons named in the writs of iajooc 
tion have remained in the service of thetompaov 
against their will It does appear, however, that 
while they regarded the writ void, they believe*? 
that so long as it was in force they were bour d i 
obey it under penalty of punishment for cor 
tempt if they violated it, and this consideration 
might have been more effective than they art 
aware of in inducing them to remain in the sen 
ice. 


lee. which is in substance as follows: Your committee does not concur in the opinion 

Notwithstanding the suggestion of the em- of the judge that the decisions rendered m the 
pioyes that they desired to confer, the orders Toledo cases by Judges Taft and Ricks at all sup 
were obtained without awaiting the results of a port his contentions Oo the contrary, both cl 
conference, or beiDg in possession of any definite toe cases clearly recognize the principle that 
information of the intention of the employes with courts of equity cannot enforce the specific per 
respect to the schedules. The original order formanct of the contract for personal servicr 
received December 19 had a two fold aspect. It by writs cf injunction and other processes bur 
reduced existing wages and enjoined and pro- th al in such cases the remedy is at law by *r 
bibited those who were to receive them, if they action for damages. They also clearly recoguiv 
remained in the service of the company, from the right of the laboring people as a means cf 
quitting the service with or without notice so as selling their labor at higher price, of coercion 
to cripple the property or injure the operations employers to accede to their demands In detn 
of the road. On being advised that if so ordered mining the lawfulness of the proceeding of th» 
or advised by the officers of the organizations to ^nd, th e judges justly take the law as sustains 
which they belonged the men would quit the serv- lb® employe, and inconvenience to the genet* 
ice in a body, and that under the construction public cannot be considered, 
placed upon the existing order (the injunction) by If employes have the lawful right to combin' 
those who had obtained it, they would thereby in a strike for the purpose of forcing compliance 
commit a contempt of court and were liable to with their demands or securing the highest wagt 
punishment for so doing, the officers of the com- and best terms possible, that right cannot b* 
pany immediately asked for, and the judge remedied by the fact that its exercise is levied cm 
granted, the second order of injunction, Dtcera- the interest of others. Its principle applies d 
ber 23. The object of this was to insure to the course, only to those strikes which exist in th 
company the compulsory services of the oper- withdrawal from service by concert and corabir 
atives, because under the first order of the in- tion. Should violence be done to the person or 
junction the employes could not quit without property of the employer by those who have com 
being guilty of contempt, and would not do so bined against him, if others would supply tb? 
unless ordered by the officers of their several or service which the strikers have abandoned aoc 
ganizations; and if these officers were prohibited are prevented from doing so by violence, intiro 
from advising the strike it was perfectly evident idation, threats or other unlawful means, these 
that the officers so enjoined could not discharge acts are not only unlawful but in roost instances 
this function of their office, and the men could would constitute violation of the crimioal lav. 5 
not quit when prohibited from so doing by the and be punishable as such The conclusion 
court and not authorized to do so by the organ- therefore, of the judge, that the employes ol the 
izations by whose rules and regulations they were Northern Pacific might be forced by him b\ 
governed. This was the object sought to be ob- writs of injunction, to protect that company from 
tained. That the order was drawn to effectuate loss and the public from inconvenience by re 
it. and it was signed by the judge with that in- maining in its service at a rate of wages to which 
tent, the language of the order and concomitant they had not given their assent, is one in which 
circumstances left no room for doubt. we cannot concur, and which, in our judgment 

Your committee has no hesitation in declaring is supported by none of the decisions which h* 
that the orders rendered were a gross abuse of cites. 

the power of the court; were supported by Your committee find nothing in the testimony 
neither reason nor authority; were beyond the or see any corrupt inteniion on the part of 1 be 
jurisdiction of the judge, .and were therefore judge to render these orders. It is altogether 
void. possible that he is sincere io the conviction tba' 

The second or supplementary writ was more he properly exercbed the equity jurisdiction erf 
reprehensible than the first, because the judge his court in preventing loss and damages which 
was advised before he rendered it of the exact would have resulted from a lawful strike against 
objects and purposes sought to be accomplished, the Northern Pacific. This view of the case pre 
There was no suggestion in either of these letters vents us from recommending any proceeding 
of anv fear from illegal acts, but the fear from looking to his impeachment, but in order Iha* 
suspension of traffic, of an attending damage to there may be no further excuse for the rendition 
the load ami inconvenience to the public were of any such orders or decrees and that the cour** 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


of equity of the United Slates may not be de- 
ceived as to the extent of their powers in enforc- 
ing contracts for personal services by legal pro- 
cess. we recommend t r »e enactment of a statute 
which will prevent them from doing so 

We also feel constrained to call attention to 
the abuses which have grown up under the 
powers assumed by the judges of the courts of the 
United States to appoint receivers for railroad 
corporations These orders being rendered in 
court under proceedings instituted nominally for 
the purpose of effecting foreclosures, but really 
for the purpose of averting pursuit of creditors 
and the enforcement of lawful obligations, are 
considered as interlocutory and not subject to ap- 
peal If however, an appeal is granted, it does 
not have the effect of suspending the execution of 
the decree and the road passes into the hands of 
a receiver, who operates it, at least pending the 
appeal, and this actioo of the judge is entirely 
independent of any control whatever by the 
owner and creditors of the property The powers 
exercised by the courts through the receivers are 
purely of their own creation, the result of judicial 
construction not ascertained or limited by statute, 
and therefore dangerous. Your committee is of 
the opinion that the cases for which receivership 
may be ordered in the courts of the United States 
should be declared by statute. The anomaly has 
beeo presented for y#ars of great railway corpor- 
ations being operated, and toe business of com- 
mon carriers being carried on by the United 
States through the judicial lines of the govern- 
ment and of the judges possessing at once the 
powers pertaining to other judicial officers and 
combining with thos^ the powers of the president 
and directors of corporitions united in one and 
the same person The committee is also of the 
opinion that the powers asserted by the judges of 
the United States courts to punish for contempt 
are dangerous, and the) should be limited by 
law 

In t he case reported — federal report in re Hig- 
gins — Judge Pardoe declared that his power to 
punish for contempt was unlimited, both as to 
the amount of the fine and duration of imprison- 
ment. In his judgment he could decide without 
appeal what constituted a contempt, who com 
muted the act. and the extent of punishment to 
be inflicted In that case he held a number of 
violations of the criminal laws of the state of 
Texas likewise t j be contempt of his court. 

Under his construction, an assault and battery 
or any violence or unfairness committed by an 
employe or servant of a railway company in the 
hands of a receiver would be considered a con- 
tempt of his court. If this principle be a correct 
one (and the decisions seem to be cited by other 
courts) aod were approved it would be extremely 
convenient to substitute it for the criminal laws 
of the states. The exercise of police powers and 
the protection of life and property by those 
agencies would be relieved by the authority of a 
United States judge who instituted proceedings 
for contempt. Limitations contained in the con- 
stitution, viz: Providing for trials by jury, being 
confronted by witnesses, being represented by 
counsel, etc., would likewise be relieved. With- 


out taking issue with the judges as to whether 
they had correctly or incorrectly stated the law 
on this important subject, your committee is of 
the opinion that the protection of property rights 
should be left in the hands of executive officers, 
and that violations of laws should be punished by 
proceedings dt-fined and provided by law, and 
that in order to prevent the abuse of authority 
claimed by the judiciary, their power to punish 
for contempt should be defined and limited by 
law. 

The fact that the members of the committee 
who make this report (Messrs. Boatner and 
Terry) are of the same political faith as is Judge 
Jenkins, conclusively proves that party politics 
is not an influencing factor in the finding. The 
integrity of the gentlemen composing the commit- 
tee has never been questioned, and certainly still 
stands unchallenged. 

Judge Jenkins' honesty is not assailed in the 
report, nor has it been by us. But the fact is 
clear that J udge Jenkins either has a very poor con- 
ception of the proprieties and of the duties of a 
judge in a court of equity or he is too easily in- 
fluenced by those who have access to the ear of 
the court, 

It is to be hoped that no time will be lost in 
arranging for legislative action on the lines 
recommended in the report. It is also to be hoped 
that nothing but healthy legislation will be sought 
by the working people. We need no special or 
class legislation We only ask for the passage of 
laws which are fair to all and a fair show in their 
application by the judiciary. Labor can cire for 
itself if not oppressed by the “powers that be.” 
The disposition to so oppress is entertained by 
many, but the turning point is reached. The de- 
cision of Judge Caldwell in the U. P. case ard 
this report mark the beginning of a new 
era. Will workingmen appreciate the ad- 
vantages of the opportunities opened and 
by intelligent action on their own part 
assist in advancing their ciuse, or will they cling 
to the ideas and to the practices of the past, 
thereby refusing or neglecting to keep pace with 
the progress of this progressive age? 

This investigation has brought our cause more 
prominently before the people than could possibly 
have been done in any other way. The eyes of 
the world are upon the organizations composed 
of railway employes. It is to be hoped that the 
membership of those organizations will give evi- 
dence of the possession of that superior intelli- 
gence which, it has always been claimed they 
possessed 


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250 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


•CLAIM EVERYTHING IN SIGHT." 


The esteemed Railway Conductor in speak- 
ing of the Union Pacific case, breaks a straw 
lance on the A. R. U. by omitting to mention 
that it was through the efforts of that organization 
that the case got into court, and that after the 
leading light of the O. R. C. had been requested 
by his own men to keep his fingers out and stay 
away from Omaha. The grand officers were only 
in court as auditors, and not as ‘proper parties." 
The great victory was not gained by, but in spite 
of them. — The Railway 'Times. 

We do not consider it worth while to go into 
detail in denying the falsehoods contained in the 
above, relative to the representative of the O. R. 
C , who responded to the call of the committee 
of that order. 


It may be a good plan to “claim everything in 
sight," but as the Uoion Pacific case was taken 
into court by the organizations named by judge 
Caldwell in his decision it will be difficult to con- 
vince those who saw the attorney for the A R 
U. refused a hearing on no less than three occa- 
sions during the hearing before Judges Caldwell 
and Riner, that that organiz itlon was the “proper 
party" or a very important factor in that case. 

The Times will find it better in the long run to 
stick to the truth, and we believe it will be better 
for it to argue the questions at issue from some 
other standpoint than that of personal abuse, 
largely mixed with misrepresentation. 


POOR OLD READING 


The Philadelphia and Reading Railway Com- 
pany has made itself notorious as the most bitter 
enemy of organized labor; it has passed through 
various receiverships, trustee holdings and Con- 
gressional investigations; its present financial 
condition does not speak well for both the busi- 
ness sagacity and honesty of those who have con- 
trolled its affairs, but it adds to the notoriety of 
the “Reading." Is it not just possible that the 
open hostility to organization among the employes 
has been “a log?" The liabilities of this corpora- 
tion are $280,000,000, while it cannot show assets 
worth $175,000,000. Their coallands originally cost 
about $26,500,000, at a time when coallands were 
high. Nearly 100,000,000 tons of coal have been 
taken from them, and now these lands are figured 
as an asset worth $60,000,000. Ten years ago 
the road and its terminals were figured by the 
company as having cost $27,000,000. Now with 
no mileage having been added they are figured as 
$80. coo, coo of assets. Canals listed as $9 000,- 


000 of assets do not earn more than one-half of 
one per cent on that valuation. 

The Comptroller furnishes a statement showing 
a h excess of assets over liabilities of $5,000,000, 
while the accountant appointed by the bood 
interests figures from the books of the company 
$7,186,000 liabilities over and above all assets 
This must be a pleasing showing to the stock- 
holders. and they can find much to attract their 
attention in an effort to figure out how the United 
States courts are to get the “elephant" off their 
hands without repudiation of securities, which in 
reality represent nothing of value. It has cost 
the estate some $700,000 now for having its affairs 
handled by the court. 

It will be better all around when Congress acts 
upon the recommendations of Boatner’s commit- 
tee and puts a stop to the vicious practices which 
have grojvn up out of the present manner of pro- 
viding and conducting receiverships 


Some months since D. G Ramsay, Grand 
Chief of the Order of Railway Telegraphers, was 
arrested on the charge of having been concerned 
in a conspiracy to cut the wires of the B., C. R. 
& N road at the time of the telegraphers' strike 
of the year before. After several postponements 
the case finally came to trial in the district court 
of this county, resulting in the acquittal of the 
defendant. Not only Mr. Ramsay, but the cause 
of organized labor in general is to be congratu- 
lated upon this fortunate outcome It is a funda- 
mental principle of these bodies of laboring men 
that the settlement of all differences between 
them and their employers must be settled by 


pacific means if possible, and in no instance are 
such means as those mentioned countenanced or 
allowed The conviction of the chief execu live 
of one of them upon such a charge would go far 
to give the lie to all claims for a law-abiding 
spirit and conservative action ard would do 
almost incalculable harm to all orders alike 


To those who have had business dealing* with 
the management of the Great Northern railway 
or to those conversant with the peculiar methods 
which prevailed in the management, the efforts 
to make it appear that Mr Case was responsible 
for the condition of affairs which led up to the 


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late trouble, will appear to be, just wbat they 
are. attempts to shoulder responsibility onto 
others. There is not a railroad president in the 
land who gives more attention to details than 
does Mr Hill, and i* was known to many that in 
proposing the new schedule Mr. Case was acting 
under specific orders from Mr. Hill. We have 
no special interest in Mr. Case, but we love fair 
ptay. 

• 

It would seem that no man in this country is 
safe from the political candidate-mongers who are 
ever on the outlook for a victim. Simply and only 
because Judge Caldwell m*de an eminently just 
and fair decision in the Union Pacific case they at 
once pounced upon him as suitable material for a 
presidential candidate. No one who knows Judge 
Caldwell or has followed his career will dispute 
his possession of those intellectual qualities nec- 
essary to make a desirable executive for this gov- 
ernment, and in him honest labor would nnd a 
steadfast friend, but he would be the last to ac- 
cept such promotion as a reward for the perform- 
ance of a plain duty. When the decision in 
question had been rendered and some of the men 
interested crowded forward to thank the judge 
for it, he said to them in substance, 'Never 
thank a judge for doiog his duty. If he gives a 
wrong decision roast him If he gives a right de- 
cision it is no more than he is in honor bound to 
do.” No man is entitled to thanks for doing his 
duty. Judge Caldwell did only what he thought 


was right and he wants no thanks, neither does 

he want the presidency, for so doing. 

— : • 

As the time for the meeting in New York City 
approach^ s, the interest in it appears to grow 
strooger. Lenox Lyceum, at Fifty-eighth street 
and Madison avenue, has been secured for the 
gatherings, which will commence on the 27th 
inst and continue until the 29th. Representatives 
of the O R. C.. B. L F , B. L. E., B. R. T., 
O R T and S. V. A. A. will be in attendance 
and questions of the first importance to all will 
be discussed Among other matters the dele- 
gates will endeavor to agree upon some plan to 
be followed in the direction of such legislation as 
may be deemed beneficial to the interests of rail- 
road employes, at the hands of state and national 
legislators, without regard to party. The value of 
a general arbitration law and the best means of 
obtaining one that will be of practical benefit, 
will also be considered. Other matters of gen- 
eral importance will be brought forward and no 
pains will be spared in making the meeting one 
of permanent value to the railroad men of the 
country. As has been stated, the arrangements 
for this conference have been left with Divisions 
54 and 104 of the O. R. C , and the past suc- 
cesses won by their members in similar matters 
will be warrant that nothing utill be left undone 
that will in any way tend to bring this meeting 
fully up to the expectations of the most enthusi- 
astic. 


COMMENT. 


The Coxey movement, which is just now 
attracting so much attention throughout the 
country, and which many persons are inclined to 
regard as something unique in history, appears to 
find its parallel in the march of the Blanketeers, 
which took place in England in the spring of the 
year 1817; and. it but goes to exemplify the truth 
of the saying that "history repeats itself." The 
Blanketeers were a body of men who marched to 
London, much in the manner in which the Com- 
monwealers are now marching to Washington, 
for the purpose of presenting petitions to Parlia- 
ment and inducing that body to accede to their 
demands for the enactment of certain measures 
of reform in the government. The movement 
hal its origin among the weavers of Lancashire. 
Early in March of the year 1817, the tenth of the 
month, I believe it was. a vast body of working- 
men assembled in St. Peter’s Field at Manches- 
ter for the purpose of discussing the question of 
Parliamentary reform which was just then agi- 


tating the country, and for the further purpose of 
organizing an army which should march to Lon- 
don and present its petition to Parliament in a 
body. This meeting was called the ‘ Blanket 
Meeting," because of the fact that those who 
attended were observed to have a blanket, dr 
large coat, rolled up and strapped, knapsack 
fashion, to their backs; and, for the same reason, 
those who participated in the movement were 
known as "Blanketeers " Some carried bundles 
under their arms; some carried rolls of paper in 
their hands, supposed to be petitions which had 
been got ready to present to Parliament upon 
their arrival in London; and many had stout 
walking sticks in their hands to assist them on 
their journey. The magistrates came upon the 
field where this meeting took place and read the 
Riot Act. (One week before this, on March 3d, 
the Habeas Corpus Act had been suspended 
throughout the kingdom, under "An Act to em- 
power his Majesty to secure and detain such per- 


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seas as bis Majesty shall suspect are conspiring 
against bis person and govern jnent.’ 1 ) The meet 
was dispersed by the military and the consta- 
bles* and no more than three hundred of the 
££&nfceteers. without leaders, and without organi- 
began their straggling march towards Lon- 
don These were followed by a body of consta- 
bles who apprehended some and induced others 
to desert, until, when the Blanketeers spread 
their blankets at Macclesfield, at nine o'clock 
tin; night* they numbered less than two hundred. 
These kept on their march, their numbers mean- 
w-f.e. continually decreasing because of deser- 
ves and arrests by the authorities along the line 
c i march, until the 17th of the month, when a 
mere handful of . the original Blanketeer army 
reached the outskirts of .London and concluded 
to disband without having accomplished their 
purpose of appealing to Parliament. It does not 
appear that any of the reform leaders of that 
time. Cobbett, Hunt. Brandreih, etc . were con- 
nected with this movement, and the movement 
does not appear to have bad the least influence 
on the actions of Parliament; but, as with the 
Coxey movement of to-day. the movement was 
but an ill-directed expression of the general dis- 
content with current social and economic condi- 
tions which prevailed among the working classes. 
Then, as now, the working classes recognized the 
fact that it was the vicious policy of their law 
makers that was largely responsible for the evil 
conditions surrounding them, and, then, as now, 
they instinctively turned to the law makers with 
the expectation that they would be afforded some 
measure of relief through the enactment of 
laws favorable to their interests Many went 
into the Blanketeer movement actuated by the 
belief that it was the most effective way in which 
they could exercise their right of petition; but 
the belief was erroneous; Parliament continued 
i« its vicious course of manufacturing special 
legislation undisturbed by the Blanketeer move- 
ment; and, in this respect, also, history will no 
doubt repeat itself with regard to the Common- 
wralers and the Congress of the Cnited States. 

• # # 

And the apathy and pandering to selfish inter- 
etttw, instead of carrying out their plain duty, 
which characterizes oitr law makers, may justify 
utt in carrying die parallel farther The reform- 
er, William Cobbett, who^e views on government 
hi * t w*ill known, was the moving spirit of the 
aghution fur Parliamentary reform Cobbet 
Advocated Parliamentary reform as a corrective 
of whatever miseries the lower classes suffered; 
ami by ihe ch dilation of his f’u oyVvwv A V<*/V/rr. 
whit h he begun to publish in \8io it was said that 


his writings "were read on nearly every cottage 
hearth in the manufacturing districts." Cob* 
bett’s object was to suddenly raise up the working 
masses and turn them into active politicians He 
called upon the people to assemble and petition; 
he exhorted them against the use of force; and, 
with rare eloquence, he exhorted them to demand 
the right of universal suffrage. It was through 
Cobbett’s inspiring teachings that the Blanketeer. 
and kindred movements of that period, made 
headway. Instead of meeting the demand for 
reform the government tried to suppress Cobbett. 
but he was shrewd enough to keep within the 
law, and until after the suspension of the Habeas 
Corpus Act he could not be touched A society 
known as the "Spencean Philanthropists'* jumped 
into the band wagon They derived their name 
from a certain Mr. Spence, a Yorkshire school- 
master. who had been prosecuted in the year 
1800 for promulgating the doctrine that the State 
should become the owner of all the land of the 
kingdom, and divide all the produce of the land 
equally among the people. It may easily be 
imagined that such agrarian teachings as this 
would not be very well received in England in 
the year 1800. However, in the year 1816 
Spence’s doctrine was revived, and numerous 
societies of "Spencean Philanthropists" were 
instituted in London, where they actively entered 
the movement for Parliamentary reform. The 
Spenceads under the leadership of a certain Mr 
Watson, precipitated a riot in London in Decem- 
ber, 1816. when one man was shot and consider 
able property destroyed. Parliament became 
alarmed. The reformers were denominated con- 
spirators, and, in the debates in the bouse on the 
18th and 19th of February their objects were 
described to be “the overthrow of all the politi- 
cal institutions of the kingdom and such a sub* 
version of the rights of property as must neces- 
sarily lead to general confusion, plunder and 
bloodshed ’ This debate culminated in the sus- 
pension of Habeas Corpus on the 3d of March; 
the Blanketeer movement began on the loth; 
Cobbett suspended the publication of the AV^t.v- 
ter and fled to America to avoid arrest on the 
28th of the same month The leader of the 
Spencean riot was tried for high treason, but the 
government failed »o secure a conviction Thus 
things went on without Parliament conceding 
anything to the demands of the reformers, lor 
two years more; when on the i6th of August, 
1819. occurred what is known in history as the 
’Manchester Massacre." On that date a vast 
concourse of people had assembled in St Peter’s 
Field, the same place where the Blanketeers had 
assembled two years before, to listen to an ad- 


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253 


dress by one of the reformers named Hunt — 
"Orator Hunt," as he was called, The people 
carried banners on which were written ‘ Unity 
and Strength, Liberty and Fraternity," “Parlia- 
ment's Annual. Suffrage Universal," and such 
like mottoes. Hunt mounted a platform and be- 
gan bis address, the multitude was thoroughly 
qniet and orderly, but before he had uttered more 
than a dozen sentences the military suddenly ap- 
peared and charged upon the assembled multitude. 
The people were wholly unprepared for the 
onslaught, six persons were killed, and a great 
number wounded more or less seriously. Hunt, 
and nine of his companions, was seized upon 
the hustings and brought before the Manchester 
magistrates to answer to the charge of high trea- 
son. This charge was not sustained; but Hunt 
and bis companions were afterwards tried upon a 
charge of “unlawfully assembling for the pur- 
pose of moving and inciting to contempt and 
hatred of the government" On this charge they 
were convicted and sentenced to various terms of 
imprisonment The government was now in a 
state of almost helpless terror, but instead of 
meeting the legitimate demand for reform by the 
enactment of pacific legislation, Parliament 
assembled and passed some of the most iniquitous 
laws known to English history. These were the 
infamous laws known as the Six Acts, which 
Lord Campbell described as “the unconstitu- 
tional Code, the latest violation of our free con- 
stitution." They were Acts: to prevent delay in 
the administration of justice in cases of misde- 
meanor; to prevent the training of persons in the 
practice of military evolutions; to authorize jus- 
tices of the peace to seize and detain arms; to 
more effectually prevent seditious meetings and 
assemblies; to subject certain publications to 
stamp duties; and to more effectually prevent 
and punish the crime of seditious libel. And 
this was the spirit in which the legitimate demands 
of the people for reform in the government was 
met; it was not until thirteen years later, in 1832. 
that the first reform bill passed both houses of 
Parliament and became a law. 


Have we the slightest warrant for assuming 
that our own law makers are animated by any 
different spirit, with respect to the demands for 
reform that are being echoed from all parts of 
the country, than were their English prototypes 
of the early part of the century? If we could 
only be certain that congress would adjourn to- 
morrow and relieve the country from its vacil- 
lating policy, leave the laws entirely alone, for a 
period of at least ten years, the country would be 
decidedly the gainer. We could better afford to 
pay our law makers their salaries to stay quietly 
at home and do nothing, than to pay them for 
working positive injury to the country, as they 
have been doing lately. At any rate, the ele- 
ment of uncertainty would be removed; persons 
who are doing business in the country would 
know what they might expect to encounter in the 
shape of laws for a definite period, at least, and 
could govern themselves accordingly. They 
would know that they might count on a settled 
policy for at least ten years, and that itself, even 
if the policy was known to be a vicious one, 
would be a decided advantage to the industrial 
factors of the country. No man can blame a 
business man for fighting shy of the present sit- 
uation; no man can honestly blame another for 
refusing to invest capital in industrial enterprises 
while the present condition of uncertainty con- 
tinues. And what is congress doing to relieve 
that condition of uncertainty? Absolutely noth- 
ing Every move they have so far made has 
been in the direction of increasing and intensi- 
fying the feeling of uncertainty as to what will 
be the outcome of their legislation. This con- 
dition will not be remedied by any Quixotic 
movements like the army of the commonweal; 
the remedy lies in another direction. It fs in the 
ballot box. If one party does not meet the de- 
mand for reform in a proper spirit we must try 
another; we must put in power a party that is of 
the people, and in sympathy with the demands of 
the people. Workingmen have the votes to do 
this, if they will only stick together; let us see if 
they have the intelligence to properlv use them. 

“B" 


BORROWED OPINION. 


A bill is now before congress to prohibit ticket 
scalping. The measure is undoubtedly in the in- 
terest of honesty and equity . — Express Gazette. 

If the hard times will squeeze some of the 
water out of railway stock and fry a large portion 
of the fat out of the salaried offices, so that bet- 
ter wages can be paid for the real workers and 
belter dividends be paid the bona fide capital in- 
vented, while giving lower rates on the transpor- 


tation of farm products, they will not have oc- 
curred in vain . — Railroad Register. 

The car stove has got to go. Laws were passed 
against it by the New York legislature, but the 
railroad companies paid little heed to them and 
contested their constitutionality Great regard 
corporations have for the constitution when they 
can use it. The court of appeals has just sus- 
tained the law, and the New York & New Haven 


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254 


railroad is compelled to pay the state a penalty of 
$7,000 and costs for violating the law by failing 
to heat their cars with steam . — Pittsburg Post. 

The decision of Judge Caldwell in the dispute 
between the receivers of the Union Pacific rail- 
road and their employes seems to be viewed with 
much surprise, and even consternation on the 
part of certain classes; just why a decision based 
on common sense and equal justice to all should 
occasion surprise, they do not attempt to show. 
Evidently the fact of a just judge deciding a case 
upon its actual merits, in the interest of honest 
labor is sufficient to cause a ripple of surprise to 
the would-be dictator class, from the extreme 
charity of such cases in the past When both 
sides receive equal consideration at the hands of 
courts of justice, silch decisions as Judge Cald 
well’s will be the rule and not the exception. 
— Railway Carmen's Journal. 

The inter-state law has been, like Pandora’s 
casket, productive of its share of evils. The law 
either needs revising or repealing, and if sub- 
jected to the former process there should be a 
digest prepared to go with it that would explain 
definitely what the statute means and what can 
be done under it, and how much benefit and how 
much injury it is supposed to work when applied 
to labor and capital. * * * Employes are 

accused of being afAid to trust their cases in the 
hands of the court. The accusation is unfound- 
ed in truth, for where there is any opportunity 
given them for an even show for a just decision 
they are perfectly willing, as is attested by their 
ready compliance to the demands of the judges 
having the Union Pacific matter in hand, but 
where the courts promise nothing but defeat and 
where lack of reason and bad laws prevail they 
have no anxiety to engage in a battle, certain to 
be lost to them The courts will be welcomed as 
an asylum for the amelioration of the oppressed 
when they give evidence that justice will be dis- 
pensed equally and impartially. — Railroad Train- 
men's Journal. 

From Pennsylvania comes the command, ' The 
Huns must go It is uttered because of the ter- 
ror inspired by these half-savages in the recent 
strikes by cok» makers in the territory east of 
Pittsburg. These Huns commit murder and pil- 
lage with fiendish glee They are as fearless as 
a wolf, and just as dangerous. Their wolfish 
propensities are known everywhere. Though the 
disturbances in the coke district are deplorable, 
no one sympathizes very deeply with the employ- 
ers. American citizens were driven from the 
places of their former employment and replaced by 
the savage, wolfish Huns. The employers are 
now paying dearly for their short-sightedness. 
The Huns are unmanageable: they have learned 
to strike for higher wages; they fear not death, 



will, in a mad frenzy, commit murder and pillage 
That they have done, and will continue to do. to 
long as they are tolerated. For this reason the 
command has been heard in Pennsylvania that 
the Hun must go. — Elmira Telegram , 

In all eras of industrial depression the tendency 
of vested rights and authority is to infringe upon 
the rights of the masses and for the corporate and 
capitalist class to still further diminish the con- 
sumptive power of the people — the wage-workers 
— through a reduction in wages. There can be 
no question that the organizations of labor have 
acted as a great check upon these tendencies. In 
all previous crises the organizations of labor have 
been crushed out of existence, and with their dis- 
appearance the grade has been downward until 
the lowest notch was reached; and only when the 
so-called ‘ dead capital’ became worn out and 
useless and had to be replaced by new. thus grad- 
ually but slowly re-employing labor The remov- 
al of the barrier to further aggressions, the crush- 
ing out of labor organizations, successfully ac 
complished during previous industrial panic*, is 
impossible in our day; thanks to the better meth- 
ods and basis of present organization. Beyond 
doubt the duration of an industrial crisis depends 
upon the strength, energy, permanency and grit 
of the organized toilers, it was to this cause 
that the panic of 73 lasted more than seven yean 
and that the present one will be happily passed in 
very much less time . — American Eederationia. 

The experiment of the British government 
with the eight hour day as compared with the 
nioe hoi^s in the war department and the pub- 
lished result that declared in favor of the eight 
hour day was published a few weeks ago. Now 
comes the report of a private firm which has also 
made a years experiment on the same lines 
Wm Mather, senior member of the firm controll- 
ing the great Salford Iron Aorks in Lancashire 
says that nothing could have been more satisfac- 
tory than the results of this trial. No reduction 
was made in wages and the eight hour day was 
paid the same price as had been paid for the nine 
hour day. Mr. Mather declares that the output of 
the works has been greater than ever . with no 
corresponding increase in expenses. As a con 
sequence he urges an extension of the government 
eight hour day to all the public works. ft is not 
difficult to understand that a workingman who is 
in a happy, contented frame of mind does more 
work — produces more — than the man who i> 
haunted by anxiety and uncertainty as to the 
present and future If an individual has any 
doubt of the truth of this statement let him study 
himself under the different conditions and theo 
he can express an intelligent opinion. — Every 
Saturday. 


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By the Way Side. Sister Bucklen entertained us at our last regular 

‘Tin sorry she’s dead, ’cause she was good to monthly tea. We were pleased to have some 
us.” visiting ladies with us, and hope in the future to 

• It was a forlorn, poorly clad child of possibly have more. Brother Hartel was the only gentle- 

twelve summers, standing with a crowd at the raan who favored us with his presence, but we 
the door of a church into which a coffin had just hope there will be more next time. We spent a 
been carried. very pleasant and profitable afternoon. Sister 

‘ I wanted to give her these, ” she added, hold- Cory entertains us next month. I am glad to 
ing up a bunch of wild syringas. “We haven't state that no illness or distress of any kind, more 
any flower garden, but these are so pretty, and t ^ lan t^ e ordinary course of every day life, has 


they are white Do you think they’ll let me?” 

It was such a wan troubled little face turned 
up to mine, I could only answer. “I think they 
will.” 

She made a hesitating move towards the door, 
paused a moment, then turned, and again the 
great questioning eyes were raised to mine 

“If they won’t let me, do you think she will 
know I wanted to?” 

"I am sure she will.” I answered so confident- 
ly the little clouded face brightened, a glad light 
came into the eyes, and she almost smiled as she 
moved away and disappeared within the church. 

Surely some attending angel will whisper into 
the ear of the departed the heart's desire of this 
little one. 

“I’m sorry she's dead, cause she was good to 
us.” 

Simple words, but better than flattering obit- 
uary or ‘‘storied urn.” They are recorded, not 
by man, but by the recording angel; not for 
time, but for eternity. 

I know not who “us” are; I know not who 
‘ she" was; but I know there was love and charity; 

I know there is regret and sweet remembrance, 
and the world is the better for it. 

Josephine Brinkerhoff. 

St Louis, Mo., April 27, 1894. 
Editor Raihvay Conductor : 

Our regular meetings and one called meeting 
have been held during the past month, but with 
nothing of special importance to mention. The 
by-laws for Division No. 11 have been prepared 
and sent to the Grand Secretary for approval. 


visited anyone in our midst, and peace and har- 
mony prevail; perhaps it is my imagination, but 
it seems that there is more of unity and sociabil- 
ity among us since we have begun our strictly so- 
cial gatherings. How we wish that more of the 
conductors’ wives would unite with us. 

Mrs. Ed. Williams will be with us soon, 
she will be initiated at our next meeting. 
So the work goes on slowly but stead- 
ily. which is probably the best growth It 
is a little discouraging to read the letters from 
other Divisions and hear how the Brothers of the 
O. R. C. assist the L. A. in every way possible, 
one after another of their Divisions giving an 
entertainment in the honor of the Sisters, or in 
some way showing their interest in the work. If 
they knew how much good a little word of en- 
couragement from our “Lords and masters” does 
us, they would surely speak We now depend on 
them for a good attendauce at our hop and enter- 
tainment which we give at Archer Hall May 17. 
A table of fancy goods donated by the sisters will 
be for sale, among the various articles a dozen 
hemstitched napkins worked with the initials and 
number of our Division. We are all interested 
in those; the highest bidder gets them. We have 
been making great preparations for the “O 
Why" degree and will confer it in all its oriental 
splendor, we having imported the magnificent 
paraphernalia regardless of expense, exclusively 
for this occasion. We confidently hope that 
many O. R. C men who may be in the city will 
present themselves at Anchor Hall for initiation, 
that in the future they may profit by the great 
benefits conferred in this degree. We sincerely 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


256 

tiope to have a goodly attendance of conductors 
and their wives who are not members of our Or- 
der. Ice cream, cake and strawberries will be 
served throughout the evening. We promise 
everyone an enjoyable evening. 

Mrs. Jno. B. French. 


Des Moines, Iowa. April 13, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

That nothing has appeared in The Conductor 
from Excelsior Division No. 19, this year, is the 
'fault of the correspondent, who promises not to 
be so dilatory in the future. I will hasten to let 
the Sisters hear from us on this our second anni- 
versary Two years ago to-day, the 13th of 
April, a dear Sister from Ottumwa, accompanied 
by a sister from Creston, came to Des Moines, 
through one of the worst storms we ever had in 
April, to organize our Division. After dinner 
we went to the hall and found there twenty-two 
ladies, all ready to ride the goat and become 
members of the Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Order of 
Railway Conductors. We have been in a very 
flourishing and prosperous condition ever since, 
thanks to Sister Lockeridge and our noble presi- 
dent, Mrs. O. T. Johnson, who has worked hard 
for our welfare and has never let anything arise 
to make ill feeling among the members of our 
Division. This is s tying a great deal, for there 
is a saying, by whom I cannot remember, that: 
“Women can never agree.” But we all feel sure 
there is nothing in that saying. We have now 
thirty-three members and prospects of one or two 
more, and I must say. we will have to wait until 
some conductors and their families move to our 
city, or some of our young conductors get mar- 
ried. before we can get any more members in 
Des Moines. We are expecting one or two from 
Stuart. We have two Sisters living in Stuart, 
who try to attend every other meeting and who 
are using all their influence to secure additions 
to our membership. 

There have been some changes in railway 
circles in Des Moines since we organized. 
Changes are never new to railroad men or their 
families All the C.. R. I. Sc P. R. R men have 
been moved from Des Moines in the past year 
and a half, so we have Sisters living in Valley 
Junction, Stuart, Washington, and four in Daven 
port, and one Sister in Perry. But they all try 
to attend every meeting, and the distance cuts no 
figure Sister Woods moved to Kansas, so she 
took a withdrawal card. Sister J. Erke moved 
from St. Joe to Des Moines, so what was St. Joe 
Division's loss was our gain. 

Sister E N. Agnew has been traveling in the 


west for the past six months with her little son 
who has been ailing for a year now. 

Sister Bohen and husband are rejoicing 
oyer the arrival of a ten pound boy at their 
home. 

The little daughter of Sister Tilden, of Stuart, 
who has been so sick, is on the fair way to com- 
plete recovery. 

A number of our ladies went to Eagle Grove to 
assist our Grand President in organizing a Divis- 
ion there. They were delighted with our Grand 
President and the Eagle Grove ladies, and say 
they were royally entertained. 

We are looking' forward with great pleasure to 
a visit from Mrs. Moore, the last of May. It 
will be the first time any of the Grand Officers 
have visited our Division. 

Our officers for the ensuing year are as follows: 
President, .Mrs. M. E. Rich; Vice-President. 
Mrs. N. W. Milby; Secretary and Treasurer, 
Mrs. H. I. Mills; Senior Sister, Mrs. J. Erke; 
Junior Sister, Mrs. Jas. McMahon; Guard, Mrs. 
J. Druce. Yours in T. F. . 

Mrs. Andy. McLkbs. 


Sociability. 

Written for the Ladies' Department . 

The word sociability explains itself; we all 
know the meaning of it, or if we do not let us 
dwell for a moment here. When I hear the word 
sociability I think of a disposition to associate 
and converse with others, but there are a great 
many ways of applying this word, or rather, a 
great many ways of being sociable. 

We meet with a great many kinds of society as 
we journey through life. We meet different 
kinds of people each day. Some are sociable 
and always willing to give a helping hand, others 
are selfish and do not like to be troubled or an- 
noyed. 

Oh! how nice when we are lonely and in a 
strange community, with no friends or relatives, 
to meet with a sociable person; such a person re- 
calls to our memory, home . and dear friends left 
behind. We can make a friend of such a per- 
son, and ere long we are no longer lonely, but 
contented and happy. Sometimes we travel a 
great distance before we meet with such a person, 
for such persons are very rare indeed We may 
meet persons who are prone to be very sociable 
and kind, but are they true? Sad, sad. indeed it 
is to say, we sometimes find those whom we con- 
sidered our best friends, false. They are socia- 
ble and kind when with us. but their selfishness 
overcomes their sociability and kindness and they 
become false • 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


In some communities we find the people dis- 
tant and not sociable, ready to quarrel and talk 
about the strangers among them. Oh! what 
must be the feelings of a person so situated! I 
think they would be tempted to say quite often. 
■'If 1 were only home again, or had I just one 
kind friend to utter one kind word in ray behalf.” 
Undoubtedly they recall the words of Victor 
Hugo, as he entered a little village and found the 
people ready to talk about him on all occasions; 
he said, "There are many tongues that wag but 
few heads that think.” 

I think when some people are talking, or as 
they would say. expressing their thoughts, they 
do not think how much pain one little word may 
cause, yes. one foolish word, for remember, a 
word once spoken can never be recalled. 

As Longfellow tells us in tnese few lines: 

l shot an arrow into the air, 

It fell to earth. 1 know not where; 

Hut long, long after in an oak, 

I found the arrow still unbroke. 

I breathed a song into the air, 

I I fell to earth, I know not where; 

But long, long after as time would lend 

I found the song, in the heart of a friend 

Now, I think we should all endeavor to be so- 
ciable and kind, and when we are tempted to 
say unkind words just think, “I know not where 
they may light We all meet, but we know not 
for how long, and when we part let it be with a 
kindly feeling towards all. for we may never meet 
again; but we hope to meet some day as one so- 
ciety, and there we shall understand clearly the 
meaning of the word "sociability.” 

Mrs. Annie Dumblbton, 

McKees Rocks, Pa. 


Systematizing Work. 

Written for the Ladies' Department. 

" Oh. dear!” sighed Madeline Rivers, "my sew- 
ing looks like a mountain. I hardly dare touch it. 
I have so little time to sew, and all for your little 
hindering hands,” she added, kissing Lily's dim- 
pled fingers "I get discouraged, Aunt Marie — 
if we were only rich, now ” 

"Don't do that. Madeline, every housekeeper 
sees just such times, and they always pass over 
If you were so rich you need never touch any 
work you would have some other trouble you 
would feel quite as much. Those who have 
neither poverty or riches’ are the happiest in the 
world; wealth never made anyone happy. There 
roust be something higher to satisfy the soul. 
Someone, 1 think it was the Duke of Queens- 
berry looking out of the window of his beauti- 
ful country seat saw, spread out before him, a 
scene of rare beauty and magnificence. The Thames 


2 57 

rolled on beyond, and as he watched it winding in 
and out, he exclaimed, "Oh, that tiresome river! 
will it never cease running, and I so tired of it;", 
who would desire to change places with him 1. 

That was only a fanciful trouble, but just as real 
to him. Everyone must meet troubles m this 
life, and the greatest secret of happiness is to! 
learn to bear them well, as someone has said, to 
pack them into as small a compass as possible so 
we can carry them more easily;’ and, in orders to >> 
do this we must look them fairly in the face and 
see which are real and which we ha 1 lx ttor drop 
and leave behind us. Now, Madeline dear, just 
get a pencil and paper and make out artist of that! 
pieces of sewing you have to do. patching, darn- I 
ing, and all. 1 will take care of baby. I think B 
she will sit on the floor and play; if you wilt fold 
up a soft quilt and spread it down we will try her. I 
There, little darling! now something for her to 
play with; suppose we give her a bright tin ba>in 
full of clothes pins from the kitchen There. I 
think she will be quiet for some time N >w, f-.r 
the list.” 

So the next half hour was spent noting! 
things to be done, and it was quite aiist* tot k J 
sure, and Madeline felt more discouraged than! 
ever as she glanced it over. 

"It looks like a mountain, as you say Madeline, 
but did you ever see the picture of a man yvith a9 
pick-ax in his hand, at the base of a mountain* B 
laboring to reduce the pile, with this motto be49 
low it, "Little by little.’ Now. select the article 
needed most and we will soon have 
hands.” 

And so she set to work and had mended hetT" * 
husband’s coat, by dinner time, and felt amply I 
repaid when he went to put the coat on by having I 
him say. 

“Why! you have mended my coat e<ma& to 
tailor, dear.” 

Aunt Marie, too, had finished a sweet little J 
apron for Lily and hemmed a handkerchief for ' 
her nephew, so there were three articles less "tW 
the list and she felt quite encouraged. 3 

In the afternoon baby took a good long nap 1 
and another apron was finished and two little 
dresses cut out and commenced. Aljtt -ther. it 

was a good day's work. 

“I don t see the magic of setting dowfc on pape^fl 
what I have to do.” said Madeline, “but I confess V 
I have not accomplished so much in a long time/' I 

“The magic' lies in systematizing yotir work. 
Madeline One can accomplish at least a third 
more by planning well beforehand, and "when yOtttj 
commence a garment always try to finish it 
beginning another, though it is well to 
and roll up carefully a number of articleaT 

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2 5 8 THE RAIL WA Y COND UCTOR. 


you are about it; then you have the satisfaction 
of seeing every day what you have done. 

I wish every housekeeper would try this plan 
for a week, laying out her work each evening for 
the next day, and see if she does not accomplish 
twice as much as before. I know a woman s life 
is full of interruptions and that the best laid 
plans must often be set aside for the sake of 
others, yet with all that, I am sure we can do 
more by having a system than by doing things by 
chance. We often waste a great deal of valuable 
time by irresolution, that is, by not deciding up- 
on what we will do, and doing it at once. 

Just get the start once with your work in this 
way and you will be surprised to find how much 
leisure you will have and how much more you 
can enjoy life." 

Madeline felt very grateful to her aunt for her 
good advice, and by following the same it has 
served to help her through many rough places 
that must come to every true housekeeper. 

Mrs. Will W. Long, 

Grand Rapids, Mich. 


Buffalo, N. Y., April 26, 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

I have just returned from our first anniversary 
meeting, and thinking perhaps some of the Sister 
Divisions would be pleased to hear how much has 
been accomplished by ' a year old, ’’ I have decided 
to give you a history of our short existence. Our 
Grand President, Mrs. Moore, instituted Division 
No 40 one year ago to-day, in B. of L. E. Hall, 
with eighteen charter members. The use of the 
hall was given to us for three months, free, by 
Division No. 15, B. of L. E. At the expiration 
of that time we moved to O. R C. Hall and 
placed ourselves under a rental of forty dollars a 
year. Here was our first obstacle, our dues, less 
grand dues, were not sufficient to pay rent, and if 
we wished to exist we must go to work. Our first 
enterprise was a picnic, where we had the pleasure 
of having our Grand President, Mrs. Moore, with 
us, and all spent a pleasant day in Grand Island 
and had the gratification of adding seventy-five 
dollars to our treasury. Our first social gave us 
forty dollars more and the second thirty more, 
and the satisfaction of knowing that they were 
fully as successful socially; and also gained us 
the promise of several new members. To the 
ladies of Division No. 40 too much praise can not 
be given for their earnest work in the past year. 
Our number has been increased to twenty-nine 
and we hope soon to add more. I think, with the 
energetic workers we have, that the coming year 
can see our number doubled. To celebrate our 


anniversary we held a social and each member 
was entitled to bring one non-member. The 
ladies served ice cream and cake and spent a 
very pleasant afternoon. May each succeeding 
year bring with it renewed prosperity and may 
all our Sister Divisions have as prosperous a year 
as has been the lot of Columbia Division No. 40. 

Yours in T. F., . 

Mrs. A. Huff. 


Topeka, Kansas, April 14, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

As it is some time since anything has appeared 
in behalf of Western Division No. 33. L. A. to 
O. R. C., perhaps the friends will be interested 
in knowing that we are alive and prospering. On 
March 30th a social entertainment was given at 
the home of our president, Mrs. Ettie Griffith, 
which proved to be a very enjoyable occasion 
and everyone went home pleased with the good 
time they had. Another very enjoyable affair 
was the surprise party given our sister, Mrs. 
Alice Furgeson. The first part of the evening 
was. spent in music, games and cards, after which 
a dainty lunch was served. Our Division is in a 
flourishing condition. At our last meeting we 
took in one new member and hope to soon have 
another. Yours in T F , 

Mrs. Emma Flkeker 


Atlanta. Ga., April 12, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Since we last wrote Golden Rod Division has 
continued to take fb new material and confer the 
degrees on the remaining charter members until 
we now have thirty-six good members and will 
continue to grow. The O. R. C. has moved into 
a nice, large, airy hall on the third floor at nj% 
Whitehall street, and we have moved to the same 
had. The Auxiliary has already done a great 
deal of good here in bringing about a better ac- 
quaintance between the conductors’ wives, and 
causing them to visit each other, and we can’t 
understand why the conductors and their wives 
in the other cities of the South don't take interest 
and start Divisions of the Auxiliary, as it is just 
what they need. If any of the Southern con- 
ductors should read this I hope they will interest 
their wives in the Auxiliary and get some new 
Divisions started. Atlanta will give a grand ex- 
position in the fall of 1895, atd we hope all the 
Brothers and Sisters will come to it, and to the 
Grand Division in May, 1895, and see the finest 
city in all the beautiful southern country 
Yours in T. F , 

Mrs. M. J. Land. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. ?59 


Ciudad, JuaREZ. Mexico. March, 27, 1894. 
Kdiior Railway Conductor: 

From the uttermost parts of the earth," do I 
>ear yoa say? Well. that is what we thought, as we 
eft Marion, Iowa, three mouths ago, to join the 
bread-winner." who is now in the employ of the 
dexican Central. After a tedious journey of 
our days, over hills, valleys and mountains, see- 
ng very many beautiful* and interesting objects, 
»e arrived at ancient Juarez. 

The inhabitants of Juarez number nearly seven 
feousand. very few Americans, families of those 
unployed on the Mexican Central. 

A few minutes' ride, or short walk, takes us 
across the Rio Grande river, iato El Paso, Texas, 
Under the ’‘Stars and Stripes" once more; then 
we do jaot feel so lonely and far away from friends 
left behind. 

El Paso is situated at the foot of Mt. Franklin 
fcnd claims twelve thousand inhabitants, nearly 
jril of whom are Americans. They have fine 
schools and churches. 

I read the last Conductor with much delight. 
Every number gains in interest. 

I sincerely hope that S. P. has regained good 
health. 

Am very glad that Marion and Cedar Rapids 
Auxiliaries are prospering so nicely, and may they, 
as well as all others, live long and prosper, is the 
wish of 

Mrs. C. L. Bell. 


Memphis. Tenn., April 7, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Bluff City Division. No 29. Ladies’ Auxiliary 
, io O R C., begs to make iis salutation and say 
our Division is prosperous and its members en- 
' joying many of God s blessings, and that we are 
adding our mite in ameliorating, as far as is in 
our power, the suffering of humanity. Also 
encouraging our good Brothers in their noble 
work. We , too. are jubilant over the late decis- 
ion of the honest Judge H. C. Caldwell. He has. 
with the strong arm of the law, given that 
recognition to organized labor that they are justly 
entitled to. and surrounds our labor organizations 
with that dignity that we have always felt they 
would receive before this great battle for right 
was ended. Honest men — ah! and women, too — 
toiling for an honest living by the command of 
our Great Creator, are not to be longer oppressed 
by autocracy; they must, and ever will, receive 
the approval of the honest masses of Our liberty- 
loving people. Surely, our Sisters of the L. A. 
toO. R. C. of America, from California to Florida 
and from Canada to Texas, will unite in asking of 


our Heavenly Father Heaven’s choicest blessings 
upon Judge Caldwell, the honest and fearless 
judge. 

Now, Mr. Editor, I must say the members of 
our Division have just reasons to feel somewhat 
elated We. a year-old Division, received on 
March 5th of this year, the handsome gold medal 
given by Mrs. Sam. Dustan to the Order, to be 
awarded to the Division making the best record 
in charitable and other good work for the past 
year, and we start afresh for the year 1894, giv- 
ing an entertainment by which we realized some 
two hundred dollars, all of which was given to 
charitable institutions. Our entertainment was a 
grand success, both socially and financially. 
You will feel assured of that when I tell you our 
President Mrs. Sara. Dustan, went to work for 
that success. Whatever she undertakes is sure 
to succeed. She works with both heart and 
brain. Mrs. Frank Downey, Mrs. Z. T. Good- 
win and some two or three others gave her great 
assistance. Many Sisters whose hearts were in 
the good work were unable from sickness and 
other causes to give their time, but we say to one 
and all, thanks, many thanks, for all assistance 
rendered the L. A. to O R. C., for we feel 
assured that many have been benefilted by the 
donations and all will unite in saying God bless 
the cheerful giver. 

Yours in T. F., 

A. P S. 


Over Her Grave. 

The linnet in the rocky dells, 

The moor-lark in the air, 

The bee among the heather-bells 
That hide my lady fair. 

The wild deer browse above her breast; 

The wild birds raise their brood; 

And they her smiles of love caressed 
Have left her solitude. 

I ween that when the grave's dark wall 
Did first her form retain. 

They thought their hearts could ne’er recall 
The light of joy again. » 

They thought the tide of grief would flow 
Unchecked through future years; 

But where is all their anguish now, 

And where are all their tears? 

Well, let them fight for honor's breath, 

Or pleasure’s shade pursue — 

The dweller in the land of death 
Is changed and careless, too. 

And if their eyes should watch and weep 
Till sorrow’s source were dry, 

She would not, in her tranquil sleep. 

Retifrn a single sigh! 

Blow west wind, by the lonely mound. 

And murmur, summer streams — 

There is no need of other sound 
To soooth my lady’s dreams. 

— [Emily 

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•.“•i ?•*;<» •••*• 

KS&mttoaBRt 22 


Jackson, Tenn., March 29. 1894 
Editor Raihuay Conductor ; 

As correspondent for No. 149 I seize this op- 
portunity of addressing a letter to you for publi- 
cation. The last communication from Jackson 
Division bears the signature, “Irish ” Now, 
without hesitation, we confer that title on our gen- 
ial S. and T. whose laughing blue eyes and 
golden locks (?) “bringeth visions of the Emerald 
Isle” too truly for us to have mistaken his iden- 
tity. We join hi..., heart and hand, in his praises 
of the ladies of Ideal Division, L. A to O. R. C. 
Fortune, that fickle goddess, favored the writer 
with an opportunity of atterdiDg the entertain- 
ment already praised so highly, and to all present 
it was an event worthy of remembrance One 
thing we do know and that is this: both “Irish” 
and Brother McElwain — though unprotected by 
their wives — were royally entertained, and while 
Brother Me. is physically delicate, he did ample 
justice to the tempting viands placed before him, 
not once neglecting to get in a stnile to the ladies 
whfcn a chance favored him. After partaking of 
the elegant repast the ladies were entertained by 
speeches from those who had taken »he “Oh 
Why” degree, and Brother Graven became so 
enthusiastic in his expressions of praise for the 
ladies that his wife was forced to “call him 
down.” 

By accident we came in possession of the beau- 
tiful words written and delivered by Sister Phil- 
lips in presenting the beautiful altar cloth, and 
request a publication of same 

A few items in regard to Division No. 149 and 
I have done We meet Saturday nights and 
should a Brother be absent when in, and give no 
good excuse, he hears from our worthy Chief, 
Brother W N. Harris, whose example as an Or- 
der man we would all do well to follow We 
should feel proud of No. 149 and never let a 
meeting pass without attending if possible 
Hear the commuoicati ms from our Grand Chief 
Conductor and Grand Secretary and Treasurer, 
and by so doing we derive lasting benefits, take 
interest and success will surely follow; so let us 


join together and make 1894 one of the most 
profitable years in the history of our Order. 

Wishing our Order much success, I am 
Yours in P. F , 

“Mose.” 

[The presentation speech by Sister Phillips, 
before mentioned, was appropriate to the occas- 
casion and highly interesting but lack of space 
forbids reproducing it. ] 

• 

Parkersburg, W. Va., April 11, 1894. 
Editor Raihuay Conductor : 

Another Division of the Order of Railway Con- 
ductors has been successfully organized On 
March 25 last Mr C H. Wilkins, A G C C . of 
Chicago, arrived in this city and began the work 
of organizing Parkersburg Division. No 369 
The new me nbers had se:ured J O U. A. M 
hall for that occasion and will use it on the sec- 
ond and third Sundays of each month. About 
forty members of neighboring Divisions were 
present to assist in the good work and they were 
entertained at the Commercial House. Eleven 
candidates were in waiting and were soon sent 
out on duty over the rough and extremely danger- 
ous road traveled by all Railway Conductors 
Under the guidance of our worthy A G C C 
they all passed through in safety and became full 
members of the new Division and of the Order 
we all love so well. These new members are 
J W. Johnson. John Hanley. Tbos Henry. 
Adam Smith, W. E Hendershot, W. P. Han- 
nah. Jas. Hannah, L. A Rose, C. L. Irwin. 
C. W Eoert, and W E Walker There are 
several more to follow and we are promised work 
for some time to come The old members who 
came in by transfer are Geo H Bailey, A E- 
Prickett. Thos. Murray and P. J. Moran, of the 
B & O ; W Dils, W. W Wilson. T. W. Cook. 
W. A Morehead and W Bowers, of the O R. R 
The officers elected for the year are Geo H 
Bailey. C C, W H H .-nd;rshot, A C C . • J 
W. Wilson. S and T ; ] H Hannah S C . P 
J Moran, J C : John Hanley I S , W P Hat 
nah, O S ; and C W. Ebert, Thos Henry and 


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L. A. Rose. Trustees. The A. G. C. C. exempli- 
fied the entire work, ending with an hour’s pleas- 
ant talk on instructions, during which he gave us 
the cheering information that our beloved Order 
now numbers near 23.000 members with 369 
Divisions. We have had one meetiog 4 ! nee, in 
which one new member was put through all right. 

Yours in P. F., 

L. A. Rose. 


Hartford, Conn., March 30, 1894. 
Editor Railzvay Conductor : 

As I read the recent numbers of The Con- 
ductor I failed to find anything from Division 50, 
so I will break the ice, and hope some of the boys 
will take a tumble and try to represent us now 
and then, for we have as smart a lot of conduct- 
ors as are to be found in New England. 

Business remains about the same here, with no 
prospects of picking up any. The New England 
cut all their employes 10 per cent last fall. The 
B. L. E., B. L. F., B. R. T. and O. R. C. sent 
committees to protest against the reduction. They 
could not get it, so they tried to have some time 
set when it would be restored. President Mc- 
Leod promised to put it back the first of Decem- 
ber. December came but no return of wages, 
so the committees called on President McLeod 
again. He said the road was not earning enough 
to give them the raise and asked for ninety days. 
They gave him sixty days, and McLeod pledged 
his word to grant their request. On the 1st of 
February, 1894, the wages were restored to the 
B. L. E. f B. L. F.,B. R. T. and O R. C., but the 
rest were left in the cold. 

On the P. R. & N. E., where they were run- 
ning twenty-two crews last winter and spring, 
this spring they have eight crews, and they are 
scratching to get a living. In one month they 
discharged ten freight and four passenger con- 
ductors for trifling things. Since the P. & R. 
have had control of this line it has been their cus- 
tom to see how maoy they could make hustle for 
jobs. S A cut of 10 per cent has taken place sinee 
the ist of March on this line, with the promise of 
its being restored the ist of May. The boys can 
make as much money sawing wood now as they 
can working for the 'Poor, Ragged & Near 
Eternity.” 

We are taking in new members right along de- 
spite the hard times, for the boys see the benefit 
of belonging to the grand old O. R. C. Don’t 
wait for them to come to you, Brothers, but get 
oat and see how much you can do for your fellow- 
men by bringing in good timber to build with It 
is a sad sight to see so many good men doing nothing 
where most of them would be willing to do any- 


261 

thing for a living. It is strange where you will 
find the O. R. C. pins worn these days. They 
are even extending to the street car line, where 
you may see Brothers driviug down Asylum street 
on a dead run trying to make up lost time. 

Sunday afternoon was the regular day for our 
meeting, and I was sorry to see so few turn out, 
as it was a fine day and there was no excuse for 
not attending. This is one great trouble with 
this Division, not taking proper interest in its* 
meetings, but some of our members will stand 
around on the street corners, criticising what was 
done while they were away, but will not join their 
Brothers and give their views in the Division 
room. 

The four different orders, the B. L. E., B L. 
F„ B. R. T. and O. R C. have been giving 
monthly "smokers,” and they are well attended, 
bringing closer friendship and harmony than has 
existed before. The next "smoker” will be given 
by the O R C., in their hall, April 8.h. A good 
crowd is expected and a fine time for all, as 
Division 50 is the banner Division of this section, 
ready to act at all times and composed of as fine 
a lot of boys as is to be found anywhere. * 

Having tried to break the ice I will get in to 
clear, and hope some one else will get ambition 
enough to show the readers of The Conductor 
that Division 50 is not dead. 

With best wishes to The Conductor and the 
grand old craft, the O. R. C., I remain, 

Yours in P. F., "L.” 


Cleveland, O., March 28, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Division 14 having no regular correspondent 
but little is seen in our valuable journal from this 
locality, except occasionally Brick's, which, by 
the way, strikes hard and hits the object aimed 
at. Give us more Brick. 

Some far away Brothers in Maine and Mexico 
may think there is no Division in Cleveland, or, 
if any, it is quite small; not so, Brothers. 
Division 14 has 150 members, and 149 of them 
are good, capable correspondents, but many of 
them , having had narrow escapes, are afraid of 
losing their hand coupling on the pen. And still 
our Division grows, thanks to some of our 
bustling Brothers, notably at Canton. Although 
not able to attend Division meetings often, we 
kcow they are of us and alive to their duty when 
petitions continue to come from their district. 

Let the good work go on until, at the close of 
94. every eligible conductor in the United States 
and Canada may have been advanced, and let us 
also strive to keep what we have and may get. 
Some of our most bitter enemies to-day have 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


been at one time good Brothers, but fell; fell by 
the wayside; did not heed the proper signal in 
time — perhaps none was displayed — but for some 
fancied wrong, non-payment of dues, lack. of aid 
and encouragement on our part, there is an enemy 
where there might have been a Brother. There are 
scores of Brothers who have been out of employ- 
ment for the past six to eight months; let us give 
them all possible aid for fear they will not be of 
us. and use all influence possible to obtain work 
for them. Let us discontinue our long orations 
as to the evils of this or that legislative bill or 
where to cast our ballot. The question at issue 
is where to find employment for O. R. C. Brothers 
that are driving street cars and those that can 
find none to drive. (Good advice. — Ed.) I am 
confident our Grand Officers will ably and 
judiciously handle the bills. Therefore let us 
give the Brothers aid and encouragement in this 
direction until such time as we can substitute 
something more beneficial. 

One more word. Brothers. Get a move and 
federate. If nothing is gained but harmony it is 
good. Hoping to hear from the 149 Brothers 
next month. I will close with 

Yours in P. F., 

150TH. 


Covington. Ky., March 31, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The plan of organization proposed in my last 
letter is so radical that it no doubt will meet with 
many objections and objectors. However, we 
feel assured that we can overcome every objec- 
tion that may be offered. Whether we can over- 
come the objector is another question, for we 
fully realize that should the plan be adopted the 
“fond ambition” of many a good Brother 
to represent bis Division would “perish." 
If the delegate is elected by a district composed 
of several Divisions it will be a question ot the 
“survival of the fittest." The “good fellow” and 
the good Brother who is so patriotic and enthusi- 
astic for the welfare of the Order that he is will- 
ing to donate bis time and expenses if his Division 
will elect him their representative will not be in 
it. Neither will seniority prevail. In providing 
for the election of delegates we would first require 
that all Divisions should hold the annual election 
of officers on the last meeting in December, so as 
to make the elections as nearly uniform as possi- 
ble. We would then require rhat any Division 
in a district in which a delegate was to be elected 
desiring to place a • candidate in nomination 
should do so at the last meeting in November. 
The secretary should then notify all other Divis- 
ions in the district of the nomination and the 


notice should have the seal of the Division at 
tached and be attested by the Chief Cooductoror 
Assistant Chief Conductor, or in the event of tht- 
Secretary being placed in nomination the notice 
shall bf signed by the Chief Conductor 10c 
Assistant Chief Conductor. At the regular elec- 
tion of officers the candidates shall be voted for 
and the vote cast shall be taken up without coant- 
ing and put in an envelope and sealed with wu 
by three of the officers of the Division, neither 
of whom are candidates. They shall then be 
placed in the custody of some disinterested mem- 
ber to hold until the first meeting in January 
when three disinterested officers of the Division 
shall open and count the vote and make return oi 
the result to the Grand Secretary on blanks which 
have been furnished by him. The Grand Secre- 
tary shall, as soon as possible, after the first day 
of February, call to bis assistance two disinter 
terested members of the Order and proceed to 
canvass the vote, counting only the vote that was 
cast for candidates regularly nominated The 
candidate receiving the highest number of votes 
shall receive a certificate of election as delegate 
and the candidate receiving the next highest nun 
ber of votes shall receive a certificate of electioi 
as alternate, and he shall act as delegate at aov 
session of the Grand Division in the absence ot 
the delegate. 

The election of Grand Officers should be coo 
ducted on the same plan. This would give the 
right of suffrage to every member of the Order 
instead of the right to vote for Grand Officers 
being delegated to a few, and at the same time 
it should give to every member the right to be- 
come a candidate for a Grand office whether be 
be a member of the Grand Division or not If 
this idea were adopted I would suggest the follow- 
ing plan: Any member desiring to place in nom 
ination a candidate for a Grand office should for 
ward the name tc the Grand Secretary not later 
than October 1st preceding the election. Tbe 
Qrand Secretary should then apprise the Brother 
of bis nomination and ascertain if he will Accept 
which should be done by November 15th Tbe 
Grand Secretary should then furnish to each 
Division a list of candidates to be voted for ai 
the regular annual election, together with blanks 
for returning the vote cast, which should be done 
before the first day of January. The vole for 
Grand Officer should be canvassed by the Grand 
Secretary in the same manner and at tbe amt 
time as the vote for delegates. 

This plan would save one entire day to tbe 
Grand Division, and would save to the Order at 
at least Si. 600, and do away with much that more 
appropriately belongs to a political convention 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


than to the opening session of the Grand Division 
of the Order of Railway Conductors. 

The plan of reorganization of this Grand 
Division and for the election of delegates and 
Grand Officers as presented by the writer is 
somewhat crude as to detail, but the principle is 
well defined. At a first glance it may look to 
some to be somewhat cumbersome, but after 
mature consideration I think that idea will be 
baoished. 

It will secure equal and exact justice to all and 
place every member of the Order on an equality 
so far as the right to vote and hold office is con- 
cerned. It will also save to the members at large 
from $25,000 to $28,000 per annum. 

I started out in my first letter with the sugges- 
tion that as Thb Conductor was now in the 
hands of every member, through its columns 
would be the proper place to discuss questions 
that may arise and theories that may be advanced 
which have for their object the ‘ Good of the 
Order." 

Following the line of that suggestion I have 
presented the above for consideration, hoping 
that it will meet with favor. 

Yours in P F , 

M D. Felkner. 


Chadron, Neb., April 1, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Div. 173 is short a Conductor correspondent, 
so I take it upon myself to say a few words about 
our Division and the couutry in which we are 
located. We are a quiet, inoffensive set of rail- 
road people, that earn our daily bread on the 
F E. & M. V. R'y, running from where civiliza- 
tion leaves off. to the wild and woolly Rockies, 
(Long % Pine, Neb., to Casper, Wyoming). Of 
course there are many who would not admit that 
Chadron, our Division station, was not one of the 
greatest cities in the west, and the country and 
climate the greatest on earth. But opinions dif- 
fer in regard to this. At least there are a few, 
lately that speak of the sunny south, with its 
oranges and bananas and its advantages in gen- 
eral over the cold, chilly north. But, then, you 
will excuse this sudden change that came over 
the boys when you learn the circumstances that 
brought about the change. The severe snow 
storm that passed over the country lately, and 
blockaded our line completely, might possibly 
have caused some of the boys to wonder what 
they bad done with all that big money they had 
made last fall. A number of the F. E. trains 
were snowed up between stations, but Nos. 5 
and 6 on the Wyoming line fared the worst of all. 
No. 5, run by Brother Jim C. ( and No. 6, by 


’63 

Brother Freddy R., were tied up in snow drifts, 
twenty miles from telegraph stations, and as far 
from something to eat. They were held in this 
position for seven long, weary days before they 
were released from their imprisonment. The 
long delay in reaching them, was on account of 
the rotary snow plow breaking a number of times, 
delaying the work of opening the road. Brother 
Jim C’s passefigers all deserted him, as soon as 
the storm abated sufficiently to admit of a jour- 
ney over-land on foot; so when the rotary opened 
the road to his train none but the crew were 
aboard. They all had a lank Dr. Tanner look 
about them. Their food for the seven days was 
something they couldn’t afford at home — young 
steer three times a day. Of course we don’t 
know how the steer came into their possession, as 
no one mentioned that part of the story. But 
when the rescuing party arrived there was noth- 
ing left but the tail, and preparations were being 
made for a last repast on ox tail soup. Yet they 
complained about their food. But it is second 
nature for a railroad man to do that, even when 
every one knows they haven't near as good at 
home. 

After starting Brother Jim on his train home- 
ward bound, the work of grinding snow was re- 
sumed. To get to Brother Freddy, some eight 
miles further west, was the object in view. After 
hours of hard grinding and a break-down or two. 
Brother Freddy’s train was reached. Now, 
Brother Freddy hadn't any fat to spare when he 
left Chadron, but his seven days’ fast relieved him 
of part of what little he had, so that we failed to 
recognize the lank individual that came to meet 
the rotary, with the exclamation, “Thank God, 
we’re saved." After listening to a long tale of 
woe, he, too, was given a biscuit and water and 
started on his way lighter hearted than he had 
been for several days. Shortly after releasing 
the last train, the rotary gave out — broke spider 
in right cylinder, which made quite a racket, and 
frightened Brother Jolly Jack, who was at the 
wheel, so bad that he jumped straight out through 
the skylight and off into ten feet of snow, from 
which he was rescued a few moments later by the 
jarvies. When asked why he did not step out the 
side door, he said he didn’t know which side was 
broke, so he took no chances — he went through 
the roof; said he wasn’t scared, but he was very 
pale and nervous, probably due to an over-exer- 
tion to get on the safe side, as Brother Jack is a 
man who always takes the safe side. 

After the rotary gave out, the work of clearing 
the road was resumed with an engine plow, which 
was accomplished after long^hours of hard buck- 
ing. 


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264 

I will take you back to Chadron a few moments, are assisted by Brothers Pug, Jinger. HungTy 
then bid you adieu. Division 173 has some Bill and Isaac. Our most esteemed S. and T.. 
thirty-five members, which I should judge was a Brother Geo. L. Woollen, was recently promoted 
fair average, and the boys respond nobly at roll to a passenger run, and looks well in his new uni- 
call — sometimes we can get as many as nine or form. He is assisted by Brother Sleepy Jim. 
ten, out of the thirty-five, together. But we get Brothers Dutton and Cornell are running 1 and 2. 


there just the same. 

The different questions on legislation, called to 
our attention by your circular letters, have been 
given careful attention and the points at issue dis- 
cussed with interest by most of the members. 

Yours in P. F., C. O. G. 


Duluth, March 23, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Having been a close observer of Duluth Divi- 
sion No. 336 since its institution, and as our chief 
correspondent is laying off for the next twelve 
months, I thought I would cut off a few lines for 
The Conductor in regard to the times past and 
present. We have had a very successful Division 
in the past. Brotherly love has reigned supreme. 
Lately there seems to be some dissatisfaction in 
our ranks. Of course we don’t expect things will 
go along smooth with sunshine all the time, but 
there have been one or two petitions rejected and 
it looks as if it was pure spite-work. We do not 
regret the members we have lost so much as the 
bad opinion formed by those who know of no rea- 
son for the rejection. I hope the Brothers will 
take this up at our next regular meeting and dis- 
cuss the subject in question on its merits, and 
that the result will bring back sunshine in the 
end. Now, Brothers, don’t for a minute think 
that this was written to hurt anyone's feelings. 
The writer applies it to himself as well. I hope 
each and every Brother will take a hand in the 
good work and judge impartially every matter 
that is brought before the Division, and not stand 
aloof and let the Division suffer. Then we will 
register “No Sigs." 

We have a membership of thirty-five and good 
prospects for the future. The only sorrow that 
has befallen us was the removal by death from 
our midst of our esteemed Brothers, A. P. Dodge 
and James Fitzgerald, both of whom were highly 
esteemed by the traveling public and all members 
of our Division, and we sincerely regret the loss 
of two Brothers who were so loyal to the cause. 
We also deeply regret the loss of the beloved wife 
of Brother F. Macomber, who so recently passed 
away, and we extend our most heartfelt sympathy 
to our Brother in his bereavement. 

We have had a hard winter, but taking every- 
thing into consideration the Brothers have done 
fairly well. Brothers J. C. McGreevy and L. E. 
Bieberman are conducting the way freights, and 


Brothers Finnigan and Manary have been run 
ning the red bird turn about. 

Yours in P. F., An Observer 


Chicago. 111 ., April 2, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Owing to the present hard times there are a 
great number of our Brothers in good standing 
out of employment. I met with one Brother who 
had been looking for work of any kind he could 
get for more than a month. I kept him with me 
for some time, and now he has a position as a 
switchman in this city, and be is a happy man. 

During his stay with me I have heard him re- 
late his discouraging experience while looking for 
work. He says in some instances he would find 
a Brother and ask him about work when he 
would simply say, “Nothing here — more men 
than this company can make use of," and then 
walk away. But he found other men at different 
places who helped him all they could and showed 
a pleasant, sunny disposition. 

The above is only a sample of the feelings to- 
ward our noble Order. Cannot this be remedied 
in some way? Cannot each and every one treat 
our Brothers kindly, if we cannot help them to a 
job? We should at least treat them as Brothers, 
for “United we stand, divided we fall." 

Is there not a remedy to keep some of our boys 
at work who are to-day roaming about, and who 
feel that not only they must suffer the hardships, 
but also their dear wives and the little ones? 

How can our unemployed Brothers find work? 
Will each and every one give this matter a 
thought? Study out some plan and present it to 
the next Grand Division for consideration. 

Organize a bureau of information and have a 
member in each Division keep it posted as to 
chances of work for those who seek it. 

Yours in P. F., Chicago. 

[Members are too careless over the question of 
helping a Brother to employment. They can do 
a world of good in that direction if they will. — 
Ed.] 


St. Albans, Vt., March 13, 1S94. 
Editor Raihvay Conductor : 

I see there has been nothing in The Conduc* 1 
tor. so far this year, from Division No. 24. 
Brother Jed was appointed to the position of oor- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


respondent but fished up a pretext or two upon 
which to get excused. Now who is correspondent 
we are all guessing. Division No. 24 is in fine 
shape and having good meetings. We are some* 
what afraid our hall will soon be too small for 
our membership There are still quite a few 
members who are in town at our regular meet- 
ings and remain away, causing us great regret. 
Business on this road is very good and has been, 
most of the time both passenger and freight. 
There is but little excitement on the line as we 
haw been having splendid luck this winter, hard- 
ly any accidents save once in awhile an unavoid- 
able one. Most of the boys are working for the 
company's interest — and that means success for 
the road. There have not been many changes 
with the conductors for some time. Brothers 
Keef, Fisk, Bannister and Dewbar are holding 
the good runs on the north division. Brother 
Hurley is staying on the St. Johns local and says 
it is good; Brother Geo. Wells is spare passen- 
ger conductor at present; Brother Pat is still 
going after the doctor, etc. ; Jackson is working 
about every day now — not much time to chin; 
Brother Sturtevant is seen around once in awhile; 
Brothers Flint. Remington. Young, Peck, and 
eighty or ninety more are all O. K. 

Yours in P. F., 

“Sbrri.' 

Nashville, Tenn., March 3, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

There is a matter of considerable moment to 
me, and, in fact, to many old timers, and I want 
to present it to the members through the columns 
of Th* Conductor. To most of us there comes 
a time when we must step down and out of active 
railroad service. 1, like many others, have lost 
my position as conductor, a position I held with 
one company for twenty-three years, and am now 
compelled to seek some otter means of gaining a 
livelihood Of course tny assessments come in 
as they always did. and therein lies the matter I 
wish to present. Why is it that when one has 
been a member of the Benefit Department for 
ten years and is forced into other walks of life, 
some means may not be provided by which he 
may draw out what he has paid in assessments? 
He is growing old and does not want to com- 
mence at the bottom again and work up. as be 
did when he was younger. Perhaps he has a lit- 
tle home ahd would like to spend his last days 
With Ms family, at the same time bis income is 
such that he cannot pay the assessments. Of 
rottrse his family must be the first care, and he 
b obliged to drop the insurance. It does seem to 
me that it would be no more than fair and just 
for the next Grand Division to pass a law allow- 


ing a member, when he has paid assessments for 
ten years, and is over 45 years of age, to draw 
out in the manner suggested. Such a sum would 
be a great help in* starting the new life, and to 
many it would be a veritable Godsend. Let the 
younger men take our places and let us step down 
to quiet homes where we can look back on our 
noble Order with a blessing and a hearty wish 
for its long life. I hope that the delegates to the 
Grand Division will talk this matter over with 
the members and consider it carefully, and then 
act upon it. Hoping to hear from the boys in 
the next Conductor, I remain, 

Yours in P. F. 

"Dick.” 

[We assume that the Bro. would not expect 
the Order to refund the amounts which had been 
paid by the Bro. unless he surrender his certifi- 
cate and the right to recover thereunder. If that 
is the idea the Order can well afiord — from a pe- 
cuniary standpoint — to enact such a law After 
the Bro. has reached the age of 45 and has been 
a member of the Benefit Department for ten 
years, it is a question of but a comparatively short 
time until the Order will have to pay his claim, 
providing he keeps bis certificate in good stand- 
ing. He can not get any such insurance from 
any other company at anything like so cheap a 
rate. At the age quoted by "Dick" no man can 
make a better investment, or one which will re- 
turn greater per centage of profits, than to keep 
up life insurance. — Ed.] 

Toronto, March 10, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor . 

At the last regular meeting of Toronto Division 
No. 17, we were honored with the presence of our 
Assistant Grand Chief Conductor, who at all 
times we are pleased to welcome in our midst. 
Brother Wilkins is highly respected and greatly 
esteemed by the members of the Order in this 
vicinity, which was particularly manifested by 
the large attendance on this occasion, not only by 
the members of No. 17, but by those of neighbor- 
ing Divisions. His remarks were full of advice 
and information, giving a history of the Order, 
past and present, and stating that, as far as he 
could see, everything looked favorable for a 
bright future. In conclusion he spoke very for- 
cibly and pointed out clearly the duty resting 
on each member to work for the prosperiiyof the 
Order, all of which was listened to with close at- 
tention, and every Brother expressed himself as 
being glad that he came. I am satisfied that 
such visits are to the interest of the Order and if 
made more frequent much good would result. 
Yours in P. F., 

W. J Gray 


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Seniority. 

Why is it a curse to railroad companies, to the 
conductors, to the brakemen, ^nd to the public. 

In the first place it is inconsistent with all rea- 
son, and therefore not right, to dictate to any 
company whom they shall employ to fill any posi- 
tion within their gift, but this is what seniority 
does. We demand that when there is a vacancy 
in the list of conductors, the next oldest brakeman 
on the road shall be promoted to fill such va- 
cancy, but it is easy to see that such demand is 
neither wise nor safe, for this requirement over- 
looks all questions of capability and competency. 
True, the man to be promoted may have been on 
the road for some years, but this does not always 
warrant his competency. Again, he may not 
have been on the road six months and in a time 
of rush and hurry, and can therefore know but 
little Of the responsibilities involved in the posi- 
tion now open to him. In most cases he is the 
very man to accept the position offered because 
he is neither capable of determining his fitness 
nor of realizing the damage he can do in the de- 
struction of life or property, or both. 

However, the company has agreed to experi- 
ment with him, and he is “under the rule" in the 
line and must be promoted, but who will deny 
the fact that in all such cases there exists the 
dangerous possibility of grievous failure because 
the brakeman has not had sufficient experience to 
justify his promotion. 

Again, we ask, how can he be benefited, when 
for the first “bad break” he makes he is dis- 
charged for incompetency, and must then look 
for another position with nothing to recommend 
him except the accusation of having caused a se- 
rious wreck, costing the company several thous- 
and dollars, and perhaps killing a brother con- 
ductor or brakeman, who had insisted on his pro- 
motion, thus leaving him a record which will 
haunt him through life? How much better it 
would have been for all concerned had he re- 
mained as brakeman until the company would 
have assumed the responsibility of his promction, 
and that, too, under the conviction that in so do- 
ing they were not bringing unusual jeopardy to 
either life or property. 

When a conductor has a position he is not look- 
ing for work, but when he is out he wants a job 
bad. He may be a first class man and may have 
lost his position under circumstances over which 
he had no control — possibly through the spite- 
work of those above him, or the company may 
have made an example of him to scare others — 
and he may have been to blame himself; be the 
cause what it may, be is without a position, and 
what can he do? 


He has, perhaps, spent the best part of his life 
in the service, and is therefore incapable of mak- 
ing a living by any other worthy method. He is 
now too old to make a success at braking. Some 
company may want just such a man and he wants 
the place that is open, but he has helped frame 
the seniority act, and is now left to see the 
mystery work, whereby there is nothing left to 
him but to try braking again, and that behind 
men who are just asking how to get on top the 
cars — but he can tell them, for be has placed 
himself m the right position to do so. and if there 
are twenty green ies ahead of him he can assure 
himself that he will be the la£t to be promoted, 
aud may perhaps be looking for his hundredth 
birthday before his chance comes. 

With such a gloomy prospect before him he be- 
comes discouraged and “turns in his job," but 
what can he do? He has no money with which 
to go into business and no friends to aid him in 
this direction, and with no other opportunities 
open to him “he takes to selling the drinks." and 
is now in his last “pickle.” 

Meanwhile the companies are rapidly grinding 
them out — “in at the bottom and out at {he top" 
— as per agreement , thus filling the country 
with troops of incompetent railroaders, which fact 
accounts for the increase of accidents, the de- 
struction of much property and many lives, ol 
which we read daily in the papers, and whereby 
is turned out a liberal increase for the army we 
now call “scabs." 

It goes without saying that the companies 
would get much better service if they could put 
the most competent men ahead, and what has any 
old railroader to fear — conductor or any other — 
when placed in the rear, if his promotion is left 
to the management, where it properly belongs, 
and which would ever prove an incentive for 
every employe to do his best in keeping the rules 
and working for the best interest of the company 
be serves? 

On the other band, the seniority rule encour- 
ages carelessness among the indifferent. who< 
know that they will probably be promoted any- 
way without trying to do good work, and who- 
do not look ahead far enough to consider the fact 
that they may be speedily “pulled and shoved 
into the swim,” where they are left to play the 
role of such as meet you on the platform and 
meekly inquire if you ever “show any favors to 
railroad men?" 

I submit that we cannot after tbe experiment 
find the man who can show us a single thing in 
favor of seniority. 

It cannot be the man who has a job, nor the 
conductor who is without a job, nor the brake- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


man who thought he had job when he was pro- 
moted, nor the superintendent, who had the most 
important part of his job taken from him when 
the seniority rule was enacted. Who, then, can 
show us any good that it works? Let us give it 
op as a “bad job/' and insist on our rights only 
as railroad men, in the positions we have been 
employed by the companies to 611, and that, too, 
under the exercise of their rights. Let the su- 
perintendent hire his friend, or his friend s sister, 
if be is so pleased. We are likely to have a sister 
or friend some time ourselves. No man can af- 
ford to abuse bis privilege, neither caB we afford 
to make rules which force us back to the begin- 
ning every time we change from one road to an- 
other, any more thao a “school of lawyers” can 
to so legislate as to force themselves back to the 
kindergarten to study all over again every time 
they have a case. In the nature of things there 
will be but little railroad building in the near fu- 
ture, and the old lines will be in the main what 
we make them. Then let us “obliterate this 
rule,” and strive to fill our positions with the 
honor and dignity becoming true men, and thus 
endeavor to- make our railroads a success, for, 
thus looking to the best interest of all sides, we 
can best share in whatever prosperity is realized. 

Your in P. F., C. H. D . 287. 


Topeka, Kas., April 24, 1894. 
Editor Raihuay Conductor : 

The April number of The Railway Conduc- 
tor cod tains a letter from Brother Welch con- 
demning seniority in very harsh language, saying 
it is no good only for the man who is no good for 
himself. I believe as a rule the man who does 
not want seniority is a man who wants a better 
position than he now has or is entitled to, and has 
good reasons to believe through favoritism of 
one kind or another he will get it. Now, Brother, 
show us the way out; let us know what we are 
going to get before we give up what we have. 
Before we had seniority a change of superin- 
tendents made many a change for conductors, 
their friends always following them up. Shall 
we take a step backward (because some officials 
want ns to) or ahead? TheO. R. C. for years tried 
the fallacy of getting justice from railway officials 
on our merits, etc., and where did we land? 
Come, Brother Welch, tell us, what are you going 
to do with us when you take our rights (seniority) 
away from us? It is a well-known fact ability 
with a great many officials does not amount 
to much against favoritism. It is true seniority 
fe not perfect in itself, but amend and provide for 
the weak spots; it is a great deal easier to tear 
down than to build. You say it destroys the 


267 

utility of a man’s experience. I cannot see it 
that way. A proviso that we get a certain per 
cent of the promotions, just enough to supply the 
demand, (supply and demand control the situa- 
tion always) then if your ability is as good as you 
think it is you will have no trouble in utilizing it. 
Seniority takes the temptation of promotion 
away from the official and gives him nothing to 
do but his duty, plain and simple, just the same as 
you and I, and gives each and every man a chance 
when it comes his turn to prove his ability. My 
Brother says it causes a conductor to have to 
climb the ladder two, three or four times; not 
with the per cent amendment to seniority, if you 
are a corffpetent conductor. We have a clause in 
our schedule (on the Santa Fe) reading like this : 
“For every two brakemen so promoted (examina- 
tion being favorable) one conductor may be hired 
or promoted from the ranks of brakemen regard- 
less of age in the service, any conductor so hired 
or promoted shall have bad at least one year's ex- 
perience on a steam surface railroad as conductor, 
and shall be required to pass such examination as 
the rules of the company require." How are 
incompetent men to get into the service under 
this rule? With this rule universal in the United 
States, Canada and Mexico, in one year’s time 
no proficient conductor need be out of a job 
thirty days. To this rule let us add something 
like this (in behalf of the brakemen) that experi- 
enced brakemen (B. of R. T. men) must be hired 
in all cases when available. Brakemen are be- 
ginning to wake up to the fact that our interests 
are theirs only a little later on. The brakeman 
of to-day ir the conductor of to-morrow. The 
Brother says seniority destroys a man’s ambition 
to build him a home. It appears to me it works 
right the reverse. If I have the assurance I can 
hold my job as long as I do my work, wouldn't 
I necessarily do my best to do my work and hold 
my position and pay for the home? I might be 
prevented from buying a home if I realized the 
fact that some one might come along with a little 
more influence than I have and take my job. I 
don t see how any fair-minded man can dispute 
the right and justice of seniority. With two or 
three provisos or amendments, give us seniority; 
with these you solve the problem. 

Yours in P. F., S. 


Los Angeles, Cal., March 21, 1894. 
Editor Raihuay Conductor : 

While glancing over the pages of The Conduc- 
tor it suddenly occurs to me that you never 
have any communications from Division No. m. 
I have nothing of particular interest to write, but 


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268 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


will let you know that we are still alive in our 
"Beautiful City of Angels." 

We have a division of one hundred members, 
and as fine a body of men as were ever together 
under the banner of protection. I wish you 
could suggest some means by which we could se- 
cure a larger attendance and more interest from 
the members, as I am sorry to state that the ma- 
jority of our members are drones and leave it all 
for a few to do. Out Secretary and Treasurer, J. 
W. Benjamin, is the old reliable always on deck. 
Our Past Chief. J. J. Finn, is also on time. 

The Missouri obstructionist, G. F. McCul- 
lough, was absent last meeting and mis^d a good 
opportunity to "obstruct." Our officers all at- 
tend well. I only hope this will stir the mem- 
bers up a little. 

Bro. Hastell, who runs the passenger to Santa 
Barbara, was reinstated a few days ago after be- 
ing off a couple of months. He is happy as a 
clam, and a regular attendant at meetings. 

Bro. Gilluly, of San Bernardino Division, will 
be a candidate this fall for state railroad commis- 
sioner; the right man in the right place, and if 
nominated he will get in on time. 

I promise that you will hear from No. in 
again. r Yours in P. F., 

E. T. Haggin. 

Parsons, Kan., March 4, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

As I never see any communication from Divis- 
ion 161 I am going to write you a short letter. 
We have one of the most prosperous and har- 
monious little divisions in the country, and are 
growing slowly but surely. There are no chronic 
kickers in our division, a drawback to so many, 
and we all try our best to live up to our obliga- 
tions as we understand them. We have received 
quite a few additions to our membership lately 
by transfer cards; among them Bro. Jack Truitt 
from Division 53, Bro. Frank Hoyt of Di- 
vision 3, and Bro. Bill Taft from Division 131, 
all active workers for the Order and valuable ad- 
ditions to our ranks. 

"Uncle" Charlie La Monte put in his petition 
some few days ago and the boys gave him the de- 
grees in good shape, but they told him afterwards 
that owing to his gray head they let him off easy, 
and now he is looking for a victim to get revenge. 

Business is not very rushing on the road just 
now, but the boys are making a good living and 
are satisfied, considering the times. 

We re elected our C. C., Brother E. L Green, 
and our Secretary and Treasurer H. E. Brown 
for another terra, and our Junior Conductor Bro. 
A. O. Brown was promoted to Senior Conductor. 
The other offices were filled by very able Broth- 
ers Yours in P. F , 

"Punch. 


Railway Management. 

How many railway presidents, general mana- 
gers, or even general superintendents, have ever 
done a day's manual labor on a railroad? They 
have gone into that office through influence or 
capital And how many receivers have ever done 
any manual labor on a railroad? But still they 
think they know just how to do it all. They re- 
ceive a salary of from $18,000 to $25,000 per an* 
num. If they are late in going to their office it is 
all right. If they don't go at all it is all right. 
Their pay goes on just the same. If the me- 
chanic, the engineer, the conductor, or any of the 
laboring class, are late in reporting for 4nty, nine 
times out of ten they are suspended for a time. 
If they wish to lay off they must have permission 
to do so. Their pay is stopped while they are off 
duty. If times are dull and business slack, the 
force of help is reduced, and very often also the 
wages of those who remain. But how many in- 
stances do we hear where the wage reductions 
affect the official's salary? 

The receivers of the U. P. do not wish to pay 
the wages of the schedule sigoed when one of the 
receivers was president, because, they say. the 
road is in bad shape, and they cannot afford to 
do so. Suppose they cannot agree and a strike is 
ordered? Then what? If the U. P is in suvb 
bad shape, can they afford a strike? I do not be- 
lieve in strikes, but do believe in right and justice, 
and think it no more than just that the employes 
receive the wages per schedule signed by Mr. 
Clark as president. Not only is the U. P. in bad 
shape, but lots of other roads. I think if more of 
the railway officials were promoted from the 
ranks, there would be more harmony between 
officials and employes, and this roads be in a bet- 
ter paying position. I know of a division on the 
Boston & Maine, that, a little over a year ago. 
was in bad shape. Trains were late, wreck after 
wreck, cars broken up by careless and rough 
handling. The division was doing business at a 
loss. The superintendent bad too much to look 
after. He could not attend to all that was re- 
quired of him. A trainmaster was appointed to 
help him out. A conductor was promoted to the 
position, one who understands his business and 
knows right from wrong. In three months from 
the time be was appointed trainmaster, be bad a 
good lot of men, and things went along all right, 
and are still going right, with a good superintend- 
ent and trainmaster; a record of only two wrecks 
in a year, and doing a good business. There is 
not a road to-day but what has men who are ca- 
pable and deserving of promotion. 

"Nbw Comb*-" 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 269 


Canton, Miss., March 8, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Division 304 has had seven regular meetings 
since the election of officers, which I think is a 
good showing, as we have a small membership and 
part of members run on branches and have their 
lay-over away from Canton, I hope they will con- 
tinue to attend regularly. We have fifty members 
in good standing and several applicants. It takes 
all of a conductor's time here to make his wheel 


committee that the claims of Mrs. Sykes and 
Barnes had been allowed, one for *ke 

other for $3000, when I was approached by a 
member who said he did not know or see where 
all the money was going that we were paying 
into the treasury of the Benefit Department, and 
that it cost too much. Well, it may be that I 
did not make him feel bed, but if not, it was not 
because I did not try. 

Wishing all a happy and prosperous New Year, 
pray God to bless our noble Order. 

Yours truly in P. F., 

O. A H. 


and broken seal report. Our superintendent of 
transportation has just adopted a new seal record 
and we consider it very complicated, as each seal 
hag two numbers, station number and printed 
number, and never less than seven figures. These 
seals ha\ f e to be shown on wheel report; each time 
a car is opened to load or unload freight we have 
to report the number of seal broken and applied. 
It’s a good thing, as it shows a clear record, and 
we have had a great deal of trouble with the old 
plan. Three of our good and true members 
have been removed by death in the past six 
months, viz: Brothers Barnes, Barber and 
Sykes. 

Brother Barnes was killed near Crystal Springs, 
Miss., by his train parting and colliding, throw- 
ing him against the stove in his caboose. He 
•was only twenty-seven years old and very popular 
with all who knew him. Brother Barber died in 
Water Valley, October 18, 1893, of pneumonia. 
He was given every attention possible by the 
members. The funeral was largely attended, 
the services being conducted by the O. R. C. 
Brother Sykes was killed while switching in the 
yard at Canton, November 19, 1893. A com- 
mittee of conductors accompanied his remains to 
Duck Hill, Miss., where they were consigaed to 
their last resting place The families of these 
dear Brothers have our deepest sympathies. 

We have commenced arrangements for our 
second annual ball, which is to be far superior to 
the last, (which I have before stated surpassed 
anything of the kind ever had in Canton). 

Business is good with us at present, merchan- 
dise and coal south, bananas, sugar and molasses 
north. The Eye See recently broke the record 
by running a train of fifteen cars of bananas to 
Chicago in 35 * hours and 45 minutes, including 
all stops and delays, which is at least eight hours 
better than any other road has done. Brother 
C. B. Box had charge of the bills from Canton to 
Water Valley, making the run of 117 miles in 
less than four hours. Brother W. J. Murphy, 
T. M., was on with him and everything worked 
smoothly. The boys named the train "Nancy 
Hanks”. 

We bad just received notice from the insurance 


Seniority. 

Twenty years ago, or more, 

When a brakeraan went to work, 

He tried to please his conductor, 

And was never known to shirk. 

And when the proper time arrived, 

If upon his work he doted, 

He was called into the office, 

And speedily promoted. 

But, oh, how different rfow, my boys, 
Where seniority is the rule, 

He’ll tell the old conductor 
That he never went to school. 

He’ll say to the old, gray -haired man. 

Who was running when he was born, 

"If you don’t like the hurricane deck, 
You’d better go husking corn.” 

Again, how different with this young man, 
Should he lose his situation; 

He’ll have to go to school again. 

And the box cart will be chasing. 

I think by the time he has tried it, 

For some five years or more. 

He'll think of seniority, 

And can’t help but feel quite sore. 

Now, if you seniority brakemen 
Will look at it as you should, 

When you do get promoted, 

You'll have a job that’s some good 
We'll all get close together, 

And take you by the hand, 

And wont have many idle conductors 
Tramping through the land. 

By J. Flory, St. Louis, Mo. 


Concord, N. H., March 19, 1894. 
Eanor Railway Conductor : 

Our little Division is booming right along, sev- 
eral new members having joined since the new 
year, and we hope that "still there’s more to fol- 
low.” Business has been dull here this winter, 
the shops running thirty six hours weekly, and 
trains being daily discontinued, but we now have 
hopes of better times in the near future. I read 
with great interest the letter from Brother Morris 
and his sentiments are nvne to the very letter. 
In order to make our Divisions successful we 
must attend the meetings. It is necessary to 
have officers but they alone cannot make Divis- 
ions successful; they must have men to work 
with them How much good we could accom- 
plish if every member would put his shoulder to 
the wheel and be constantly working for the best 
interests of the Order. I have made a long run 
this trip and will slow up and stop 

Yours >n P. F., "Concord." 


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Brother J. Deijl, of Chicago, was a welcome 
caller at the offices recently. 

# * 

* 

Brother Thos. A. Lister, of 442 East Third 
street, Williamsport, Pa., is anxious to learn the 
address of Brother C. H. Hibbard. 


Brother Frank Wade, of Buffalo, will spend 
the summer visiting his old home across the At- 
lantic, leaving for that purpose about July 1. 

* * 

* 

The national convention of the O. R. T. will 
open at Denver on the 21st inst., and present in- 
dications point to^ a pleasant and profitable 
gathering. 


Bro. D. T. Price, S. and T. of Division 109, has 
been quite ill for some weeks past. His many 
friends will hope for him a speedy and complete 
recovery. 

*** 

Mrs. Susan Ganung, of 415 South Union street, 
Grand Rapids, Mich., would be pleased to learn 
of the whereabouts of M. B. Bartholomew, form- 
erly member of Division 60. 

* » 

* 

A sample of the Comet Bread Slicer has been 
received by the Grand Secretary and Treasurer 
and he finds it to be fully equal to the claims 
made for it by the manufacturers. 

* # 

« 

1 hose of our readers who are in search of some 
form of amusement that will be at once instruc- 
tive and entertaining will do well to read the ad- 
vertisement, "The Play of the Planets, " on an- 
other page. 

V 

The Conductor gladly acknowledges receipt of 
handsomely bound volumes of The Locomotive 
Firemen' s Magazine , The Railroad Trainmen' s 
Journal , The Railroad Telegrapher and The 
Journal of the Brotherhood of Locomotive En- 
gineers , for 1893. 


Bro. Chas. H. Dale, of Division 54, has bees 
appointed general manager of the Peerless Rub- 
ber Manufacturing Co., with headquarters at 16 
Warren street, New York. His many friends 
both in and out of the Order will hope that his 
new venture may be crowned with abundant suc- 
cess. 

V 

Secretary P. L. Fowler has issued his premium 
lists for the forty-first annual exhibition of the 
Iowa State Agricultural Society, to be held in 
Des Moines, August 31 and September x to 7, in- 
clusive, of this year. The exhibitions given by 
this society are always first-class in every partic- 
ular and this oDe promises to fully maintain the 
reputation made in the past. 

* * 

* 

Brother A. P. Frederick has been appointed to 
his old position of postoffice inspector and will 
make his headquarters at Denver. This is but a 
just return for the excellent record made by 
Brother Frederick during his former service and 
he will be generally congratulated upon good for- 
tune so worthily won. 

* * 

* 

On March 1, last, the members of Bartlett Di- 
vision No. 214 were presented with an elegant sil- 
ver water set, by their wives and daughters. 
The presentation speech was made by Mrs. John 
Berry and was in every way worthy of the occas- 
ion. Brothers Olive, Heine and Berry responded, 
expressing their appreciation of the gift and as- 
suring the ladies it would be treasured by 
not only because of its value, but because of 
those who had given it. 

* * 

* 

The offices of the Order have been beautified by 
having placed therein some handsome statuary, a 
gift from some of the boys in New York City- 
One piece is a Venus labeled "Escaped from the 
Ladies’ Auxiliary." If many such escape yoo 
will all be anxious to assist in organizing the 
Auxiliary The other piece is labeled "Cow 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


spondent of New York City Division 54.” It is a 
very artistic reproduction of the face and form of 
as homely a "bull pup" as your eyps ever rested 
upon. Many thanks, boys. Let us hear from the 
correspondent. 

%* 

Samples of the Standard Strainer have been 
received by the Grand Chief and Grand Secretary 
and Treasurer, who find them to be all their 
recommendations call for. 

• * 

* 

Among the Divisions recently instituted are 
Lake Erie, No. 356, East Buffalo, N. Y.; Excel- 
sior, No. 359, East Albany,. N. Y. ; Valley, No. 
361. Valley Junction, Iowa; Sugar City, No. 363, 
Norfolk, Neb.; Joliet. No. 364, Joliet, 111 .; Park- 
ersburg, No. 369, Parkersburg, W. Va. ; Massiloa, 
No. 360, Massilon, Ohio; and Eureka, No 174, 
Paterson, N. J. 

V 

At this writing two national conventions are in 
progress, that of the Brotherhood of Locomotive 
Engineers at St. Paul, Minn., and of the Switch- 
men's Mutual Aid Association at Evansville, Ind. 
The attendance on both is reported as being bet- 
ter than usual and the standing and ability of the 
delegates give warrant that their deliberations will 
be fruitful of good for their orders. We take 
pleasure in extending fraternal greetings, together 
with an earnest wish for the continuance of the 
splendid successes won by both in the past when 
striving for the betterment of organized labor. 

V 

The organization of the new Division at Pat- 
terson. N. J., on April 22, was an enjoyable af- 
fair, made so by the presence of a large number 
of officers and other members from neighboring 
Divisions. These visitors assisted largely in the 
work, and by their presence lent encouragement 
to the new Division, besides cleaning out a large 
restaurant where a complimentary dinner was 
given them. It was said, by some of those who 
were seated farthest from the kitchen, that they 
were unable to get anything until after Brother 
McDonald had finished. As the C C. paid the 
penalty imposed for his failure to deliver a speech, 
B razee and Clow went home happy. 

* * 

* 

The Russell Art Publishing Co., of 928 Arch 
street, Philadelphia, desire the names and address 
of a few people in every town who are interested 
in works of art, and to secure them they offer to 
send free , "Cupid Guides the Boat,” a superbly 
executed water color picture, size 10x13 inches, 
suitable for framing, and sixteen other pictures 


271 

about same size, in colors , to any one sending 
them at once the names and address of ten per- 
sons (admirers of fine pictures) together with six 
two-cent stamps to cover expense of mailing, etc. 
The regular price of these pictures is $1.00, but 
they can be secured free by any person forward- 
ing the names and stamps promptly. The editor 
of this paper has already received copies of above 
pictures and considers them really "Gems of 
Art.” 

V 

Grand Master Sargent, of the Brotherhood of 
Locomotive Firemen, has been urged to allow the 
use of his name as a candidate for Congress from 
the district in Indiana in which he resides. In 
his reply he says: "If, in the judgment of ray 
friends, I can represent the people of the district 
to the end that prosperity may again surround us, 
and the coqditions of wage-workers be improved 
and idleness and want driven from our land, and 
if the Republican party will be satisfied with a 
representative whose aim will be to represent the 
people of the Eighth District honestly and fear- 
lessly, one who will make no pledge except to dis- 
charge the duties of the office to the best of his 
ability, I will allow my name to be presented, if 
my friends believe it to be to the best interests of 
my district.” This breathes the same honest 
spirit which has characterized his official career. 
While always wishing Brother Sargent success, 
in this case especially The Conductor bids him 
God speed and hopes to see him the able repre- 
sentative of his district. 

* # 

* 

The action of the lower house of Congress look- 
ing toward an increase of the postage on certain 
kinds of periodicals, taken April 10 last, was in 
our opinion ill advised. Improvements in the 
art of printing, fierce competition between the 
great publishing houses, and the low rate of post- 
age now make it possible for the reading public 
to secure the very best literature at prices that 
were thought to be forever impossible byt a few 
years ago. The direct result of this has been not 
only to increase the amount of reading done to an 
almost miraculous extent, but the quality of that 
reading has correspondingly improved. Nothing 
should be allowed to circumscribe the efforts of 
the people to keep posted, not only in current 
events, but current literature, and this nation cer- 
tainly cannot afford to throw any impediments in 
their way. To the younger classes these low rates 
have been of especial advantage, furnishing them 
with the best products of the brightest minds in 
almost every department of thought at a cost 
scarcely worth considering. The educational ad- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


272 

vantages here gained are beyond computation and 
anyone having the be9t good of the nation at 
heart will hesitate before cutting them off from a 
single opportunity. Those who have favored the 
proposed increase have done so upon the assump- 
tion that present rates made of the publishers a 
favored class. A visit to the nearest book store, 
however, will convince the most obstinate that 


prices now are about as low as is possible under 
present conditions and that any increase in post- 
age can but mean an increase in cost to the read- 
ing public. Cheaper letter postage is important, 
but it should be only secondary when considered 
as against the great volume of printed matter now 
forming so poteot a factor in the daily life and 
growth of our people. 


ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OF AMERICA 


MUTUAL BENEFIT DEPARTMENT. 


Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Hay 1; Expires June. 30, 1894. 

Assessment No. 280 is for death of W. A. Cha.uberlain by accident, Mar. zo. 


BENEFITS PAID DURING APRIL. 


Ben. 

No. 

AMT. 

FOR 

OF 

CAUSE. 

Cert No. 

Series. 

DIV. 

668 

$ 3,000 

Death 

John Lessley 

LaGrippe 

3825 


106 

669 

3,000 

Death 

G. P. Buffington 

Typhoid Fever 

3240 


3 

670 

1,000 

Death 

J. Fitzgerald 

Heart Failure 

1399 


336 

671 

3.000 

Death 

W. W. Jolifle 

Paresis 

734 


42 

672 

1,000 

Death 

J L. Cannon 

Accident 

1601 


149 

•673 

3.000 

Death 

Geo. E Murphy 

Meningitis 

1908 

C 

89 

674 

3.000 

Death 

T P. McKelvey 

Accident 

2212 

C 

3 M 

675 

4,000 

Death 

C. L. Robertson 

Convulsions 

x 74 

D 

241 

676 

2,000 

Death 

H. H. Lohman 

Accident 

1955 

B 

176 

677 

2,000 

Death 

D. Danahy 

Accident 

607 

B 

182 

678 

1,000 

Death 

W. B Corliss 

Accident 

1291 

A 

335 

679 

1.000 

Death 

E. A. Hillhouse 

Accident 

xx 34 

A 

M 9 

680 

3.000 

Death 

G. W. Richards 

Pneumonia 

1617 

C 

59 

681 

3.000 

Death 

G. H. Fenwick j 

Accident 

560 

C 

37 

•682 

1.000 

Death 

E. C. Ward 

Frozen 

2023 

A 

4 ° 

683 

3.000 

Dis. 

B. W Collwell 

Loss of Foot 

466 

0 

307 

684 

3.000 

Death 

L. Snider 

Accident 

1230 

C 

_*2L- 


• NUMBER OF MEMBERS ASSESSED. 

Series A, 4,675; Series B, 2,630; Series C, 4.840; Series D, 369; Series E, 92. Amount of as- 
sessment No 280. $26,391. Total number of members 12.881. 


FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 


‘Received on Mortuary Assessments to March 31, 1894 $i, 533 - 2O 4 - 5 0 

Received on Expense Assessments to March 31, 1894 25,99500 

Received on Applications, etc., to March 31, 1894 26.670.46 


$1,585.86996 


Total Amount of benefits paid to March 31, 1894 $1,525,376 00 

Total amount of expenses paid to March 31, 1894 58,391. x8 

Insurance cash on hand March 31, 1894 1 902 78 


EXPENSES PAID DURING MARCH. 


$1,585.86996 


General expenses, $24.90; Assessments refunded. $114; Postage. $123; Incidental, $x 80; Sal* 
aries, $376 67; Fees returned, $3; Stationery and Printing, $10.25; Legal, $ 59 - 5 °*. Total. $713 12 
The above amounts were paid out during the month, but items of postage, printing, legal, etc., 
often cover supplies and work for more than one month, and sometimes several months. 


Received on Assessment No. 276 to April 20 
Received on Assessment No. 277 to April 20 
Received on Assessment No. 278 to April 20 
Received on Assessment No. 279 to April 20. 


$24.24600 

10,7320° 

10,50000 

3,258.09 

WM. P. DANIELS, Secretary 


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The March number of A’ezv York Railroad 
Men commemorates not only the original opening 
of the railroad men’s Y. M. C. A. building in 
that city but its opening as enlarged and newly 
equipped to meet the enlarged demands upon it. 
It is a creditable number and gives evidence on 
every page of the success that has attended the 
association it represents. 

The managers of Locomotive Engineering 
sent out with their March number an engraving 
of one of the “Empire State engines" which is a 
model in design and execution and cannot fail to 
be appreciated by all practical railroad men. 
Aside from its beauty the engraving shows each 
part of the machine and gives its name in full, 
making it well worth preservation as a work of 
reference. 

The essence of spring life hovers over every 
page of the May number of Outing , and leaves 
nothing to be desired in a magazine of recreation 
and pleasure. It intensifies the longing to hie 
away from c«ty confines and seek that rest and en- 
joyment which these pages so refreshingly suggest. 
If one can go he needs the magazine for a com- 
panion, and if unable to tread in grassy glades, 
then certainly Outing becomes an actual neces- 
sity. affording glimpses of outdoor life and ani- 
mated scenes which both exhilarate and interest. 

The May Midland blossoms out in blue and 
gold cover, the corn stalk in gold. The beauty 
and simplicity of the design command general ad- 
miration. Among the many good things inside 
the cover is a story by a niece of General Sher- 
man, a pleasing instalment of Beatrice, an inside 
story of a railroad wreck, an elegantly illustrated 
article on Iowa College, Grinnell, a delightful 
picture of Scottish scenery, a thrilling story of 
Russia during the famine, illustrated with Russian 
views, an illustrated article on Dakota, an article 
of rare historic value, and a group of London 
pictures. 


A leading feature of The Century for May is 
the first of a series of papers by Thomas G. Al- 
len, Jr., and William L. Sachtleben, recounting 
their adventures in a journey “Across Asia on a 
Bicycle." The ground covered in the first paper 
is from the Bosporus to^Mt. Ararat. The objec- 
tive point of the journey was Peking, and for the 
greater portion of the way the route was parallel 
and occasionally identical with that of Marco 
Polo. The account will be illustrated by a large 
number of unique photographs taken by the 
writers during this adventurous trip in a region 
almost ur known to the western world. 

The Pioneer Press, always abreast of the times, 
has reduced its subscription rates just one-half. 
The new rate on the daily and Sunday editions is 
but 50 cents per month, $5 per annum, in ad- 
vance; for the daily, without Sunday. 40 cents 
per month, $4 per annum, in advance; Sunday 
only, $1.50 per annum, in advance, 50 cents for 
three months. The Pioneer Press is now the 
cheapest metropolitan newspaper in the country. 
Its high standard will be thoroughly maintained, 
and, in view of the largely increased circulation 
which it most assuredly will have, it has entered 
into arrangements to even greatly improve tbe- 
paper. 


May. 

Here is May, sweet May — all love her! 
Scatter apple-blooms above her! 

Joyous May! She gives a nest 
To the waiting yellowbreast. 

Wheresoe’er her footsteps pass 
Blue-eyed blossoms deck the grass. 

At her voice, the woodlands ring 
With the music of the spring. 

Fast the brooklet runs to meet her, , 

Leafy sprigs bend down to greet her. 

Listen now! — She comes this way. 

Bud and blossom! 'T is the May! 

— Harriet F. Blodgett in May St. A T icholas. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


274 


The foreign policy of the United States receives 
special attention in the department “Progress of 
the World" of the Revieiv of Reviews for May. 
The advantages to be derived by our people from 
the construction of the Nicaragua Canal, from 
our commercial position in the Pacific, and from 
using Pearl Harbor as a naval repair and coaling 
station, are clearly outline^ The part played by 
the British Burmudas as a base of operations 
against the United States during the civil war is 
recalled as an object lesson to those statesmen 
who seem over fearful of any policy looking to- 
ward the annexation of Hawaii. 

The May Arena closes the ninth volume of this 
leader among the progressive and reformative re- 
views of the English-speaking world. The table 
of contents is very strorg and inviting to those in- 
terested in live questioA and advanced thought. 
The Arena has made steady progress; its circu- 
lation having increased during the panic, and it 
has necessarily been enlarged to 144 pages. There 
is. also, in addition to this, the book reviews, 
which cover over twenty pages, making in all a 
magazine of over 160 pages. The steady increase 
in circulation of this $5 magazine during a period 
of unprecedented financial depression shows how 
deep rooted and far reaching is the unrest and 
social discontent; for this review has steadfastly 
given audience to the views of the social reform- 
ers of the various schools of thought. 

If to-day there is danger ahead, it is not the 
first time that the American republic has faced it. 
The conditions of our national life invite danger. 
Security from invasion, natural resources, tri- 
umphs of invention and commerce, have led un- 
doubtedly to an over-confidence in ourselves. 
Americans are the most free handed, self-confi- 
dent, generous, and confiding of peoples. They 
have gone so far in their spirit of trust as to even 
accept without much thought the tuition of schol- 
astic economists. But the safety is that they are 
realizing it. Certain it is, that they will not in 
their concern turn to the tories for help. Great 


aggregations of capital have been permitted to de- 
velop until they menace the social order. This 
danger was foreseen even in the very beginning — 
Dona hoe's Magazine for May . 

There was no mooo, and while the ground un- 
der foot was almost undistinguishable, the vivid 
starlight made all the encircling peaks dearlf 
visible. Just across the deep gulf of Randa 
which had the blackness of a pall, arose the 
colossal bulk of the Weisshorn, and the white 
chaos of seracs and glaciers leading up to it 
seemed to diffuse an almost phosphorescent glim 
mer, while from behind the black pyramid of the 
Matterhorn the Milky Way rose straight toward 
the zeinth, like a flaming sword. The dead 
silence would have been oppressive, had it not 
been broken now and then by the muffled roar of 
a torrent somewhere down below, which came at 
intervals on some stray current of air. like the 
hollow rumble of a distant train. — From “Some 
Episodes of Mountaineering," by Edwin L 
Weeks, in the May Scribner. 

A great Grant number, in token of Genen/ 
Grant’s birthday, April 27, describes • in a wori 
McClure's Magazine for May. General Horacr 
Porter, a member of Grant’s staff, bis assistant 
secretary of war, and, during the first term of 
his presidency, his private secretary, writes of bis 
personal traits, particularyiof his troth, courage, 
modesty, generosity and loyalty. An interview 
with Colonel Frederick D. Grant records the im- 
pressions of the son who was General Grant's 
daily companion in the field through a good part 
of the war, and who lived always near him to 
the end of his days. General O. O. Howard and 
General Ely S. Parker supply some reminis- 
cences; and on autograph letter written by Jesse 
R. Grant, General Grant’s father, in 1865, gives 
a most interesting glimpse into Grant’s life and 
character. Finally, under the apt title of “Gen- 
eral Grant s Greatest Year," Mr. T. C. Crawford 
tells the story of the noble and heroic last year of 
Grant s life. 


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Mutual Benefit Insurance — Liability of a Mem- 
ber for Assessment — Notice. 
i. Where the by-laws of a co operative assess- 
ment insurance association provided that the 
certificate of membership should contain the 
specific terms of the contract between the associ- 
ation and the member; and, where a certificate 
provided that it was issued in consideration of 
the representations contained in the application, 
and the sum of $25, and the further sum of $5 60, 
to be contributed bi monthly. Held, that this 
constituted a contract obligation on the part of 
the member to pay bi-monthly $5.60, which con- 
tract could be en(orced at law in a suit to enforce 
payment of the assessments. 

2 Where a certificate of membership requires 
the periodical payment of a certain sum by the 
member, such payment is not an assessment 
within the laws 1883, C. 175, requiring that 
"each notice of assessment, etc., shall truly state 
the cause and purpose of such assessment," and 
also "state the amount paid on the last death 
claim paid, the name of the deceased member, 
and the maximum face value of the certificate, 
and if not paid in full, the reason therefor.” 

3. Where the evidence is sufficient, to all in- 
tents and purposes to constitute the bi-monthly 
premium a legal assessment during the continua- 
tion of the membership which the defendant had 
contracted to pay in consideration of the issuance 
of the certificate, and judgment in favor of 
plaintiff for the amount thereof will be sus- 
tained. 

Smith v. Bown, N. Y. S. C., Jan. 18, 1894. 

Mutual Benevolent Insurance — Beneficiaries — 
Right to Designate — Family. 

The evidence in this case showed that upon 
joining the association Brown designated his 
wife, the defendant herein, as beneficiary, and 
that she paid the assessments up to the time of 
an estrangement and separation. Brown subse- 
quently married plaintiff (presumably without 
having secured a divorce) with whom he lived 
until his death. Plaintiff supported him and 
nursed him through a long sickness, and also paid 


the assessments. There is nothing to show that 
she did not contract marriage in good faith, and 
without knowledge of any legal impediment. 
Previous to death he willed her, as his wife, the 
beneficiary fund and directed the treasurer of the 
association to pay it to her as a reward for faith- 
ful devotion during illness. The will was sent to 
and placed on file with the association. Brown 
died, and the widows each claimed the fund. The 
trial court rendered judgment for the original 
widow, and widow No. 2 appealed. 

Held , That under the constitution of, a mutual 
benefit association declaring its object to be "to 
aid and benefit the families of deceased mem- 
bers," and providing that the widows, children, 
or next of kin of deceased members should be 
entitled to benefit, and that "any may, however, 
designate to whom such payment shall be made," 
a member is not restricted to the designation of 
his widow, children, or next of kin. Judgment 
reversed. 

Brown v. Brown , N. Y. S. C., Jan. 22, 1894. 

Accident Insurance — Agent's Authority — Waiv- 
er of Payment. 

In an action to recover on an accident certifi- 
cate insuring the plaintiff against accident and 
death while in the employ of a railroad company, 
wherein the defendant alleged delinquency in the 
payment of premium. 

Held, 1. That an agent, with authority to 
solicit applications and collect premiums, can 
waive a condition for payment of the premium in 
quarterly installments, and accent payment of 
the entire annual premium in advance. 2. When 
the insured member tenders collection agent $30, 
his full annual premium, and the agent accepts 
only $20, and promises to pay the com- 
pany the other $10, in satisfaction of his 
debt to the insured member, the company is 
bound by the agent’s waiver of the cash pay- 
ment. 

Kerr v. National Acc. Ass'n of Indianapolis. 
Ind. App. Ct., Jan. 13, 1894. 

Note . — This case is of interest to the managers 
of such an association. It would appear that the 
member made use of his membership to collect a 
private debt, and forced the company to look to 
the agent for a portion of the premium. The 
authority of a soliciting and collecting agent 
should be well established by common or other 
authority. 


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^ At a recent meeting of Alamo Division No. 59 
resolutions were passed expressing the sorrow 
of the members at the death of Bro. Geo. W. 
Richards and their deep sympathy for the be- 
reaved widow and child. In the death of Bro. 
Richards Division 59 has lost a true and worthy 
Brother, a cheerful and earnest worker and a 
faithful and loyal friend, his family an upright 
and loving husband and father. 

Louis Sn j der passed away Friday p. in., 
March 23. from injuries received on C. U. O. 

& T. P. Ry. Bro. Snider was buried at Cov- 
ington, Ky., on the afternoon of March 25, 
about 15 of the Brothers attending his funeral. 
Bros. J. O’Connell, S. Coons, D. B. Clark, of 
Division 107, and Bro. Cal. Dixon, of Division 
. 148, acted as pall bearers. Bro. Snider was 
held in high esteem by all who knew him. He 
was a man among men, sober and industrious, 
and had the respect of all his townsmen. The 
sympathies of the members of Division 107 go 
out to the bereaved family and friends in their 
great sorrow. 

Bro^E. S. Hedden, of Eldorado Division No. 
338, met with death while in the performance 
of his duties at Alameda, Kan., on March 13 
last. In some way he was thrown under the 
cars at that place, sustaining injuries from 
which he died on the following day. Bro 
Hedden was not only an exemplary member ot 
the Order, but a man who won and held 
friends wherever known, and his death brought 
personal sorrow to a wide circle of friends. 
Appropriate resolutions were passed by Divi- 
sion 338 at a subsequent meeting. 

5W ‘ ,l MrY*A. O. Inuling, wife of Bro. InglinR. and 
a charter member of Division 23, L. A. to O. 

R C., died at her home, 816 Agate Avenue, 

. Denver, Col., on the morning of April 10. She 
leaves three children, a baby boy of iifteen 
days, Waller and Willie, aged 6 and 3 years, 
and a devoted husband to mourn her loss To 
them the members of Division 23 extend their 
most sincere sympathy. 

^ a,| For the second time in its history death has 
crossed the threshhold of Rome Division N o. 
230, draping its charter in mourning. Brother 
Hunter H Hays, while in the performance of 
his duty on the C. R. & C. R. R March 3 last, 
fell from his train and was instantly killed. 
In him Division 230 has lost one # °iJh 

est and most useful members and most f-uh- 
ful officers and the members of the Order 
everv where a true and tried friend, whose 
heart never tailed to respond to a brotherly 
call. To the heartbroken wife the members of 
the Division extended their deepest sympathy 
and their assurances that she would always 
find a brother and friend in the wearei of the 
emblem of the O. R. C. 

iC-cmum. ... ^ . 

At a recent meeting of Division 62 resolu- 
tions were adopted expressinR the sorrow of 
the members over the death of Bro. Tercy 


Cowan, and their sympathy with his parents 
in their loss of a devoted and dutiful son. 

gJeturU) ^ c Beam 0 f international Division 
No 48 has been called to mourn the loss of a 
devoted mother. The Sisters of Division No 
44. Ladies’ Auxiliary, desire to express their 
sympathy for him in his great sorrow. 

® a **DurVnK*a recent meeting of Toronto Division 
No. 17 resolutions were adopted expressing 
the sympathy of the members with Bro. Y 
Tamblyn in the death of his aged mother. 

^ Wll Toronto Division No. 17 has forwarded to 


Bro. John Buller a letter of condolence 
pressing the sympathy of the members 
him in the death of his father. 


^Th?home of Bro. John Sullivan, of Hollings- 
worth Division No. 100, has been desolated by 
the death of an infant son. Poster, aged 1 year 
and 24 days. The bereaved parents will have 
the sympathy of all. 

^ CU At Piedmont, S. D., on Wednesday. Apill 
12 Bro. Ben. W Bell, of Division 173; wa* 
made desolate by the death of his beloved 
wife. The bereaved husband will be extended 
the sincere sympathy of the entire Order in 
his hour of supreme sorrow. Fitting resolu- 
tions were passed by Lohg Pine Division r;i, 
at a recent meeting. 

* t0lT The charter of Division 276 has been draped 
in mourning for the death of W. B U»ber. one 
of its most valued members. In this loss the 
entire Order participates, for Bro L sher was 
a faithful and zealous worker, whose life was 
filled with good and charitable deeds and 
whose influence could not be bounded. The 

Division extended its fraternal sympathy and 

condolence to the bereaved family, and in this 
every other Division will join. 

^ iU *Gogebic Diiision No. 253 is »n mourning for 
the death of Bro. Geo. K. Linsley, one of it* 
most zealous and influential members. De 
ceased had been a conductor for the four ye^arr 
prior to his death and during that time had 
tost no opportunity to advance the interests of 
his Brothers or the Order in which he took *0 
much pride. He was held in high regard 
wherever known, and his death k-aves a va- 
cancy in the ranks that it will be found diffi 
cult to fill. To the bereaved widow and 
orphaned children will go out the tenderer 
sympathy of all. 

© j)j v j s ; on Q t has been called upoa 

to mourn the death of Bro. J. H O 
died at Los. Angeles March 14th. Hu 

death brought the keenest sorrow, not cofy » 
the Brothers, but to all who knew kin wll 
and their sympathy for the stricken fa taOj™ 
all the more tender for this s<nse of 
loss. 


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The Railway Conductor 


VOL. XI. 


CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, JUNE, 1894. NO. 6. 



CONTRIBUTED. 

A NERVY CONDUCTOR. 


BY FRANK A. MYBRS. 


It occurred sometime ago, let it be understood, 
in the Lone Star State, where a good many 
“nervy*’ men dwell. No one acquainted with this 
gliding pencil, however ihort or long the associa- 
tion may have been, will affirm that it has even 
the remotest intention or inclination of saying or 
intimating there are few or no “nervy” men in 
other parts of the world, particularly “nervy” 
men in the great and magnificent railroad world. 
There are such courageous, admirable men every- 
where, many of whom are truly waiting for an 
opportunity wherein they may exercise their in- 
herent moral strength. 

Conductor Tom Steele was a “nervy” man, and 
he proved it by his action when three bandits, 
men of the most desperate and damnable type, 
attempted to hold up his train. Now, Tom was 
not a very big man, physically speaking, but he 
was a giant in genuine courage and unhesitating 
boldness. Tom was a nice man every way you 
might take him — nice appearing, nice mannered, 
nice socially, nice morally, a friend who'never 
forgot you, a nice husband and father, and a 
kindly disposed and peaceably inclined man un- 
der any and all circumstances. Everybody liked 
Tom Steele. As his friends, who were legion, 
said of him. “He was a hearty, all-over fellow.” 
He caught your hand with a heartiness and zeal- 
ousness that made you feel the real worth of an 
earnest friendship, a friendship far above the 


superficial, every day sort with which you are 
surfeited and nauseated. 

The whole train crew, in very fact, was an 
exceptional one. There was Engineer Phil Bals- 
ley, a very flower of good, commendable man- 
hood. That man could be trusted to do his duty, 
wherever it might lie and whatever difficulties 
and annoyances might surround it. It is not too 
high encomium to say of him, “he is a man.” 

And Mort Jones, the brave fireman, was as 
unswerving from the right as the gray bills, which 
the sun tints with a gorgeous splendor in the 
morning and gilds with a living beauty in the 
evening. 

You no doubt have seen Bob Ireland, the good- 
humored brakeman; or if you have not we are 
quite sure you have seen somebody very much 
like him. Why, everybody knows good-humored 
Bob. 

Well, now, let us proceed with the story, since 
you know the chief characters, save the robbers 
themselves, who are concerned in it. 

The first thing that comes to us to say is that 
the story is about one of the boldest attempts at 
train robbery we ever heard of. There have 
been many bold, and some successful, attempts to 
rob trains, but none that we have ever heard of 
exceeded this in its deliberateness and daring 
quality. The James Boys and the Younger 
Brothers and other desperate gangs of successful 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


278 

villains did many rasb and inhuman deeds and 
manifested indomitable hardihood and foolhardy 
temerity sometimes, but this madly rash act 
stands well at the top of the category of desper- 
ate deeds. By the way, one of this band of cut- 
throats, it may be some satisfaction to know here, 
subsequently got into the Rogues' Gallery, a very 
fitting place for him, as you will conclude when 
you have read this story. 

The train pulled out of San Antonio, that city 
so full of historical recollections, and sped away 
almost like an arrow on its course toward the 
south. It was a warm June day, but cloudy, and 
everybody was lively and gay. It was two o'clock 
in the afternoon? and they were rattling along 
over the bright steel rails at a lively gait. 

The train was made up of five day-coaches, an 
express car, and a combination baggage and mail 
car. The travel was light, and Conductor Tom 
Steele soon passed through the coaches and took 
up and punched thfe tickets and noted the desti- 
nation of his passengers. When he had once 
looked at a man and his ticket he never forgot 
where that man was bound for, and if be ever 
carried a passenger beyond his destination it was 
never found Out on him. The fact is, that Tom 
could keep his own secrets as well as the next 
one. 

About an hour's run from San Antonio they 
paused at the village of Palermo to take water 
from the water-tank. When Fireman Mort Jones 
stepped out upon the tender and pullec down the 
water-pipe he observed in a casual manner three 
men standing near by. They had their backs to 
him, and were listlessly looking down along the 
coaches in the most natural, unsuspecting and 
innocent-like manner in the world. Men of the 
tramp type be had often before seen act in a sim- 
ilar manner. Fireman Jones took no thought 
about the incident, whatever, and having filled 
the engine-tank with water, pushed up the pipe 
into its place again and signaled Engineer Balsley 
to go ahead. 

The train moved forward. Nobody saw them, 
but the three sneaking desperadoes, in the broad 
afternoon light of this cloudy June day, boarded 
the blind baggage car. The idea these three men 
had was soon made manifest. Is it possible, the 
query persists in arising, for three bold, danger- 
ous men to intimidate and rob about fifty people? 
Or can they so strike terror and panic into the 
hearts of the travelers, men, women and children, 
that no one will rush to the rescue of the train- 
men who may be engaged in a deadly combat 
with them in an endeavor to save the money and 
valuables committed to their keeping? is even 
their dreadful presence such a power as to intir*' 


date and paralyze with fear those who at other 
times appear brave enough? And now, having pro- 
pounded these questions, we most humbly beg to 
decline to answer them. Perhaps, learned read- 
er. you have reached more settled conclusion* 
about this abstruse and metaph) steal matter than 
we have. At all events, we have no answers for 
them new, since we have not weighed the partic- 
ular incidents sufficiently well to base an induct- 
ive or any other kind of a conclusion thereon. 

But— 

The train had just entered a sharp curve sev- 
eral hundred yards from the water-tank, and was 
spinning along at a rapid rate — making good 
time. There was nothing ahead on the track in 
the way of Engineer Phil Balsley, and as he was 
nearly five mioutes behind time then, be pulled 
open the throttle wide and “turned tfie wheels'' 
as fast as they would turn. The short, barkiog 
puffs of the engine soonded to the listener far 
away like the ceaseless, hacking cough of a con- 
sumptive in the next room, and the roaring of the 
many rolling wheels boomed out upon the air, 
the forest and the broad fields like a mighty rush- 
ing storm. There was an awfulness about the 
rumbling, clashing, thundering noise that can be 
better imagined than revealed by words. To 
him who should hear that mighty shock of sound 
for the first time, we make no manner of doubt 
but he would feel that 

"The war of elements, 

The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds" 
had come, and himself was standing in the midst 
of it. 

But did Engineer Balsley or Fireman Jones 
hear all that tremendous, astonishing, terrifying 
noise? No, they it heard not; they were used to it 
Men in time become so accustomed to sound and 
confusion in which it is their life to move contin- 
ually that in holding sweet intercourse with their 
own thoughts there is no sound to them. Were 
the noise and roar to cease very suddenly, it need 
scarcely be said they would hear that with sur- 
prising distinctness. It may seem unmetapbysi- 
cal to say one can hear the absence of sound— 
that is, can hear silence — but it is unequivocally 
true, nevertheless. The noise is natural to him, 
speaking in a certain restricted sense, but the 
sudden silence is arousing and demands attention 
Let the machinery stop all at once and a man ii 
as sure as be lives to ask what is the matter. 

With a grim, earnest, wide-awake look on h» 
tense face, Engineer Balsley sat in bis seat on 
the right side of the cab. gazing out in front 
ever mindful of danger, ever watchful of ihr 
lives entrusted to his care, ever on the lookout is 
* : ^onerous, responsible duty. His left hand 


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was oa Ibe throttle-lever, where it always rested, 
readyfor iastant use, while his right hand was on 
the reverse lever and his feet set out in a bracing 
manner in front* of him. His skull cap was 
pulled down close upon his head and rested low 
on his brow. His check waist and blue overalls, 
almost the universal garb of engineers these lat- 
ter days, and worn for the purpose of protecting 
their clothing from the stain of oil and smoke 
and grimy soot, were almost clean, for he was 
wearing them for the first time after their 
thorough washing. 

Such was Engineer Balsley outwardly as he sat 
transfixed in his seat like an inanimate statue, 
persuing the inflexible duty that bound him there 
in fetters of brass; but inwardly he was not 
possessed of that rigid inflexibility that we ob- 
serve on his exterior. Look into his eyes; they 
fairly danced The perspective down the track 
was clearly stamped upon his active, duty-swayed 
intellect, but at the same time, it is necessary to 
say. however singular it may seem to the student 
of mental philosophy, he was pursuing an en- 
tirely different line of thought. This double 
action of the mind has been reasoned out by some 
philosophers, quite to their satisfaction, but we 
confess that their reasoning has not been suffici- 
ently clear and explicit to remove all doubts or 
speculations that might arise in one of thoughtful 
turn about this curious mental phenomenon. 
You that have a fancy for such abstruse topics 
can pursue this matter at your leisure, but as for 
us we must hasten on. 

In the heart of Engineer Balsley there was a 
touching feeling, a half dream, an event in his 
life through which he was living and rejoicing 
again He had for the dozenth time, as he sat 
enthralled in his seat of toil, kissed his dear wife 
good-bye just before taking his trip, Indeed, he 
never made a trip in his life that he did not kiss 
his wife good-bye as if for the last time forever 
on this earth. It was not improbable that he, 
who w tnt forth into dinger to seek daily bread 
for bis wife and little children, might be brought 
home to them a mangled and disfigured corpse. 
Many a man before him, as good as he, bad met 
just such a horrible fate, and the same might 
happen to him at any moment. God spare him 
for his wife and two little children's sake ! 

And then, after kissing his wife an affectionate 
farewell, little Phil and sweet Mary must climb 
uppn his knees, throw their warm, enthusiastic 
arms around his neck and in unison 
kiss his cheeks, his forehead, and again 
his cheeks, and then hug him until they 
actually grunted. How sweet, how fond, 


the joy and beauty and glory of a kind and affec- 
tionate home! The hardness of everlasting duty 
for .an instant died out of Balsley's eyes and a 
tear-drop of sweet emotion and depth-moving 
gladness swelled into the corners. These memo- 
ries were among the pleasantest things of 1 his life. 
And for one thing, standing out clear and promi- 
nent above all other things, they made him feel 
that his life was not a charmed life but a deadly 
mortal one, and that all things perish from the 
face of the earth. Thus it is, inexplicable as it 
may be, that all our joys are at the same time 
mingled with some sorrow, all our bright colors 
have a somber background, all our soft, gentle, 
sweet memories have a shadow over them, even 
life itself has the smell of fire upon it. Even so! 

And fireman, Mort Jones, all the while, was 
busy with his shovel feeding coal into the 
fire box and ever and anon casting his eyes up at 
the steam gauge. It was hard work, always 
stooping to throw the coal into the low door and 
scatter it in the grate as much as possible so that 
it might ignite at once, burst into a steam heating 
blaze, and convert the water into propelling 
steam. It was his endeavor to keep the index on 
the face of the gauge as near a certain figure as 
he could. And he was almost continually grasp- 
ing the iron chain upon the latch of the door 
either to open it so that he might throw in more 
coal or to close it so as to permit the coal to burn. 
The coal had to be broken into a certain decree 
of fineness so it would speedily burn. And it had 
to be shoveled across the platform joining the 
tender and the engine. Indeed, the work was 
heavy. 

Mort Jones was dressed very similar to the en- 
gineer. He was a young man of fine appearance 
and noble physical proportions. But his outer 
clothes were almost as black and smutty as the^ 
coal which he handled. His work was such that 
there was no escape from it. There was no wife 
for him to dream about as he pursued his toil- 
some labor, but he rejoiced in the fact that a 
pretty little sweetheart thought of him. and that 
some day mot far off. they would marry. The 
love of a good, pretty girl is so sweet, and so in- 
spiring, and so restraining from evil temptations 
that surround young men to lead them astray into 
by and forbidden paths. The love of a woman is 
the salvation of many men; the want of it too 
often their curse. In ihe midst of his wearisome 
task, as he saw « hovelful after shovelful of black 
diamonds scatter in the fire grate, he thought of 
the last evening he had spent with Dollie, his 
Dollie, soon to be. They were happy together. 
As he thought now of all that was said and done 


how touching, how heart-swelling. 


Oh. then he wis more and more conj/inced that this 

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sweet little girl was planning for a happy future 
and a perfect home. They were so fond of each 
other, why should not their home be perfect? 
Many homes were perfect in all that went to 
make the occupants entirely happy, and as far as 
he could see there was no reason why their home, 
when they had once entered it and sacredly dedi- 
cated it to themselves alone, should not be a per- 
fect one, too. If attention to dear Dollie, and 
deferring to all her little, kind wishes, could make 
his home what he ideally conceived it to be, then 
these little yieldings to her and little sacrifices 
for her pleasure would be no sacrifices at all, but 
on the contrary, would be the very delights he 
would seek for himself. To make her happy 
would make him happy. He had even thought 
it possible to live so that each day might be an 
improvement on the preceding one and lead them 
gradually, step by step, iqto a higher and purer 
atmosphere of sweet affection and absorbed love. 
Why should there not be progression in human 
love, as life advances, as well as progression in 
knowledge or any other mental or spiritual qual- 
ity? As for himself he believed it entirely reas- 
onable and quite practicable, and he was resolved 
with all the force of his nature to live just that 
kind of a life with Dollie. She was eminently 
reasonable and therefore the scheme of progress- 
ive love was perfectly feasible and right. It was 
but the higher and more perfect development of 
the human being, something that tended to lift 
him out of the coarser trammels of the flesh and 
place him on a surer foundation, and he could 
not think it was an idle or visionary theory. Of 
one thing he was quite sure — all young men in 
love are just as certain, when they pause a moment 
to challenge themselves and reflect on their pro- 
found and all absorbing love — that his love was 
not a vagary nor a foolish thing. It was genuine 
and abiding; therefore the sweeter the better. 

Wiping the perspiration from his open fore- 
head with a large handkerchief that he had tied 
loosely around his neck and that always remained 
there when at work, he glanced over at Phil 
Balsley as if he felt guilty of an error in having 
such ethereal and spiritual thoughts in this work- 
a-day world and had been detected therein by 
bis co-laborer. He could not be quite sure, 
amid the din and rocking of the monster-moving 
engine, but some way he got the impression as he 
glanced into the side face of his friend Phil that 
there was a tear in bis eye. Strange! All 
strange! The trend and tenor of his own 
thoughts were peculiar and fascinatingly impres- 
sive, and then at that very same time be thought 
he detected a tear in Phil’s eye! But as to the 
tear he might be mistaken, f<?r oq a second 


stealthy look he observed him dutifully and 
faithfully looking ahead along the track. Ah, 
well, at all events, he thought, bow closely tears 
and joy lie together in this life.^lo what we may. 

Now he resumed his hard labor of feeding the 
coal into the grate beneath the pipes. 

But where are the robbers? 

As already said, the train had just entered a 
sharp curve, not very far away from the water 
tank, when these two quiet workmen in the cab 
were confronted with a tragic situation. They 
understood the full force of it, down there in the 
Lone Star State, where desperate villains some- 
times vegetate and flourish. 

These three cowboy desperadoes stealthily, as 
you already know, boarded the baggage car be- 
hind the tender. They were just where they 
had planned to be. You will understand their 
fiendish schemes as we recount the thrilling inci- 
dents that transpired upon that roaring, flying 
train . 

These moral monstrosities, only a little re- 
moved from the denizens of the nether regions, 
viewed in any light you may throw upon them, 
held a few hurried words with each other there 
on the platform of the car, and in sheer madness 
at once proceeded with their infamous work. 
One, the burliest and biggest and meanest- looking 
of the trio, though for that matter all were vile 
and hateful -looking enough, God knows, stood 
upon the guard of the platform, reached to the 
top of the tender, and furtively and quietly 
climbed upon it. The other two villains steadied 
him as he climbed up. Crouching down a little, 
while preparing to make the descent into the cab, 
in order to screen himself as much as possible, be 
looked like a mean, ferocious animal in a couch- 
ant attitude ready to spring upon its unsuspecting 
prey. Taking two large Derringers from bis 
pocket, and being ambidextrous in the use of the 
weapons, be held one in each hand, and with a 
look we imagine similar to that upon the black- 
ened visages of some of the occupants of Dante's 
Inferno, he sprang down upon the coal and 
thence upon the platform into the very faces of 
the startled workmen. They were amazed- 
worse than that, terrified. It was so sudden and 
unexpected. A murderous villain upon them 
and thrusting two terrible looking weapons in 
their faces the very first thing. Thrust into snch 
an unwelcome, distressing situation before they 
had time to think. The worst was on them io an 
instant No time to plan what to do. Instant 
death, or prompt surrender, one or the other was- 
the alternative. Wbat could two unarmed men 
do in the face of two horrid revolvers? They 
were the more completely disarmed because of 


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tbe peaceful, happy thoughts that bad just pos- 
sessed them and from which they had been so 
ruthlessly and rudely aroused — awakened into 
so desperate a situation — a murderous hand upon 
their throats. It is no wonder their eyes grew 
large, their cheeks blanched and their bodies 
trembled They had no time to exchange glances. 
The skillful ‘’shootis!" knew just how to glance 
along the barrels of two revolvers pointed in dif- 
ferent directions with a sort of unerring instinct, 
and his eyes never winked or quavered a second 
in their hideous and wicked design. There was 
an accursed, infernal, odious look upon the de- 
mon's face, and a restless, satanic, murderous 
glance in his glaring, bloodshot, piercing eyes. 

Engineer Phil Balsley stared sharply, while his 
hand clasped the throttle-lever with painful grip. 
There was no escape, no backing out, no means 
of defense. A movement that the devil might 
misinterpret meant death, swift and horrible. 
Riveted upon his seat be saw no way but promptly 
to obey the desperate dog. 

One glance at the demon revealed all to Mort 
Jones. Stunned for an instant, undecided how 
to proceed, he raised up and stood the physical 
peer of the villain. A wave of startled emotion 
swept over him, and he felt that it might be fear 
or it night be surprise As he ben! his eyes at 
tbe gleaming, black-mouthed pistol, he quailed a 
little, and he wished it were looking in some other 
direction. When he stood erect and saw his 
physical equality he took courage. It came back 
to him like a flash. This sudden recovery of a 
suddenly lost quality may seem singular to you, 
but we beg upon such authority as we may pos- 
sess to assure you that it is literally true. As a 


further demonstration of the truth of the recovery 
of his startled, if not flinching, courage, it may be 
noted that he glanced at the fellow's coarse, ill- 
fitting clothes, and set him down as a low, 
despicable, unhung scoundrel, too mean to earn 
an honest living, and not above tbe crime of rob- 
bery and even murder. The whole thing flashed 
upon his mind like a snap-shot, and he knew that 
robbery was in the wind, and this fellow was 
there to take care of them while the others did 
the work of going through the express safes and 
perhaps the passengers. In fact it required no 
prophet to see all that. From the claw in his 
presence he could build up the animal, as Cuvier 
did, and construct the whole plot of the gang. 
Then he glowed at tbe villainous hound. 

"Throw up your hands," ordered the fellow, 
as he sprang down from the coal in the tender 
and leveled his stern looking guos at them. It 
was a cruel, hard, stern, heavy voice that, above 
tbe din of the on-sweeping train, fell upon their 
ears. It is perhaps well to explain here that the 
engine, being in front and ever rushing on and 
away from tbe roar and rumble dragging ever 
along after, and sweeping forward through the 
air with marvelous rapidity, is not as noisy a 
place in which to ride as even a closed coach be- 
hind it. So tbe clicking noises of the powerful 
monster were borne back — or rather the toilers in 
the engine had fled out of them — almost before 
they could arise to the ear, and hence it was not 
a difficult matter to hear quite distinctly a power- 
ful, vicious voice, from which all fellowship had 
fled — from which all goodness had long been dead 
— from which all honesty had skulked in very 
shame and disgrace. 


TO BB CONTINUED. 


“ DOWN’ BRAKES!” 

Written for The Railway Conductor. 


It had been such a vivid dream. 

Tbe young wife still trembled with the horror 
of it. She could scarcely be sure that it was a 
dream at all It was rather as though her soul 
had been absent from the body, and had gone 
through the terrible ordeal in very truth, and not 
merely in the fantasy of a dream. 

She had been sitting before the fire, waiting for 
Phil to come in. She knew his train was late, as 
it often was in the busy season, and she felt no 
particular anxiety on that account. The delay 
was such a common thing, and she knew that if 
there were any ill news she would hear it soon 
enough. 


She had everything in readiness for bis supper, 
and had settled down to patient waiting until he 
should come. Tired at last with tbe dainty stitch- 
ery that occupied her busy fingers, she let her 
work fall into her lap, and leaning her head 
against the chair, closed her eyes, listening drows- 
ily for the click of the gate latch, and the wel- 
come step upon the path. 

As her slumber deepened, the dream — if dream 
it was — came to her. 

She was alone, hurrying along a railroad track. 
The moonlight revealed the scene clearly, show- 
ing where the track wound in a double curve be- 
tween two lakes. On the left there was a tangled 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


growth of water oaks and tropical vines; on the 
right, the embankment fell away sharply to the 
water, fifteen or twenty feet below. Just at the 
sharpest bend of the reverse curve, she saw a man 
kneeling beside the track. His cap was pushed 
back on bis head, and the metal badge above the 
visor glittered in the moonlight. Her first feel* 
ing of relief that he was a railroad man 
and not a tramp, was followed instantly 
by one of terror so intense that even in 
her dream she wondered vaguely why she 
was so frightened at seeing a man at work on the 
track, for she saw the tools in his hand. But the 
strange, intuitive consciousness of danger grew 
more definite as she drew nearer the spot, and saw 
the man cross the track and disappear amid the 
shrubbery on the inner side of the curve. When 
she reached the place, she stooped, and scanned 
the work be had done. He had loosened one end 
of a rail, just enough to let the steel project out- 
side of the next rail, like the tangent of an arc. 
In effect it was an open switch , and as she real- 
ized this, she seemed to know as by a lightning 
flash that Phil’s train was coming, and reaching 
this loosened rail, would be hurled to ruin down 
the embankment. She must warn him! She 
must run beyond the curve and signal to him! 
Oh, heaven! How leadeu -footed she was! How 
slowly, slowly she ran! And now, horror upon 
horror! The miscreant who had planned the 
awful wreck, was following her, to prevent her 
giving any warning of the danger! She heard his 
footsteps behind her, unsteady and heavy; and 
knew that he was intoxicated. Perhaps he would 
stumble and fall, and so let her gain time. Heaven 
grant it! It is darker now; a thick cloud has ob- 
scured the moon, and a fresh, moist wind is 
blowing. There is a distant rumble; is it thunder, 
or the sound of the coming train? 

There is a wild prayer in her heart, though she 
has no breath to frame it on her lips, and with an 
agony of effort she runs on, but oh, so slowly, so 
heavily, with such a throbbing heart and gasping 
breath. Louder grows the roaring in her ears, 
and nearer comes the beat of the footsteps behind 
her. Still she struggles onward, with the strength 
of her love nerving her weary limbs. Now she 
cannot hear the pursuer’s steps, but yonder in 
front of her she sees the long beam from the head- 
light sweeping around a distant curve. Courage 
now, Phil’s life is in her feeble hands! Oh, for a 
burst of moonlight from behind that lowering 
cloud, or a lightning flash, *o show the engineer 
that white-robed figure on the track! 

When the light from the headlight shall reach 
her, she tells herself, then she must wave her sig- 
nal, and she snatches off her broad white hat. 


She is standing still now. she has no strength to 
run another step. All her soul is concentrated io 
the effort > to stand her ground until she can h* 
seen by the engineer. Phil would see her, she 
knows, if he were on the engine; oh, if he could 
know, back at his own post of duty, that she wa<t 
trying so bard to save him! Nearer now, nearer 
rushes the flaming monster; the roar of its com- 
ing deafens her, its fiery breath seems to scorch 
her very soul, as she stands there with waving 
arms, until ever the strength of woman’s lovecao 
endure no more, and she springs aside jnst in 
time to escape death beneath the rushing wheels 
The lights from the windows flame past like rib 
bons of fire, and then, in the last coach, she sees 
Phil, standing in the aisle, with his lantern oo 
his arm, and his cap pulled low over his eyes, 
Phil, unconscious of danger, going to his death 
and she. his wife, knows it and cannot save him 1 j 
'Phil! Slop the train!" Her whole soul goes j 
out in that wild cry, and then — the horror of i 
great darkness, and — oblivion ! * « * « 

She was still unnerved by the vivid horror of 
that awful dream when Phil came in. an boar 
later; but by a strong effort she controlled her 
self, and began to arrange his supper. 

"Just give me some coffee. Bess. I don't care 
for anything to eat.” 

"Are you sick?" she asked, anxiously, as she 
laid her hand on his forehead, and felt the beat 
and quick throbbing of the temples. 

"Oh, no. Dead tired, that’s all." j 

She did not tell him of the dream until the next 
morning. His face was a study as he listened 
but all he said was; 

"Curious things, dreams are; aren't the v , 
Bess ? " 

There were two special reports turned in by 
him that day. One related to a delay caused by 
the necessity of replacing a loosened rail, "on re- 
verse curve between mileposts numbers 17 and 
18." 

The other reported the discovery, near tbe same 
point, of "the body of George Brown, formerly 
brakeman on the X. Y & Z. railroad. Death 
was apparently caused by a fall, the scull being 
fractured by striking the rail. The body was 
brought to Q , and delivered to friends of de- 

ceased." 

The superintendent of the X. Y. Z. was alone 
in his office when Phil carried in his report* He 
had been on board the train the night before, and 
he had a question to ask Phil; a question that 
was on his lips when the discovery of the dead 
man had made him forget to ask it. HearVedit 
now . 


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"What reason had you for pulling the bell cord, 
just when you did, last night?" 

Phil hesitated a moment. 

"You couldn't have knoytm there was any need 
for stopping just then. And you had orders to 
make up some time, too." 

Phil was getting red; and the superintendent 
looked up at him. They were old friends, as well 
as chief and subordinate. 

"Out with it, Phil," said the superintendent, 
pushing a chair forward. "There's something on 
your mind, I see." 

"My wife had a curious dream last night," 
began Phil, as he sai down and lighted the cigar 
his chief proffered him. 

Then he repeated the dream. 

"Yes; that was certainly strange," coAmented 


283 

the superintendent. "But you haven’t answered 
my question. Why did you pull the bell cord?" 

"Well, I’ll tell you," answered Phil; "but 
mind, this is not an official report. I’m telling 
this to my friend , and if the superintendent of 
the X. Y. Z. calls for an explanation duly written 
out on ‘Form 963,' I am afraid I can't give any 
that will be satisfactory. The truth is simply 
this: I heard my wife's voice call, 'Phil, stop 
the train ! ' and the words were so distinct, and 
the tone was one of such agonized intensity, that 
involuntarily I obeyed- the warning. That is all 
there is to tell. I can’t explain it. Can you?" 

The superintendent shook his head. 

"You needn’t use 'Form 963’ this time," he 
said, as he lighted a fresh cigar. 

H. N. Adair. 


THE RIGHT OF PROPERTY IN LAND. 


BY W. P. BORLAND. 


When socialists denounce the single tax as a 
scheme of "confiscation and robbery," while, at 
the same time, they deny the right of private 
property in land, they expose the weakness of 
their own position and exhibit a strange sort of 
logic by making use of arguments drawn from 
the capitalistic property regime, which they so 
roundly condemn. To an impartial observer it 
would appear that, in making use of such an 
argument, the socialists were attempting to prove 
altogether too much, and, further, that they were 
much more concerned for the exploitation of a 
particular theory than for the establishment of a 
general principle. The argument of confiscation 
is really the weakest point that could be urged, 
for the reason that, first: the main question has 
to do with something quite different, a matter 
that is far above and away from any considera- 
tions of confiscation; and, second: under any 
proper understanding of the question there 
would be no such thing as confiscation at all. 
Confiscation cannot take place contemporaneously 
with complete change in the established property 
relation. 

1. The main question is not one of property 
rights, but of social good. Is the present prop- 
erty regime consistent with the natural £ghts of 
man. the highest form of civilization, and the 
most enduring progress of the race? Unless this 
question can be answered in the affirmative the 
present property system stands condemned, and 
do considerations of confiscation can for a single 
moment be permitted to stand in the way of any 
measure that promises to institute a change in 


that system; the only consideration being that 
the proposed change shall prove itself something 
better than what we have now. But socialists 
and single taxers deny that the present property 
system is consistent with a correct civilization; 
but, while single taxers claim that the substitution 
of common for private property in land is suffi- 
cient to bring about such consistency, socialists 
go farther and claim that both land and capital 
must be made common property in order to attain 
the desired result. From a capitalistic stand- 
point. both of these schemes are open to the ar- 
gument of confiscation, but against neither of 
them has the argument the slightest validity. 
Our property system is a social, not a natural 
fact. Society has created it and society has the 
undoubted right to destroy it. This right is ab- 
solute; there can be no question raised to the 
right of society to transform its property sys- 
tem in any way it sees fit. Whether this trans- 
formation shall take place on a single tax or a so- 
cialistic basis is a question for society itself to de- 
cide, and no argument of confiscation can be per- 
mitted to have the slightest weight in influencing 
its action when once the decision is made. There 
is only one reservation that individuals have a 
right to insist upon; the new property system 
must be better than the old. The social problem 
can only be properly settled on the basis of the 
rights of man: the rights of property must be- 
come an entirely subordinate consideration from 
the point of view of "the greatest good to the 
greatest number," at which a nation of free men 
are supposed to contemplate social arrangements. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


284 

When a nation of free men have become con- 
vinced that their established right of property is 
inconsistent with the rights of man, the only 
question for them to decide is, what shall we put 
in its place. 

2. Confiscation implies an invasion, not a 
denial of an established property right. It means 
a condemnation of specific property rights in par- 
ticular instances, but not in general. That is to 
say, it implies discrimination, the denial of cer- 
tain property rights with respect to certain mem- 
bers of society, but not with respect to society as 
a whole. It does not mean change in the estab- 
lished property relation; it merely means a re- 
arrangement of the relation as it exists. Thus, 
the slave owner who was deprived of his slaves 
while the right of property in slaves was recog- 
nized by law, was robbed; he was the victim of 
confiscation, robbery, and he had an undoubted 
right to resist a manifest invasion of his property 
rights. But when the institution of slavery was 
abolished, when society once denied the right of 
property in slaves, it was no robbery to deprive an 
individual of bis property in slaves; the argu- 
ment of confiscation had no standing whatever. 
The onejcase represents an invasion of the right, 
the other, an absolute denial of such right. 
They are not parallel cases. The royalists, who, 
at the time of the English revolution, were de- 
prived of their estates that they might be be- 
stowed on the soldiers and favorites of Cromwell, 
were the victims of confiscation, they were rob- 
bed. But if, at that time, the right of private 
property in land had been absolutely denied, if so- 
ciety had decreed a total change in the existing re- 
gime of landed property, the royalists would have 
had no cause for complaint, no argument of confis- 
cation would have had the slightest validity in the 
presence of the fact. When we abolished the 
right of property in slaves the slave owners were 
subjected to no scheme of confiscation, there was 
not the slightest invasion of their property rights, 
because the specific right of property in slaves 
was forever abolished, it no longer had the slight- 
est legal or social standing. No plea of confisca- 
tion was entertained, or even thought of, when 
abolition occurred, although the confiscation 
argument was a stock one during the period of 
agitation preceding abolition. When society 
shall decide to abolish the right of property in 
land there will be no confiscation, no landowner 
will be robbed; but the landowner who is in any 
way deprived of his land before such abolition 
takes place is the victim of confiscation, he is 
robbed. 

But, it is said, it is unjust to deprive the small 
landowner, the farmer or mechanic, who has ap- 


plied honestly earned wealth to the purchase of 
land, of the legitimate wealth he has so invested 
by destroying the selling price of bis land. The 
zeal, the apparently unselfish devotion, which 
certain members of society display for the pro- 
tection of the rights of the poor and honest 
workingman, of the widows and orphans, the 
pathos and indignation which they display in 
pleading for the protection of such persons when- 
ever it is proposed to abolish any iniquitous social 
arrangement, would be calculated to improve one's 
faith in human nature if it were not so thor- 
oughly suspicious; and it is not at all creditable to 
socialists that they are compelled to make nse of 
such arguments. This was one of the favorite 
arguments by which pro-slavery advocates sought 
to justify the continuance of slavery. It was 
pointed out that many poor people, many widows 
and orphans, had all their little wealth, the prod- 
uct of years of honest toil, invested in a few 
slaves and were entirely dependent on such in- 
vestments for their livelihood. To deprive such 
persons of the benefits naturally accruing from 
such investments would be to bring ruin and dis- 
tress upon vast numbers of honest, hard work- 
ing, and law abiding citizens. It might be ad- 
mitted that, in the abstract, slavery was wrong; 
but these people had invested their little wealth 
in slaves in entire good faith, believing it to be 
right, with the sanction and protection of society, 
and in the confident belief that they would be 
protected in their property rights and be permit- 
ted to reap where they had sown without molesta- 
tion. For society now to reverse its sanction, for 
it now to deprive these poor and comparatively 
helpless people of their little property in slaves, 
for it to thus bring large numbers of worthy citi- 
zens face to face with absolute ruin!— what mon- 
strous injustice!! what positive iniquity!!! But 
the iniquity was committed all the same, and the 
widows and orphans, the deserving poor, who 
had all their little wealth invested in slaves had 
to take their chances along with the rest; and the 
ruin and distress failed to materialize to an ex- 
tent sufficient to justify the predictions of those 
who had been so active in defending these poor 
people from contemplated spoliation. Single 
taxers place property in land in precisely the 
same category with property in slaves They 
consider these two classes of property, in what 
may be dolled their teleologic aspects, as essentially 
alike. In the words of Henry George, “Property 
in land is as indefensible as property in man. B 
is so absurdly impolitic, so outrageously unjust, 
so flagrantly subversive of the true right of prop- 
erty, that it can only be instituted by force and 
maintained by confounding in the popular nH°d 


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tbe distinction between property in land and 
property in things that are the result of labor. 
Onoe that distinction is made clear and private 
property in land is doomed. " Socialists recog- 
nize tbe iniquity of private property in land from 
practically the same point of view, and, in the 
light of the foregoing considerations, when a so- 
cialist, as does Mr. W. H. Stuart, denies the 
right of society to single out the landowners ex- 
clusively as "proper subjects of expropriation," 
be is committing himself to a puerility. He 
might as well deny that society had the right to 
single out tbe slave owners as ' ‘proper subjects 
of expropriation." There is considerable differ- 
ence of opinion about 411 capital representing 
nothing more than "robbery of labor;" whatever 
plausibility attaches to that claim might very 
easily be shown to have its origin in failure to 
recognize the distinction referred to above, tbe 
distinction between property in land and property 
in things that are the product of labor. But it 
does not fall within the scope of this article to 
argue that question; sufficient if I point out here 
tbe manner in wh ich some socialists, while ac- 
knowledging iniquity, propose to temporize with 
it for the purpose of sugar-coating a pill which 
might nauseate desirable converts if asked to 
swallow the pill without the coating. Some social- 
ists, and Mr. Stuart is one of them, say “we do 
not propose to subject existing property owners 
to any scheme of confiscation, we propose to 
compensate existing owners for such part of their 
property as it will be necessary to appropriate for 
the purpose of social production." To the first 
part of this proposition we may give a willing 
assent. Socialists do not propose any sort of a 
confiscation scheme. Socialism would be a total 
change in what exists, not merely confiscation or 
a simple invasion of what exists. Therefore, the 
implication of confiscation which is carried along 
with the compensation proposal in the latter part 
of the proposition is entirely misplaced, and it is 
proper to expose some of the absurdities of the 
compensation idea. In the first place, seeing 
that socialists condemn property in land and capi- 
tal as a robbery of labor, it might very pertinent- 
ly be asked, why should labor be expected to 
compensate its robbers when it once resumes 
possession of property of which it has been de- 
spoiled? Equity does not countenance such a 
proceeding, the equity is all on the side of labor, 
and if we confine ourselves to the principles of 
tbe common law the proposition is distinctly 
negatived. It is one of the best recognized prin- 
siples of the law of property that an innocent 
Purchaser of stolen property has no remedy as 
^inst tbe rightful owner of such property; 


when tbe owner has once proved his right the law 
takes no account whatever of innocent pur- 
chasers, it merely says to the sheriff, Habere 
facias possessionem — "You shall cause to take 
possession." Dormitur aliquando jus, moritur 
nunquam, — "A right sometimes sleeps, but- 
never dies," — says the law, and it plainly sounds 
the warning, Caveat emptor — "Let the buyer be- 
ware." It is also a well known principle of law 
that a claim or title, originally defective, cannot: 
derive any additional weight from prescription. 
Thus, both law and equity are against the com- 
pensation proposition, when once the main propo- 
sition is accepted as true. But the greatest ab- 
surdity of the compensation idea appears in the 
mere assumption of its possibility. Compensa- 
tion implies the giving of an equivalent. To* 
compensate is "to give equal value; to recom- 
pense; to give an equivalent for service, or am 
amount lost or bestowed; to return or bestow that 
which makes good a loss, or is estimated a suffi- 
cient remuneration." To compensate, then, is to 
leave things, in all essential particulars, in pre- 
cisely the condition they were in before the- 
necessity for compensation arose, to place la- 
borers in a position to derive no benefit from the 
destruction of a property regime which is con- 
ditioned upon a robbery of their rights. Jt is to 
permit an effect to continue after the removal of 
its cause, and, singularly enough, this also is* 
negatived by one of our familiar common law 
maxims. Cessante causa, cessat et effect us , — 
"When the cause is removed, the effect must 
cease also." Thus, in law, the release of a debt 
is a discharge also of the execution. The intro- 
duction of socialism would release labor from* 
the debt which it now owes to the owners of prop- 
erty, and such release would be a discharge also* 
of the execution We may be permitted to try- 
such questions as this by the maxims of law wbichi 
the worshipers of property have themselves es*- 
tablished for their own benefit. Compensation,, 
following the introduction of a new order, is an 
utter impossibility, and any suggestions to that 
end are utterly worthless, mere temporizing with 
conditions. If I am deprived of my cow, and 
forbidden to longer own a cow, it will be no com- 
pensation to present me with a horse, although it 
may be that the majority of my neighbors con- 
sider the possession of the horse the greater bene- 
fit. I possess the cow for a specific purpose, for 
the use of the pure milk she gives me. The 
horse is not competent to fulfill that purpose, I 
cannot milk the horse. Therefore, to present me 
with a horse would not compensate me for the 
loss of my cow and the denial of my right to 
own a cow. I could not realize equivalent bene- 


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fits. It would be of no advantage to point out to 
me the manifold comforts and conveniences which 
I might derive from the use of the horse; the one 
specific advantage which I derived from the use of 
my cow, the advantage of possession of the pure 
milk she gave me, I would still be deprived of: 
and the possession of the horse would not com- 
pensate me for my loss. The uses of the article 
I have been compelled to accept are essentially 
different from the uses of the article of which I 
have been deprived, and, as the benefits of the 
possession of wealth lie wholly in its uses, com- 
pensation can only take place when such uses are 
maintained. The property owner who is now 
deriving a luxurious living without labor, from 
the increment of value flowing from the specific 
uses of his lands and chattels, would not be com- 
pensated for the denial of his right of such 
specific uses by merely giving him a lien on the 
general wealth of the country equal to the ap- 
praised value of the lands and chattels of which 
he had been deprived. The uses of the wealth 
which he received would be entirely different 
from the uses of that of which he had been de- 
prived. It would be like presenting him with a 
horse to compensate him for the loss of a cow; 
he could not realize equivalent benefits. This is 
ooi to in any way defend the present uses of 
wealth, it is merely to point out the absurdity of 
the idea of compensation upon the establishment 
of a new order. Compensation is neither pos- 
sible nor desirable. If the compensation is real 
the proletariat can gain nothing by the establish- 
ment of the new conditions. If it is not real, 
what is the use of talking about compensation at 
all? The effects of the present property regime 
must not be allowed to continue after the removal 
of their causes, and unless they are allowed to 
continue there can be no compensation. 

The argument that the application of the single 
tax would tend to destroy security of tenure is of 
a different nature; it is worth considering; and if 
admitted as sound it forms a serious objection to 
the single tax Mr Thomas G. Shearman has 
-said something on this phase of the question, and, 
as he is recognized as good authority, I quote his 
■words as supplementary to my own opinion, 
which might be considered as not proceeding 
from an authoritative source. 

"Objection 5. — Is it not unjust to a poor man. 
who has built a little home upon a piece of 
ground, with no speculative intentions, to raise 
the taxes upon it to such a rate as will compel 
him to sell out and remove, merely because land 
has risen in value around him? 

"Answer. — It can scarcely ever happen that 
such a man will not be able to sell his house and 


improvements for as much as would enable him 
to build again in another place. In the vast ma- 
jority of cases, therefor?, the only hardship which 
such persons would suffer would be that of re- 
moval to less valuable ground. That hardship 
more than nine-tenths of the American people re- 
siding in cities undergoat least once in five years. 
In a few cases such land owners might not be able 
to sell their improvements for their full value, 
and their property might thus be taxed out of ex- 
istence. But that occasional injustice happens 
under any system. It happens at least twice as 
often under the methods of taxation now in use 
as it possibly could under a tax on land values 
alone. It often happens that some one has built 
a little cottage or has improved a farm on land 
under which is an oil well sufficient to supply a 
thousand families with light and heat, or a gas 
well sufficient to run a factory giving employment 
to a thousand men, or a coal or iron mine. Does 
justice require that he should be allowed to keep 
his cottage in that precise place forever, neither 
using these great natural advantages himself nor 
permitting anyone else to do so? No one pretends 
that it does. All agree that the state may and 
should compel him to remove to some other 
place, where his cottage will not hinder the world 
from having the benefit of these grand advantages 
The only question is how much should he be paid 
for this removal? We say. enough to enable him 
to build just as good a cottage upon land just as 
good for his purpose as that which he had before. 
Our opponents say, enough to enable him to 
make a fortune and live in idleness forever. 
Whatever is paid must be paid almost entirely 
by men just as poor as he is. Which plan bears 
most hardly upon the poor man? A poor man 
who has built upon land which finally becomes a 
city lot, worth city prices, stands in the same 
shoes with the roan who has built over a gold 
mine or an oil well. He monopolizes natural ad- 
vantages in either case. If he is too poor to use 
them for the general good of the community, he 
ought to give place to others who can do so. 
They will pay him the value of his improvements 
for the sake of getting early possession of the 
land, so that he will lose nothing. They will pay 
to the community at large the value of the natural 
advantages to which his cottage was an obstruc- 
tion; and so the community will be benefited, 
and the poor cottage owner will get his fair share 
of the benefit. He ought not to get anything 
more. 

"Objection 6.— But in such a case, will not the 
very fact that the tax has been raised to such a 
point that the poor man is forced to sell, enable 
men who are rich enough to build upon or Other- 


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wise improve the land to combine against him, 
and thus compel bim to accept much less than 
the real value of his little improvements, since no 
one would bid for them who could not afford to 
take the land also? 

“Answer. — If. otv full consideration, it seems 
probable that injustice might be done in such 
cases it can be entirely avoided by inserting in 
the law regulating tax sales a provision that the 
purchaser shall be required to pay to the occu- 
pant of land sold for taxes the appraised valuation 
of the improvements, less the taxes overdue, and 
allowing such purchaser to deduct the amount 
thus paid from his bid and from bis future tax 
bills. This is the course always pursued when 
ferry privileges, etc., are sold by the state or city; 
it is practically the method now in use where land 
is let on long terms for building purposes, and it 
may very well be adopted into the new tax sys- 
tem If adopted it would make the new system 
the only one in the world which would be abso- 
lutely no injustice to any tax payer. The knowl- 
edge that such a provision existed in the law 
would prevent any combination such as is sup- 
posed, and would make those who desired to use 
the land for building purposes and who were will- 
ing to pay the higher taxes which they foresaw 
were coming, ready to pay to the occupant a lit- 
tle more than the fair value of his improvements, 
by offering him a premium to remove, they 
mid save the time which would otherwise be 
consumed in the tax sale, at the end of which 
they would be obliged to nay him the full value 
of those improvements. Thus the whole affair 
would be settled quietly, with no expense or 
trouble to the state, in ninety nine cases out of a 
hundred.’* 

In considering this matter, it must be remem- 
bered that the single tax philosophy asserts the 
absolute right of the individual to property in the 
products of his labor, while it denies absolutely 
h» right of property in land. The logic of this 
position would compel society to adopt measures 
for the complete protection of the individual in 
bis right of property to improvements on land, to 
afford him absolute security for the enjoyment of 
the benefits accruing from such improvements, 
and this would entail the necessity for such a 
codification of the tax laws as would positively 
protect the owner of improvements, wherever sit- 
uated, from any spoliation under the operation of 
the law. This is a question the resolution of 
which lies in the codification of the law. It can 
be admitted that the law might be codified so as 
to destroy security of tenure, but this is not to 
admit the impossibility of so codifying the law as 
to absolutely maintain security of tenure; and 


^87 

the latter course is the one that single taxers are 
logically bound to adopt. There is nothing in- 
herent in the single tax principle itself that would 
tend to destroy security of tenure. 

What remains of Mr. Stuart’s article on “sin- 
gle tax vagaries” is splenetic rather than argu^ 
mentative. He displays a great deal of that very 
cheap sort of sarcasm which passes for argument 
with some persons who are inclined to attach 
greater weight to words than to ideas, and he in- 
dulges in misrepresentation that is wholly discred- 
itable to any person who may be presumed to 
have some knowledge of the theory he pretends 
to discuss. It is entirely true that single taxers 
propose to free wealth of all descriptions — and, 
of course, capital — from all manner of taxation; 
on the ground that it is a “good thing” and ought 
not to be taxed, and if Mr. Stuart had confined 
his argument to the statement of fact there would 
have been no cause for complaint. But when he 
goes on and sets up, as a basis of argument, a 
definition of capital which single taxers do not 
accept, and which he must be aware that they do 
not accept, he is exceeding the bounds of legiti- 
mate controversy and subjecting the single tax 
theory to misrepresentation instead of criticism. 
The tactics pursued by Mr. Stuart entail upon* 
me the necessity of defining the single tax posi- 
tion with respect to wealth and capital, and thus 
exposing the utter worthlessness of his pretended 
criticism. 

i. All wealth is the product of labor applied 
to land. “As commonly used the word 'wealth’ 
is applied to anything having an exchange value. 
But when used as a term of political economy it 
must be limited to a much more definite meaning, 
because many things are commonly spoken of as- 
wealth which in taking account of collective or 
general wealth cannot be considered as wealth at 
all. Such things have an exchange value, and 
are commonly spoken of as wealth, inasmuch as 
they represent as between individuals, or between 
sets of individuals, the power of obtaining wealth; 
but they are not truly wealth, insomuch as their 
increase or decrease does not affect the sum of 
wealth. Such are bonds, mortgages, promissory 
notes, bank bills, or other stipulations for the 
transfer of wealth. Such are slaves, whose value 
represents merely the power of one class to ap- 
propriate the earnings of another class. Such 
are lands, or other natural opportunities, the value 
of which is but the result of the acknowledgement 
in favor of certain persons of an exclusive right 
to their use, and which represents merely the 
power thus given to the owners to demand 
a share of the wealth produced by those who 
use them. Increase in the amount of bonds, 


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/mortgages, notes, or bank bills, cannot increase 
the wealth of the community that includes as well 
those who promise to pay as those who are en- 
titled to receive. The enslavement of a part of 
their number could not increase the wealth of a 
•people, for what the enslavers gained the en- 
slaved would lose. Increase in land values does 
■not represent increase in the common wealth, for 
•what land owners gain by higher prices, the ten- 
ants or purchasers who must pay them will lose. 
And all this relative wealth, which, in common 
thought and speech, in legislation and law, is un- 
distinguished from actual wealth, could, without 
the destruction or consumption of anything more 
than a few drops of ink and a piece of paper, be 
•utterly annihilated. By enactment of the sover- 
ereign political power debts might be cancelled, 
slaves emancipated, and land resumed as the com- 
mon property of the whole people, without the 
aggregate wealth being diminished by the value 
•of a pinch of snuff, for what some would lose 
others would gain. * * * * Thus wealth, as 
alone the term can be used in political economy, 
consists of natural products that have been se- 
cured. moved, combined, separated, or in other 
ways modified by human exertion, so as to fit 
them for the gratification of human desires. 
Wealth is not the sole object of labor, for labor is 
also expended in ministering directly to desire; 
but it is the object and result of what we call 
productive labor — that is, labor which gives value 
to material things. Nothing which nature sup- 
plies to man without his labor is wealth, nor yet 
does the expenditure of labor result in wealth un- 
less there is a tangible product which has and re- 
tains the power of ministering to desire." — 
I'rogress and Poverty , Book /, Chap. II. 

2. Capital is wealth used to produce more 
wealth. Thus capital must be wealth, and any- 
thing which does not fall under the definition of 
wealth cannot be capital. But while capital 
must be wealth, all wealth is not capital; it is 
only that portion of wealth which is devoted to 
•the specific purpose, the production of more 
wealth, that is capital. "Nothing can be capital, 
let it always be remembered, that is not wealth — 
that is to say, nothing can be capital that does 
not consist of actual, tangible things, not the 
spontaneous offerings of nature, which have in 
themselves, and not by proxy, the power of di- 
rectly or indirectly ministering to human desire. 
Thus, a government bond is not capital, nor yet 
is it the representative of capital The capital 
that was once received for it by the government 
has been consumed unproductively — blown away 
from the mouths of cannon, used up in war ships, 
expended in keeping men marching and drilling, 


killing and destroying. The bond cannot repre- 
sent capital that has been destroyed. It does not 
represent capital at all. It is simply a solemn 
declaration that the government will, some time 
or other, take by taxation from the then existing 
stock of the people, so much wealth, which it will 
turn over to the holder of the bond; and that, in 
the meanwhile, it will, from time to time. take, in 
the same way, enough to make up to the bolder 
the increase which so much capital as it some day 
promises to give him* would yield him were it 
actually in his possession. The immense sums 
which are thus taken from the produce of every 
modern country to pay interest on public debts 
are not the earnings or increase of capital — are 
not really interest in the strict sense of the term, 
but are taxes levied on the produce of labor and 
capital leaving so much less for wages and so 
much less for real interest .” — Progress and 
Poverty , Book III , Chap. IV. 


With these definitions before him the reader 
may decide for himself as to the credibility of 
Mr. Stuart's assertion that the great mass of 
stocks and bonds mentioned by him would escape 
taxation on the assumption that they were capi- 
tal, and therefore a "good thing." As a matter 
of fact, no man has spoken stronger words tn 
condemnation of public debts than has Henry 
George, and the stock watering operations by 
which railway and other corporations extract 
exorbitant profits from the earnings of labor are 
unqualifiedly condemned by the single tax theory 
itself, as well as having been so condemned in 
numerous public utterances of leaders in the sin- 
gle tax movement. Again, as another matter of 
fact, it is a part of the single tax programme to 
place the railroad, telegraph, telephone, and all 
such businesses as are in their very nature monop- 
olies under public control and management. The 
platform of the single tax party says: 

"In securing to each individual bis equal right 
to the use of the earth, it is also a proper function 
of society to maintain and control all public ways 
for transportation of persons and property, and the 
transmission of intelligence; and also to maintain 
and control all public ways in cities for furnish- 
ing water, gas, and all other things that necessa- 
rily require the use of such common ways ” 

Mr. Stuart cannot fail to know all about such 
facts as these; he should not compel me to occu- 
py space in pointing them out in the course of a 
discussion of this character. It would be utterly 
impossible for any values based on monopoly ot 
privilege to escape paying the full value of such 
monopoly or privilege to the community which 
granted it, under any proper administration of the 
single tax principle. Actual wealth, whether 
used productively, as capital, or unproductively. 


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in ministering directly to desire, would certainly 
escape taxation, and, as far as I can see, it ought 
to escape it. The statement concerning George s 
defense of the gambling operations of "Old 
Hutch," on the Chicago Board of Trade, requires 
proof. The implication that such operations as 
this would receive the sanction and support of 
the single tax principle is not warranted by the 
facts, and it must be proved by something stronger 
than Mr. Stuart's unsupported assertion. As far 
as the personal character of the assertion is con- 
cerned, Mr. George explicitly condemns such 
operations as this in Progress and Poverty — Book 
III, Chap. IV — and those who are familiar with 
the writings of the man will not willingly believe 
that be would defend such a transaction as right. 
In this connection I may be pardoned for quoting 
an item which recently appeared it The Courier, 
a single tax paper published in St. Louis, Mo. : 

"At a public meeting held by single taxers at 
Los Angeles, W. H. Stuart, who writes in the 
••Twentieth Century” and other papers against 
the single tax, said that a few years ago when 
Hutchinson, the great Chicago board of trade 
gambler, made $2,000,000 in a wheat deal, he 
thereby compelled the poor widows and orphans 
of the land to pay an increased price for their 
bread, and that Henry George, in his "Stand- 
ard, ” approved of the transaction, declaring it 
was right. As similar statements are frequently 
made by opponents of the single tax, we give the 
reply which Ralph E. Hoyt made to it, as fol- 
lows: 

If be had simply said that Henry George 
explained that, as he viewed it. the performance 
of Hutchinson was simply a gambling operation 
in futures, which neither increased nor dimin- 
ished the quantity of wheat in the country, and 
neither increased nor lowered the cost of that 
staple to the consumer — if that had been the 
statement made, there would have been no 
ground for dispute. But if, as his language im- 
plied. the speaker intended to convey the idea 
that Henry George ever approved of putting up 
prices of bread through any scheme of legalized 
gambling, I deny the charge and call for the 
proof. Until the gentleman who made the state- 
ment produces positive proof to support it, all 
who are familiar with the noble character and 
philanthropic impulses of Henry George will be- 
lieve that he has been either ignorantly or pur- 
posely misrepresented here in a matter involving 
a vital principle.' ” 

Of course, we have no right to impute to Mr. 
Stuart any other than honorable intentions, and, 
since he has repeated his statement in these col- 
umns, he has no doubt long since furnished Mr. 


289 


Hoyt with the proof demanded, and, therefore, 
he will not hesitate to place such proof before 
the readers of The Conductor. 

It is quite true that single taxers do not, like 
the socialists, enter into an indiscriminate con- 
demnation of the present system of industry, 
because they are rational enough to put much more 
faith in principles than in hard and fast systems; 
and they recognize the fact that there are many 
good points about the present system that there 
would be, not only no advantage, but a positive 
loss to the human race to abolish. Industrial 
systems, like our present wage system, and like 
the feudal system which preceded it, are not built 
in a day. They do not spring forth, like the 
warriors of Cadmus, fully armed for the fray, as 
the result of any one man’s thoughtfulness and 
ingenuity. Industrial systems are the result of 
conditions; they grow to their perfected form 
through being acted upon by many complex 
though inter-depfcndent forces. There are many 
and serious evils in our present system, but that 
is not to say that there is not also much good; 
whatever the evils, they are the result of condi- 
tions, and we who call ourselves "single-taxers” 
believe in establishing correct conditions for 
social growth and letting the systen which may 
arise as the outgrowth of those conditions take 
care of itself. We have no fear that any system 
which may arise as the result of just conditions 
will not prove itself a just one, and we assert as 
a fundamental truth that when all men are 
secured in their right to the use of the earth we 
have just conditions for social growth. 


There is nothing singular in the fact that the 
Homestead laborers "accepted Frick’s terms in 
preference to starving on the margin.” For it 
is quite evident that they would starve on the 
margin under present conditions, and men will 
accept most any terms rather than starve. It can 
hardly have failed to occur to Mr. Stuart that 
the principal indictment against private property 
in land is that it forces the margin down to the 
starvation point, and that one of the objects of 
the single tax is to raise the margin; and that re- 
mark about rent of the abandoned farms being 
"certainly less than a single tax would likely be” 
displays a lamentable lack of economic knowl- 
edge. The farms spoken of are certainly below 
the present margin or they would not’ be aban- 
doned, and as the single tax would raise the mar- 
gin still higher, unless these farms developed 
some special capabilities which they do not show 
now, it would be an utter impossibility for the 
single tax to exceed present rent. But would the 
single tax raise the margin? Just let Mr. Stuart 
alone and he will prove to anybody’s satisfaction 


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290 

that the single tax would raise the margin enor- 
mously, before he gets through with bis cata- 
logue of objections to the single tax. But. such 
instances as this are absolutely worthless as argu- 
ments against the single tax. It is a fact that, 
even if the workers were inclined to take up with 
these abandoned farms as a relief for their con- 
dition, there are not nearly enough opportunities 
of that sort to appreciably relieve the competi- 
tion in the ranks of labor; and it is a further fact 
that, under present conditions, the moment any 
such movement was generally taken up the de- 
mand for these opportunities would increase 
their value to such a figure that those who held 
the titles would profit enormously and labor 
would be defeated in the attempt to secure any 
measure of relief from such a source. It is a 
defect in the present system of allowing private 
parties to hold title to land that the moment de- 
mand arises for particular land, private parties, 
who seek to profit by the rise in value which the 
demand creates, gobble it up and shut out labor 
from any share in the advantages accruing from 
such demand. I remember that, some time ago, 
Mr. Stuart complained bitterly of an opponent 
who drew an argument against socialism from 
improper conditions, and he said: ' When the 
single tax theory was about being tried at Hyatts- 
ville, Md., Mr. George was careful to warn his 
followers that the theory could not be tested 
faiily on so small a scale, and that its failure at 
Hyattsville would be no argument against it as a 
state, or, better, as a national experiment. He 
was. of course, quite right.” I would suggest to 
Mr. Stuart that he swallow some of his own 
philosophy and make application of this reason- 
ing. The "flat and distinct” denial of my asser- 
tion that all monopolies are built up by special 
privilege of some sort or another does not amount 
to much; it is not supported by facts, and it is but 
another attempt to substitute words for ideas and 
make sophistry take the place of argument. 
Monopoly has no meaning apart from special 
privilege; if there is no special privilege there 
can be no monopoly. Will any one deny that 
there is monopoly? The plea that the laws do 
not discriminate, but allow any person to obtain 
these privileges providing he has the necessary 
capital, is a quibble that would do credit to an 
economist of the Sumner or Atkinson stripe, but 
it does no credit to Mr. Stuart. The fact is, that 
the laws do grant privileges to any capitalist who 
has the necessary capital to influence legislation, 
and the laws permit capitalists to obtain absolute 
contral of vast quantities of land which they are 
enabled to monopolize solely by virtue of the 
law. Now that is the very thing we complain of; 


that is the very condition we would abolish. We say 
that no amount of capital should be adequate to 
secure a privilege of any sort, and we would have 
our laws so adjusted as to prevent it. And the 
very fact that capitalists are supporting expensive 
lobbies in all our legislative halls for the purpose 
of securing land grants, tariff grants, and corpo- 
ration grants of all sorts, is sufficient to prove 
that, without these aids, it would be an utter im- 
possibility for capital to obtain an advantage 
over, and oppress labor. Combinations destruc- 
tive of liberty can only be effected by a perver- 
sion of the law of liberty, the spirit of which, if 
not its form, is conceded to be the only thing 
which gives sanction to our constitution of gov- 
ernment. My statement that men might be able 
move ore in wheelbarrows at a rate of fifty cents 
a ton was made in another journal some time ago, 
while commenting on a proposition of a certain 
mine owner to donate the use of the mines to the 
starving miners, and thus permit them to mine 
ore on their own account as a substitute for char- 
ity. It was not a statement of fact, it was a 
statement of opinion. As a matter of fact, I do 
not know whether men could mine ore for fifty 
cents a ton or not, but I think they could, and I 
give it as my opinion that, providing the sugges- 
tion of the mine owner was carried out, the men 
might go in and mine enough ore to provide for 
their necessities and lay by something for emer- 
gencies even if they got no more than fifty cents a 
ton for the ore so mined. But I do know it to be 
a fact that this ore is mined with steam shovels 
at the price of twelve and one-half cents per ton 
and at a cost of ten cents per ton, leaving two and 
one-half cents per ton profit for the owner of the 
shovel. But I never yet saw a steam shovel 
working alone, and I believe it to be an impossi- 
bility for a steam shovel to plant itself in these 
mines and take out ore without the assistance of 
labor for its direction and management. And 1 
am inclined to the belief that if these mineral 
deposits were freed from the incumbus of monop- 
oly. and all men were free to mine ore in any way 
they saw fit, even at fifty cents per ton, the fact 
would have some influence in raising the wages 
of those laborers who are now compelled to mine 
ore with steam shovels for only ten cents per ton. 

I know nothing about the subjective condition 
of these capitalists whom 1 mentioned in a for- 
mer article. Whether they are tender hearted 
individuals or whether they are not is a matter 
concerning which I know nothing, care nothing, 
nor has it the slightest connection with the pur- 
poses of this controversy. Their objective rela- 
tions with the business of producing iron ore is 
stated, and I stated it in the form of an eionomd 


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291 


fait. There are no ' ‘statistics regarding the con- 
centration of wealth," no “censns reports," no 
"history of strikes," nor no ’'testimony of every 
labor leader aod reformer," which in any way 


disprove that fact. If there are, let us have 
them; they will form very much better material 
for the construction of an economic argument 
than does that cheap sarcasm which proves noth- 
ing. 


PERPLEXED REFORMERS. 


BY JOSB GROS. 


It is not a pleasant duty to have to show the 
wrong forms with which certain reformers appre- 
hend truth, in its application to human develop- 
ments. And yet, it is necessary that somebody 
should perform that duty. It is so easy to mis- 
lead most men with fine language embodying 
some fragments of truth blended with large 
chunks of error! It is easy because some men 
have not time enough to digest what they read. 
The very social conditions we are all manufac- 
turing as we go along, make it almost impossible 
for the bulk of humanity to properly discriminate 
between truth pure and simple and a mixture of 
the two elements, truth and error. 

The writer should have considerable experience 
on the subject, because be has lived all his life in 
the midst of perplexed reformers, perplexed be- 
cause always willing to reform humanity through 
restrictions, and never through freedom. All 
such reformers are more or less socialistic in their 
general tendencies. All restrictions imply giving 
to government rights which belong to the indi- 
vidual, or letting government transfer to groups 
of individuals rights which belong to the collect- 
ivity of the nation or community for local and 
central government. Socialism proper is but the 
final expression of that wretched double tendency 
which has prevailed all along in the life of all 
nations. 

Our American protective tariff is essentially 
socialistic. Our banking and monetary systems 
have always been socialistic. The money reform 
proposed by our populist friends is still more so. 
The prohibition movement is socialistic through 
and through. We don’t doubt the good inten- 
tions of all such reformers. We simply deplore 
the contracted horizon into which their eyes are 
willing to remain; the limited fields in which 
their labors are forever shut up, with the inevit- 
able result of simply suppressing an evil here by 
evolving another one there or later on. Because 
that is human history, up to our days, we regret 
to say. 

The blindness of the average surface or per- 
plexed reformer can be illustrated by the follow- 
ing recent sally of an intelligent and well-meant 
friend of ours. ' Your single tax reform would 


have allowed chattel slavery to remain supreme 
in the southern states." That is just the fine 
cantata sung by our socialistic friends to-day. 
"The single tax shall allow industrial slavery to 
remain supreme over the nation." Just as if all 
forms of slavery were not the result of giving 
to some men the absolute control of God's uni- 
verse, and thus forcing most men to beg for a 
place where to live and work in a planet that the 
hands of men never made and can never un- 
make! 

Christ, the grand fundamental reformer, attrib- 
uted the perpetuation of all sin to absence of 
faith. Absence of faith simply means — “ refus- 
ing to apprehend fundamental social evils, and 
refusing to work for their suppression .” And 
what can be more fundamental, in the line of 
social evils, than for society to directly or indi- 
rectly deny to most men free access to the ele- 
ments that God, as a real Father, has created for 
the benefit of all men? Don't you see that then 
you do repudiate that Father in heaven, and his 
beautiful code of human brotherhood? Don't 
you reflect that you then literally trample upon 
that hosanna of glory — Peace on earth? And you 
do that in form most emphatic as long as you fail 
to stand for righteousness in land distribution 
And you fail to do that if you say or imply that 
some men must play God, the Almighty, by giv- 
ing them the power to control most land and thus 
make employment for the rest. Just as if most 
men, or anty quantity of them, should belong to 
an inferior race! Just as if God could have two 
sets of children, a chosen set and a despised one ! 
Is it not rather late in the season for us to cling 
to that old theological humbug? And all because 
we want our own pet one-sided reform to come 
first, or because we are afraid that if we go too far 
down in the reform business, we shall have to re- 
form ourselves. We are even apt to suspect that 
reform must rest on complicated human devices, 
fearing that a simple one, limited to a plain 
acceptance of the Decalogue, may not prove to be 
good enough! 


We now invite our readers to a rapid investi- 
gation of some of the socialistic conceptions, 
fears and apprehensions expounded in Thb Con - 


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292 

ductor for April, if we limit social reform to a 
healthy land distribution and hence to the sup- 
pression of a legalized land robbery. 

The writer of that article happens to live in a 
town that in the last twenty years has grown 
from 5,000 to over 50,000 population, and he can 
see nothing else on the face of the globe but that 
abnormal growth and similar mushroom city de* 
velopments. He does not seem to realize that a 
cardinal abnormality shall necessarily bring out 
or evolve a host of incidental abnormalities, 
because like begets like. The basic crime of land 
robbery must inevitably produce, not only the 
unhealthy because too rapid growth of cities, 
but all our many other evils, among which we 
can place that of tramps, tenement districts, even 
in small towns, the drink abomination, with its 
infernal connections in our political system, the 
poverty and desolation of ninety per cent of our 
farmers, etc , etc. They all are but manifesta- 
tions of a grand and most criminal transgression 
by which society fails to respect that divine com- 
mand: Thou shalt not steal, viz: thou* shalt not 
steal means equal rights to land, and so, the land 
values they collectively create, shall not 
be given away to any set of monopolists. Thou 
shalt not steal any of the wealth exclusively pro- 
duced through individual exertions directly or 
indirectly applied to that eternal element — Land 
— with its boundless potentialities, and so thou 
shalt not tax what labor produces. 

A simple obedience to that most important di- 
vine command, on the part of the social organiza- 
tion. a command which even those accept as cor- 
rect who don’t fancy to recognize God as a power 
among men, that obedience should necessarily 
evolve a new civilization, because different causes 
are bound to produce different effects. But no, 
our perplexed reformers cannot see that. Their 
minds, enveloped with their own human, petty 
views of life, cannot rise above the level of such 
and such restrictions, never into the broad per- 
ceptions of Trust and Faith in equal freedom to 
all, because of no privileges to anybody, and 
hence no monopoly anywhere, a brotherhood 
everywhere, as that embodied in all divine in- 
junctions as well as in the order of creation. 

Under human laws giving to all men equal 
rights to all land and all land values, under such 
laws our nation could support in plenty over 
600,000,000 population, and no town or city 
would need to contain over 3,000 people. No 
abnormal concentrations of industries or com- 
merce anywhere, no town or city booms, that 
curse of all unhealthy civilizations, and all be- 
cause of no land monopoly anywhere, in any form 
or shape, and hence no capital monopoly large or 


small in any section of the country. What is cap- 
ital or wealth but the modification, by hnman 
labor, of the raw products taken from the planet, 
and returning there, after a few days, months or 
years, during which they have been meeting ha- 
man needs? 

It is both amusing and pitiful to see bright 
mitds forever groveling in the materialistic circle 
of their own self-made perceptions, forever en- 
chained to their old associations of ideas, gener- 
ated by a poisoned social status, and so incapable, 
or unwilling, we don't know which, of realizing 
that the seed of righteousness in land distribution 
cannot fail to produce a good-sized crop of uni- 
versal joy among men, since land distribution on 
principles of iniquity has forever resulted in floods 
of human sorrow and tears all around. We know 
that by reversing causes we reverse effects. That 
is not a mere theory. That is a law in this uni- 
verse of ours. And it should not take much tal- 
ent to see the rationale of such a natural process, 
if we only drop the bandage of our own infatua- 
tions. 

Take now that tremendous discrepancy in land 
values to-day, from $1 per acre in many southern 
and western rural sections of the Union up to 
$14,000,000 per acre in some portions of our large 
cities. Well, under a healthy distribution of in- 
dustries and population, because of a correct 
land distribution, the discrepancy between the 
average farm plot and the average business lot in 
the cities would be really insignificant. The ex- 
tremes would not need to range but from, say, 
$50 annual rent for the average well located farm, 
and not much over $500 for any of the choice bus- 
iness lots. Remember that that could not happen 
the next day after we had established the single 
tax. It would take a number of years. The hu- 
man blunders of sixty centuries are not going to 
be remedied by a few months of human wisdom. 
And remember also that the land rents, even if 
varying as little as above indicated, would be an 
abundance for us to meet all public expenses for 
a nation of 600,000,000 of population. We shall 
prove that if challenged so to do by some of our 
suspicious and skeptical friends. 

Contrast now the preceding natural, logical 
processes, with the wild assumptions advanced 
by certain socialists and plutocrats (those two 
sets of men seem to be the greatest enemies against 
certain reforms), to the effect that under the single 
tax the poor farmer and mechanic, or the like, 
owning his farm or city home, would fall into 
nervous fits if he saw his locality increase in 
wealth and population, lest he is forced to 
abandon his land and sell his improvements for 
kindling wood I We advise our socialists not to 


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waste their tears or drop into hysterics at the con- 
templation of snch catastrophies. The poor 
farmer and mechanic are the result of civilizations 
resting on wholesale land robbery, just the cause 
that would be suppressed by the law of equal 
rights, embodied in th$ single tax philosophy, in 
the eyes of those who want to understand it. We 
cannot force people to see the truth. 

Our May article explains the simple process by 
which all honest workers would rapidly become 
the possessors of most of the wealth of nations, 
through the socialization of land values. • 

Look now for a moment to the growth of the 
flower. Does that impair the development -of 
any of its leaves? And does any tree advance in 


CONDUCTOR. 293 

size at the expense of any of its branches, large 
or small? Well, let society be adapted to the 
plain order of the universe, to the natural rights 
of men, and every city, town and country belt 
shall also grow in perfect harmony with the 
growth of all the workers there. Why not? Do 
we have a set of laws for the physical universe 
apart from men, and another set for men apart 
from the universe in the midst of which they 
grow? That is what theologians, plutocrats, and 
all perplexed reformers, socialists included, would 
like us to believe. But we say nay , one thousand 
times if necessary. And the future is ours, or 
rather, it belongs to those who stand for social 
righteousness, and hence for a healthy land dis- 
tribution, respecting the Law of Equal Rights ! 


THE MYSTERIOUS FOREST. 

A SOCIAL ALLEGORY. 

BY H. P. PEEBLES. 


CHAPTER XI. : — CONTINUED. 

Christian paused, and drew from his breast a 
worn and tattered page of mannscript, and spread 
it over his knee, while he regarded it with looks 
of reverence. Socialist rose and threw fresh 
fuel on the slumbering fire, which had slowly 
sunk to a glowing bed of fiery embers, although 
it spluttered and sparkled defiantly at the dark- 
ness, and welcomed the reinforcement with loud 
crackles which sounded like triumphant jeers as 
the bright flames leaped exultantly into the air. 

For a moment not a word was spoken; the two 
hearers waited in silence for the speaker to re- 
sume. There was no need for words on their 
part. There is a silence that is more expressive 
than words, and the narrator instinctively felt the 
interest taken in his account. There was an ex- 
ultant ring in the voice of the speaker, and, in 
the firelight, his eyes shone with a new light as 
he said : 

“This is the fountain from which sprung the 
living waters that has widened into the broad 
river of Christian civilization; and to me, it was 
a new revelation, a new Christ and a new doc- 
trine. No creeds, no dogmas, no theology. All 
meet and center, in the one doctrine, worship 
the living God in purity and truth, and love your 
neighbor as yourself. Forms and ceremonies 
have perished from religion, and sincerity and in- 
ward purity have taken their places, and love and 
conscience form the corner stones. Here," and 
he held the package on high, “is the religion that 
most and will conquer the world, that will guide 
human destiny and echo in the hearts of the in- 


dividuals for all ages to come after the traditions 
of Moses have been lost in the mazes of antiquity, 
and the theology of Paul has been forever for- 
gotten." 

The speaker had risen to his feet, and his form 
dilated with an air of indescribable majesty. His 
ardent words and deep earnestness roused an 
echo in the hearts of the two hearers, and invol- 
untarily they had risen with him and stood watch- 
ing his face. He abruptly ceased and turned 
away The spell of his words died away, and 
the two listeners resumed their seats; but av .led 
the eyes of each other. Strange truth, 
ized man recoils from a display of the b ehest 
and truest emotions of the soul, and regards as 
weakness a display of strength. The Anglo-Sax- 
on, like the Indian, covers bis soul with an armor 
of surface indifference, and blushes in confusion 
when it is punctured by an arrow of sincerity 

“I must relate," continued Christian a brief 
account of the first discovery that gave me new 
light on the subject, and was the first direct proof 
of modern innovation. 

“Shortly after Christ had given that epitome f 
his faith, that is known as the ‘Sermcn on the 
Mount.’ and he added no new point of 
afterwards, his further teachings, all bis after sa . - 
ings, even to his well known parables 
panded and intensified what was there tai£- r* 
commissioned his disciples to go forth ar : 
his doctrine. They were the first missi: r 
the new faith, were sent by their master 
tainly were able to preach all that was 
were able to tell hearers all needful tn 


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ly this point needs no argument; bnt let as reason 
for a moment on what must follow. 

“If a missionary goes forth at this day to make 
converts to the faith, what does he teach as the 
fundamental truths, the corner stones that sup- 
port the Christian religion? The atonement for 
sin, the acceptance of Christ as a personal Sav- 
ior; and heaven and salvation depend upon be- 
lief. Did the first missionaries preach this doc- 
trine as the Christian religion? Impossible. Two 
years were to elapse before the sacrifice, nor had 
Christ even as yet predicted his death. Never- 
theless they taught Christianity, and the Christ- 
ianity of that day is the Christianity for this and 
all days. The message had been given and 
needed no additions. 

“They must have taught the ‘Sermon on the 
Mount,' and he who takes it for the foundation of 
his actions, as a rule for his life, needs no further 
revelation, needs no further knowledge of the will 
of Qod, needs no other guide on earth, needs no 
widening of the path to heaven. 

“I cannot enter into arguments, it would be im- 
possible to give the many other proofs that mod- 
ern theology is not Christianity; but it may be 
proper to speak of one apparent stumbling block,, 
and that gave me hours of doubt before I found 
I was fighting the old enemy — additions by other 
believers. The last twelve verses of the Gospel 
of Mark contain the theology of the orthodox 
faith. There the words of Jesus are in direct 
variance with the tenor of all his previous teach- 
ings. They directly contradict the meanings of 
many of his parables, make the 'Sermon on the 
Mount' useless and controvert his former doc- 
trine. 

“If Christ uttered these words my light was a 
shadow, and my new hopes were vain. It is true 
that there were other passages that were used to 
bolster and defend the modern conception of 
Christianity; but I had analyzed these, and 
thought, at least, that a different interpretation 
was permissible. But here the meaning was 
plain and unmistakable. I was in despair until 
I discovered that many of, the best authorities 
had openly declared that the whole passage was 
an interpolation. Abbot believes them spurious, 
Gustave Myers, the most profound German 
Bible scholar, declares them false. Again, I can- 
not stop to argue, the proofs are open for any in- 
vegtigator; but accepted the evidence that the 
verses were written only after the compilation at 
Carthage in 397. 

• ‘The path became a plain one, I determined from 
my very soul to be a Christian and to follow the 
teachings of Christ, forgetting, as far as possible, 
the theology of the old testament, the dogmas 


created by the writers of the New, and the creeds 
of modern innovators. 

“I read to-day the Bible with delight, when I 
formerly studied it with dread. It contains divine 
truth, but the errors of humanity darken the 
clearness of the message; and the claim of infal- 
libility makes humanity equal with divinity. 

“The more 1 reflected, the more light that came 
from earnest search, the more apparent became 
the truth that this dark forest and the groaning 
victim within its depths was the one obstacle to 
the grow.th of the religion founded by Jesus. As 
long as this pathless waste covered the earth, as 
long as men cheated the Giant, enjoyed a pleas- 
ure ground that he constructed, kept him in 
chains and mocked at his sufferings, so long 
would Christianity remain unknown to the world, 
and the words of Christ echo on the tongues of 
men, but find no resting place in the human con- 
science. Is it a wonder that from the moment I 
first accepted the words of Christ and separated 
them from the teachings of the priesthood, both 
ancient and modern, that I determined to devote 
the balance of my life to exploring this wilder- 
ness and devising means for its extirpation. There 
is but one way to prove a Christian belief, and 
that is by living a Christian life; there is but one 
way of leading a Christian, life, and that is by 
endeavoring to clear away the mysteries of this 
forest and by teaching men to render justice to the 
imprisoned Giant. 

“Thank God, many seekers after the truth are 
finding this out, and instead of one Luthur there 
are thousands preparing to lead the great reforma- 
tion that will purify Christianity from the super- 
stitions that have dragged it in* the dust for two 
thousand years. 

“Then the forest will be cut down, and beautiful 
lawns and parks will replace it. The giant will 
be free, and love and justice will make all men 
equal members of one universal human family. 
This consummation cannot be separated from the 
growth of Christianity, one does not imply the 
other, for one depends upon the other; and taken 
together they mean the same thing. 'True Chris- 
tianity must destroy the forest, and to destroy the 
forest means Christianity. I care not what he 
claims to believe, he who enriches himself from 
the labors of the Giant is not a follower of Christ. 
He that enjoys what the Giant has created while be 
watches that the chains are well fastened is not a 
Christian, and he that refuses to assist in clearing 
away this dark and noisome wilderness refuses to 
do the work of Christ." 

The voice of the speaker faltered from sheer 
weakness, he had forgotten the severe exertions 
of the day, had forgotten bodily fatigue; but bad 


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spoken sustained by the deep enthusiasm of an 
earnest soul until physical nature abruptly said 
stop. He felt it impossible to continue although 
burning thoughts demanded utterance. 

He said, simply and quietly, " If you wish we 
may resume this talk after we have rented.” 

His companions merely nodded an assent. It 
seemed not only useless but even a sacrilege to 
speak. They had listened to the inner history of 
an inquiring soul; the spell of a revealed con- 
science bound them to silence, and each felt the 
necessity of thought. When one — how rarely it 
happens — speaks from the soul and reveals the 
secret of the struggles of a conscience, he touches 
the strongest and most sacred bond that unites 
humanity, that vibrates to sincerity. 

The three rested in silence on their blankets, 


295 

and hours passed without a word being exchanged; 
but when one of the expiring embers of the de- 
caying fire burst into a blaze, it could be observed 
that all were yet awake, and watched the glowing 
coals with the semblance of deep and earnest 
thought. 

The deep, intense silence of the forest was only 
broken by an occasional snap and crackle of the 
dying embers that seemed to come as an indig- 
nant protest against the conquering darkness. 
The blithesome shadows that had danced to and 
fro, as though to mock the solemnity of the human 
beings near them, became sedate and moved slow- 
ly as their outlines grew dim and faint. They 
seemed to hesitate, then suddenly rushed together 
and formed the one black, heavy shadow of 
night. 


TO BE CONTINUED. 


THE SINGLE TAX VS. SOCIALISM. 


BY W. H. STUART. 


My article in the March Conductor was in- 
tended to demonstrate that rent, interest and 
profits were the three robbers of labor; that the 
elimination of either one of the robbers would 
not affect or increase the proportion going to 
labor in the shape of ‘'wages’*; that wages was 
the least portion of the product that labor under 
competitive conditions would consent to receive 
and continue to reproduce; that, in fact, "wages” 
represented, not the value of the product which 
labor creates, but merely the necessities of the 
laborer. Referring to Mr. Borland’s analysis of 
profits, I frankly admitted that the term "profits” 
should be eliminated in a discussion of econom- 
ics, and the three factors, rent, interest and wages, 
only retained, because profits were really included 
in interest. I explained, however, that in a pop- 
ular treatment of the subject, it was almost im- 
possible to eliminate the term "profits, ” for in the 
poptilar conception, * interest” stands only for pay- 
ment for the use of capital, i. e , loan interest, 
which is merely a secondary and derivative form of 
interest, and not interest proper at all. I there- 
fore stated that we would understand by "rent” 
payment for the use of land: "interest” and 
"profits”, all return for the use of capital with- 
out personal exertion, and "wages”; all payment 
for labor, physical or mental. I said: 

"But here I ask the reader to note, that the 
share going to labor in the form of wages is not 
in the least affected by the manner in which the 
three robbers of labor, rent, interest or profits, 
divide the swag, the laborer's share is governed 


solely and exclusively his by necessities. Elimi- 
nate rent, and interest and profits will absorb 
all over wages. Eliminate interest, and rent and 
profits will still retain all over the cost of subsis- 
tence of the laborer.” 

By a change in punctuation I was made guilty 
of tautology My critic quite understood this; 
he said: "I have a suspicion that by the im- 
proper placing of the comma, the printer has 
made Mr. Stuart say something he didn't exactly 
intend to sa) .” Notwithstanding that he was 
satisfied that I was made to say something not 
intended, he goes on to say that: "Standing as 
they do, the assertions exhibit in a striking man- 
ner the confusion of thought I have before 
alluded to, and illustrate the idiosyncrasies 
of logic which blind adherance to an abstract 
theory will force a person into." He then goes 
on and devotes nearly a page to a criticism of my 
statement, knowing at the time that the statement 
did not express what I intended. I do not like to 
characterize this style of criticism in the manner 
it deserves; it is to say the least ungenerous and 
can only be excused on the ground that Mr Bor- 
land’s efforts in economic reform are paid for by 
the page, and he could not afford to lose so good 
a chance to work in an extra page. My labor is 
however given free, and I dislike very much to 
waste both time and space in answering and ex- 
plaining this style of criticism. 

Let us see if we cannot get to closer quarters 
on this question. Mr. Borland and I are agreed 
that labor is entitled to the whole product it cre- 


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296 THE RAILWAY, CONDUCTOR. 


ates. He appears to be as much opposed as my- 
self to the extraction of surplus-value from labor 
by capitalists, either in the form of rent of land, 
or interest on capital. He entirely agrees with 
me that under present conditions labor is a mere 
4 ‘commodity,” governed by the same laws of sup- 
ply and demand as other commodities; that in 
short, the price or wages of labor is 
governed solely and only by the num- 
bers of laborers seeking employment, and 
by the standard of living that obtains, 
which standard will certainly be lowered if the 
number of laborers seeking employment continue 
to increase beyond the demands of the capitalists 
for their services. Mr. Borland denounces this 
system as strenuously as I do. But while I claim 
that nothing short of the collective ownership 
of the means of production — land and capital — 
will free labor from its degrading bondage, Mr. 
Borland, on the contrary, bolds that the throwing 
open of land and natural resources by the adop- 
tion of the single tax, would make the laborer 
entirely free. His contention is, that if laborers 
had free access to land, mines, etc., that they 
could produce wealth for themselves, and that 
they would be entirely independent of the capi- 
talists, that as a result, capitalists would be forced 
to compete for laborers, instead of laborers beg- 
ging the capitalists for a chance to work. I have 
repeatedly exposed the childishness of this theory, 
but it appears to be impossible to force a single- tax- 
er to discuss the arguments offered against so infan- 
tile an assumption They remind me of the devout 
elder, whose belief in the Jonah and whale story 
was rendered easy by his conception of the whale 
as an animal whose mouth was large enough to 
allow Jonah to walk down into the “bold" with- 
out stopping, and whose internal arrangements 
were as roomy as a ship's cabin. In time he 
discovered that the whale couldn't swallow any- 
thing larger than a herring, and that there were 
no apartments en suite in his "innards." It 
didn’t in the least affect his belief in the story, 
but he no longer cared to discuss the matter from 
an anatomical or physiological point of view. 
It was a “mystery," which he felt confident 
would be explained satisfactorily in "the future." 
So will the single-taxer, when pressed to explain 
how the man without capital is going to obtain 
his share of wealth under competitive conditions, 
evade the question. When a concrete illus- 
tration is presented, as for instance, the 
sugar factory at Chino, the subject is ignored, 
with the curt rejoinder that the beet raisers would 
be a lot of 4 ’blooming idiots" to keep right on 
“producing beets in exchange for a bare subsis- 
tence, when with free land all about them they 


might elect to produce use-values for themselves, 
instead of commodities for others.” That's it 
Just as easy as rolling off a log. Of course, cer- 
tainly, as I have already suggested, what's the 
matter with every beet raiser owning his own 
sugar factory, a very nice one can be built for 
half a million of dollars or so. and thus bid de- 
fiance to the greedy capitalist^). But such 
methods: “They might regulate the market sup- 
ply of labor, and so the rate of wages to suit 
themselves instead of the capitalists. Why could 
they not?" That is, of course, on the assump- 
tion that workingmen are not “a lot of 'blooming 
idiots' who know no better than to keep right on 
producing beets for a bare subsistence, no matter 
what the surrounding conditions may be." Ex- 
actly, that is the point that wants elucidation, 
and I verv earnestly suggest to Mr. Borland that 
its elucidation deserves as much attention at bis 
hands as be has given to say the criticism of a 
statement based on the change of a couple of 
commas. In the illustration I gave of the beet 
raiser at Chino, I want Mr. Borland to explain 
why the “idiots" don t demand an advance in the 
price of beets now? I may state for bis infor- 
mation that Mr. Louis F. Post during the course 
of a lecture in this city stated that as a result of 
his investigation into the operations of the beet 
sugar factory at Chino, be had discovered that 
the factory owners had received in bounty from 
the government last season $78,000 more than 
they had paid for the beets(?}. Why were the 
beet raisers unable to force the factory owners to 
divide part of the "swag" with them? Mr. Bor- 
land will, of course, reply that being denied free 
access to land, they were compelled to accept the 
wages offered by the capitalists Very well. I 
have assumed that the adoption of the single-tax 
will make beet sugar land absolutely free, they 
are now free of rent, they are just as well off at 
$4.00 per ton caster is paribus vs they were for- 
merly at $4 50 per ton, why should they kick 
any more now than formerly ? But sop 
pose they do kick for a raise, in what 
better position are they to enforce their 
demands than formerly? If Mr. Borland 
admits that it will not be practicable for every 
beet raiser to own his own factory, then what is 
he to do with the beets? Must we assume that 
the raising of beets and their conversion into 
sugar will have to be given up under a single tax 
regime? 

But Mr. Borland says, “with free land all about 
them, workingmen might elect to produce use-val- 
ues for themselves instead of commodities for 
others " Admitted, now show us how they win 
go to work. Will some raise food while other* 


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are making machinery to produce wealth inde- 
pendent of the capitalists? Very good, who will 
own the machinery after it is produced? A small 
minority as at present? Why, that is a mere 
continuation of the capitalist system of production, 
a few owning the instruments of production while 
the great majority accept sufficient to maintain a 
bare subsistence. If so, there is no use going to 
all that trouble, we have the capitalist system in 
full swing now. Or shall we assume that the 
workers shall own the tools of production in com- 
mon. that the man who raises food while the 
others are producing machinery, will share in all 
the advantages of the saving in labor effected by 
the use of machinery? Well, this is socialism, 
pure and simple, why should we go to the slow 
and tedious process of making machinery unaided 
by capital or the modern appliances for its pro- 
duction, when at one-tenth the cost we could ac- 
quire possession of the present machinery of pro- 
duction? I have a good deal of sympathy with 
my friend, the devout elder. His religious super- 
stitions were ground into him in his youth, and 
it is hard for him to get the idea out of his mind 
that there is something wicked in doubting the 
Jonah and whale story. But there is no excuse 
for economic superstitions, and a man who will 
hold on to a theory which be finds impossible to 
defend, and to ignore arguments that make his 
theory ridiculous, is a mental slave. Religious 
superstitions are pardonable economic supersti- 
tions are contemptible. 

Ninety-nine per cent of single-taxers are 
totally ignorant of economics outside of the few 
borrowed platitudes found in “Progress and 
Poverty." Even Louis F. Post, the official na- 
tional lecturer of the single-tax league, was 
not ashamed to stand up before a Los Angeles 
audience a few nights ago, and define “capital" 
as “unfinished things," and defend 'interest" as 
the “wages"of capital(P). But Mr. Borland has the 
advantage, not possessed by perhaps five other 
single-taxers in the United States, of having read 
“Capital," by Karl Marx He is therefore fa- 
miliar with the reputation of the sycophantic 
apologist's arguments, used to defend labor ex- 
ploitation He knows what surplus- value is, and 
presumably sees through the sophistries by which 
it is defended. Therefore, we expect something 
better from him than, for instance, his assertion: 
“The exploitation of the laborer is immanent in 
the present property relation, but it is not, as so- 
cialists contend, necessarily immanent in the 
capitalist mode of production." I challenge him 
to the proof, and assert on the contrary, that un- 
der a strict enforcement of present laws of taxa- 
tion in this country, labor exploitation as the re- 


297 

suit of private ownership of land would be in- 
significant, and as compared with the exploitation 
of labor effected by the private ownership of the 
machinery of production, would not represent 
more than five per cent of the total exploitation. 
The enforcement of present laws relating to taxa- 
tion of land, would make it impossible to hold out 
of use hardly any land not needed for immediate 
use. This would have • the effect of reducing 
economic rent to a fraction of that now absorbed 
by the land owning class, and reduce the surplus- 
value absorbed in the shape of rent to an insig- 
nificant proportion of the total. We could let 
private landholding continue for fifty years to 
come without affecting us very materially. Mr. Bor- 
land asks, in support of his theory, — that exploita- 
tion of labor is only immanent in private ownership 
of land, — “are not all the facts of history against 
it?" To which I reply that he can not quote the 
facts of ancient history to make good an assertion 
regarding economic conditions under a capitalist 
mode of production. This system is hardly a 
century old, and has developed laws of its own. 
Before the capitalist era set in, the artisan owned 
the tools of his trade. The cloth weaver, for in- 
stance, bought his wool from the farmer, wove it 
himself, and sold it direct to his customers, but 
the invention of the power-loom divorced the 
weaver from his tools, he became the slave of the 
owner of the huge factory, with its power looms 
propelled by steam power. Formerly, a shoe- 
maker owned the tools on the bench by his side, 
he made every part of the shoe. Under the capi- 
talist mode of production it requires sixty men to 
make a pair of shoes. It requires a huge factory 
supplied with costly machinery, and a large capi- 
tal to carry on the business successfully. Under 
such conditions the weaver and the shoemaker 
are forced to accept, as their share of the prod- 
uct. merely sufficient for a bare subsistence. To 
contend that if they had access to natural re- 
sources they would be quite independent of the 
capitalists, is mere idiocy. What the weaver and 
the shoemaker need to make them free men is 
ownership of the tools of their trade, but as the 
tools have completely changed, and can no longer 
be controlled by individual workers in the old 
isolated manner, it follows therefore, that they 
must be owned in common. This is the only 
possible alternative. Either private ownership 
in the hands of a useless, non-producing class, or 
common ownership in the hands of the actual 
workers and producers, which is socialism. 

Mr. Borland endorses my statement that, 
“wages is governed exclusively by the supply of 
laborers seeking employment." and then adds: 
“Then of course, the assertion that 'the elimina- 


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298 

tion of the private ownership of these mines and 
lumber industries would not affect the wages of 
the laborers, ’ is meant to imply that such a pro* 
ceeding would not decrease the relative supply of 
laborers seeking employment." Yes, that's the 
implication exactly. Mr. B. continues: “Now, I 
do not believe it is necessary to go into any 
specific argument to show the fallacy, the utter 
absurdity of that assertion." On the contrary, 
I assure Mr. B. nothing is more necessary for him 
than to "show the utter absurdity of that asser- 
tion." He says: "It is a little bit singular that 
capitalists go to so much trouble and expense, 
bringing all the powers of government to their 
aid and entering into a good many shady transac* 
tions, to obtain ownership of those natural re- 
sources, if such ownership gives them no power 
to control the supply of laborers seeking employ- 
ment." Nothing singular about it at all. Capi- 
talists, when they go to the trouble and expense 
to acquire possession of natural resources, are not 
bothering their heads at all about controlling 
"the supply of laborers." What they are after 
is to get possession of natural resources to the ex- 
clusion of other capitalists. Labor is nothing to 
them until they are in possession of those natural 
resources, then they are in condition to absorb 
surplus value that wduld otherwise be absorbed 
by other capitalists. 

But as far as the man without capital is con- 
cerned, it is a matter of no importance to him 
whose hinds the natural resources, say mines, 
for instance, are in, whether owned by the gov- 
ernment or by private capitalists. The mines 
under either condition can only be worked profit- 
ably by the employment of large capital, and the 
man without capital will be able to make more 
by accepting the subsistence wage offered by the 
capitalist, then by applying his labor direct to the 
land in getting out ore, or coal, or iron, or tim- 
ber, or wheat, or any other product in competi- 
tion with his capitalist competitor. And, "I be- 
lieve the exercise of just the least bit of common 
sense will enable" even a single taxer to under- 
stand this. 

Thirty years ago every average farmer on 160 
acres of land could produce nearly the same, all 
were on a substantial equality in cost of produc- 
tion. This is now entirely changed. Tbe"bonanza" 
farm of thousands of acres, supplied with costly 
labor-saving machinery, can produce the staple 
cereals at one-third the cost of the small farmer. 
It is only a question of a few years before all 
agriculture is controlled as effectually by capital- 
ists as other industries are now controlled. Small 
isolated production is doomed. It is either large 
production carried on for the exclusive benefit of 


a constantly diminishing minority of non-prodnc- 
ing capitalists, or large production in the inter- 
ests of the actual producers, — of the whole peo- 
ple, in a word, the elimination of the useless 
capitalist, and the adoption of a co-operative sys- 
tem of production and distribution, which is 
again, socialism. 

The adoption of the single-tax would not in the 
slightest degree affect this inevitable tendency to- 
wards large production, and the consequent elimi- 
nation of the small producer. The introduction 
of machinery, controlled by a small class, contin- 
ually works towards the displacement of labor, 
every year less labor is required to carry on in- 
dustry, in proportion to the population. Men 
are becoming unnecessary to the capitalists, 
and having nothing to do, and no hope for the 
future, they are marching "on to Washington," 
asking, that as the capitalists have no need of their 
services, that the government will provide them 
with the means of making a living by putting 
them to work supplying each other's wants. 
And, their demands are just. If the capitalists 
who control the industrial system of this country 
are unable to supply their slaves with a subsis- 
tence, its about time for the governmeni to step 
in and do what the capitalists are unwilling or un- 
able to do. "The tools to the toilers, the produce 
to the producers." is the demand of socialism. 
No one but a thief can oppose so just a claim. 

In the May Conductor Mr. Borland states the 
whole theory of socialism when he declares: 
"Whenever, by any means, persons are com- 
pelled to deliver up to others any portion of their 
legitimate property without their full and free 
consent, or when they are compelled to deliver 
up property or exercise labor for the benefit of 
others without receiving a complete equivalent 
therefor, they are the victims of robbery, no mat- 
ter what name may be applied to the fruits of 
such robbery, or under what legal sanctions or 
process the robbery may be conducted The es- 
sence of robbery consists in taking without an 
equivalent " Nothing could have better expressed 
the ethics of socialism. It is evident, therefore, 
that the man who is able to exist in any manner 
upon the labor of others is a robber and a para- 
site. The ethics of socialism demands that 
everyone shall earn bis own living by doing 9om«“ 
thing towards the actual production of wealth 

In the bright lexicon of socialism there are no 
such words as landlord, lendlord. or profit mon- 
ger. They are robbers who live on the labors of 
others. They take from labor without giving an 
equivalent. Individualism has developed this 
system of exploitation It has enabled the craftjTt 
cunniDg, strong and unscrupulous few to apply 


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the brntal doctrine of the survival of the fittest, 
which lowers humanity to the levdl of the brute. 
The principle of competition is simply the ap- 
plication of the brutal law of the survival — not 
the highest and best humanely considered, — but 
the strongest and most cunning. While, there- 
fore, competition continues to be the ruling fac- 
tor in our industrial system, the highest and 
noblest development of the individual will be 
checked, the loftiest aims and ideals of humanity 
cannot be realized. We therefore, as Mr. Bor- 
land truly states, "denounce individualism." But 
let no one confound "individualism" with "indi- 
viduality." The latter, under socialism, will, for 
the first time in the history of the race, have full 
sway, be fostered and encouraged to the utmost. 
Socialism will enable the individual to grow, ex- 
pand and develop all bis latent powers of mind 
and genius. What may we not expect from a 
whole nation of educated people, who saved 
from the competitive struggle for the bare neces- 
sities of the physical nature, can devote their 
time to the moral, intellectual and physical de- 
velopment and upbuilding of the race! 

Mr. Borland shows clearly how, under present 
conditions, by the use of money payments, the 
exploitation of the laborer is hidden from his 
view. "The laborer receives the price of his la- 
bor in money, and the fact that he may reproduce 
this price by but five hours labor, while he act- 
ually works during ten or more hours for the 
benefit of the capitalist, is concealed by the ap- 
pearence of equivalence which the money form 
of value establishes between his labor commodity 
and the price he receives for it." Mr. Borland 
goes on to say how impossible it will be, under 
socialism, to conceal the relation existing between 
the laborer and his product. The value of every 
commodity will be governed exclusively by the 
amount of labor-time expended in its production. 

He is quite sure that under socialism the labor- 
er will “instantly detect any irregularities tending 
to deprive him of the full product of his labor, 
and whatever the necessities of the socialist state, 
that natural spirit of resistance to robbery will 
assert itself whenever it shall appear to him, 
rightly or wrongly, that such irregularities exist." 
It is quite refreshing to find that so doughty a 
critic, credits socialists with spirit enough to 
resist injustice or oppression. I have a faint im- 
pression that they were credited with so poor a 
spirit, that they didn't have seose enough to make 
provision for a rainy day, that they helplessly 
depended on the "government" to "come for- 
ward and make up the deficiency." Indeed, the 
implication was that they would expect the "gov- 
ernment" to take them in "out of the wet” when 


? 99 

it rained. But here is a critic who not only ad- 
mits, but insists that socialists will actually resist 
injustice ! However, he sees in this spirit, the 
death knell of altruism. He fears that spirit of 
selfishness will interfere with the maintaining of 
a purely altruistic commonwealth. Shouldn't be 
at all surprised if it did. But who is proposing 
to start an "altruistic commonwealth." Certain- 
ly not socialists. They propose to start a com- 
monwealth where the altruistic sentiments will 
have free play. Under the present individualistic 
system of competition, the altruistic feelings are 
repressed, because it is incompatible with free 
competition, which compels every one to look 
after himself, and let the devil take the hindmost. 
Only selfishness "pays" now. Men reserve the 
exercise of their altruistic feelings for the family 
circle, outside of that charmed circle is bitter and 
relentless war. "Business." not "sentiment," is 
what governs. Now, socialists contend that this 
system of warfare is foolish from a strictly selfish 
point of view; they show that men now waste 
more by battle and cross purpose than they 
create, that the present system is characterized 
by planlessness, industrial anarchy, enormous 
waste of labor and capital, the result of the ap- 
plication of the savage and brutal principle of 
competition into our social and industrial system. 
Socialists contend that all this is foolish; they 
propose to substitute for this idiotic system of 
production, a system that will appeal to enlight- 
ened selfishness. They claim there is not a man, 
woman or child in America who would not be 
benefited, from a strictly selfish point of view, 
by the adoption of socialism. Even now the 
wealthy millionaires are in daily fear of the bomb 
of the anarchist, and in France are purchasing 
safety by bribes. For the poor, of course, it 
would be a change from the horrors of hell to 
paradise. 

Under socialism, fraternal co-operation in pro- 
duction will enable us with one fourth the present 
labor, to produce wealth more abundantly than 
our capacity to consume. Besides, the condi- 
tions of labor will tend as strongly to stimulate 
fraternal sentiments and affectionate relations 
among the workers, as the present relations tend 
to repress them. Under the new regime , altru- 
ism will "pay." Speaking for myself, I may say 
that I consider an enlightened selfishness the only 
possible basis for permanent human conduct ard 
action I am an altruist for selfish reasons, if I 
may be allowed the paradox. 

Mr. Borland fears trouble will ensue in the 
socialist state when they come to fixing the hours 
of work according to the arduousness or other- 
wise of the various employments, and by the 


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300 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


way, he calls this method of apportioning work a 
4 'concession to individualism'^ ?) He taunts us 
with pouring forth the vials of our wrath against 
the iniquitous individualistic law of ' 'supply and 
demand," and yet forced to accept it in our social 
organization! This is too delicious "for any 
use," as the girls say. The law of "supply and 
demand" that "socialists denounce," and which 
is the inevitable result of individualism, is when 
applied to labor as a "commodity." In regard to 
all other commodities, the socialists regard the 
law of supply and demand as other people do, 
and under socialism it will be in full operation. 
The man who believes that labor should be 
treated as a "commodity," subject to the law of 
"supply and demand," is an ignoramus and an 
imbecile. 

Mr. B. fears a cloth worker who had to work 
ten hours, while an iron worker labored only 
two. would be dissatisfied. Well, that depends. 
Providing that is the just and proper ratio be- 
tween the two kinds of labor, there is 
not the slightest reason why there should be 
any dissatisfaction, on the supposition, of course, 
that the workmen are not all "blooming idiots," 
to adopt Bro. B's nomenclature. Says Mr. B. : 
"Here will be an occasion for the exhibition of 
deadly strife and competition between the divers 
sets of workers throughout the socialistic state. " 
It comes, of course, natural for an individualist 
to have a low and degrading opinion of humanity, 
but I am glad to say socialists do not share such 
views. They hold that men are naturally justice- 
loving, humane, generous, where the conditions 
permit the exercise of these qualities. Social- 
ism will provide such conditions. 

Mr. B. need not assume that socialists are un- 
der the necessity of injury that the "good of the 
entire social body would be so paramount that 
socialists would prefer to suffer injustice and ac- 
quiesce in the disproportion established between 
various occupations." I can assure him they will 
acquiesce in no injustice. They will, on the con- 
trary. see that equal and exact justice is done to 
all. When Mr. Borland contends that workers 
will try to decrease their hours of labor at the ex- 
pense of other workers, and "will resist" any ef- 
forts towards equalization from the influx of other 
workers, he is indulging in pessimistic drivel 
that discredits his intelligence. But Mr. B. not 
merely holds that workers will be dissatisfied 
with any disproportion in the hours of labor, but 
he contends they will be justified in being 
dissatisfied. He holds that all should work the 
same number of hours no matter what differences 
may be in the arduousness or disagreeableness of 
the various occupations. That, at least, is the 


implication. He ridicules the nationalists' prop- 
osition to vary the hours of labor according to 
arduousness or otherwise of the labor. "And 
this," says he, "is what the nationalists denomi- 
nate equality! This is what they want us to be- 
lieve represents entire absence of exploitation!!" 
If, for instance, two hours was considered a day’s 
labor in a coal mine, and six hours a day's labor 
for a clerk in a department, Mr. B. would claim 
that the clerk was robbed of the value of four 
hours' labor(?) Here’s richness for you! But 
this is not all. he is horror struck at the injustice 
of forcing men and women over twenty-one to 
work for those under age, and when the former 
reach the age of forty-five and quit work while 
the young crowd take their places, he is still more 
horror struck, he gets hysterical and yells, rob- 
bery! To a "blooming" socialist it looks entirely 
fair that those whose occupations are the most 
disagreeable apd laborious should work fewer 
hours than those whose occupations were light 
and agreeable. They also consider it perfectly 
fair that those who have done no labor up to 
their twenty-first year should be willing to relieve 
those who provided them with an education and 
sustenance during their adolescence. Not so our 
"blooming" individualist, he calls it robbery and 
exploitation of labor, he laughs hysterically, and 
asks if this is "what nationalists call equality M> ’ 
Says be: "I can see but little difference between 
compelling one to support others in idleness, by 
requiring payments of rent and interest for the 
privilege of living upon the earth, and requiring 
him to support others in idleness by forcing him 
to become a soldier in Mr. Bellamy’s army M {?> 
Here I desire to warn the reader that he will do 
Mr. Borland great injustice in supposing for a 
moment that he is such a "blooming idiot" as to 
believe such rubbish, rather should the reader 
consider the exigencies I have suggested in con- 
nection with a couple of misplaced commas, as a 
better explanation for Mr. Borland's remarkable 
polemic. 

Mr. B. asks: "Would socialism destroy rent, 
interest and profits?" He is quite certain it 
would do nothing of the kind. For instance, be 
supposes a citizen in the socialist state who in- 
vests his surplus income in wheat, and holds it 
until a bad crop occurs, and then sells * at a 
profit. 

Now, 1 see no reason why the citizen should 
not invest his surplus income in wheat, provid * 
tng he can purchase it. It will be the doty of 
the state to see that sufficient cereals are accunra- 
lated to guard against any possible failure of 
crops. Say a supply is kept sufficient to last 
from three to five years All above that quantity, 


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and for export purposes, may be sold to citizens 
of a speculative turn of mind, why not? Now, 
unless there are two to five bad harvests in suc- 
cession, it will not in the slightest degree affect 
the price of grain. Say our citizen paid fifty 
cents a bushel for his wheat, he might 
easily hold it fifty years before getting an ad- 
vance, and even then, the government might 
decide to import wheat in preference to 
encouraging profit mongering. No, I don't 
think Henry George's friend, “Old Hutch," 
will be able to get up any “corners" in wheat in 
the co-operative commonwealth. Mr. B. is 
equally certain that interest on loans wonld per- 
sist under socialism. He supposes the case of a 
spendthrift who squandered his income, and for 
the purpose of making “a raise” borrowed the 
labor notes of a more “thrifty" citizen, giving 
his note in payment. On the supposition that 
labor notes were transferable, I see no reason 
why he shouldn't, nor do I see why the transac- 
tion “should be allowed only on the distinct un- 
derstanding that there was to be no payment of 
interest." On the contrary, let the note call for 
ten per cent a month interest, if so agreed, and 
let the borrower pay it if he wants to. But 
mark this, it will be no part of the functions of a 
socialist administration to enforce contracts be- 
tween private citizens. Socialists are going to 
reduce the coercive powers of the state govern- 
ment to the minimum. No such interference with 
private rights as are now practiced will be per- 
mitted. Ninety per cent of present laws will be- 
come obsolete, including all laws for the collec- 
tion of debts and enforcement of private con- 
tracts. The socialist state will protect life and 
property, but it will not interfere in the private 
affairs of its citizens. Transactions between 


301 

citizens will be “on honor." Let it also be re- 
membered that even if it were possible for a man 
to live by exploiting his neighbors, it would be 
perfectly well understood that he was a thief, he 
would be socially ostracized, and become a pariah 
and an outcast. 

Under such conditions we may safely conclude 
that the occupation of the shylock and the ex- 
ploiter, will, like Othello’s, be gone, under social- 
ism. 

I cannot conclude this paper without recording 
my belief that the objections offered against so- 
cialism, which I have just considered and replied 
to, are, without exception, the most childish and 
frivolous I have ever had advanced. The stock 
arguments usually offered, he does not advance, 
apparently being satisfied of their weakness. 
But in lieu of objections as such able critics 
of socialism as Schaeffie raises, he offers objec- 
tions that would discredit the intelligence of a 
fifteen year old school boy. Yet, I make it a 
point to answer all objections that are offered, as 
I desire to set an example to my single-tax oppo- 
nents, who are usually shifty and evasive in re- 
gard to arguments offered against their theory. 

Will Mr. Borland permit me to say that he is 
guilty of gross and inexcusable ignorance in 
quoting Schaeffle as “an eminent socialist." On 
the contrary, he is a critic of socialism. He is 
sometimes called a “katheder socialist" or “so- 
cialist of the chair," but he is actually the author 
of a book going to prove that a social democ- 
racy is impossible! 

I shall next expect him to quote the brilliant 
epigrams and paradoxes of P. J. Proudhon as an- 
other “eminent socialist.” 

I shall have to defer some remarks I intended 
to make regarding the single- tax in New Zealand 
to a future paper. 


OUR NEW YORK LETTER. 


Reviewing current events gets to be gruesome 
*ork as the months go by and times get no bet- 
ter. It is really not unnatural that they should 
be so, for although it is the fashion to prophesy 
an immediate rebound in industry after the 
*orst of a crisis has passed, as a matter of fact, 
Ibe process of recovery is invariably a painfully 
*low one. All the same, it is none the less dis- 
a ffr®eable, and one cannot help a feeling of un- 
®asiness at the constantly recurring disturbances 
so long after matters seemed as if they ought to 
have been on the mend. The best advertised 
8 ytaptom of social disorder, the Coxey demon- 
stration, is the one of least serious im- 


port, and it is a satisfaction to see it dwin- 
dling so from any real consequence whatever. It 
could do no good and its barm now chiefly lies in 
the side light of ridicule which it casts on gen- 
uine distress and honest protest against evil con- 
ditions. When a body of men who have arro- 
gated to themselves the title to represent the op- 
posed masses of the American people, with 
however little authority, only make of themselves 
an absurd form of public nuisance, with just a 
shade of suspicion that their leader is shrewd 
enough to make his scheme for grasping at notor- 
iety, one which will earn him enough money to 
at all events reimburse him; it makes it all the 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


302 

harder to open the minds and consciences of the 
unthinking to the dangers which confront our 
civilization — all the easier for thosfe who from 
interest or stupidity are fighting any and all ef- 
forts to lift the burdens from our people, to con- 
fuse the issue. The diversion of public atten- 
tion has very probably greatly fortified our dis- 
graceful senate in its shameful procrastination 
and scramble for what was to be made out of the 
public necessity. 

For the senate’s delay in disposing of the 
tariff question — a delay which from whatever 
standpoint you view it, cannot but have helped 
to prolong the general distrust — the blame is not 
altogether to be laid at the door of the republi- 
cans or their avowedly protectionist allies in the 
democratic camp. The original responsibility 
rests with those democratic senators who could 
not lay aside their insistence on having a hand 
in legislation, and who must needs tinker the bilj 
out of shape, instead of bringing it to the point 
of a vote as it came to them from the house. It 
is the house which represents the people, and 
through it the people had spoken and the person- 
al vanity of touching up the bill with personal 
ideas had no right to stand in the way of the 
people s mandate — be it right or wrong. That is 
a lesson which most statesmen need to learn, but 
most especially those whose sense of importance 
has been inflated by advancement to that body 
which, where it is not an alliance for sordid 
grinding of private axes, is little more than a 
block to all useful public action 

Business men her$ talk a great deal about the 
waiting conditions of things pending the uncer- 
tainty of what sort of action will be taken on the 
tariff; to which, as an immediate cause, nearly 
everyone you meet is disposed to attribute the 
slowness of trade; but bad as the senate s behav- 
ior is and scandalous as is much of its motive, it 
is an open question whether its effect is not over- 
estimated just as it was found that the influence 
of currency uncertainty was exaggerated a year 
ago. Trade is far more probably suffering from 
the strangulation imposed upon it by our evil 
system of taxation, the culmination of which 
came in 1893, and from which it is naturally 
bard to recover even to the state of semi-pros- 
perity that existed six or eight years ago. Cer- 
tainly, uncertainty has had little to do with 
bringing about the trouble in the coal industry, 
from which the mine owners are actually profit- 
ing while the mine workers are suffering Right 
in the midst of the news of savage rioting in the 
bituminous coal fields, by the way, comes the 
regularly recurring collapse of the Reading gam- 
ble to remind us of the war that Frank Gowen 


waged with the Molly Maguires in the anthracite 
district, now almost a generation ago. We were 
new to labor troubles then, for the policy of pro- 
tecting American labor had not bad time to re- 
duce American laborers as near to slavery as they 
have now got; and to the public mind there 
seemed something so horrible in the stories of 
violence that came down from the Pennsylvania 
mountains, that Gowen was everywhere looked 
upon as a brave knight, fighting in the interest of 
public security. Yet, as we look back upon him 
in the light of subsequent events, he has come to 
be regarded as a conscienceless and reckless rail- 
road wrecker, the legacy of whose deeds has been 
the hopeless ruin of a magnificent property. If 
there is anything in the belief that retribution 
follows upon evil deeds, it is hard to resist the 
thought that to whatever evil passions the 
dreaded Mollies were aroused, the heavier crime 
may have rested upon the other side in the battle 

The fact is, that we are gradually rearing up a 
race of wild beasts, in whose evolution the law 
of compensation can most distinctly be seen 
The passengers on the pleasure coach running 
between New York and Philadelphia recently 
had an unpleasant illustration of this, such a 3 
rarely, doubtless, has come into their comfortable 
lives; and so unprovoked was it by any immed- 
iate action on their part that they could hardly 
be blamed for not seeing the other side. Any 
more harmless way of enjoying wealth could 
hardly be suggested than this trip through fine 
country in the glorious spring weather, on top of 
a well appointed coach, drawn by a spanning 
team of horses; but some of the wild beasts in 
Jersey City whose own chances for enjoyment 
had been so narrowed by the very conditions that 
contribute to the wealth of the coaching parties, 
in a spirit of pure hoodlumism, undertook to 
regularly mob the vehicle on its way through the 
slums in which they are crowded, instead of 
standing by to enjoy the pretty sight. It is a 
queer kind of tendency that calls forth an unpro- 
voked assault like this, and must excite indigna- 
tion in people who are fortunate enough to have 
inherited more civilized feelings; but yet it is in- 
dicative only of the forces which are driving the 
classes of our people apart, and destroying the 
old Americanism which gloried in equal justice 
and toleration — because there was equal oppor- 
tunity 

Local politics in New York have been agitated 
at a great rate recently, as the result of a some' 
what variegated collection of reform and inde- 
pendent movements in both parties, to which 
quite a stimulus has been given by Croker’s re- 
tirement from the active leadership of Tammany 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Concerning this latter event, a most prodigious 
amount of rubbish has been ventilated, the man- 
ufacturers of a good deal of which were sadly 
disappointed when the withdrawal turned out to 
be a genuine one; but promptly evolved the 
theory that he had been forced out. Between 
this and an equally probable theory that he was 
fleeing from the ridiculous thunders of Parkhurst 
and the attacks at this fall's elections of the as 
yet inchoate opposition to Tammany, the anti- 
Tammany papers have been vacillating; when 
he perfectly plain explanation was in sight that, 
having accumulate! a comfortable fortune and 
scored an unbroken record of success in politics, 
Croker has very naturally decided to take a turn 
at amusing himself. In looking back at his 
career there is really a good deal to admire; for 
while no one can call his political ideals high 
ones, they at least, have been straight forward 
and consistent; and though when he undertook to 
pose on national issues, he showed himself al- 
most as ignorant as many of our prominent 
bankers and society leaders, in his own chosen 
field he has certainly been a master of the art of 
so marshalling, men as to retain the genuine con- 
fidence of a large majority of our citizens. 
There is no hypocrisy, at least, in the 
methods of handling New York city 
politics, as a business organization which 
contracts for the job of administering mu- 
nicipal affairs avowedly for all that can be made 
out of it; and while the manner of compensating 
the engineers of the machinery — really by turn- 
ing over to them a percentage of the assessments 
levied upon the politically ambitious — is covered 
up with a good deal of secrecy, this is only a con- 
cession to a false idea of morality, since there is 
no reason why such services should not be hand- 
somely and openly paid for. 


3 C 3 

Next to politics our chief sensation of late has 
been the execution by strictly scientific means, of 
Tip, one of the elephants in Central Park me- 
nagerie, who bad become dangerous, as elephants 
sometimes will do. Mawkishness came to the 
front in this case, as usual, and pleaded for his 
life as if it were not as necessary to take it as that 
of a mad dog; but one very happy idea was 
brought out in the discussion — that there is a 
distinct element of cruelty in keeping menagerie 
animals cooped up in cages, instead of so con- 
triving their quarters that they might be sur- 
rounded with some of the conditions of woodland 
life to which they belong. We are learning so 
rapidly the lesson in all things except the way 
that we treat human beings, that nature is the 
best model for us to follow, that it seems strange 
we have not yet modified our menagerie regula- 
tions to conform in some measure to her laws. It 
would be asking too much, no doubt, to expect 
that we should shortly get to the point of progress 
where policemen would refrain from invoking the 
majesty of the law against unfortunate urchins 
who attempt to play base ball on Sunday, or 
where coal miners out of work while tenament 
house dwellers are suffering for fuel, might be 
permitted to employ their labor in the idle mines 
lying in sight of them, without paying toll to 
millionaire owners. But the dumb creation have 
plenty of wealthy and influential friends, whose 
lack of interest in pauperized men and women is 
well balanced by their indignation in behalf of 
an overworked horse or a starving cat; and it is 
strange that they do not come more readily to re- 
lief of the imprisoned monkeys and tigers and see 
that they have more room in which to stretch 
their limbs and incidentally afford more useful 
education in natural history to the spectators, to 
amuse and interest whom they are in confine- 
ment. Edw. J. Shriver. 


By the Wayside 


Notwithstanding the rustle and strife for wealth, 
a little sentiment manages to filter through the 
crust of worldliness occasionally; enough to prove 
that all the romance has not died out of our 
lives; that deep do*n in our hearts, buried, per- 
haps, beneath the debris of a busy life, there is 
something truer, finer than the love of money. 

A few days ago, in one of the humblest of 
humble cottages, a young girl lay dead. One of 
those homeless, friendless waifs that are drifted 
hither and thither by adverse circumstances, till 
they drift into the grave, or something worse. 
Kindly bands had made her decent for the grave, 
~-a pauper's grave, — but there were no flowers, 


nothing to indicate the "last lingering touch of 
loving fingers." 

A few of the "ragged edge" of humanity had 
gathered for a last look. The undertaker, screw- 
driver in hand, stood ready to close the coffin lid, 
when two rough laboringmen passing by paused 
for a moment, then joined the little group. One 
of them carried a cluster of wild flowers. Stand- 
ing with uncovered head and reverent air beside 
the coffin, gently and tenderly he laid them upon 
the lifeless breast, then silently withdrew. That 
was nothing! 

Well, perhaps it was nothing; but some day 
we shall hear it sung in the grand chorus of the 
1 music of the spheres," some day, when we have 
passed "over the border,” we shall see those 
simple flowers blooming in immortality. 

Josephine Brinkbrhoff. 


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Our readers who write to any of the firms advertising in these columns are requested to meet 

The Railway Conductor. 

E. E CLARK and WM. P. DANIELS, Managers. E. E. CLARK, Editor-in-Chiu 

W. N. GATES. Advertising Manager, *9 Euclid Avenue. Cleveland, O. 


THE NEW YORK MEETING. 


While the meeting was not as largely attended 
as had been predicted by the most sanguine, 
there were in attendance a large number of earn* 
est members and delegates. There were present 
175 regularly appointed delegates and a large 
number of other members 

While the meeting was generally spoken of as 
a convention it was in reality simply a union 
meeting Matters of far-rjaching and vital im- 
portance were exhaustively discussed and intelli- 
gently passed upon. The platform of general 
principles which was adopted gives a good gen- 
eral idea uf the more important matters consid- 
ered. It is to be hoped that the move set on foot 
at this meeting will be helped along and that the 
convictions of those who participated will force 
themselves upon others until the highest possible 
degree of good has been accomplished by united, 
consistent action. The salient points of the plat- 
form are: 

Our purposes and principles are to afford safety 
and comfort to the traveling public, and loyal and 
faithful service to our employers We demand 
compensation consistent with such services. 

To make a study of all questions affecting con- 
ditions of employment, and if possible to agree 
upon a line of action through which to secure 
favorable and proper legislation at the hands of 
state and national legislative bodies. 

The employes of the operating departments of 
railroads have the interests of the public in 
charge to a greater degree, perhaps, than any 
other class of workingmen, and the public should 
show a greater interest in promoting their general 
welfare, affording greater security to life and 
limb and a full protection in the vested rights of 
citizenship. 

While we recognize that the peculiar relations 
of the railway to the public make us in a degree 
quasi public servants, we deny that such relations 
in any way abridge our privileges as citizens or 
rights as workingmen. The decisions recently 
rendered by federal judges disclose a condition of 
affairs which invites the closest attention of legis- 


lators and calls for the exercise of broad and ■ -ne| 
statesmanship 

We strongly condemn the action of Jwfce 
Jenkins in issuing the oppressive and un-Am- | 
can writs which have emanated from his coo n, 
and heartily applaud and approve the straightfor 
ward and fearless manner in which the commi 
on judiciary of the house of representatives In 
laid bare such flagrant abuses of the powers 
privileges of a court of equity. We view r 
intense satisfaction the consistent manner 
which Judges Caldwell and Riner have given 
labor organizations just and proper recognition 
the courts. 

The time has arrived when organized lab : 
should apply a power which has long lain 
mant, by discarding entirely politics and pan j 
affiliations and by action at the ballot-box 
upon legislative lines exert an influence that 
be felt i 

We favor the selection of Railway Coinmvl 
sioners in the different states by a direct vote 
the people. i 

We favor a thorough organization of legist 
committees chosen from the ranks of organic 
labor in every state through state committees 
a national legislative board We favor the enxci ! 
ment of laws affording railway employes Sun6> 
rest so far as consistent with the imperative dr 
mands of the people. 

We favor the settlement of differences by aibi 
tration; and adequate protection to the employe 
against personal injury caused by negligence ot 
the part of co- employes or from defective road or 
equipment. 

We heartily endorse the idea of a thorough ud 
derstanding between all labor organization* 
reached by sending representatives to labor 
bodies and assemblies wherever convened. 

We favor the establishment of a daily newspa- 
per devoted to the interests of organized labor 

We recommend complete recognition of onion 
labels and the exclusive use of goods bearin| 
the same by all friends and members of organized 
labor. 

A standing committee to further the plans fee 
organizing legislative committees was appointed 
It was made up of C. E. Weisz, L 0 GilleUt 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 305 


C. A Wiisoo, V. Fitzpatrick. B. C. Abrams, M. 
F. Farrell, and Paul Switzer. 

The meeting was addressed in a highly appre- 
ciated manner by Samuel Gompers, President of 
the American Federation of Labor. Among other 
things Mr. Gompers said: 4 'Cling to your old 
Brotherhoods as you do to your faith in God; 
protect them as you would the mother who bore 
you. They have proven a bulwark of strength; 
their principles have been tried and not found 
wanting Preserve the individuality of each or- 
ganization as representative of a class of toilers, 
and build up such relations between the organiza- 
tions as will insure perfect harmony and will 
bring the assistance of the whole labor world to 
each or any class in consistent ways when needed. 
Any other plan which may be presented and the 
beauties of which are glowingly pictured, though 
prosperous for a time, but lulls labor into a dream 
of fancied security from which the awakening 
must be most disappointing." 

Mr. Daniel Harris, of the Cigar Maker’s Union, 
also addressed the meeting. 

The Conductor will, at some future time, de- 
vote some space to a showing of how labor unions 
can render to each other assistance of inestimable 
value, although their interests may seem to be in 
no way identical. 

One of the interesting features of the conven- 
tion was the public meeting held April 27th. In 
addressing this gathering Grand Chief Conductor 
Clark, who was chairman of the convention, 
said . 

CHAIRMAN CLARK’S ADDRESS. 

In undertaking to speak to you on the relations 
which these organizations bear to the public and 
to the employers of our members, I feel very 
much as did the colored gentleman who opened 
an address on the tariff question by saying, 
’‘Ladies and gentlemen, you do not know any- 
thing about this subject. Neither do I, and that 
is why I am going to explain it to you.” 

Six thousand years ago the edict went forth. 
"In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread." 
To the average human being those words mean, 
work or starve. If divine power had invested us 
with, or if the mind of man had been able to con- 
ceive of, some plan by which that edict could 
have been enforced upon and against each mem- 
ber of the human family, then had the question 
of master and servant ; employer and employe ; 
labor and capital ; unionism and non-unionism, 
been settled even before it became known. If 
none could eat bread except in the sweat of his 
face, we would have none of that class "Who 
toil not neither do they spin." 

The history of the world furnishes from the 
earliest days an unbroken record of oppression of 
one class by another and repeated rebellions of 
one kind or another. Slavery in some form has 
always existed, and the best efforts of head and 
hand on the part of the civilized world have been 


put forth ia the interests of its suppression. The 
children of Israel were held for years in bondage 
by Pharaoh and hardships and indignities with- 
out number and almost without parallel were 
imposed upon them. If the individual mur- 
mured. his task was made harder and his burdens 
heavier, or he heard the crack and felt the sting 
of the man driver’s lash. At last the oppression 
became unbearable, life under those conditions was 
no longer of value the worm turned, and fully 
realizing the impotency of individual action or 
complaint, they decided to act together, and as 
one man they refused to make bricks without 
straw. Pharaoh found that the old methods 
would no longer suffice, and he was obliged to 
yield and grant the demand for straw. There and 
then was recorded the first victory for organized 
labor, and from that time dates a determination 
on the part of the working classes to improve in 
some way their condition, a determination which 
has been relentlessly pursued through all the 
varying fortunes and conditions of the world ; a 
determination which has been handed down from 
father to son ; a determination which each suc- 
ceeding generation has done something toward 
carrying out ; a determination at the altar of 
which great sacrifices have been made and one 
which the present generation have made a part 
of their very being, and in pursuit of which they 
have never lagged. The present generation have 
solved many of the problems, have loosened 
many of the knots, have performed and are per- 
forming, nobly, their part, and will bequeath to 
their children the completion of the work, if 
unable to hand it down completed. 

It would be very interesting to follow this 
question step by step down the pages of history, 
but we must hasten on. The relations between 
the master and servant or of the masses being 
ruled by the classes was agitated and contested 
urged and resisted from the days of the bondage of 
the Israelites until it burned so fiercely that it 
kindled and fed the fires and passions of the 
French commune. This revolution was accom- 
panied by many scenes of needless and wanton 
destruction of life and property, and while we, of 
course, do not undertake to excuse vandalism, 
we do not forget and it cannot ba denied that 
there were engaged in that conflict-thousands of 
upright men who were honestly striving to better 
their condition, honestly battling for their 
rights, whose zeal in the cause was such 
as to render them willing to risk or even 
lose their lives, while deeds as heroic were per- 
formed and sacrifices as noble were made as can 
be boasted in any cause The fact that war is 
always accompanied by scenes of horror and 
cruelty is no argument against the cause in sup- 
port of which the war is declared or waged. 

Again putting on our "seven league boots" we 
stride down the halls of time, to the present. 
We find the same old question occupying a 
prominent place and attracting attention and 
thought in a degree second to very few of the 
matters which occupy the minds of the people. 
In fact we find it the burning issue of the day. 
We find the old ‘‘Master" in the form of cor- 
porate capital and the old "Servant" in the form 
of organized labor. 

In what I shall say of labor organizations I wish it 
understood that in speaking of such organizations 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


306 

I mean good organizations, just as in speaking fo 
corporate capital I mean capital composed of 
good money. 

Capital forms itself into corporations and com- 
binations for the purpose of accomplishing 
things and securing gains which cannot be ac- 
complished or secured by the segregated capital. 
Labor forms itself into organizations or societies 
for the purpose of accomplishing things and 
securing compensation (or gain) which cannot be 
accomplished by the individuals acting each for 
himself. Not much difference in the objects 
sought or in the manner of preparing to enter 
upon the effort, is there ? 

Capital, after operating in several corporations, 
for a time, forms itself into a larger combination 
or trust for the purpose of absolutely controlling 
the output or manufacture cf a certain article 
and by that means of fixing its price at a point 
satisfactory to them. 

Labor seeks by organizing into societies, each 
composed of a class of workers, to form a trust 
which would give them in a measure, control of 
the conditions under which that class shall labor 
and the compensation which they shall receive. 

Not very much difference between the two 
yet, except that, selfishness which is a com- 
ponent part of man and which dominates far too 
many, unfortunately helps to make the capi- 
talistic trust stronger and more cohesive, while 
it has an opposite effect upon the labor trust. 

Combined capital seeks by virtue of such com- 
bination to add dollars to the large number 
already accumulated, for no other purpose than 
to gain strength and influence and to pile up 
wealth far beyond that amount which can be 
either judiciously used for good or enjoyed. 
Combined labor, by virtue of such combination, 
seeks to secure to the workman his fair and just 
hire, thereby affording him opportunity under 
the exercise of economy, to make for himself a 
little home, to surround his loved ones with the 
comforts of life and give to his children the 
benefits of civilization and education, fitting them 
to wear with credit the garb of citizenship and 
to exercise intelligently the right of franchise. 

Go ask the one who has made a study cf our 
political structure ; go ask the members of the 
legislative or judiciary branches of our govern- 
ment ; go ask the clergy, go ask of whem you 
will, what is the strongest factor of strength in a 
republican form of government ? What, more 
than anything else, acts a* a foundation and pillar 
under the republic? As one man, they will answer, 
the home. The home, with its sacred influences 
for good ; the home, which is a lighthouse for 
the weary mariner on the sea of life ; the home 
which every man feels is his castle and which he 
is ever ready to defend even with his life, is a 
possession which inspires men to more noble 
efforts and achievements, to braver deeds and 
grander sacrifices, than any other influence 
which can possibly be brought to bear upon him. 
That home is his shrine wherein he worships at 
the feet of her whom he has crowned his queen, 
while the little ones join him in doing homage 
before her throne. Upon the altar of that 
shrine, he cheerfully lays the proceeds of his 
toil, and so long as that toil brings comfort to 
that home, contentment reigns and his employer, 


his country and his God have a willing servant 
and a loyal subject. 

Oblige that same man to work for a pittance 
which will afford him and bis neither home nor 
comforts and everything that is good in bis nature 
will become dulled while all that is rebellious and 
gross will come to the surface. The interests of 
the employer, his country and of Christianity and 
humanity will have suffered 

Nature, be it human or inanimate is much the 
same. If in the properly tilled soil of mother 
earth, or in the mind of one of her inhabitants 
good seed be sown and properly cultivated, 
abundant harvest of good will be the reward 
Neglect that soil, withhold the good seed and the 
cultivation and the reward will be a rank growth 
of noxious weeds and poisonous vines to sting 
and poison the innocent and unwary 

The advocates of low wages — be they whom 
they may — assail the best interests and perpetuity 
of our republic. The home is the foundation stone 
upon which rests our grand triumphal arch of 
government. Has it ever occurred to you that, 
at this titpe, labor organizations are the keystone 
of that arch? I assert that, today, nothing stands 
so sure and safe a shield between our government 
and socialism, communism and anarchy, as labor 
organizations. To them have men pinned their 
faith; they are based in and conducted upon 
principles of right and justice, within them it 
taught all that is good and true. Destroy tbtm 
not. for so to do would be to destroy that which is 
good, and out from organizations wbo*e teach 
ings are regard and respect for law and whose 
aim is to correct whatever may be wrong *n the 
economic or political structure without destroying 
it, you will drive thousands with every proba- 
bility that many will drift into organ ization* 
whose sole aim is the overthrow of all 
government and whose teachings are utter 
disregard of and disrespect for law. De- 
stroy them not, lest as a result 

we see the hand which now content- 

edly carries the dinner pail, bearing aloft 
the red flag, and hear the voice which now 
brings gladness to the home, inflamed with pas- 
sion, crying for revenge. Oh, my countrymen 
sow not that wind lest the harvest of the whirl- 
wind be of necessity reaped and from the pedes- 
tals upon which we have proudly placed them, 
the founders, saviors and defenders of the gov- 
ernment look down upon scenes they little 

thought possible under "a government of the 
people, by the people and for the people." I am 
no pessimist. I believe in the ultimate triumph 
of right and justice as I believe in Deity and the 
immortality of the soul. Government, though 
assailed, will not be overthrown, but it is our 
duty to study possible effects. Idleness prevails 
to an extent never before known. Discontent 
stalks through the land. The handwriting is 00 
the wall and it behooves us to guard carefully 
against probable or possible injury, that irrepar- 
able damage be not done before the one appkrs 
who will translate it. 

A mistaken idea is entertained that these or- 
ganizations are associations of men who blindly 
follow the dictates of a leader, a demagogue, who 
arbitrarily rules. An understanding farther from 
the truth it would be bard to imagine, certainly 10 
far as organizations of railway employes 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


307 


are concerned. These organisations are 
democratic in the extreme They pattern 
closely after the republican form of 
government and are in all things di- 
rected by the will of the majority. They 
have their constitutions, their statutes, their con- 
gresses. their presidents and their local bodies. 
Their officers are amenable to every law in the 
same degree as is each member. They possess 
positively no autocratic power and when you read 
(as you may) of one of them having ordered a 
strike, remember that before he had any power to 
order or sanction it, two-thirds of the members 
interested had voted in favor of such action. 
Without this two-thirds majority in favor, he is 
as powerless to direct the members to leave their 
employment as is the Goddess who guards and 
lights your harbor, while enlightening the world. 

These organizations have an abiding faith is 
the ultimate triumph of the right. They believe 
in the efficacy of intelligent discussion and 
argument. They never have resorted and never 
will resort to extremes except as an absolutely 
last resort and in support of a cause so eminently 
just that they would willingly submit it to the de- 
cision of a fair board of arbitrators, whose award 
they would accept in good faith. 

Another very mistaken idea in the minds of 
many not connected with labor organizations or 
railroads is, that a bitter enmity exists between 
us and our employers. Not so; many, many rail- 
way officials can be found who favor, and are 
glAd to have their men belong to these organiza- 
tions. A few weeks since a General Manager 
who was very appropriately spoken of by a United 
States Circuit Judge as "probably as able as any 
this country has ever produced,” testified in court, 
“that these labor organizations on this system 
have jmproved the morals and efficiency of the 
men and have rendered valuable aid to the com- 
pany.” 

Upon most systems of railway the employes 
entertain the highest feelings of loyalty to, and 


regard for, the interests of their employers. Men 
know when they are well treated and they appre- 
ciate it, and they reciprocate such treatment with 
loyal service. Very generally feelings of confi- 
dence and amicable relations exist. 

There are here representatives of other organi- 
zations who will perhaps tell you something of 
the personnel of these organizations; they will 
tell you of the grand work that is being done; 
they will tell you of the royal charities 
that have been dispensed by these organiza- 
tions; of the widows and orphans they have 
cared for; of the sublime principles ex- 
hibited in their mottoes. Perhaps they will 
bint at the bravery shown in hours of peril and 
of how death is fearlessly faced and unflinchingly 
met. in the discharge of simple duty and the ex- 
ercise of fidelity to the trust reposed in them I 
will but take time to say, that tenaciously cling- 
ing to, and earnestly striving for, that which they 
believe to be right, the men who make up these 
organizations will never "go like a galley slave, 
scourged to his dungeon,” but will be found on the 
battle field of life, doing yeoman-like service in 
support of their principles. 

No cause can boast more devoted followers. 
No principle can boast more earnest champions. 
No Country can need more noble defenders. All 
mankind can proudly claim them as kin and 
countrymen, for everyone of them feels, with 
every breath he draws, the soul stirring spirit 
which moved the poet to say to the workingman, 
"Stand up erect; thou hast the form and image 
of thy God.” 

Very appropriate and interesting addresses 
were also made by Grand Master Sargent, of the 
B. of L. F., and by Vice-Grand Master Mor- 
rissey, of the B. of R. T. These addresses con- 
tained so much that would make interesting and 
instructive reading that we regret not being able 
to reproduce them in full. 


THE AMERICAN RAILWAY UNION. 


So much energy has been expended by the pro- 
moters of this move in an effort to injure the old 
organizations of railway employes and to prove 
them colossal and dismal failures, it is certainly 
proper that we should look into the claimed 
beauties of the new organization. It is called a 
new idea. Except the effort to establish an or- 
ganization by ruining others in the hope of build- 
ing from, and upon, the ruius, there is not a new 
idea connected with it. Its constitution devotes 
the first fifteen pages to a "Declaration of Princi- 
ples.” With a view of searching for the new 
principles and to show in how closely they have 
adhered to those declared principles in formu- 
lating their laws and administering the affairs of 
the Union, we call attention to some of the more 
prominent features. 

The first claim made by the Union is that it 
proposes to get into an organization the thousands 


of railway employes who have never been organ- 
ized. As The Conductor has said before, if 
that were their mission and that object had been 
consistently sought by them, their advent would 
have been hailed by the old organizations. * In 
their declarations of principles which are gener- 
ally devoted to an effort to show that the old 
organizations are failures, we find ; 

“Never has there existed that mutual confidence with- 
out which it were misleading to assume that peace, amity 
and good will prevails. At best, therefore, this relation 
between employer and employe has been little better than 
an enforced compliance with conditions rarelv satisfac- 
tory to either party." 

Giving the officers of a large system of railroad 
notice by wire that, unless certain demands are 
complied with within three hours, the operation 
of their road will be stopped, as the first notice 
to the officers that conditions are not satisfactory, 
and, when the officers of the company undertake 
to correct some misunderstandings which exist, ad 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


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vising them that if they feel disposed to treat for 
terms, they can do so at any time after the strike 
has occurred, does not recommend itself to us as 
a speedy means of establishing that ' 'mutual con- 
fidence" which it seems the A. R. U. considers 
indispensable. 

Dealing with the question of seniority, their 
declaration of principles says : 

“What is required is a system of promotion that recog- 
nises and rewards merit rather than seniority. Other 
things being equal, seniority should, of course, have 
preference. In filling vacancies, selections should be 
made from the line of promotion and from the unem- 
ployed in a ratio, evincing due regard to the rights of 

Doth." 

We will be very glad if anyone will point out 
to us the difference between this and the policy 
that has been followed by our Order. 

Going a little farther into the declaration of 
principles, we find "The American Railway 
Union will include all classes of railway em- 
ployes, separately organized, yet all in harmonious 
alliance within one great brotherhood." 

C Section 24 of their law says: "A person of 
good moral character employed in the railway 
service is eligible to membership." 

(The italics and small capitals in these 
and subsequent comparisons are ours). By 
what course of reasoning the conclusion is 
reached that machinists, blacksmiths, car- 
penters. upholsterers, painters, iron mould- 
ers, laundry girls, etc., etc., who are em- 
ployed by a car building corporation are ' 'em 
ployed in the railway service" we are not advised. 
If it be on the ground that they build the cars 
which run upon the railroad, the argument would 
with equal consistency bring in all employes of 
car and locomotive building works, bridge work, 
rolling mills, tie contractors, etc., without limit. 
The following extract from the Chicago Times 
would indicate that in the A. R. U. the line is 
drawn nowhere : 

“The men employed at the brickyards were organized 
into unions Wednesday night. These men have been 
rather hard to organize on account of so many of them 
being foreigners who cannot speak a word or English. 
When they finally came to understand the objects of or- 
ganization they went about it in a wholesale way, joining 
both the American Railway union and the Chicago Brick- 
makers' union." 

Now, do not let us be misunderstood. We 
cast no slur at any one on account of bis or her 
occupation. We entertain the highest possible 
degree of respect for all followers of honest toil 
and we appreciate fully the propriety and desira- 
bility of having all these various classes of trades- 
men and tradeswomen organized. We hope to 
see them thoroughly organized and accomplish 
great good for themselves. The reference is 
made to show that the use of the word "Rail- 
way" in the name of the organization, its declar- 
ation of principles and its law governing eligibil- 


ity to membership is misleading, and to show that 
in this particular, instead of offering anything 
new, the A. R. U. is copying entire the plan of 
the Knights of Labor. In explanation of this, 
the Railiuay Times says, ' 'All roads lead to 
Rome. " 

Again the declaration of principles declares : 

“The expenditure required to maintain subordinate 
and grand lodges, every dollar of which is a tax upon 
labor, operates disastrously in two ways. First, in re- 
pelling men who' behave in organization, and second, by 
expelling members because of inability to meet the el- 
ections, and in both of which the much vaunted fraternity 
feature, it is seen, is based entirely upon tux asiutt 

TO PAY DUBS." 

Of course the A. R. U. would not, in face of 
that declaration, deprive anybody of membership 
on account of his neglect or refusal to pay does, 
hut Sec. 32 of their laws provides : 

“Any member failing to make payment of art dues 
or fees HKRKiN authorizbd shall be deprived of all bene 
fits of the order and if not paid within six months, the 

SECRETARY SHALL STRIKE HIS NAME FROM THE ROLLS." 

In proposing methods for reducing the expense 
to. or tax upon, members of organizations, this 
new dispensation offers nothing that it is not in 
the power of any of the conventions of grand 
divisions of the old organizations to enact into 
law. 

In the matter of insurance, they declare: "A 4 
present insurance entails grievous burdens witi 
no corresponding benefits," and they promise thii 
this problem will be solved. We do not know « 
much about this feature in organizations other 
than our own, but we do know that we are fur 
nishing insurance to our members at a moth less 
cost than they can secure it elsewhere and at as 
low a cost as it can be furnished because it is fur 
nisbed at actual cost. 

Particular emphasis is laid upon the fact that 
the old organizations have seen fit to invest their 
chief executive officers with authority to veto a 
proposed strike on any system of railroad. II 
the members of the organizations are ready to 
accept the idea that this is a power which should 
not be vested in an executive, they have hot to 
amend their laws, and we feel very safe in saying 
that the executive officers will most gladly be re- 
lieved of that responsibility, but if veto or sanc- 
tioning power is not vested in some officer or 
board, the idea of undertaking to furnish financial 
aid by any means other than voluntary donatioos 
will have to be abandoned. Again, we invite any 
one to point out a single instance in which the 
executive officers of the old organizations have 
exercised the veto power and prevented the men 
from exercising their will, since the organizations 
have affiliated in the settlement of complaints. 

The expense of annual and biennial conven- 
tions is, in the new organization, to be avoided 
by holding quadrennial meetings. In tbe matter 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 309 


of does other than grand dnes, they do just ex- 
actly what the old organizations have always 
done, viz: leave the matter entirely in the bands 
of the local division. While criticising the ex- 
pense of committees as provided in the old organ- 
izations, the laws of the new organization pro- 
vide that a local union shall have a “board of 
mediation," whose duty it is to examine into all 
complaints of members and undertake to adjust 
the same, failing in which, they shall call upon 
the representative officers, and it seemt to us 
simply nonsensical to urge that a committee will 
cost any less because they are called a board of 
mediation or that local unions will provide for 
slighter expense because they are called Unions 
instead of Lodges or Divisions. The laws of the 
Union do not provide what course shall be fol- 
lowed by the officers in undertaking to adjust 
grievances, but if we are to judge from the only 
reports we have been able to secure of the man- 
ner of conducting these matters in connection 
with the Great Northern Railway and the Poll- 
man Works at Pullman, 111 ., we must arrive at 
the conclusion that there is no fixed or definite 
line of policy or action. In the case at Pullman, 
according to all newspaper reports, certain com- 
plaints were filed with the officers of the com- 
pany which were made a matter of record and 
the officers of the company promised to immedi- 
ately enter upon an investigation of the same to 
ascertain their correctness, and, with that under- 
ders landing, the committees and the representa- 
tives of the company parted. On the second 
morning following, while the investigation was 
being made, ail employes went to work as usual 
and an hour later, without one moment’s notice, 
they were ordered out by the committee. It is 
said that neither officers nor committees have any 
authority to order a strike or declare it at an end, 
but in this case, at least, it seems that the com- 
mittee had enough authority to direct the move- 
ments of the members, and it has not been de- 
nied that Organizer Hogan ordered the strike on 
the Great Northern, contrary to advice given by 
President Debs. In an interview reported by 


Chicago dailies, just after the close of the Great 
Northern strike, President Debs is quoted as say- 
ing, that that was the first strike that bad been 
won \>y railway employes in twenty-five years. 
In an editorial in the Locomotive Fireman's 
Magazine for May, 1892. (not quite twenty* five 
years ago) speaking of the Canadian Pacific 
strike, Bro. Debs said: 

“The Orders — O. R. C. and B. R.T. — engaged 
in the strike on the western division of the C. P. 
have won a notable victory." 

Summing the matter all up, we repeat that the 
A. R. U. offers nothing in the line of policy, 
principles or propositions that is new. There is 
not a feature of the old organizations which is 
assailed by the advocates of this association as 
causes or sources of weakness that cannot easily 
be remedied by amending the laws of the old 
organizations if the membership generally believe 
that such amendments should be made. We 
maintain that the old organizations are governed 
entirely by the will of a proper majority and that 
will is expressed in their laws. Without laws 
carefully framed, properly and fairly construed 
and faithfully administered, there can be no or- 
ganization except in an empty name. If the old 
organizations do not meet the requirements of the 
times, it is much easier and much better for all 
concerned to convince the necessary majority of 
that fact and secure the enactment of snch laws 
as will bring about those conditions which should 
obtain, than to destroy the old organizations by 
creating discord and discontent and arraying the 
men themselves against each other with the hope 
of building a new organization on the ruins of 
the old. The policy advocated by the new organ- 
ization has been tried before, the same arguments 
and accusations have been nsed and made and 
the best efforts of a majority, at least, of the 
same men have before been put forth in an 
earnest effort to destroy some or all of the old 
organizations. The degree of success which 
crowned their efforts is a matter of history, and 
“history repeats itself." 


TRADE VS. PROFESSION. 


Thoughtful students of our institutions have 
frequently pointed out as an anomaly the social 
disfavor in which the mechanic arts and artisans 
have been held by too many of our people. It is 
indeed a proud boast that no American need be 
bounded in ambition by the accident of birth, 
but out of this wealth of opportunity and ease of 
transition to better conditions has grown a senti- 


ment as out of place among republican institu- 
tions as it is dangerous to their perpetuity. Too 
many of our young men have been made to feel 
that the only laudable ambition must lead them 
into some one of the so-called learned professions 
or among the money makers, while the handler 
of tools must accept of heavy social penalties, no 
matter how perfect or valuable his art. Of late 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


310 

years there has been something of a reaction 
against this illogical sentiment, and it behooves 
the working men to encourage by every means 
within their power every factor tending to bring 
about general recognition of the true dignity of 
mannal labor. Not the least potent of the fac- 
tors making for this end may be found in the 
manual and trade schools, now so numerous on 
both sides of the Atlantic, each of which has done 
an excellent service in restoring the craftsman to 
his proper position and in breaking down those 
absurd barriers erected by caste prejudice and 
tradition about the professions. Labor Commis- 
sioner Carroll D. Wright has recently published 
in book form his report upon Industrial Educa- 
tion, and it will be found one of the most 
interesting and valuable works yet sent out from 
that office. It not only demonstrates beyond 
question the value of such training to the young 


men, but opens the way, by the showing made, 
to profitable and honorable employment for 
many who might otherwise drag out a wearisome 
and tasteless life at the fag end of some profes- 
sion. The wonderful growth of all the mechanical 
sciences, the development of railroads and the 
miracles wrought by the magic of electricity, have 
opened up a new world of which the borders 
only have been explored, and in which the bright 
and capable boy may find not only field for his 
every endeavor, but reward in full for every step 
gained Nor need he longer fear the old time 
penalty, for the world is coming to recognize at 
its true worth the product of hands guided by ac- 
tive, intelligence and ' labor, the everlasting 
foundation of all material and intellectual good, 
will never again be found wanting when weighed 
in the balance against the wasteful and often 
useless adornments of our social structure. 


THE COAL MINERS' STRIKE. 


The strike of coal miners during the past month 
has been one of the most important and most ex- 
tensive movements ever made by organized 
labor in this or any other country. It was the de- 
sign of the gentlemen who had this movement in 
charge from the first to have it cover all the bitu- 
minous mines of the country and so well were their 
plans laid that, within a few days of commence- 
ment, they had practically accomplished their pur- 
pose. At first the people generally were but little 
concerned in the struggle, thinking it would be like 
too many such undertakings, simply local in its 
workings and effects. When it was found, how- 
ever, that the coal output of the country had been 
practically suppressed and that there was present 
danger of a famine of that necessity, the strike at 
once became the event of the hour. At the 
present time the strikers are fully holding their 
own and the indications all point to their win- 
ning their cause in the end. 

There can be no question but the coal miners 
have had abundant cause for striking, in many 
portions of the mining districts at least, and to 
those who have given the question careful study, 
the only wonder has been that they have notrisen 
before. Their wages have been cut repeatedly 
and the conditions surrounding them have been 
made so hard that they finally came to the con- 
clusion that they might as well starve to death in 
idleness as in slavish work. One evidence of the 
righteousness of their cause is to be found in the 
fact that the people who surround them and who 
naturally are the ones to best understand the 
rights of the matter, are strongly backing the 


miners in their battle. There is another ques- 
tion. however, and as it is a national one. it nat- 
urally is made paramount to all local matters 
The fundamental purpose of the strike seems to 
be more to secure a general equalization of pay 
than an all around increase. The fact that some 
districts were paying fair wages while others were 
starving their men could give no satisfaction to 
the more favored miners, as they could only ex- 
pect sooner or later ' to be brought to the same 
level with their more unfortunate brethren. 
Their employers must compete in the open markets 
with those who were paying starvation wages and 
an equalization would inevitably be demanded. In 
Illinois, for instance, the rates in the northern 
part have not been changed in five years, while in 
the southern portion they have been changed 
three times within that period. Those operators 
who paid the lower wage rate have had an obvi- 
ous advantage in the markets and their rivals can 
hardly be blamed for wishing to remove this 
handicap in some way. It is evident that a system 
of general regulation would at once remove this 
difficulty and if the present struggle can bring 
about the needed change it will not have been in 
vain. 

Why there should be such a difference in the 
rates paid in the Pittsburg district and in the 
Hocking Valley does not appear and can be ac- 
counted for (from our point of observation) only 
by the fact that the miners in the Pittsburg district 
have, by unity of action, succeeded in maintain- 
ing the rates which the others have allowed to be 
reduced. A very small increase in the amonnt 


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THE RAILWAY 

paid per ton by the consumer would bring pros- 
perity and plenty to the man who works his life 
out “down in a coal rpine." There would proba- 
bly be no objections on tbe part of the operators 
to paying the slight increase were it not for the 
contracts they have made, based on the old rates. 
It is suggested that, as a means of reaching an 
amicable settlement, the railroads surrender the 
contracts which they now hold and make new 
ones based on the higher rates. Why a railroad 
should be expected to surrender a valuable con- 
tract any more than any other concern, does not 
appear. The operators were supposed to know 
what they were doing when they made the con- 
tracts, and if it were the other ox that was being 
gored they would surrender their contracts, “I 
don’* think." 

The riots and other violent demonstrations that 
have too frequently attended this strike, as it de- 
veloped in different portions of the country, seem 
to have been participated in by foreign miners 
almost exclusively, and for their presence and 
doings the operators have themselves only to 
thank. They drove honest and law-abiding native 


CONDUCTOR. 31 1 

workmen from them and filled their places with 
foreigners, imported because they were cheap and 
because the bosses thought they could handle 
men fresh from the oppressions of the old world 
without fear of their resisting. Their importa- 
tion now seems to have proven the throwing of a 
boomerang and the operators need expect no sym- 
pathy when they suffer by the turning of their 
own weapon. It is barely possible the owners of 
American coal mines may learn in time that both 
their pockdts and patriotism will profit in the long 
run by paying living wages to self-respecting 
fellow citizens, who are willing to do a good day’s 
work for a good day’s pay, are anxious to build 
homes for themselves and families, and are en- 
thusiastic in their support of republican in- 
stitutions. 

As is always the ca& where outbreaks of this 
sort are made, organized labor generally will be 
made to bear the greater portion of the blame, 
but the public will do well to bear in mind that 
this disregard for law and authority is but the 
sprouting of seed sown under other forms of gov- 
ernment and imported with the foul soil in which 
it thrives 


A PROGRESSIVE THOUGHT. 


The proper sanitation of passenger cars is being 
given especial attention by railroad specialists 
just now. and important reforms in that direction 
will doubtless be made in the near future. The 
questions of proper car ventilation and the trans- 
portation of persons suffering from infectious dis- 
eases have been given prominent place upon the 
programs presented at the recent conventions of 
railway surgeons and most interesting discussions 
have resulted Growing out of this the follow- 
ing suggestion, relating especially to the question 
of transportation, was recently made by a well 
known member of the medical staff of one of the 
great eastern lines, through the Pittsburgh Post: 

“While the proper ventilation of coaches as a 
safeguard against infectious diseases may yet be 
greatly improved on, the railway companies of 
the country seem to have made no great progress 
in guarding the traveling public against the 
spread of disease by allowing invalid persons to 
occupy the same compartments with healthy 
passengers. This is an evil that has been 
tolerated by far too long already, and travelers 
have begun to get their eyes opened to the dan- 
gers of such a custom. 

“During the spring season, especially, all the 
trains which touch the watering places and 
health resorts carry countless numbers of pas- 
sengers who are suffering from diseases which 
may be imparted to others en route. I see only 
one practicable solution to this error, and that is 


for the companies to provide hospital cars on 
their lines for the conveyance of such persons. 
It will probably be said that this will necessitate 
great expense and will not be profitable for the 
companies. This is true. It is also true that 
the dining car of to-day is maintained at a dead 
loss to the companies, but as a luxury the travel- 
ing public demand it. 

“Since this is the case it would be reasonable 
to think that when the safety of tbe passenger is 
at stake the company could better afford to lose 
money if by so doing this danger would be re- 
moved. However, the expense of a hospital car 
could be lessened by running it only at stated 
periods to health resorts and publishing this fact 
beforehand. There have been cases under my 
own observation where perfectly healthy passen- 
gers have contracted contagious diseases by 
traveling in a berth previously occupied by an 
invalid. 

“I believe that within the next few years this 
difficulty will be effectualfy remedied, and when 
it is the railroads will have done a noble act in 
the protection of their passenger traffic*" 

This is a matter in which trainmen are espe- 
cially interested, a* they almost live on their 
trains and are forced to come directly in contact 
with whatever principles of contagion the cars 
may contain. Their danger is necessarily much 
greater than that of the passengers and they have 
a correspondingly greater right to demand that 
every possible safeguard be thrown about the 
performance of their duty. 


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312 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

EIGHT HOUR DAY. 


No one event has given more encouragement to 
the friends of the eight hour day than the won- 
derfully successful results of the extended experi- 
ments recently concluded by Mr. William Mather 
of England. The Salford Iron Works, employ- 
ing about 1,500 men, were used for these experi- 
ments, and it will at once be seen that a splendid 
field was thus afforded for the securing of aver- 
ages worthy of being relied upon. It had been 
the custom in this establishment to work the men 
fifty-three hours a week, but something over a 
year ago it was determined to cut these hours 
down to forty-eight for a scientific economic ex- 
periment. Ext^a care was t%ken in keeping the 
accounts of the work done in every department 
during the year and the» result was a complete 
vindication of the eight hour principle. The 
reduction of the hours by ten per cent made 
practically no difference in the amount of work 
turned out, as the slight reduction of the half of 
one per cent was more than counterbalaced by 
the saving effected in other directions. This is 
conclusive, in so far as any such experiment can 
be, and the cause is already feeling a new impe- 
tus from the moral support it has given. In 
speaking of this fruitful experiment and the re- 


sults that may follow the Review of Reviews tor 
May says: 

Mr. Mather’s experiment does not stand alone, 
but it is the most remarkable of its kind. It has 
convinced the British government, which has 
now introduced the eight hours system into the 
dockyards and arsenals; and it will probably 
avail to carry the eight hours bill for miners. It 
is difficult to overestimate the importance of this 
demonstration of the superiority of the eight 
hours day. It will be felt not only in England 
but throughout the whole world. Whether it 
will tend in favor of a legal enactment of an eight 
hours day is another question. It may operate 
in an opposite direction. If English employers 
are convinced by the experience of Mr. Mather 
and his experiment in his iron works at Salford; 
of Mr. Allen in his engineering works at Sunder- 
land; and of the British government in their 
arsenals and dock yards, that it is better to work 
forty- eight hours a week rather than fifty-three, 
they may adopt the forty eight hours week so<gen- 
erally as to give almost irresistible strength to the 
argument of those who Relieve in voluntary ac- 
tion rather than in state coercion. On the other 
hand, it is quite possible that employers may 
join with employed in demanding a legal sanction 
for the eight hours working day, which will hajve 
practically been fixed by experiment and negotia- 
tion before being presented for the legislative im- 
primatur. 


MAKE IT CLEAR. 


By the time this number of the Conductor 
reaches its readers the conference called to meet 
in Washington for the purpose of considering the 
Inter-State commerce act, will doubtless have its 
labors well under way. The call for this gather- 
ing was issued by the subcommittee of the rail- 
road committee of the House of Representatives 
and the Inter-State Commerce commission, and 
they expect to have with them committees from 
the National Transportation Association, the Na- 
tional Board of Trade and the Association of State 
Railroad Commissioners. All of these interests 
will be asked to give* expression to their views 
upon the amendments needed to make the law 
effective and to secure from it the good results 
hoped for by its proponents. Among the amend- 
ments to be discussed will be one, presented by 
the railroads, allowing them to return to the prac- 
tice of pooling. The mercantile interests of the 
country are said to favor pooling but are more in- 
terested in giving the law vitality by making the 
corporations directly liable for infringements of 


it rather than seekiag to place the penalty upon 
shippers and railroad officials. It has been 
thought by some that these two interests would 
combine and that the changes advocated by each 
would be made. Railroad employes are also in- 
terested in having this act amended in another 
particular. They demard that it be so changed as. 
to clearly and definitely define the purposes to 
which its provisions may be applied, leaving no 
ambiguity of expression to be distorted by able 
attorneys and pliant courts into means for their 
oppression. Instances in which this same enact- 
ment has been made, by forced construction, to 
serve corporate ends entirely foreign to its evi- 
dent and avowed purpose are still too fresh in 
mind to need repetition and such perversions of 
justice should be made impossible in the future. 
If all these changes could be made the law might 
become a power for good instead of a standing 
disgrace to our system of jurisprudence and a 
menace to the rights of our people. Make it 
clear, gentlemen, and confine it to its legitimate 
sphere as well as the intent of its framers. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

A STRONG ENDORSEMENT. 


313 


Daring the recent convention of the B. of L. E. 
in St. Paul the following resolutions were offered 
and adopted, practically without opposition: 

" Whereas, The attention of this grand body 
has been called to the fact that Senator Walsh 
has presented in the United States senate a bill 
(number and title not known) making it a crime 
punishable by imprisonment from one to twenty 
years to retard or obstruct the passage of any 
train carrying the United States mail; and 

"Whereas, No special trains are designated as 
the mail trains in this bill, that by ihe provisions 
of said bill any engine or train upon which a mail 
sack may be placed for transportation may be 
construed by law to mean in every sense a mail 
train; therefore, be it 

"Resolved, That this convention do consider 
this a pernicious bill, the purpose of which is to 
prevent organizations from securing, by the only 
means in their power, redress for their griev- 
ances and just compensation for their services. 


1 'This committee therefore recommends that all 
Divisions throughout the country present a copy 
of this resolution to their respective senators and 
members of congress, urging the defeat of this 
bill; also that the grand officers be requested to 
take proper steps to secure the same object. 

"We further recommend that this resolution be 
sent to subdivisions in circular form from the 
grand office, in order that it will receive prompt 
attention." 

The Conductor has contended from the first 
that this and kindred measures were not pre* 
sented in good faith, but were simply intended to 
cloak further designs of the corporations upon 
the rights of their men. We welcome this strong 
endorsement of our position and again call upon 
the friends of labor to be constantly upon their 
guard against all such specious attempts to arm 
the corporations with the club of the federal 
statutes. 


European philanthropists are now engaged in 
organizing for a conference by which they hope 
to secure the adoption of some sort of interna- 
tional agreement looking toward the more humane 
treatment of prisoners of war. There can be no 
question as to the horrors of this captivity, even, 
when the most civilized nations are at variance, 
and any measures that may tend to their mitiga- 
tion will meet with ready acceptance. These 
learned gentlemen will do well to remember, 
however, that the best way to prevent these and 


the thousand other horrors attendant upon such 
conditions is to prevent the war. An enlightened 
public sentiment is carrying civilization further 
from such brutal methods every year, and it may 
be that this conference can do as much for hu- 
manity by assisting in the evolution of this senti- 
timent as by providing for a condition which 
should never again be possible among enlightened 
peoples. Arbitration is the proper method of 
settling disputes which involve the interests of 
others than the disputants themselves. 


COMMENT. 


When a man like Archbishop Ireland appears 
before a body of workingmen for the purpose of 
discussing the labor problem, one may be excused 
for expecting that such a man will illuminate his 
subject with some new ideas, or, at least, indicate 
a true ethical basis from which workingmen 
ought to proceed to establish correct conditions 
for the exercise of their labor. But, in his speech 
to the Engineers at their St. Paul convention, the 
Archbishop did nothing of the kind. He said 
nothing that sheds a single ray of light on the 
momentous problems that are now agitating the 
world, nor contributes anything towards their 
solution. His speech was the usual mixture of 
truth and error, platitude and homily, ethical 
fact and economic fancy; stripped of its embel- 
lishment of rhetoric, there is not much to it. 
"The interests and rights of labor! Often have 
I pleaded for them, and lovingly do I plead for 
them now." 

Wbat be said on this branch of his subject is in 


line with his eloquent introduction. It is taffy; 
such as has been dealt out to workingmen from 
pulpit and rostrum, ever since the world has come 
to recognize that workingmen have any rights at 
all. It does not fill the bill. Let it rest. But 
the Archbishop's luminous expositions of the re- 
lations of labor and capital deserve some com- 
ment, not because he said anything on the sub- 
ject that had not been said a thousand times be- 
fore, but because he said a great deal that is er- 
roneous. 

# # # 

"Property," he said, "is the very foundation 
stone of the social fabric; it is the incentive 
and reward of industry and energy. He 
who menaces property is an anarchist 
and the anarchist is the deadly foe of 
order, of right, of society. He is the wild beast, 
solely bent on destruction, from which security 
and civilization never can drift. Without capital 
the millions of willing workmen are idle and fac- 


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3H 


tory doors remain closed; fields are untilled, 
mines hold their treasures in concealment, no 
ships plow the seas, no railroads span continents. 
Without capital, labor is a latent, unproductive 
energy. Why to-day are there among us legions 
of unemployed? Because capital hies away from 
us. It is an easy matter in club room and on 
public square to discuss capital and its obliga- 
tions. As a matter of fact, capital is timid of its 
life. It will shun you and leave you to beat the 
air with your idle arms. The laws of the finan- 
cial world are as inflexible as those of the four 
seasons of the year; the state or the country in 
which, through mob riots or oppressive statutes, 
property is endangered or made unproductive, 
will be surely abandoned to their own sterile re- 
sources." 

* * * 

I am inclined to examine the Archbishop’s 
propositions, seriatim, and indicate their fallacy : 

1. "Property is the very foundation stone of 
the social fabric; it is the incentive and reward of 
industry and energy." 

That property is the foundation stone of the 
social fabric may be admitted, although it is a de- 
batable proposition, but that the present constitu- 
tion of property is so, must be denied. The 
present Constitution of property is destructive of 
social order; it is tending to destroy our civiliza- 
tion, just as surely as it destroyed the civilization 
of old Rome, from whence it has been derived. 
If property were the reward of industry and en- 
ergy there would be no labor problem. It is just 
because the exertion of legitimate industry and 
energy does not issue in the possession of prop- 
erty that we have intense unrest throughout the 
fairest country on earth to-day; it is because the 
industry of the average workingman is so barren 
of good to himself that we have a labor problem, 
and it is this that transforms our civilization, for 
the majority of God's children, into a dream of 
despair. Shrewdness, cunning, the arts of the 
confidence man and gambler, legislative bribery 
which issues in grants of monopoly and privilege 
to a favored few, and not industry and energy, 
are the instruments and forces by which men ac- 
quire property in this age of the world. The 
man who depends alone on his industry and en- 
ergy can hope for no more than a bare living, 
while a favored few, without industry and with- 
out energy, riot in luxury and enjoy the fruits of 
bis labor. This is what gives weight to his pro- 
test. 

2. "He who menaces property is an anarchist." 

We may admit this, but it is an insult to intel- 
ligent workingmen when such propositions are in- 
jected into a discussion calculated for their ears 


alone. The real anarchists, in the sense in which 
the Archbishop uses the term, the destroyers of 
property, are not to be found in the ranks of 
workingmen. Those who "devour widow* 
houses and, for a pretence, make long prayer r" 
those who wreck railroads and wax fat on the 
spoils exacted from the distress of others, those 
who bribe legislatures and obtain control of the 
sources of other men's existence, those whose 
acts have issued in the great uprising of the un- 
employed now marching on the national capitol. 
are the anarchists from whom society has all to 
fear. It is they who must be suppressed and 
their acts condemned before we shall ever have 
peace. They are the real destroyers of property; 
the fanatics who attempt to rectify the abuses of 
society by the inciting of mob riots and the ex- 
plosion of dynamite bombs are the natural com- 
plement to those greater anarchists who absorb 
the property of others through processes of law. 
The extinction of the greater must precede the 
extinction of the less. 

3. "Without capital the millions of willing 
workmen are idle and factory doors remain 
closed; fields are untilled, mines hold their treas- 
ures in concealment, no ships plough the seas, 
no railroads span continents." 

The logic of this proposition is rather muddy. 
Let us substitute another term for the term 
"capital": Without labor the millions of capital 
are idle and factory doors remain closed ; fields 
are untilled, mines hold their treasures in con- 
concealment, no ships plough the seas, no rail- 
roads span continents. We may let the propo- 
sition rest here. 

4. "Without capital, labor is a latent, unpro- 
ductive energy." 

Never did greater fallacy than this proceed 
from the mouth of man. Labor is the product- 
ive energy. Without labor, capital is inert, life- 
less, as incapable of movement as a block of 
wood. Capital is the tool of labor, has been pro- 
duced by labor, and without labor it tends only 
to decay and dissolution into its original elements. 
Capital produces absolutely nothing apart from 
labor. Labor is the only productive, life-giving 
principle in the human constitution. Nature 
recognizes no productive principle outside of 
human labor; she returns her increase to the 
hand of labor alone. Labor has produced all 
capital, and labor alone maintains it intact All 
capital might be utterly destroyed to-morrow, 
and by giving labor free access to nature it (capi- 
tal) might be restored again and not a single 
human being need suffer the pangs of hunger by 
consequence of such destruction. How foolish, 


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then, are those who attempt to exalt capital above 
tabor. 

5. “Why to day are there among us legions 
of unemployed? Because capital hies away from 
us/' 

This is foolishness. Capital cannot hie away 
from us. Capital is inert, soulless, devoid of all 
life. It is incapable of movement unless acted 
upon by forces outside of itself. It cannot “hie” 
of itself, but must remain dormant because of its 
very nature. There are legions of unemployed 
among us to-day, not ' ‘because capital hies away 
from us,” — as a matter of fact, there is an abund- 
ance of capital in all parts of the country — but 
because the capitalists, who are the absolute 
owners of capital, refuse to permit workingmen 
to produce wealth, refuse labor the right to exer- 
cise its productive energy. 

6. “As a matter of fact, capital is timid of its 
life. It will shun you and leave yon to beat the 
air with your idle arms.” 

As a matter of fact, capital has no life, and, 
therefore, is incapable of exhibiting timidity, 
boldness, or any other emotion. It cannot 
leave labor to beat the air with idle arms. Capi- 
tal is not timid of its life, but the capitalist is 
greedy of his profits. It is the capitalist, not 
capital, that compels workingmen to beat the air 
with idle arms; and it is because of his con- 
trol of the very sources of their existence that he 
is enabled to do so. 

7. “The laws of the financial world are as 
inflexible as those of the four seasons of the year; 
the state or the country in which, through mob 
riots or oppressive statutes, property is endan- 
gered or made unproductive, will be surely 
abandoned to their own sterile resources.” 

The laws of the financial world are not as in- 
flexible as those of the four seasons of the year, 
since the laws of the financial world are the cre- 
ation of man and may be manipulated and altered 
by man, while the laws of nature are entirely 
beyond the influence of puny man; he can only 
apply the laws of nature for his own benefit but 
he cannot change them. But there is a well de- 
fined suspicion that the so-called “laws of the 
financial world” are being manipulated and 
altered upon every occasion that prespnts itself 


to the view of the few monopolists and blood- 
suckers who have created those laws, so as to rob 
and oppress the wealth producers of the country 
and permit the few who are the beneficiaries of 
those laws to riot in luxury on the fruits of the 
labor of the aforesaid wealth producers; and 
there are many, who are much better informed in 
this matter than Archbishop Ireland, who are 
loudly and persistently demanding a change in 
the laws governing our financial world. The im- 
mense accumulation of wealth in this country, 
all of which has been produced by labor from 
our natural resources, is sufficient to show that 
those resources are not “sterile.” All that 
labor demands to-day is the removal of “oppress- 
ive statutes” that working men may apply to those 
resources, and produce property for themselves, 
and after they have produced it that they may be 
permitted to enjoy it in peace and quietness, free 
from toll and tribute to parasites of any sort. 
That is all there is to the labor problem. 

* * * 

Those who discuss the labor problem should 
learn that it cannot be intelligently discussed in a 
fog. They should learn to use the terms relating 
to it in their proper sense. Workingmen make 
no war on legitimate property, they simply de- 
mand the right to produce legitimate property for 
themselves, and to live the lives of human 
beings; they make no war on capital, but the 
capitalist who is permitted to control the sources 
of their existence, and reduce them to the condi- 
tion of serfs through processes of law, must be 
suppressed, he must be sheared of his power to 
oppress his fellow human beings, his property 
must represent the fruits of his own legitimate 
exertion, and not the fruits of the exertion of 
others, which has been wrung from their very 
heart’s blood, turning their lives into one dreary 
and hopeless round of toil and despair. The 
property system which permits some men to con- 
trol the sources of the existence of others, and 
compels men to depend on their fellow men for 
favors which they should receive from the Cre- 
ator of the Universe alone, is an unnatural and 
vicious one; it will destroy our civilization just as 
surely as it has destroyed the civilizations that are 
now dead and buried. B. 


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Detroit, Mich., May 16, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

The session of Division 48, O. R. C. , on the 
first Sunday in last April, was made memorable 
by the introduction of the ladies of Detroit 
Division No. 44, Ladies' Auxiliary to O. R. C. 
This ceremony was performed by Bro. J. E. 
Tremblay just as the business of the meeting was 
being brought to a close, and all the members 
joined in giving the ladies a warm welcome. 
After addresses by Bros. Milard, of Chicago, and 
Anderson, of Windsor, Mrs. J. E. Tremblay re- 
sponded in behalf of the visitors, with an original 
essay, prepared for the occasion. At the close of 
this interesting program the officers of Division 
44 announced to the Brothers that, if they would 
chain up their goat and not allow him to scamper 
around, they would serve refreshments. This 
was done, and after enjoying thoroughly the feast 
and spending a very pleasant social hour, all 
departed, well pleased with their "April Fool" in 
disguise. 

We of Division 44 are slowly but surely as- 
cending the ladder of prosperity, much to the sur- 
prise of those who predicted our early death as 
an organization. They evidently forgot that "the 
hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that 
rules the world." We are fully able to pilot our 
train, single-handed, if necessary. If more of the 
Brothers were like the one who signs himself 
"Irish" in the March number and would read 
each Conductor thoroughly, they would be 
greatly benefited, both morally and socially by 
the good advice it contains, and we would soon 
be all working together instead of in different di- 
rections, as is now too often the case. Some of 
the Brothers appear to be under the impression 
that we do nothing but canvass their outside 
affairs, as it were, and will not allow their wives 
to join. Our advice is, "do right and fear not." 
A good man is a modest man, and a modest man 
is a "ladies' man." Our works of charity are 
never lost; they may be of little direct benefit to 
their particular objects, yet they leave an impress 

Digi 


of beauty and grace upon the heart of the giver. 
Yours in T. F., 

' Mrs. J. E. Tremblay. 

[The essay read by Sister Tremblay is crowded 
out. It was a very ingenious poem, working 10 
the names of many, supposably members of 44. 
—Ed.] 


St. Louis, Mo., May 30, 1894. | 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

A number of years ago, I think the year of oui 
first trades procession, one of the large floats was 
loaded with whistles of all sizes and all in Ivi) f 
blast, from the stentorian notes of the large* j 
steamboat or locomotive whistle down to the * 
shrill pipe of the penny whistle, beloved of the , 
small boy. On the side of the car was the 
legend: "Whoso tootetb not his own born, the < 
same shall not be tooted." So here I come, 
month after month, sounding the penny whistle , 
for our Auxiliary, with nothing to tell except the * 
small chronicles of everyday life in our small 
circle. We are few in number, but active. 

Our entertainment May 17th was successful 
every way and we are very proud and happy 
about it. The "O Why" degree and the manner 
in which it was worked, would have satisfied the 
hearts of our Toledo sisters. A large number of 
conductors were initiated into the sublime myste- 
ries of the degree, and we hope are, if sadder, at 
least wiser men. At our annual ball we hope to 
have more candidates. 

The captain of the Guard wishes here, pub- 
licly, to tender her heartfelt thanks to the asters 
who so faithfully and zealously assisted her, so 
that we know that it was very far from being a 
failure. Sisters Gillen and Bucklen had charge 
of the fancy goods table. Many beautiful things 
had been donated. Miss Mamie Arnold worked 
a lovely center piece and a dozen doilies; a large 
lamp shade donated by Sister Gillen, a silk scarf 
from Sister Marsh; blackbirds from Sister Flory; 
paper balls made by Sister Cory, were among the 
many pretty things I can call to mind. The sap* 
kins of the Auxiliary were sold separately, that 

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each might purchase if we wished. Sisters Lewis 
and Stinson had charge of the refreshments, 
while Sister Ryan smilingly gathered in the 
•‘coin of the realm." Among our guests we were 
pleased to see Bro. and Mrs. Merrifield and Mrs. 
Merrifield, Jr. Mrs. W. G. Brownlee and her 
cousin, Mrs. Stanton, were present a short time. 
We all remember Mr. Stanton, the genial con- 
ductor who took the gaily decorated train from 
St. Louis to Toledo last May. His wife has our 
hearty sympathy in her bereavement. 

Sister Williams, of Kirkwood, was initiated at 
the first meeting in the month. We most cordially 
welcomed her to our circle, and immediately put 
her to wonk for the entertainment. We were 
sorry that Sister Arnold was not with us, but she 
is in Colorado in search of health and much 
needed rest, after nursing her son through a long 
illness. We hope to see her greatly benefited on 
her return. 

Sister Flory will have the next tea at her lovely 
new home. Why will not more of the Brothers 
attend with their wives? They would surely be 
honored guests. We intend to dispense with any 
raffle at the teas during the summer, so just a 
social time is what we may expect. I hope all 
will attend and see what pleasant afternoons we 
can enjoy, leaving all cares aside for the two 
or three hours. 'Tis well for the body as the soul. 

Mrs. Jno. B. French. 


Memphis, Tenn., May 5, 1894. 
Editor Railivay Conductor : 

It may be that others outside of Division 29 
will look forward to renewed energy on the part 
of this Division — as we are now the proud pos- 
sessors of the “Dustan Medal." I regret not 
being able to say such is a fact. We have had 
three meetings since my last letter and the at- 
tendance grows beautifully less. In March last 
we put it to a vote as to our meeting days, many 
objecting to Sunday as meeting day and others as 
earnestly urging Sunday meetings, as that is the 
regular meeting day for the O. R. C., so we com- 
promised and met the first Wednesday and third 
Sunday of each month, hoping to have our num- 
bers increased. Our last meeting, May 2d, but 
five members attended, notwithstanding the 
weather was perfect. Our president, who is ever 
on duty, and two other officers, our secretary- 
treasurer being detained by sickness in her little 
family. Those who fought most earnestly for 
week day meetings were conspicuous by their ab- 
duce. Sisters, let me ask through the columns 
of the Conductor — as I know you all read that 


317 

with great interest — to awake to your own inter- 
est and to that of our Division, and be more 
prompt. We cannot hope to hold the medal an- 
other year unless we take greater interest. Our 
generous and ever thoughtful president had urged 
through the columns of the daily press, a full at- 
tendance at our last meeting, May 2d, and but 
five members answered to roll call, one of whom 
came a distance of forty miles. Think of it, 
sisters, and many of you live within forty squares. 
Had we all known what was in store for us I 
don't believe there would have been so many ab- 
sentees. Not only spicy business, we had icy 
business — a delightful spread of ices and cakes. 
Ah, how we feasted and wished for the absent 
ones. Our president, “the president,” Mrs. Sam 
Dustan, never does things by halves. If all 
would take half the interest in our Order that 
she, with one or two others do, we would be truly 
the Banner Division. Hoping to be able to say 
in my next to your readers that every member 
answered to roll call, on May 15, I shall ask most 
earnestly God’s blessing upon our Order when- 
ever it exists. Yours in T. T., 

Mrs. W. H. S. 


Andrews, Ind., May 27, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

No doubt some one would be pleased lo hear 
from our little Division, which, at the present 
time is flourishing. We are increasing in num- 
bers all the time. 

Friendly Hand Division No. 125, O. R. C., 
have recently purchased a building in which to 
hold their meetings, and, as we also meet in their 
hall we will help them to furnish it. Each mem- 
ber of our Division has pledged herself to earn 
$10, and in whatever way any one may decide to 
earn this sum we are all expected to help her. I 
give this plan, thinking some other Divisions 
may also profit by it. Sister F. W. Wells gave a 
supper April 24th, which was a success socially 
and financially, she realizing twice the sum she 
was to earn. .May 25 Sisters Sullivan and Thorn- 
burg gave a ball which was also a success, and as 
people must always eat, Sister Romy served ice 
cream and cake, also coffee and cake. So you 
see our plan works nicely, but I would make a 
suggestion to larger Divisions, that is, they need 
not pledge so large a sum. I enjoy reading the 
Woman’s Department so much. I will close with 
best wishes from our Division to all sister 
Divisions, Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. Jessie Gunn. 


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Covington, Ky., May 2, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

I was interested very much in Brother Welch's 
article on seniority in the April Conductor. 
While everything that Brother Welch says is 
true, we do not think that he said enough, or got 
to the bottom of the subject. 

A great many people, when they talk about 
seniority, do not mean it. They want seniority 
for themselves but do not want it for anyone else. 
They want the B. R. T. to abolish it, but do not 
want the O. R. C. to abolish it. 

Let "What is sauce for the goose be sauce for 
the gander." Let os abolish seniority in our own 
ranks before we ask a sister organization to 
abolish seniority in our favor. While we believe 
most heartily in the principle "once a conductor 
always a conductor," we believe equally as heart- 
ily in the "survival of the fittest.” 

It is difficult to find, engaged in any of the var- 
ious occupations of life, two men of equal merit. 
The surgeon or lawyer of superior ability would 
not be debarred on account of "age" from sur 
passing his colleague and achieving greatness for 
himself. The mechanic of superior skill should 
be recognized and advanced beyondhis inferior 
companion to a position commensurate with his 
skill and ability. The railroad conductor should 
be allowed to "profit by his experience" and to 
be elevated to a more desirable position as a re- 
ward for acceptable service. With seniority in 
our own ranks it is not only possible but alto- 
gether probable that many of our number, whose 
hair has become whitened by time, whose physi- 
cal condition has been impaired by the ravages of 
disease or by accident, would be denied the privi- 
lege of making a living for himself because he 
would be denied a position, the duties of which, 
on account of his weakened physical condition, he 
is able to perform. 

Abolish seniority and every conductor has an 
incentive to render the best service possible. 
With seniority, the indifferent one resting secure 
in the thought that when bis turn comes he will 
be advanced, makes no effort toward improve- 

Digiti; 


ment. In turn he is advanced, but being careless 
and of dull perception, he fails to comprehend 
the many finer details of the new position to 
which he has been advanced, he negft^ts his per 
sonal appearance and in many ways fails to reo 
der satisfactory service, and is, in consequence, 
discharged. He has, perhaps, kept some good 
man down and has wronged himself by not being 
content with a position that he was competent to 
fill. 

It may be urged that in the event of the abol- 
ishment of seniority the railway superintendent 
would have the opportunity to ring in "hissisten 
bis cousins and his aunts, 'but we say empbai 
ically. that that is an evil that can much more 
easily be controlled than the evils by which 
seniority is surrounded. 

Men engaged in aoy other occupation than 
railway train service are permitted to enjoy the 
advantage of friendship formed ia the past with 
those who are able to advance them to a better 
position. If a railroad conductor is oot per 
mitted to profit by such friendship, then there is 
no use of his having any friends. We do oot 
mean to say that a superintendent should be able 
to discharge a man to make a place for a friend, 
but we do mean to say that when a vacancy oc- 
curs he ought to be able to fill it with whomever he 
pleases, so long as he is an experienced condoc- 
tor and a member in good standing of the Order 
of Railway Conductors. 

Let us, as conductors, abolish seniority. We can 
then demand of the management of any railway 
system in the country that they make no contract 
with others that embraces seniority. This will 
in turn force the B. R. T. to do what they should 
have done long ago, viz.: demand of the various 
managements that no green brakeman be em- 
ployed so long as men in good standing in that 
Order can be secured. The effect of this would 
be to stop the wholesale making of railroad men 
and would at the same time insure to the brake- 
men that, while promotion came a little slower 
when it did come it came first to the worthy man 
and that he was then a conductor and no longer 
a brakeman. Yours in P. F., 

M. O. Filxkii. 

zed by CjOO^Ic 


THE RAILWAY 

Fort William, Out., May 13, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

The very pleasant (or unpleasant) duty as Con- 
ductor correspondent has been conferred upon 
me by Kakabeka Division No. 286. The members 
took advantage of my absence from meeting to 
put me in this position, little dreaming what they 
would receive in future. Our Division seldom 
makes mistakes; lei us hope this selection may 
prove no exception to the rule. 

Our Division is io a prosperous condition at 
present, there being a membership of twenty-five, 
which is quite large, considering the country. 
Before Chapleau Division No. 223 was divided 
between North Bay and Kakabeka, our roll was 
somewhat smaller. Division No. 223 had their 
Division room and paraphernalia destroyed by 
fire a short time ago, consequently, some of the 
Brothers went to North Bay and the remainder 
of them came to No. 286. 

We have now a very good Division, all “A 1" 
members, and any Brothers coming this way will 
find them as such. They must have the work 
with them and they will find warm friends in our 
country. Times have been very dull here, but, 
since navigation on the lakes has opened, we have 
hope for an improvement. We are glad to see 
the interest taken in the discussion of capital and 
labor, as these, to us, are matters of great im- 
portance. We must have a better system of 
legislative law and one more easily managed than 
the one laid down in the present constitution. It 
is crude and unworkable, as one of our Grand 
Officers puts it, and that is a very good descrip- 
tion of it. 

Some of our Brothers here have gold on the 
brain as they are talking of going to Rainy River 
to get a few car loads; they were also going to 
raise a Coxey Army of themselves and go to In- 
dia, but they have changed their minds, as 
walking is not very good over the water route. 

It is singular how our Brothers can adapt 
themselves to almost any occupation, some can 
ride a bicycle, others beat a drum ; but seldom 
can we find one sailing 00 a magnificent C. P. R. 
palace steamer, at the ••Hazard" of his life, on a 
stormy sea, as one of our Brothers of Division 
No. 345 did. Like all railroad sailors, he threw 
op everything but his situation. We wish him 
every success. I hope our cipher correspondent 
will give his address in full so be can be reached 
in case of emergency. It is important. Every- 
thing is running smoothly with us here at present. 

I remain Yours in P. F., 

“The Big Fish." 


CONDUCTOR. 319 

Hagerstown, Md„ May 7, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Having been duly elected your correspondent, 
it is probably time I was making something of a 
showing through the Conductor for Hagerstown^ 
Division No. 354. We have a bright little Di- 
vision of about thirty-five members, officered as 
follows: J. L. Clements, C. C.; C. S. Grant, A. 
C. C.; G. H. Sheets, Sec. and Treas.; Bro. Seig- 
man, S. C; Bro. Wolf. J. C.; W. H. Dilworth, 
I. S.; H. A. Derr, O. S.; F. P. Cord, W. G. Lu- 
cas and T. B. Davis, Division Committee. 

Yesterday was our regular meeting day, but I 
regret to report that only nine of the Brothers 
registered in at the Division room. Something is 
certainly wrong when those of us who can attend 
meetings as well as not, will not do it. We can 
not prosper in this way, and if all the Brothers 
exhibited the same spirit in a very short time all 
our Divisions would be closed. Why would it not 
be a good plan for each Division to keep a record 
of attendance and make a formal report thereon 
every quarter. Any reasonable excuses could 
then be accepted, while those who could attend 
as well as not and would not, could be published. 

I hope to be able to announce in my next letter 
that the Brothers are becoming more interested 
and attending regularly. We also hope to im- 
prove our singing, as Bro. Lucas has promised to 
bring his tuning fork for the next occasion. 

Yours in P. F., T. B. D. 


Cleveland, Ohio, May 5, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

' For one, I am not in favor of an arbitration, 
law, and, until someone convinces me that we 
will be benefited by such a measure, I must 
oppose, with what influence I may possess, any 
move in that direction by Division No. 14. We 
have everything to lose and nothing to gain by 
the change. It would take from us our only 
weapon, the right to strike, and leave us at the 
mercy of the dominant political machine which 
would have its price, as of old. In my way of 
thinking, the less we have to do with politics the 
better. The money it would cost to send dele- 
gates first to one extreme of the country and 
then the other, had much better be used to pay 
the assessments of some worthy Brother or to 
supply someone with the necessities of life. It 
stmds every Division in hand to be on guard 
against needless expenditures, as, if times continue 
to grow worse, we will need every dollar that 
can be raised in the very near future to be used 
in charity. In 1890, at Rochester, N. Y., we 


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3 20 

were made a labor organization with a protective 
platform. Let us not surrender our independence 
by advocating an arbitration board. Let us be 
ready to move forward, but never backward. 
Our motto should be, “Get the best rate of pay 
you can, but, above all things, hold on to that 
which yon have. " The only way to secure a 
good schedule in these times is to hold the win- 
ning hand. I believe an arbitration board would 
be a great card for the railroad companies. I 
•may be wrong, and am open to conviction, should 
any Brother see fit to undertake the task. 

Yours in P. F., 

O. N. Pomeroy. 


Indianapolis, April 4, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

May I ask for space to say something regarding 
the promotion of Bro. Frank Campbell, Chief 
Conductor of Division 92, to the position of train 
master, on the Peoria Division of the Vandalia 
system, with headquarters at Decatur, 111 . The 
promotion of Bro. Campbell will, I am confident, 
conduce largely to the Vandalia interest. As a 
conductor he had but few equals and no superi- 
ors. In his promotion we see fully illustrated the 
old saying, “If you expect to wear spurs you 
must win them. 1 ' He is a young man in the 
prime of life, bis general makeup being of such a 
high type that some day I hope to see him at the 
head of some large system. However, to attain 
it he must persevere, and in time he will triumph 
over all difficulties met with. The Order, and es- 
pecially Division 92, have ample reasons to be 
proud of his attainments. We must all remem- 
ber that only by strict application can we rise to 
such a position; remembering also that toil is the 
price of success; that we have a life's work to 
perform. Let us do it with our might, working 
now, working always, believing ourselves fully 
equal to the task, we shall always succeed. 

Truly and fraternally yours, a well wisher of 
F. L. C. A. 


Chicago, 111 ., April 23, 1894. 
Editor Radi-way Conductor: 

For the first time in my life of over seventy-one 
years, I feel compelled to write unpleasant things 
for the public press. 

The task is especially disagreeable because I 
must say some unpleasant things about a member 
of a class of men I have been accustomed to think 
and speak so highly of. 

As all the readers of your journal know, I stand 
a president of an association who are endeavoring 
•to establish and maintain a home for aged and 
-disabled railroad employes. This home has been 


open now for four years. The generosity of the 
railroad men of the nation has enabled the mana- 
gers to care for and make as comfortable as pos- 
sible some over twenty of aged and disabled. dcs 
titute Brothers. Several of the younger and more 
energetic have been cared for and enabled to lean 
light occupations and are now filling responsible 
positions and making an independent living (or 
themselves. 

One engineer over eighty years old. who had 
out-lived all his relations and friends, was cared 
for as happily as he would have been had he been 
living with a son worth thousands of dollars, (or 
nearly two years, by the home, until death took 
him. 

There are now at the home several who have 
been paralyzed so as to be nearly helpless. These 
men are as tenderly and patiently cared for as 
though surrounded by families and relatives who 
might be able and willing to care for them. 

The Brotherhood of Engineers, Firemen, Order 
of Railway Conductors, and Trainmen, are, and 
have been from the first, all represented in tty* 
benevolent refuge and asylum of this borne. Th* 
writer has been more or less conversant witi 
charitable institutions in his life, and he is ce* 
pel led to say he never has known one that t 
been managed with so perfect impartiality ar 
with such open, broad liberality to all, as this 

But with all this, he is pained to learn that m 
who has been an inmate and a receiver of its frw 
hospitality for some three years, is now, after b* 
ing discharged from the home because of condnci 
that would cause his expulsion from any lodge d 
any order of railroad men, traveling from lodge 
to lodge, trying to cast odium upon that hams 
that has done so much for him. 

The home has been compelled to turn three 
men from its doors becapse the manager and di- 
rectors felt they must do so in justice to the kind 
hearted men who have sent their free-will offer- 
ing to care for disabled and worthy Brothers who 
needed help. Each one of these three men, if 
willing, could earn their own living. They loaded 
themselves upon the home to be supported by the 
contributions of their Brothers who were more 
willing to work. As guardians for sacred hods 
committed us, we could not consistently allow 
these men to remain at the home, taking the plaoe 
needed for real helpless and worthy men. 

We feel that a most sacred trust is imposed up- 
on us. The members of the great Brotherhoods 
put confidence in us and rely upon us to see to ii 
that the funds they contribute are not squandered 
upon unworthy persons. 

If a man comes to the home and will notabidi 
by its rules, will not try when able, aad oppcr 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


{unity offers, to do something for himself, who is 
able to work and take care of himself, bat will 
not, through laziness or ugliness; but designs to 
sponge his living out of railroad men through the 
fcome. then we feel the home is not maintained 
for him and the door is open for him to leave and 
give place for a more deserving man. 

The door has been opened to three such men. 
As a consequence, the home has made three bit- 
ter enemies. But it is a matter of surprise that 
any railroad man, sharp as railroad men usually 
are. should for a moment be deceived by any of 
those expelled men. All that is needed is to 
question them closely. Take especially, Brother 
'Nace. who has had a good soft thing for three 
years. Every time I have been at the home, up 
to within three months of his leaving it, he could 
not say enough in praise of it, and well he could 
not, for indeed it was a home to him. If the 
home was ill treating him he could have left at 
any time. He was under no obligation to stay. 

We pity the poor man and will not detail the 
particulars of his exptflsion. But that any one 
can be influenced by him against the home that 
took care of him for so long, is passing strange. 
I feel that I may justly say that I am too well 
known by the great railroad fraternity of this na- 
tion, to allow anyone to think I would remain 
connected for a single day with any institution 
that has for its aims such worthy objects as this 
'home has, if there was the least shadow of sus- 
picion of wrong. 

It is a most sacred trust and one I undertake 
with great reluctance. I give my time and labor 
for it. without money or reward, other than a 
consciousness of doing some good to some unfor- 
tunate and helpless railroad man. 

We Cannot, in justice to those who place us in 
this delicate and trying position, allow unworthy 
men to live upon the funds you see proper to put 
into our hands fo % your unfortunate Brothers. 

The door and the books and the records of the 
home are always open to any railroad man for the 
mo3t careful scrutiny, and we invite it. All must 
expect, as long as poor human nature is what it 
'is, do what we may for the best good of these un- 
fortunates, there will be some who will complain 
because we do not do more. To them, all we ask 
is that no true railroad man will allow himself to 
be influenced to withhold his small pittance from 
the home, which is so surely helping so many 
good and deserving but unfortunate Brothers, 
because the managers of this home will not allow 
bums and drones to use up the funds sent for the 
'truly helpless and deserving. 

L. S. Coffin, President. 


321 

Roodhouse, 111 ., March 27, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

As you have not seen any communication from 
Division 97, I take it upon myself to write a few 
lines for The Conductor. I have noticed that 
our official organ is sadly lacking in correspond- 
ence from Divisions, and each and every member 
of the Order should do his level best to make 
The Conductor the most readable journal of the 
kind that is published. By the efforts unitedly, 
of our membership, this can be done. Business * 
upon the entire line of the Chicago & Alton R. R. 
is very dull, indeed, both in passenger and freight 
departments, and Brothers looking for employ- 
ment will find poor consolaticm in coming here. 
The year 1893 and so far in 1894, have been the 
very worst for us since 1880, and various opinions 
are advanced as to the cause thereof. Some cen- 
sure the republican party, some the democratic 
party, and some blame both parties, while still 
others claim that the road is not properly man- 
aged, and that the patrons of the road are mis- 
treated, thereby decreasing the volume of business 
handled. Certain it is, that the employes were 
never subjected to such harsh treatment as during 
the past fifteen months, and the employe’s wages 
are just simply "ought of sight.” In February 
freight crews were allowed to make 2,030 
miles; and for this month, March, they 
will possibly make 1,800. For the past six 
months our mileage has steadily grown 
"beautifully less” each month. How long we can 
exist in this way and keep out of debt is a conun- 
drum, which is worrying us to no little extent. 
We appreciate what has been and is being done 
by the Order in various parts of the country for 
our betterment as to treatment and pay. You 
have all, no doubt, heard of the peculiar ideas of 
our General Superintendent in handling a fine 
railroad property like the Chicago & Alton; also, 
of how he handles the employes thereon. If it 
was not for the spark which is known as "hope,” 
which is in every one's -breast, we would be a 
sorry set, but as all things have an tnd we hope 
for better times and treatment here in the future. 
There can be no doubt in the mind of any person 
who knows, that we have been long suffering and 
very docile thus far in the drama now being 
enacted on the Alton railroad. Let each and 
every member of the Order see to it that he does 
his part, wherever he may be employed, to "get 
together” with the other brotherhoods for united 
action, to resist the ' grinding process” which is 
practiced by railroad officials, to as great an ex- 
tent as they dare, even going so far as to get the 
aid of the federal courts in their miserable and 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


322 

unmanly actions, to stamp the toiler entirely oat 
of existence. The time seems to be most oppor- 
tune to teach both railroad officials and federal 
judges that "The People" are the ones whose 
grievances should be considered, and that they 
must and will be respected. Drop politics and 
religion in connection with your efforts to get 
unity of action for the universal good of railroad 
employes; if you have not discovered before that 
this must be done much good will be accom- 
^ plished. It is high time that you study up on 
this very important point. Too much praise can- 
not be accorded our Grand Chief and bis associ- 
ates from the other brotherhoods in their actions 
towards judges Jehkins and Dundy, and we firmly 
believe that their efforts will be crowned with 
success. Let your correspondence pour in to the 
columns of The Conductor, help to make it 
interesting and profitable to the Order. 

Yours in P. F., 

Square Deal. 


Harrisburg, Pa., April 29, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Dauphin Division No. 143 is beginning to sum 
up encouraging attendance and interest. At our 
last regular meeting we had a long list of names 
on the register, and quite a heated debate for the 
good of the Order, which I consider a good 
healthy sign. Quite a number of short speeches 
were made on different subjects of interest. The 
Division room is the place for members to have 
their say, to get up, and not sit as though they 
were glued fast to their chairs, and then after ad- 
journment begin to find fault and call some one a 
kicker. Now my experience in all society work 

is, that the kickers are the workers, members 
who are not too lazy to do their part. I like 
these kickers, but there is a class called the 
grumblers, which far exceed the kickers. If all 
the grumblers in the world were summoned to- 
gether, what an army of them there would be. 
(Coxey's army would be nothing to compare with 

it. ) They are to be found in every trade, calling 
or profession. Grumblers are usually a lazy set, 
don't want to work themselves. They spend their 
time whining and complaining, both about their 
own affairs and those of others. They just at- 
tend meetings often enough to think they know 
something and they know nothing but to grumble. 
They are generally behind the age about a year, 
so they always find the tide of success against 
them, at any undertaking, even grumbling. But 
they are usually independent fellows, caring 
nothing for any one. They go it blind and find 
a hard road and a wide berth, and everything 
seems to scare them. They always see double and 


there is always something awful about to happen 
They have a great appetite for favors, as well as 
food, and therefore are always on hand to receive 
and accept any gift; their motto is, "Small favor* 
thankfully received, larger one in proportion ; 1 
They always claim a vast amount of notice by 
everybody, and are just a little bit better than 
anybody else. They are usually long lived in my 
opinion, and should therefore be cured of their 
disease as soon as possible. Let us desert the 
grumblers, or rather cause the grumblers to de- 
sert us, and stick to the kickers, and do some- 
thing. We all have an opportunity to work and 
should grasp at it, but if we don't want to work, 
don't grumble. I have something in course ol 
preparation for the good of our Division and 
Order in general, which, when completed, 1 will 
ask permission to put before the Division, and 1 
hope will be a benefit to us. As correspondent 
to the Conductor I will try and let yon hear 
from Dauphin Division every month. I consider 
that we are in an excellent condition in even 
way, as to membership and financially. Some cf 
our members are well gifted with gab, con«e- 
quently any visiting Brother lucky enough 51 
come around to No. 143 wilt hear something. 

Yours in P. F., 

Mov 


Atlanta, Ga., April 27, 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

As Division 180 continues to say to me. write, 
I suppose I must do as they say and write you 
another letter. 

I know this is the season of the year wbec 
poets indulge in their fanciful thoughts, of which 
we get the benefit (?) in the daily papers* but I am 
no poet and hardly know what to write. I told 
my wife that I had entered the literary field aod 
was writing letters for our journal. She told me 
that she had a field in the shape of a gardes 
which I had better enter, and hoe out the onions 
and English peas and all of our early vegetables, 
instead of writing letters during my leisure hoars. 
As she never fails to give me good advice, her 
words put me to thinking, and I have just come 
to the conclusion that if I work in the garden I 
will be scabbiag, for we have an old colored maa 
we call Charley, who comes around about once a 
week and fixes up our garden, presents himself 
at the door for his pay, which he receives and 
goes off happy. Now I will ask any Brother if 1 
go to work in the garden if I wouldn't be scab- 
bing on old Charley? I have long since made op 
my mind never to scab. If any conductor has any 
doubt in bis mind about this question please let me 
know through our journal. I heard that Brother 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


323 * 


Litimer helped Charley plant bis Irish potatoes, our passenger train conductor go to a Brother on 
I reckon that was not scabbing, bat so very, very his train who is in search of work, and say to 
dose to it that in my opinion Brother Latimer him, "the next station is oar eating house, go to 
had better stay out of the garden. the sleeper and brush yourself up a bit, we are 

1 have often thought if some of our poets could going to refresh the inner man;" or does be send a 
be a freight conductor, in the spring of the year, train hand to the car you are in to announce so 
he cculd find many things to write about from "many minutes for dinner," and then himself 
the lookout of bis caboose, as he glides along help off bis lady passengers, and they all go in 
through the country viewing the many varied and feast while you sit in the coach and be bored 
and beautiful sceneries which people cannot see by peddlers sticking hot lunches under your nose 
from a passenger coach window. There are many and asking you to buy and you are compelled to 
enjoyments that a freight conductor has which a tell a lie and say you do not want any lunch 
passenger train conductor is deprived of, but when you are so hungry you don't know where 
strange to say all of the boys want passenger you are going to stay that night. And after the 
runs. Some of our old passenger train con- train has left the station the conductor comes 
doctors frequently speak with pride of their through and says to you, "why did you not go 
freight train days and their best stories are told out to dinner," and you are compelled to tell an- 
aboot "when I was running a freight train, or other lie, and say "I am not hungry." Two lies 
working on the freight." on an empty stomach is as much as even a rail- 

Well, brethren, we are all looking forward road conductor can stand. I will say more on 
with much anxiety to the time when the Grand this subject in my next letter. 

Division will meet in.our city. I told you in my I am as ever yours in P. F., 

last letter of some of the boys who would call on Mikb Mahan 

you to show you around the city, and there are ■ - 

others who will call on you. Brother Wheeler Kansas City, Mays, *894. 

Mangrum will call for you to go down to the N. Editor Railway Conductor: 

C S. & L. yards, where he is general yardmaster. The past year and a half has pretty thoroughly 
Some of the old conductors say that Wheeler was convinced the American people that economy is 
switching cars when they used mules to switch necessary in all branches of business, if we 
with instead of engines, but be denies this charge should survive. I believe that it is time the 
and says at that time he was running a train on Order of Railway Conductors were beginning to 
the A. .& W. P. road, but be will explain that look around them and see if there is not some 
satisfactorily when he sees you. place where we can economize. I do not believe 

Bro. Mike Land will call for you to go with that it is necessary to have as many grand officers 
him down to see the £., T. V. & G. boys, and as we have at the present time. When there is a 
when you meet them you will have met the finest cut threatened upon a line of railway, we are 
set of O. R. C. men who ever run trains on the cautioned about not being too hasty in resisting 
American continent, and if all of our Brothers the cut. I believe that it is time that we were 
would stand together like those boys do, the Or- looking about in our own organization and seeing 
der of Railway Conductors would soon be what if we could not cut off a large slice of the ex- 
oar Grand Chief Conductor prays for every day penses which we are now called upon to pay 
—a perfect organization. Many of our Brothers are placed in positions 

Brothers, are we standing together in these that renders it next to impossible for them to pay 
bard times as brothers should? Are we trying to their dues, pay for their card, and the assessments 
find jobs for our unemployed Brothers? Are we for insurance, say nothing of the large amount 
giving them a word of encouragement when we that many are called upon to pay for grievance 
meet them, or do we pass them by with a hurried committee work, and should they fail to pay 
good morning as if we were afraid they would either the assessment for grievance committee or 
ask some favor of us? Do we take our brothers who insurance, the Division to which they belong 
are strangers in search of work, into our homes must pay it or they stand suspended. I am satis- 
(though bumble they be) and introduce them to fied that very much of our grievance committee 
our wives and little ones, and make them feel at work could be accomplished for one-half the 
home and welcome, or do we ask them bow they costs if each member o i said committee will 


are fixed, and they answer "short," give them a pay strict attention to bis business at all times, 
quarter, point out a third class boarding house and I believe a large proportion of our member- 
and tell them to go "hash up," hoping they will ship are beginning to realize that fact. [We 
leave town before you meet them again. Does hope so. — E d], I have read and heard a great deal 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


lately in regard to the claimed injustice that has 
been done to those who were engaged in the 
Lehigh Valley strike, both members of the Order, 
and those who were not members complaining 
alike. I am surprised at this, for I cannot un- 
derstand what right those who do not belong to 
the Order have to expect pay from our treasury, 
and I believe the law very clearly defines itself 
as to how mnch and how long members shall re- 
ceive compensation from our treasury. The 
Brothers of Division 356 claimed that Bro. Gar- 
retson promised all condnctors who assisted the 
O. R. C. in . the strike that they should be com- 
pensated for their adherence to our principles, 
by receiving pay until employed, regardless of 
bow long that might be or how long they might 
choose to make it. This Bro. Garretson denies. 
If Bro. Garretson did make such a promise, I 
am satified that he is censurable for it. It is 
surprising to me that there are so many members 
of the Order that believe we ought to pay those 
who do not belong to the Order who went out 
with our members. I would like to know why 
they were not as much interested in the winning 
of the strike as were the members of the Order, 
and I do not believe it is just to expect a member 
to pay an initiation fee, annual dues, and all 
other expenses for years, and when trouble comes 
allow those who never paid a dollar into an or- 
ganization In their lives, to receive the same pro- 
tection from our Order. Now, if the law is 
wrong let us change it, and if the majority of 
the members say "we will pay all, regardless of 
what they belong to," I am willing to abide by 
that decision, but I do not believe that such a 
law can be placed upon our statutes. I have 
heard some complaint lately about our insurance 
department. For instance, assessing a Brother 
for two, three, or fonr months after he is laid in 
the grave. That most assuredly is unjust, and 
should be stopped. Then, again, having the 
widow or relatives of the deceased to wait for 
their insurance for three or four months. I be- 
lieve that that should be arranged so that they 
would get it in sixty days, for if there is ever a 
time that they need the money it is just after the 
decease of the one insured, and I know to make 
this possible that it is absolutely necessary for 
every member in that department to be prompt in 
their remittances of assessments. 

[Members of the Benefit Department are assessed only 
for such looses as occur between the dates upon which 
they became members of the Department and upon which 
they die or have a disability claim approved. If notice of 
death of a member is given, his certificate is never as- 
sessed except for losses which occurred prior to his death. 
This manner of assessing is necessitated by law. We all 
know it has the effect of giving a member some two 


months' insurance before he is assessed. What Is there 
unfair in his estate helping to pay the claims of those 
who died before he died even though the assessment be- 
came due after his decease? Now, let us see how about 
the waiting for their insurauce money. We are glad to 
furnish some examples which, by comparison, show 
plainly the effect in that direction, of promptness and 
care on the one hand and of delay and carlessne*s on the 
othei. Note carefully dates. Among the claims lately 
paid are the following: 

F. J. Burrows, died Oct. '93, claim approved Mays. 

paid May 3: 

J. O’Hare, " Jan. 25, ’94, " “ Apr. at. 

paid May ji 

I. B. Laville, ** Feb. n.'94, “ “ Apr.S7, 

paid May 31 

In each of these instances the delay was caused by 
difficulty encountered by Insurance Committee in giving 
complete proofs. These are not extreme cases but are 
fair samples and of recent date. 

The following show the result of prompt action in get- 
ting in correct proofs: 

M. J. Gilmore, died Apr. 14, '94, claim approved May 14. 

paid Junfc t 

Willis Wade, “ Apr. 27, ’94, " “ May t8, 

paid June t 

In the one case forty-seven days between the death and 
payment of claim, in the - other case but thirty-four days. 

Promptness on the part of members in paying their as- 
sessments will, as Brother Welch says, render it possible 
for the Department to pay promptly.— Ed.] 

Another fault is allowing members who do not 
belong to the benefit department to vote in the 
Grand Division upon questions pertaining to the 
insurance department, and it is a well known 
fact that there are many who never carried a dol- 
lar of insurance in their lives, who never miss an 
opportunity of voting other members' money 
away . This is an injustice and should not be 
tolerated for a moment. If it is just for all to 
vote on insurance questions, it is most assuredly 
just to compel all to take out insurance. 

The permanent member question is something 
that is agitating many of our best Brothers at 
the present time. It is a well known fact that 
there are many permanent members who never 
miss attending the G. D. who have for years been 
out of railroad service. They would like to make 
us believe that they have the same interest in oar 
welfare and in our business that you and I have 
who have to folio n railroading for a living. I 
would like some of them to give me an argument 
strong enough to prove to my mind where the 
moral right for them to vote upon questions of 
vital interests of the railroad mao of this day 
and age, comes in, but they are ever ready to tell 
us that we must not infringe upon a right that 
was given them years ago. 

Now, I do not wish to attack the P, M.’s simp- 
ly because they are P. M.'s. but I do wish to see 
each Division represented by a member who has 
been elected by the members in the year that the 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 30.5 


*G. D. should meet, aqd not by members who 
were made ten or fifteen years ago. Take a Di- 
vision of 250 members, say they have one perma- 
nent member, they have elected a delegate and 
instructed him on many questions that they wish 
him to bring up and vote upon in the G. D. His 
instructions are from 248 members, the P. M. is 
probably in some other business than railroad- 
ing. He is opposed to the questions that the 
delegate is instructed to vote upon, and he votes 
directly contrary to the regularly elected delegate. 
1 would like to ask, does he not defeat the wishes 
of 249 members? You know he does; and that 
is what they call justice. Now, let us do aw \y 
with the permanent membership, at least, let us 
make it impossible for them to cast their vote in 
the G. D. unless they come there as regularly 
elected delegates. 

I believe that if the members will sit down and 
think calmly for awhile that they will agree with 
me, that to abolish the card would be a step in 
the right direction. I know many of the argu- 
ments that will be presented, that it is your own 
fault if it is abused; but I want to say to you 
that if you abolish the card and compel your 
membership to be thoroughly posted in order 
that they may be able to establish the fact that 
they belong to the Order, you will improve your 
membership and increase your attendance a 
hundred per cent. 

I wish that we could have the members take 
more interest in the Order than they do. I will 
wager that out of something over 22,000 mem- 
bers the monthly attendance will not average 
8.000. I doubt if it will average 5,000. My ex- 
perience has taught ms that the greatest kickers 
and the ones who find the most fault with both 
grand and local officers are the ones who attend 
the Division meetings the least. They want to 
know why you didn't do this or that? Why do 
you not come to the Division meeting and do 
something yourself? Let us bear from you. 

Yours in P. F., 

W. Welch. 


Knoxville, Tenn., April 24, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Some Brother signing himself “Irregular" in 
the March Conductor, gives the rest of “the 
boys" a good word from Division 139. In my 
mind it would be a good plan to have a regular 
correspondent from each Division, as it is inter- 
esting to hear from each other in this way. I 


make it a point to read every letter in our depart- 
ment and am greatly profited thereby. Hard 
times is all the cry in this section, and business 
will be lighter still, now that all the coal miners 
have gone out. We who are employed on the 
E. T., or “streak" as it is known to many, are 
working under a reduction again. I cannot un- 
derstand why the men should be expected to help 
the roads pay debts they (the men) did not help 
to make. The roads don't increase our wages 
when they are paying large dividecds. To me 
it seems like hard treatment on the part of the 
company and I can find no reason for it other 
than a desire to force down our pay by taking 
advantage of the times. We have ourselves to 
blame for a good portion of this, since we do not 
make full use of all the means within our power. 
Capitalists are eager to secure the election of 
men who will care for thair interests and labor 
should not fail to profit by this example. We 
can aud must make ourselves felt at the ballot 
box or we are “goners, world without end.", 

Your correspondent would be pleased to see a 
Division of the L. A. established here, feeling 
certain it would be of much benefit to all con- 
cerned. Our attendance is not what it should 
have been considering o lr membership, the slack 
business and the fact that we meet on Sunday 
afternoons. Turn out to the meetings, Brothers, 
you cannot afford to fail in this great work. It 
has done and will do great things for us if we 
only stand by it. 

Those judges who were not afraid to stand by 
the railroad mm can have anything they want 
from us by asking for it; they are the right men, 
rightly placed. May the day speedily come when 
we all can have superintendents like Mr. Brown, 
of the Fall Brook. 

It is my opinion seniority would lose if put to 
a vote in this territory now. Let a man stand on 
bis merits and not have to ba always going back 
to the bottom of the ladder to do it all over 
again. All of us who can should go to Atlanta 
in '95 and walk to town with Bro. Mihan, strong 
in his assurance that we shan’t get lost nor go 
hungry. 

One of our bachelor Brothers has accepted a 
position in a prominent shoe house of this city. 
All the boys will soon know where to find Horace 
and know he will treat them right. 

Yours in P. F., 

Watanga. 


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Division card No. 5598 is held by D. A Whe- 
don, an expelled member, and any Brother to 
whom it is presented should take it up and return 
it to this office. 

# 

Bro. A. G. White, of Division 96. has aban- 
doned railroading for the time being and is now 
representing the Enterprise Manufacturing Co., 
of Sandwich, 111 . May success attend his new 
venture. 

* » 

» 

A man well up in the work of the Order his 
succeeded in imposing upon some of the Brothers 
in West Virginia, by representing himself to be 
Bro. J. T. Flaherty, of Division 200. His repre- 
sentations are false. 

V 

Bro. E. G. Gay, of Division 157 has become 
the proprietor of a fine hotel at Farmington, Me , 
where he will be pleased to welcome old friends 
as well as new. All will wish him a full measure 
of success in this undertaking. 

V 

Henry H. Miller is anxious to learn the present 
address of Bro. James Griffith, supposed to be 
somewhere in Texas. Any one who possesses the 
desired information will confer a favor by com- 
municating with Mr. Miller, corner of Main and 
Front Streets, Baton Rouge, La 

V 

Bro. J. H. Womack, of Winslow, Arizona, is 
desirous of hearing from his brother, Geo W. 
Womack, who was braking on the Idaho division 
of the N. P. when last heard from. Anyone hav- 
ing the desired information will confer a favor by 
communicating with Bro. Womack at the ad- 
dress given. 

* * 

* 

Bro. T. J. Preston, of Division 188, is a candi- 
date for railroad commissioner, subject to the de- 
cision of the Missouri republican convention, to 
be held at Excelsior Springs Aug. 15, next. Bro. 
Preston is abundantly qualified to fill this honora- 


ble position with credit to himself and the Order 
and the voters of Missouri can make no mistake 
iq giving him their suffrages. 

V 

At the regular meeting of Division No. 2S3, 
held at Fort Madison on the the 3rd inst., resolu- 
tions were adopted expressing the regret of the 
members at the departure of tbeir general super- 
intendent, H. R. Nickerson, for other fields of 
labor and their hope that he might be as success- 
ful in the new work as he had been in the old. 

*** 

The members of Susquehanna Division No. 
331 celebrated the second anniversary of their or- 
ganization on the evening of Miy 26 last. A 
pleasing program was presented, the evenings 
entertainment dosing with an elaborate banquet 
that was most thoroughly enjoyed by all present. 
It was a happy gathering and one that will long 
be held in memory by the members of 331 and 
their friends. 

* * 

* 

The members of Division 123 have purchased a 
building and are fitting up the ball on tbs second 
story for a Division room. Much assistance has 
been rendered them by the ladies of Leap Year 
Division No. 16, LA. to O. R. C , they having 
furnished the hall with a fine carpet and curtains. 
These two organizations now have a home of 
their own in which they take just pride, and are 
to be congratulated upon the enterprise they have 
shown in securing it. 

V 

Miss Cora, daughter of Bro. Mart Clancy, 
member of our Board of Trustees, was united in 
marriage to Mr. Frank Riy Musser, at the home 
of her parents in Kent, Ohio, on Wednesday 
evening, June 6th. It was a pretty wedding and 
these worthy and popular young people were 
started in life together under the brightest aus 
pices. The Conductor joins with their hosts of 
friends in wishing them continued happiness and 
prosperity. 




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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


The editor wishes to acknowledge receipt of an 
invitation to attend the nnioh picnic given by the 
members of Division 131 and the local members 
of the B. of L. E . B. of L F., S. M. A. A. and 
B. of R. T., on May 23 last The trip wa3 from 
Little Rock to Beaton and return, and under 
such management could not have been other than 
enjoyable. It would have been a pleasure to ac- 
cept this cordial invitation bat press of official 
business made it impossible. 

V 

We beg to call our readers' attention to the 
large advertisement of Moore & Evans, beginning 
with this issue. This firm advertises a good 
watch at a price that comes within the reach of 
all railroad employes, and guarantees that same 
will pass railroad inspection. We cannot vouch 
for the goods but feel that we can for Moore & 
Evans, as their rating is high, and are reputed to 
us to be straightforward, honorable business 
men. They make a safe proposition — to send 
goods by express subject to examination, and we 
believe our readers will do good to investigate 
their claims, if in need of a good, yet low priced 
watch. 

*** 

We have ascertained definitely that counterfeits 
of our Division card have been made and some of 
these counterfeits are in the hands of persons 
who have never been members of the Order, as 
well as some whs haVe been suspended or ex- 
pelled from the Order. The counterfeit is a poor 
one and a careful observer would readily detect 
it, bnt in order to do everything in our power to 
protect our members against imposition in this 
way, we have arranged to issue a new card. The 
old card is a sort of cream color, made by Gast & 
Co., of St. Louis. The new card will be radically 
different in color, will be steel plate work, made 
by S. D. Childs & Co., of Chicago, will bear the 
patented emblem of * w e Order, and in addition, 
will be copyrighted Any counterfeiters of it will 
be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. 
These new cards will be issued here for all hold- 
ers of 1894 cards and will be sent to Division sec- 
retaries with instructions to exchange with their 
members. No new cards will be given out ex- 
cept in exchange for old one returned. Members 
are advised to arrange with their secretary for 
exchange between now and July 1st, as members 
will be advised to give no recognition whatever to 
holders of the old card. You can get full infor- 
mation on this subject from your Division officers. 

» * 

* 

Daring the past month three conventions of 
the first importance to the railroad world have 


been held in this country. All of these meetings 
were secret and all the information we have been 
able to secure of the work done has been such as 
was given ont to the daily press. The B. of L. 
E. convened in St. Paul on the 9th, and continued 
in session twenty* two days. Among the many 
important things accomplished by this Brother- 
hood was the incorporation of its insurance de- 
partment independent from the Brotherhood 
itself, under the supervision of A. B. Youngson, 
President; Lewis Zeigenfus, Vice President; H. 
C. Hayes, Sec. and Treas, and a board of trus- 
tees. The plan of system federation adopted at 
Cedar Rapids in April. 1892, and later 
amended at the meeting in Chicago, was 
adopted by the convention for the Brother- 
hood. The terms of office of all the prin- 
cipal officers save Grand Chief Arthur having ex- 
pired, it is pleasing to note that all were re- 
elected with the exception that Bro. Hayes’ ac- 
cepting the office of Secretarj and Treasurer of 
the insurance department must cause the surren- 
der of his position as editor of the Brotherhood 
Journal , as his entire time will, of necessity, be 
devoted to insurance matters. C. H. Salmon 
was elected to succeed him as editor of the 
Brotherhood Journal. The next session of the 
Grand Division will be held in May, 1896, at 
Ottawa, Ont. 

The Switchmen's convention was held at 
Evansville, Ind. , and a great deal of surprise and 
conjecture was precipitated by the unexpected 
disappearance of W.A. Simsrott, Grand Secretary 
and Treasurer. After several weeks of anxiohs 
search be was found, according to th# newspa- 
pers, in a Chicago Home where he had been under 
treatment. His friends assert that his mind is af- 
fected but a few weeks more will bring a full re- 
turn of all his faculties. It is claimed that his ac- 
counts were perfectly straight and counter 
claims of large shortages are made. It is certainly 
to be hoped that the examination of his accounts 
will show him to have been at all times true to 
the trust reposed in him. The Business Men’s 
Association of Evansville sought to secure the re- 
moval of the headquarters to that city, and the 
inducements offered were so potent that the 
plan row is to make the change July 1 next. 
It seems that an entirely new corps of offi- 
cers were elected by this body, the success- 
ful ones being M. W. 6arrett, Kansas City, 
Grand Master; J. R. Farr, Buffalo, Vice Grand 
Master; J. M. Murphy, Birmingham, Ala., Sec- 
retary and Treasurer. The duties of Secretary 
and Treasurer will hereafter include editing the 
Switchmen's Journal. The Conductor bids 
welcome to these new officers upon their entering 


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328 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR, 


the field, but at the same time feels regret at 
seeing Bros. Wilson and Downey retire, as most 
pleasant official relations have been established 
with them and they have made many warm per* 
sonal friends among those with whom they have 
been associated in a business way. 

. The O. R. T. convention was bel£ in Denver 
and many radical changes in the constitution 
were proposed by the delegates. As to what was 
done regarding them we, of conrse, know nothing. 
Serious charges were made against Grand Chief 
Ramsay and the great interest of the gatheriag 
centered in the fight made on him and bis admin* 
istration. It seems, however, that of all the 
charges made against Chief Ramsay none were 
substantiated and the convention, by an unani- 
mous vote, exonerated him from blame in any of 
the matters covered by these charges. The con* 
vention also made some radical changes in its 
board of officers, the following being selected: 
W. V. Powell, Wichita, Kan., Grand Chief; M 
Dolphin, Kansas City, Assistant Grand Chief; ]. 
Weatberbee, Denver, Grand Secretary and 
Treasurer. Powell defeated Ramsay for the 
office of Grand Chief by a majority of three votes. 
Weatberbee was the only one of these officers to 
secure a re-election. J. R T. Auston, of Dallas, 
Texas, succeeds A. G. Thurston as editor and 
manager of the Railway Telegrapher . 

It is to be hoped that events will prove the ac- 
tion of all these conventions to have been wisely 
taken and that it will result in great good, not 
only to them but to the labor world in general . 

• 

O A rewAd of $100 is offered for the arrest of 
one Louis . Aucion, spelled Ancoin on the 
books of this office, a suspended member of Di- 
vision No. 175, who recently left some of the 
members badly in the lurch. Aucoin was con- 
victed of "grand larceny after trust" and when 
sentenced to seven years in the penitentiary 
therefor, disappeared, leaving the Brothers who 
bad signed his bail bond to piy heavily for their 
faith in him. He was also in debt to the Division, 
partly for borrowed money. Ancoin is a Creole 
Frenchmin, about 36 years of age, of medium 
height and dark complexion. He has been a con- 
ductor for several years and has run trains on a 
number of southern roads. Members of the 
Order will do well to be on their guard against 
him and anyone learning of his whereabouts 
should at once communicate with Pryde & Hed- 
rick, Memphis, Tenn. 

* « 

* 

The following act which is now law in tha 
state of New Jersey, speaks for itself and is the 


fruit of efforts on the part of labjr organizations. 
This is a sample of what can be accomplished by 
united effort : 

x. Be it enacted by the Senate and General 
Assembly of the State of New Jersey , That no 
corporation doing business in the state shall, 
through any manager, agent, superintendent, or 
employe thereof, make, as a condition of employ- 
ment of labor in any branch of its service, that 
any applicant or applicants for such employment 
shall, either individually or collectively, be re- 
quired to sign any paper, document, or writing of 
any description, by which an obligation is made 
or implied of renouncing existing membership in 
any organization, society or brotherhood, or by 
which a promise is given of not joining such or- 
ganizations at any future time. 

2. And be it enacted , That no corporation shall 
in like manner require, through any of its man- 
agers, superintendents, agents or employes, that 
any individual or individuals shall, either indi- 
vidually or collectively, in any manner promise 
to renounce existing membership in any lodge, 
brotherhood, or labor organization of any kind, 
or promise to refrain from joining any such lodge, 
brotherhood, or organization at any future time. 

3. And be it enacted , That any violation of the 
above act shall be punishable with a fine not to 
exceed five hundred dollars or three months’ im- 
prisonment, or both, as the court may direct. 


Ft. Scott, Kas., May 20, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor'. 

I do not know if No. 165 has a correspondent 
or not, but as I never see anything in The Con- 
ductor from here I suppose not. 

We are not as dead *as we seem. We are 
abreast of the times and always strive to keep 
posted on the issues of the day. Business, I be- 
lieve, has held up better here than on the major- 
ity of roads, and if this weather continues we 
may expect an enormous business this fall and 
winter, as the farmers say they cannot remember 
of ever having had a better prospect for crops 
than they now have. 

No. 165 adds to her membership occasionally. 
Brothers C. C. Miller and Jno. Nichols have 
lately been elected to become members of this 
Division by transfer card. Chas. Sieber has bad 
bis application in for some time, but seems to be 
afraid to make the start, ahhongb he need not be, 
for on account of his size we will bs easy with 
him. 

Brother D3lano and wife while out driving had 
the misfortune to be thrown from their buggy. 
Mrs. D. was pretty badly bruised up, but "Bud" 
did not fare so badly. 

Brothers J. T. Crutcher and E. B. Sprague 
have just resumed work, after being laid up a 
week or two with rheumatism. 

Yours in P. F., 

High Pockets. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OF AMERICA. 


MUTUAL BENEPIT DEPARTMENT. 


Cedar Rapids, Iowa, June i; Expires July 31, 1894. 

Assessment No. 281 is for the death of M. J. Gilmore, April 14, 1894. 
Assessment No. 282 is for death of £. J. Pearson, May 7, 1894. 


BENEFITS PAID DURING MAY. 


Ben. 

No. 

| AMT. 

FOR 

OP 

CAUSE. 

Cert No. 

Series. 

DIV. 

685 

$2,000 

Death 

W. A. Chamberlain 

Accident 

1950 

B 

226 

686 

3 000 

Death 

T. O’Hare 

Cancer 

1982 

C 

37 

687 

3.ooo 

Death 

H. L. George 

Apoplexy 

4026 

C 

312 

688 

3000 

Death 

I. B. LaVille 

Gen. Debility 

3790 

C 

135 

689 

3 000 

Death 


Accident 

’ 44 8 

C 

193 

690 

1,000 

Dis. 

P B. Baker 

Loss of Foot 

741 

A 

178 

6gi 

2,000 

Dis. 

W. B. Cox 

Loss of Arm 

23 6 4 

B 

89 

692 

1,000 

Death 

F. J. Barrows 

Consumption 

628 

A 

76 

693 

1,000 

Death 

J. T. Gallagher 

Gangrene 

4665 

A 

124 

694 

5.000 

Dis. 

D. G. Tenbrook 

Loss of Foot 

39 

E 

43 

695 

3.000 

Death 

S. DeBray 

Accident 

3392 

C 

M3 

696 

1. 000 

Death 


Accident 

4003 

A 

164 


NUMBER OF MEMBERS ASSESSED. 

Series A, 4,842; Series B, 2,697; Series C, 4,839; Series D, *365; Series E, 91. Amount of as- 
sessment No. 281, $26,457; No. 282, $26,668. Total number of members 12,927. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 


Received on Mortuary Assessments to April 30, 1894 $1,574,564.00 

Received on Expense Assessments to April 30, 1894 25,995.00 

Received on Applications, etc., to April 30, 1894 26.997.78 


$1,627,556.78 

Total amount of benefits paid to April 30, 1894 $1,565, 376.00 

Total amount of expenses paid to April 30, 1894 59. M5 35 

Insurance cash on band April 30, 1894 2,035.43 


EXPENSES PAID DURING APRIL. 


$1,627,556.78 


Assessments refunded. $8.00; Postage. $129; Incidental, $1.00; Salaries, $37667; Fees re* 
turned, $16.00; Stationery and Printing. $23 50. Total, $554.17. 

The above amounts were paid out during the month, but items of postage, printing, legal, etc., 
often cover supplies and work for more than one month, and sometimes several months. 


Received on Assessment No. 277 to May 20 $24,0950° 

Received on Assessment No. 278 to May 20 23,955 °° 

Received on Assessment No. 279 to May 20. 11,301 0° 

Received on Assessment No. 280 to May 20 3.455 °° 


WM. P. DANIELS, Secretary 


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IHtcljcocfe. 

Bro. and Mrs. C. Hitchcock have lost their 
only child, a bright little boy 2 years old, by 
bronchitis. The Sisters of Division No. 44, 
Ladies Auxiliary, desire to express their 
sympathy in their hour.of sorrow. 

Emitter. 

Mrs. Dora Joyner, beloved wife of Bro. A. 
F. Joyner, of Division 271, departed this life 
April 21st last, at their home in Chadburn, 
N. C. The heartfelt sympathy of his Brother 
members goes out to him in his great afflic- 
tion, and in this the Order generally will join. 

At a recent meeting of Huron Division No. 
121, resolutions were adopted expressive of 
the sympathy of the members with Bro. 
Richard Rowland in the death of his beloved 
wife. 

(Carbon. 

Bro. B. G. Gordon, member of Division 103, 
died in Stockton, California, on the 15th of 
April last. Deceased had reached the age of 
50 years and had been suffering from con- 
sumption for some time. He was an honored 
and useful member of his Division and of the 
Order and was held in high regard wherever 
known. For many years he had served the I. 
D. & W. R. R. in the capacity of conductor, 
and was looked upon by the company as one 
of its most valued men. A loving wife and 
two boys are left to mourn his loss, and to 
them will be extended the sincere sympathy 
of the Order. 

The home of Bro. N. A. Dewer, of Division 
No. 7, has been desolated by the death of his 
beloved wife. At the regular meeting of the 
Division, held May 7, last, the loving sympa- 
thy of the members was extended Brother 
Dewer in his hour of supreme sorrow and in 
this the membership generally will join. 

llooe a. 

The charter of International Division No. 
48 is draped in mourning for the death of Bro. 
Derrick Roosa. who was called from this life 
after an illness of only a few days' dura- 
tion. Resolutions of condolence with the sor- 
rowing wife and family were adopted by his 
Division and by the members of Detroit Di- 
vision No. 44 L. A. to O. R. C. The funeral 


was attended by the members of both divis- 
ions, the ladies sending a beautiful floral piece 
in memory of the departed Brother. 

©raufter. 

Mrs. C. L. Granger, of Division No. 44, 
Ladies Auxiliary, has been called upon to 
mourn the death of her father. At a recent 
meeting a letter of condolence was sent to the 
bereaved Sister expressing the sympathy of 
the members. 

©ttbUr. 

Word comes from Grey town, Nicaragua, of 
the sudden death of Bro. R. C. Tabler, of 
Division 159, on February 9th, last. At the 
time of his death Brother Tabler was a resi- 
dent of Bluefields. He had been in good 
health apparently but fell dead while standing 
at the hotel lavatory washing his hands. De- 
ceased was part owner of one of the most 
valuable gold mines in that district and at the 
last account no relative had been found to suc- 
ceed to his estate. Search is now being made 
in the neighborhood of Glasgow, Mo., in the 
hope of being able to find some member of 
his family. 

$ui. 

On the morning of May 19, last, Brother 
Nicholas Hill, of Division 290, was killed in a 
wreck at Sand Stone Tunnel, about sixty 
miles east of Paducah, Ky. Brother Hill was 
in charge of a pile driver, but at the time of 
his death, was out on the line with a crew of 
eight men, picking up piles. He had sent a 
flag back about ten miles to notify train No. 
603 that he would be at the siding about one 
mile east of the tunnel and the flagman claims 
to have delivered the order. When 603 reached 
the siding and did not find Brother Hill there, 
they did not wait but ran on and the two trains 
met in the tunnel. All the men on 603 left the 
engine and escaped unhurt. Bro. Hill had 
some flats ahead of his engine and he and bis 
men were thus caught between the two en- 
gines with no possibility of escape. Seven of 
them, including our Brother, were instantly 
killed and two were badly injured but will re- 
cover. Deceased was a valuable member of 
the Order and his untimely death will be 
mourned by all. He carried both life and 
accident insurance besides his policy in our 
Benefit Department, consequently his family 
will be provided for. 


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fHE Railway Conductor. 


VOL. XI. CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, JULY, # i8 94 . NO. .7 



CONTRIBUTED. 


A NERVY CONDUCTOR. 

BY PRANK A. MYSRS. 


At the fierce command to throw up their hands, 
and perceiving the unholy gleam in the villain's 
eyes. Engineer Balsley lifted bis hands. That, 
of course, was the wish and expectation of this 
human probability. He flashed his eyes, full 
and fierce and glaring, the next instant, upon 
Fireman Jones. But Jones' hands had not gone 
up as promptly as he anticipated. Indeed, Jones 
acted like one with fight to the death in him. 
With the alacrity of a man of instant decision 
and as prompt in action, Jones made one long 
stride toward his seat, beneath the lid of which 
were some tools, a good wad of waste, an oil can 
or two, a few links and coupling pins and a harsh- 
looking revolver in a till. The bloody-minded 
devil saw the movement, and knowing well what 
it meant, formed his decision instantly. From 
the revolver in his left hand he began firing rap- 
idly at Jones, and never ceased until he had 
emptied the five chambers of his weapon. At 
the very first shot Jones straightened up. Then 
he groaned : 

“God of mercy!” 

He staggered. But the leaden hail continued 
to fly into and through his sacred body. He 
fell near the place of exit from the engine, his 
bead and arms and shoulders hanging out. All 
the time the train was flying. The first shot 
into the body of* poor Jones was fatal, penetrating 


his heart — that heart that would never again love 
dear Dollie on this earth — never! never! 

The right-hand revolver not once, through all 
this tragic action, was removed from the face of 
Engineer Balsley. Helpless he sat by and saw 
his friend and co-laborer shot to death. Rage^ 
burned in his very soul; but what could he do? 
To move was instant death to himself, and that 
would in no way help the slain, cruelly, willfully 
slain, Jones. And he said not a word, nor made 
one move — paralyzed with terror. Was Balsley 
a coward? No! Perish the thought! But put 
yourself in his place, and — well, what would you 
do; bow would you act, with no time allowed you 
to think, taken unawares, and wholly disarmed? 

I imagine you would do just as Engineer Balsley 
did — you'd do nothing, until you regained your- 
self. 

At this moment the engine gave a heavy lurch, 
and the dying Jones, his body already on the 
point of tipping out, slipped further out, clung 
a second, and then dropped down — down to the 
rails below— down to the awfully grinding wheels. 
He was fearfully and shockingly mangled. I t 
was a God's mercy that the poor fellow did not 
know it was coming on him. The awful pain and 
soul-stabbing shock that tortures the conscious 
man, falling to inevitable death in a horrible 
manner, were not his. But the idea of his bein^g 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


332 

murdered, and then in consequence this hor- 
rible mutilation coming upon him — who does not 
want to slay the brute, does not wish to send him 
down to instant perdition, does not feel like chop- 
ping him into fragments and sowing ^the same to 
the four winds of heaven? But it is not ours to 
impose vengeance upon others; that is reserved to 
Him who rules all things and gives us our lives, 
Him who spares us from man^ impending dan- 
gers and blesses us with friends and comforts, 
Him who sees the depths of our hearts and 
knows all our thoughts. Alas! poor Jones! His 
body was ground to fragments just after rounding 
the sharp curve, near some rocks that projected 
from a picturesque little bluff. 

After killing the fireman the murderer, the 
vilest of the vile, felt he had blood enough for 
one time 00 his red hands. Moreover, he knew 
himself better able to cope single-handed with 
the engineer, and was, therefore, not inclined to 
take his life. 

Not knowing just what his two pals were doing, 
he determined to capture the train himself and 
then rob it. This was a conclusion he reached 
as he saw the success of his decisive work so far. 
With a will for anything he regarded himself 
equal to any undertaking. 

“Run this train across Indian river bridge,” 
ordered the demon, still looking over his revolver 
into the face of the engineer, who was now re- 
covering himself. 

Without one word of response Balsley put on 
the air brakes, and proceeded to stop the train 
the hither side of Indian river, quite 
the contrary of the command of the devil over 
him. The murderer did not understand but 
what the engineer was complying with his orders, 
until he perceived that the train was slowing up. 
With impetuous haste he thrust the weapon into 
Balsley’s face, evidently intending to send a 
leaden ball crashing into his brain, but a sudden 
thought possessed him and he recalled his hasty 
intention. 

“You devil !" he roared. 

Now he sprang forward and pushing Balsley 
aside grasped the throttle lever and threw the 
throttle-valve wide open. But the train would 
not move forward. The air-brakes were on. 

Now. all that you have been told occurred in a 
very short space of time — not more than five 
minutes — and the desperation of the affair ex- 
acted instant conclusions and speedy action. 

And where were the other two villains, and 
what were they doing during these five minntes 
that were in throes bringing forth such exciting 
events? 

For about one minute they stood undecided on 


the platform, from which their partner descended 
into the engine cab with such fatal results; but 
the next minute they proceeded to action. They 
coolly opened the door and with a revolver in 
each hand entered. They had expected every 
man to surrender at the very first word, and Tom 
Steele, the doughty conductor, thinks they were 
taken aback a little at the warm reception they 
received. 

At that moment — a thing that seldom occurs — 
both the baggage and expressmen were out, and 
Tom Steele and the brakeman. Bob Ireland, were 
the sole occupants of the coach. They were 
standing conversing together about a certain par- 
ticular report Steele had to make at the end of 
this rim, and had their backs to the door through 
which the two well-armed robbers entered. 

But Steele, as if by intuition, caught the sound 
of the open door — a rush of noise suddenly burst 
in upon his ears— and he looked up quickly. Two 
strangers — revolvers — bad looking fellows — some- 
thing desperate on hands — all flashed through his 
quick brain like £. shot. All at once there was an 
animated, nerved, resolute, rigid air upon him, 
and Bob Ireland perceived the instantaneous 
transformation. What — what was the matter? 
He looked and saw. Instant in action Steele 
reached for his pistol in his hip pocket. Bob 
Ireland did the same. 

“Throw up your hands,” demanded one of the 
robbers, advancing and leveling his revolver. 
The coach kept up its uneasy lurching motion, 
and the four men confronting each other were 
just a little unsteady on their feet. 

“Throw up your hands,” yelled the second cut- 
throat. 9 

“Never!” shouted Tom Steele, pulling his 
“pop” and flashing it down at the fellows. 

It cannot be told now who fired the first shot. 
The men were engaged in a hand to hand deadly 
contest so quickly that no one noted the little de- 
tails of the fight, and was ever able to give a 
clear report of the beginning thereof So we 
must content ourselves with such facts as we 
know to be clear and undisputed. 

Certain it is that for about one minute there 
was a regular fusilade of small arms, and the 
pop pop popping, and the z.pping messengers of 
death, and the puffs of smoke, resembled a battle, 
or perhaps rather the opening volley between the 
clashing advance guards of two assembling hos* 
tile forces But every shot went wild The vil- 
lains emptied the revolvers in both hands at one 
and the same time The revolver in Steele's 
hands smoked after h- lowered it. Bob Ireland 
regretted he had not one more shot in his The 
foolish robbers, feeling they had met their match 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


and becoming nervous when their guns were 
empty — knowing their defense gone — quailed be- 
fore the superior courage of Tom Steele and Bob 
Ireland. Advancing with uplifted revolver Steele 
rushed upon the two fellows, intending to crush 
their skulls with blows. Ireland was at bis side. 
The vile wretches slowly ba:ked out. They had 
been whipped. Superior courage did it. At the 
door they were apparently seized with a panic, 
for they tramped on each other’s heels in their 
precipitate haste. They rushed like frightened 
roe to the step?. Wildly they threw out their 
arms and hands and dew into the air, one closely 
behind the other. 

Just at that instant they beheld the fall of the 
body of poor Jones beneath the pulverizing 
wheels. The train was rapidly slowing up. The 
predatory, murderous devil in the cab saw his 
"pards” leap away. Then was born that sudden 
resolve to capture the train himself, followed by 
the order to cross Indian river bridge, where he 
hoped to do the deed and escape iato the dense 
forest. 

The passengers now beheld the fleeing hounds, 
and before they could quite escape into the brush 
two or three men comprehended the situation and 
futilely emptied their revolvers at the retreating 
figures. It was an exciting time, as you may 
know. Everything within the coaches was bustle 
and confusion and agitated inquiry, and when 
the t^ain had nearly stopped the windows were 
filled with eager and perturbed countenances 
peeping out rather timidly to catch a possible 
glimpse of what was going on and what they did 
not rightly understand. 

••Robbers!” exclaimed one woman, with 
blanched face. 

'•Yes," whispered another, frightened out of 
her wits 

"Will they come and get us?” lisped the first 
again, cowering in her seat, afraid to lift her 
timid eyes to the open window. 

"No, madam.” said a gentleman behind her; 
"they have already fled, vamoosed, lit out, struck 
for the brush, and the danger is all over.” 

"O, I'm so glad !” with a sigh of relief. 

"My heavens! what if th ey should comeback,” 
shrieked a frightened lady behind this gentleman 
who had already spoken. Turning to her he ob- 
served, soothingly: 

"No danger, no danger, I assure you, lady; no 
danger of that in the world. Such cattle when 
they flee never come back — not much. They are 
cowards after they once stretch the leg toward 
the brush, rest assured of that. Oh, no; no 
danger at all — none at all.” All the time he kept 
his eyes glued along the line of brush, hoping 


and yet half fearing he would catch a glimpse of 
the fellows whose actions are mighty uncertain- 
like life itself. Perhaps he talked to keep his 
courage up, for the same reason that a boy 
whistles whea passing at night through a grave- 
yard. 

The same general tumult and unrest and agi- 
tation existed in all the coaches where there were 
passengers. Practically the same conversation 
was repeated at the same time in each car. And 
somebody had the courage to speak kindly to the 
distressed ladies and pronounce a curse upon the 
fleeing villains. But as this attempt at looting 
by these freebooting scabs of society and vexers 
of the secret places in the graves, the sacred 
temples of the Druids and the first temples of 
God, the Jav of the sweet singer of Israel did not 
in any material way affect the passengers, it is not 
exactly pertinent to this faithful little chronicle 
to narrate what they said or did, or what peculiar 
situations were developed. 

Before the train had fairly stopped "nervy” 
Tom Steele sprang down and ran to the engine. 
At that very instant he observed a stalwart look- 
ing man running away up the track, perhaps five 
hundred yards in advance, seemingly bending 
every energy he had to "make good time” and 
get to the woods on Indian river. Tom kaew he 
was one who had tried to hold up the train, and 
was taking • ‘leg bail” for it now like the others. 

It is to be said that plucky Tom Steele felt not 
a little displeased that not one of them was either 
hurt or captured, and he accused himself for "not 
having better success,” Then he sprang into the 
engine and for a moment did not notice the ab- 
sence of Fireman Mort Jones. However, he 
failed not to see the blanched, excited, wild eyed 
appearance of Engineer Balsley, and he knew 
that that fellow hurrying up the track like the 
Old Scratch was after him bad been in the engine 
and intimidated, or tried to intimidate, the men 
at the throttle. He now perceived why the train 
stopped. 

Pointing after this swiftly speeding figure up 
the track and nodding his held that way at the 
fitting momert, Tom Steele merely said: 

"Him?” 

There was a volume in this part query, part ex- 
clamation, part masonic or secret understanding. 
It was, in the first place, no time for words, and 
in the next place, no occasion for them. Gram- 
mar was "not in it.” 

A nod of the head — how much that nod con- 
veyed under the circumstances? — was all that 
Balsley pretended to give in response. His face 
and look spoke louder than words, louder than 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


tbe voices of the night, louder than mystic 
sounds to superstitious ears. 

“But where’s Jones?” inquired Tom Steele al- 
most in the next breath, as he glanced around ex- 
citedly and saw him not. 

“Shot!” exclaimed Balsley in excited response. 

“What?” 

“Killed!” said Balsley. 

“By him?” nodding after the retreating man. 

Again Balsley gave that significant and expres- 
sive nod. No words were needed to explain the 
nod. 

These two men did not stand there in the cab 
— can't you see their wild eyes and excited move- 
ments? — more than a minute, if indeed it was that 
long. 

“Here! — wait, Phil,” said Tom, quickly. He, 
under such difficulties, reached conclusions not 
by the constructive process but by a saltus or 
leap. 

Almost tumbling over himself, so to speak, in 
his hurry to leap from the engine, he dropped to 
the ground and stumbled not a little in recovering 
his equilibrium. With a leap he uncoupled tbe 
engine from the train, and then ran out from be- 
tween the tender and the baggage car, where the 
robbers had stood on the platform. As he 
emerged he met Bob Ireland, who was hurrying 
to the engine with two fresh revolvers given him 
by passengers. Tom snatched one and said : 

“Come on.” 

Now he jumped rather than climbed into the 
engine, while right at bis heels followed Bob. 

Pointing to the retreating desperado bat look- 
ing at Balsley, Tom requested hurriedly: 

“Catch him.” 

. Balsley looked back over the tender and merely 
nodded. Tom understood. 

“All right,” Tom spoke in answer. 

Then Balsley touched the throttle lever and the 
engine began to walk right forward. She shook, 
and quivered, oand flew. What an exciting, 
thrilling race. An engine after a flying murderer! 
The three men in tbe cab were moving upon a 
most desperate fellow, and a man with murder in 
his heart, a man with blood stains upon his 
hands! 

And still Tom Steele looked forward at him, as 
they bounded along, rolling, rumbling, puffing, 
with a nervous itch in his marrow, and his very 
toes in his shoes moving in unison with his eyes 
in a twitching, eager excitement. He wanted 
that dirty dog and he wanted him badly, aud 
what was more, he was going to get him or die 
in the attempt. His eager courage begat a heed- 
less spirit in Phil and Bob both. They wanted 
to get the dare-devil's scalp, too. They were 


entering into a fight they could have escaped 
honorably. But that was not the nature of Tom 
Steele. He would die or “get his man.” The 
possible results of the endeavor to take or slay 
the man did not enter into his cranium then. If 
tbe fellow should undertake to sell his life as 
dearly as possible and die game, somebody would 
bite tbe dust, and no mistake. A desperate dog, 
when brought to bay and forced to die with his 
boots on, is a very hellhound to face. 

On, on, on, — nearer, nearer, nearer! Once, 
twice, thrice the pursued fellow glanced back. 
Just as Phil Balsley closed the throttle valve and 
clapped the air brake to the drive wheels, the 
hounded devil left the track and entered the un- 
derbrush among the trees. That, of course, af- 
forded him some hope of escape, and it also gave 
him the advantage of biding behind a tree and 
shooting down his incautious pursuers, if he so 
wished. 

As soon as Tom Steele saw him “take to the 
woods” he danced in vexed excitement. Would 
be escape at last? Had the villain triumphantly 
eluded their very best efforts to “bag him?” 

Before the engine had fai ly stopped Tom 
leaped off and ran after the fleeing fellow, now 
dodging in and out, further and further away, 
among the entangled underbrush. 

“Halt!” yelled Tom, running at the top of his 
speed. The fellow heeded him not, but slunk 
deeper and deeper into the friendly wood. 

“Halt!” cried Tom the next minute in a louder, 
more imperious tone. The echoes came back to 
him only for answer. Crashing, flying along 
through the brush, fresh in pursuit, he gained 
rapidly on tbe panting dog. Now he was close 
enough to fire at him with fatal effect had he de- 
sired to do that, but his object was to capture the 
fellow and not hurt him if he could help it. 
There was more honor in taking the man alive 
and allowing the majestic law to deal with him 
subsequently, than in carrying back his dead 
body to afford the coroner an opportunity to “sit 
on” it and render a verdict as to the cause and 
manner of his death. If the heinous brute 
showed fight, like a hemmed orangoutang, and 
really desired to be killed outright rather than be 
taken, then there was no other alternative but to 
shoot him down in his tracks or be shot down. 
Tom, as a matter of fact, preferred to shoot him 
down to being shot down himself. 

“Halt, you fiend,” shouted Tom, now not more 
than five rods away. Tom held his weapon in 
front of him, ready to fire instantly if necessary. 
The fellow still ran on. 

“Halt, devil, or die,” said Tom in savage 
tone. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


With a flash the fellow wheeled around and 
raised his revolver. Bat as he did so l^e looked 
into the muzzle of Tom's revolver, now not more 
than twenty feet away, and behind it caught a 
gleam of his pursuer's restless eye. An instant 
change came over bis purpose to shoot. Tom’s 
eye wrought a magic work in the rascal's design. 

“Throw up your bands. "cried Tom, advancing. 
And the fellow obeyed. 

'*1 surrender." he said bruskly and huskily. 

“Drop your gun." said Tom looking along bis 
pistol barrel into the quavering eyes of the pant- 
ing man. He had run until his breast was heav- 
ing like laboring, wheezing bellows. 

The fellow threw down his revolver, a savage 
looking instrument, at Toms feet. As Tom 
stooped to pick it up the treacherous hound 
sprang forward, intending to fall on his bending 
back and crush him to the earth, and there 
snatch away his revolver and shoot him dead. 
Tom out of the way he could escape, for Bob 
Ireland was not yet come up near them. 

“No you don't," hissed Tom through his teeth 
as he thrust the pistol up into the surprised man’s 
face and suddenly stood erect. He mistrusted 
the fellow and was prepared for his action. “Now 
you play fair, you vile cur, or I’ll shoot your 
heart out." 

“I thought — ,’’ he began. 

“I don't want your thoughts — only fairness. 
You see I could kill you, don't you? You mis- 
take if you think I do not mean to take you or 
die." 

There was no mistaking Tom’s meaning, for 
his eyes, in their gorgeous fearlessness, pro- 
claimed it. They fairly snapped fire; death was 
plainly written in them. 

“All right," said the fellow, slinking back sul- 
lenly “Keep your cold lead, I don’t want it." 

“Well, sir; you knov what to do in that case," 
returned Tom haughtily. 

Th-y were standing under a large tree, the 
boughs of which were low, and the thick under- 
brush pressed close around oc all sides. Alone, 
in a very dangerous place, the rashly brave Tom 
Steele, whom everybody on the road called the 
All-over Tom as a very superior compliment, cap- 
tured this fellow. It was a great victory. Hurrah 
for Tom Steele! 

After searching the fellow Tom coolly led him 
back to the engine, where Bob Ireland joined 
them. Bob's intentions were good enough, and 
be was brave enough, but he was not as swift on 
foot as the nimble footed, quick-acting, All-over 
Tom. 

The captured fellow gave his name as Jake 
Martin, and said that he had been in many bad 


“goes," but through it all he bad never met a 
man “just like this feller," pointing to Conductor 
Steele. From Jake Martin, the well known des- 
perado, that was indeed a compliment. And 
there was no discount about it, Tom had the 
“nerve" and feared nothing that “walked on two 
legs," as bis friends said. And yet a heartier 
fellow never lived than All-over Tom. That's 
why he was so nicknamed. And' he was the 
politest and finest looking man your eyes ever 
rested on. 

It is not the purpose to give an account of the 
scenes in the coaches, when it was known that 
one of the robbers had been captured and 
brought back; how two or three very timid 
ladies shrieked hysterically, and others moaned 
and wondered why they did not let him go when 
be ran away; how some men crowded around 
Tom and plied him with questions to know “all 
about it" and just how the fellow looked and 
acted and what he said when he surrendered; and 
bow Tom kindly told them all he could; and a 
thousand and one other things that transpired 
there in a few minutes after the fellow was safely 
lodged in the baggage car under the eyes of Bob 
Ireland and both the baggage and express men. 

“We thought you’d cut loose from us when we 
saw the engine going down the road alone, and 
had left us to the tender mercies of these wild 
regions," said one old gentleman in a jesting man- 
ner. 

Under Tom Steele's orders the train backed 
back, and the mutilated, disfigured remains of 
poor Mort Jones were picked up and carried into 
the baggage car. The murderer, Jake Martin, 
quailed not when the body, wrapped in a water- 
proof in order to conceal its mangled condition, 
was laid down in one end of the coach, where his 
crime-hardened eyes could have rested on it con- 
tinually. There was an air about Martin that 
apparently proclaimed him oblivious of all sensi- 
bility and so solidified that sentiment and human- 
ity had been expelled from his coarse-grained an- 
atomy. 

At the next station Jake Martin was given over 
into the bands of the sheriff and he was immed- 
iately lodged in jail. Then a posse was organized 
and a search at once instituted for the other two 
members of the gang. But they had made good 
their escape. 

The remains of poor Mort Jones were placed 
in a rich coffin, by order of Tom Steele, and 
shipped back to San Antonio on the next train, to 
his friends for burial. His little sweetheart, Dol- 
lie, was heartbroken and desolate, when she heard 
tb- clods of the valley rattle down upon his 
coffin It was a fearful trial for her, dear thing! 


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336 

On a fair and impartial and speedy trial before. But Conductor Tom Steele — All-over Tom — 
a competent jury of his peers, judgment was was a great hero all along the line, for bis 
quickly rendered in the case of Jake Martin, "nervy” capture. And to show its appreciation 
Within ten days he was sentenced to the state's of bis valiant act the railroad company gave him 
prison for ten years. With a characteristically the substantial reward of $1,000 Even Bob 
sullen demeanor and without a single word in his Ireland was remembered with a snug little nest- 
own behalf, he received the sentence and was bur* egg of $300. 

ried away that night to the state lodging house, Now, wasn't All-over Tom a nervy fellow? We 
where gentlemen of his kidney found congenial are quite free to confess that we are most enthus* 
spirits. iastic in our admiration of his pluck and energy. 

THE END. 


•THE MYSTERIOUS FOREST. 


A SOCIAL ALLEGORY. 


BY H. P. PEEBLES. 


CHAPTER XII 

The dim light of a coming day began to slowly 
filter through the overhanging foliage. The 
thick, heavy blackness was gradually assuming a 
grayish tinge and the never ceasing conflict be- 
tween light and darkness was on in the silent 
depths of the forest. The struggle never ceases, 
never ends. Light conquers darkness, and tri- 
umphantly chases it 'round the world; but in the 
rear darkness is gathering its forces and pursues 
in turn. It is a continual victory, and a contin- 
ual defeat; a constant pursuit, and a constant re- 
treat. Travel with the rays of the morning sun 
and darkness flees before you; wait until the sun 
sinks behind the western horizon and you jour- 
ney with darkness in the pursuit of light. 

A misty beam of lighter grey pierced the heavy 
clouds of blackness followed by another, and an- 
other, and another; they threw out arms that 
met and made wider breaches in the darkness; 
and suddenly, as if by concerted signal, they 
rushed together and coalesced, and darkness fled, 
hiding behind fallen trees and little glades to 
wait sullenly for the coming hour when it would 
play the victor. 

The soft, grey mist crept silently around the 
sleeping forms of the three travelers. Despite 
the deep interest aroused by the conversation of 
the preceding night, tired nature had finally 
conquered and sleep bad interrupted ihe attempt 
to solve the greatest problem that ever confronted 
the human mind. 

Socialist was the first that felt its influence and 
stirred uneasily. Only partially awake, he im- 
agined himself in bis former home, and turned 
on his blanket, addressing himself to sleep again, 
muttering, "it is scarcely daylight yet ” In- 
stinctively he listened for the crowing of the 


cocks, the chirping of the birds and the other 
familiar sounds that welcome the morning sun. 
The intense, overpowering silence awakened 
him; with a sudden start he recognized bis sur- 
roundings. and throwing aside his blankets stag- 
gered yawningly to his feet. A few steps took 
him to the banks of the sluggish little pool, and 
a bath in the cool water removed all traces of 
sleep. 

He knew that his companions were weary, and 
he concluded to allow them to sleep until nature 
spoke. He threw himself on the soft sward and 
resting his head on his folded arms his thoughts 
reverted to the history of a soul that he had 
heard a few hours before. 

Neither of his parents had been professing 
Christians, although frequent attendants at a 
fashionable church, consequen ly the principles 
of the Christian faith had not been instilled into 
his youthful mind, although he was bred a nomi- 
nal believer^ and raised under Christian civiliza- 
tion. He bad read the Bible occasionally, but 
never as a serious study; in fact, the question of 
religion had never seriously interested him. 
Christianity was an excellent vent for emotional 
women and sentimental men; its principles were 
useful for the training of childhood and doubtless 
the faith contained many precepts of the purest 
morality. But regarding its truth, it was a pleas- 
ing but wornout fable, that science and modern 
progress had relegated to the level of fairy litera- 
ture. In college days he had inclined towards 
the gross forms of materialism, and had endeav- 
ored to believe that soul existence and future life 
were the vain figments of imagination. Like all 
speculative and earnest minds he had devoted 
much time to the theories of ancient and modern 
philosophy, had skimmed lightly over the specn* 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 337 


lative field from Plato to Locke, from Pythagorus 
to Hurley, and finding no sure resting ground, 
concluded that after all it was only a series of 
guesses, and gave up the search for proofs. He 
finally declared that Agnosticism was the only 
safe position. God might exist, the soul might 
exist and future life may be; but no proofs could 
be discovered of the truth, and reasoning, re- 
search on the problem, was a course of vain 
speculations, unprofitable and unsatisfying. 

But in one night during the hour of thought 
knowledge had come intuitively. From that hour 
he bad never doubted. He went beyond the 
stage of belief for he felt the certainty of knowl- 
edge. and knew that personal immortality was in- 
evitable. He had not attended a dark seance, no 
medium had invoked a departed soul to assure 
him of the fact, no voice had spoken from the 
other side, no occult phenomena had changed 
the current of his thoughts, no new or original 
proofs had shaken his belief in the claims of 
agnosticism; but he realized that assertions and 
speculations old as written literature — that he 
bad regarded as vague and unsatisfactory — were 
in reality incontestable and absolute proofs 

How plainly every incident and detail of that 
night came before him; he remembered every 
particular in the course of reasoning that had 
settled the great problem of all the ages, and had 
answered in the affirmative the great question, 
"If a man die, shall he live again?" 

Sitting idly in the reading rooms of a public 
libr ry he had carelessly picked up an old volume 
with the high sounding title, “The Progress of 
Religious Ideas," and opening its pages at ran- 
dom bad read the following incident. 

"During the latter part of the eighteenth cen- 
tury the ruins of an ancient temple were found in 
the midst of one of the inaccessible jungles of 
India. A few standing pillars, and piles of sculp- 
tured stones overgrown with mighty trees and 
brush, were all that remained of a great temple 
that had probably witnessed religious rites long 
before Israel had laid the foundations of the first 
temple at Jerusalem. The discoverer, an English 
traveler, found a stone containing the inscription, 
that had evidently formed the arch over the door 
or entrance. The marks were cut deeply in the 
solid granite, and after clearing away the moss 
and dirt that covered it he, being a practical 
draughtsman, made a careful and exact copy. 
When it was shown to eastern scholars and In- 
dian sages none were able to decipher the inscrip- 
tion. They declared that while it resembled in 
character a form of Sanscrit the writing was evi- 
dently anterior to any of the known forms of 
Asiatic literature. The assertions but whetted 


the curiosity of the traveler and he spent his 
time in searching for a translation. We may 
omit here the incidents given of the • long and 
patient search. An ancient recluse was finally 
found, that claimed to be able to read the inscrip- 
tion, and rendered it into English, as follows: 
'I am, therefore, Oh, God ! Thou must be I 
am, therefore, I will be.’ ” - 

The words with their alliterative ring stamped 
themselves upon the traveler's memory, and as 
he walked home he kept repeating the line, parrot 
like, over and over again It was not until after 
he had sought his bed that the full meaning of 
the words impressed itself upon him. He was 
repeating them for perhaps the hundredth time, 
when in the sentence, he started, for sudden- 
ly, and with the vividness of a flash of lightning, 
he realized their force and strength. Why, for a 
truth: the simple sentence contained all the 
knowledge, all the proof the natural man — 
casting revelation aside as doubtful — had ever 
found of God or immortality, and was given not 
as a speculation, not as an argument, but as a 
proof final and absolute. "I am, therefore I will 
be," intuitively the truth and ample sufficiency 
of the claim impressed itself upon his reason, 
and he felt that Personal annihilation was an im- 
possibility; that life was a distinct force that 
manifested itself, not in, but through matter, as 
a battery manifests electricity. The battery does 
not create electricity, it only manifests it. De- 
stroy the battery and the electric force departs, 
but is not annihilated. The body manifests life, 
because matter is arranged under proper condi- 
tions; destroy these conditions and life departs, 
but is not destroyed Annihilation cannot even 
be imagined. Nature never gives a desire — on 
physical or material plane never gives an appetite 
or craving — that she does not supply the means of 
satisfying. A craving without the possibility of 
fruition is an anomaly, it is an impossibility. 
They are the opposite arms of a balance, the 
creation of one implies the existence of the other. 
What is the one supreme universal desire of the 
human mind? Is it not to live, to exist, to be? 
The universal dread of death is but a tribute to 
this desire. But is this instinctive fear of death 
a reality? When the truth is known it becomes 
strong presumptive evidence of continued ex- 
istence. 

Is the dread of death a natural attribute of hu- 
manity? Classic philosophers discovered the con- 
trary more than two thousand years ago Aris- 
totle wrote, "The fear of death is imaginary 
Pythagorus claimed that no man feared death 
when it became inevitable. Socrates said, "There 
are no cowards when death is certain " He 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


338 

remembered that a friend, a physician, had told 
him, "I find that men are not afraid to die/' 

He remembered the death cf an intimate 
friend, one who had frequently said before his 
final sickness, that his great fear, one that 
poisoned his enjoyment of life, was the dread of 
death. But the dying man had told him that 
death had no terrors, he was not only willing but 
anxious to surrender his hold on life. He re* 
mem here d that once be had apparently faced in- 
evitable death, for an hour he had momentarily 
expected death, (it was during an explosion in a 
coal mine, and confined in a narrow chamber 
there seemed no hope of surviving,) and he re* 
iflembered that after relief came he had told one 
of bis rescuers that be bad proven to himself that 
he was not afraid of death. Yes, he remem- 
bered bis surprise at discovering that death bad 
no terrors for him. Aristotle had grasped a 
great truth, “The fear of death is imaginary." 

As the basis of the fear is the instinctive dread 
of annihilation, the soul, as it faces the inevitable 
change must recognize the fallacy of non-exist- 
ence and meets the future with more than forti- 
tude and resignation, with tranquility and hope- 
fulness. 

Other proofs came crowding in upon his mind 
one upon another, not as argument but as convic- 
tions; and from that night future existence was 
no longer a problem, was not a belief, but a 
knowledge. While there remained no doubts in 
his own mind he instinctively recognized the fact 
that be could not explain his knowledge to an- 
other. He had no new proofs to offer, no new 
arguments to give. 

He had been fond of debating the problem of 
life and of discussing with others the probability 
of immortality; but from that hour had avoided 


all argumen.. If his opinion was asked be gave 
it, but acknowledged his inability to convince an- 
other, saying that it was a knowledge, not a be- 
lief, and came from within by proofs from with- 
out. His only proof, his only argument, was the 
line, “I am, therefore I will be," and he would 
ask bis opponent to write this simple phrase and 
repeat it when alone. 

It is indeed a dreadful thought that man. with 
all his progress in scientific knowledge, with the 
admitted advance in civilization, aided by the art 
of printing that records the progress of one age 
that the next may continue to search at the point 
where the former had left it. has discovered 
naught to add to the assertion of the Indian sage 
of four thousand years ago On the capstone of 
the ancient temple was inscribed the great proof 
that makes man a religious animal, and a believer 
in life eternal. 

But still more dreadful is the thought that rpen 
exist to day that have not grasped the truth the 
sage possessed four thousand years ago. As So- 
cialist said — and he meant it not unkindly, as the 
charge included himself up to the recorded 
change — that those who had not found this 
knowledge had not reached the highest plane of 
this stage of evolution, and had not gained the 
highest knowledge due the individual of this 
present age. Knowledge comes when wisdom 
lingers. Many hope that do not quite believe. 
Every individual could solve the problem, and 
the day must come when this problem shall not 
exist. The great question will not be, “If a man 
die. shall he live again?" but shall be. 
“What bearings have this life on the one to 
come?" Thousands have already answered the 
first question, and are endeavoring to solve the 
second. 


TO BE CONTINUED. 


THE SUFFICIENCY OF ECONOMIC RENT. 


BY W. P. BORLAND. 


Would economic rent be shfficient to supply 
the needs of government? Single taxers contend 
that it would. But, it must be remembered, this 
is a question of very secondary importance; it is 
not, as certain opponents of the theory would 
have us believe, a vital point that mutt be estab- 
lished by positive proof When it is admitted 
that the single tax would put an end to land 
monopoly, and destroy private property in land 
by making it unprofitable, those who look for the 
triumph of principles, rather than the exaltation 
of theories ask for nothing more; what follows may 


safely be left to take care of itself. It is quite 
certain that if the fund created by society is 
found to be insufficient to support such government 
as society shall think it needs, whatever deficiency 
may appear will be made up in a manner con- 
sistent with liberty and the preservation of the 
rights of man. What the single tax principle 
maintains is that the actual wealth of society, 
together v*itb the processes of its production and 
distribution shall be entirely relieved from the 
burden of taxation and single taxers have no fe** 
but all necessary expenses of government may b® 


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provided for without infringing this principle. 
We may form a very accurate idea of the amount 
of tribute now exacted from the people by means 
of land monopoly and the many other forms of 
monopoly allied to and based upon it, but it is 
impossible to say what economic rent might be in 
a state of freedom, in a state where land was 
held merely for use and not for the benefits flow- 
ing from its increments of value. Some authori- 
ties have held that in a state of freedom there 
would be no rent at all, there being land of the 
first quality sufficient to supply all possible human 
needs, while other authorities, equally good, have 
held that the confiscation of purely economic 
rent would produce so enormous a revenue as to 
corrupt the state. There is no inductive evidence 
to support either of these views. There are no 
facts, either of the one sort or the other, which 
men may appeal to. and whether or not the eco- 
nomic rent fund would be sufficient for the sup- 
port of government must be deduced from well 
established principles and observed tendencies. 
The qualitative differences which give rise to 
economic rent are purely aelative. They refer 
not to any absolute qualities inherent in the land 
itself, but to external and contingent circum- 
stances whicb. per se, and without reference to 
the inherent qualities of the land, determine the 
place of particular parcels of Und in the eco- 
nomic scale, and so their capacity of producing 
rent. Thus, the barren sand lot may yield 
rent while land of surpassing fertility and pro- 
ductiveness yields no rent, and the pile of lime 
rock may occupy the highest place in the eco- 
nomic scale while the exceedingly high grade 
mineral deposit is still below the margin of culti- 
vation. It is, then, by following the movement 
of these contingent circumstances, and noting 
their effect, that we may deduce the probable 
magnitude of the rent fund available for the sup- 
port of government. 

Single taxers go so far as to assert that the 
economic rent created by society will always 
answer to supply all the collective needs of that 
society, properly included under the head of gov- 
ernmental expenses, and in support of that asser- 
tion they point to the indisputable evidence of 
natural law. There is a certain correlation of 
natural laws all through the universe, and the 
law of natural compensations i«* so well estab- 
lished that scientists do not hesitate to assert that 
wherever a want is created by the operation of 
natural laws the means of satisfying that want 
ire produced by the operation of the same laws. 
We may note exemplifications of this principle 
through out nature. The Esquimaux, whose en- 
vironment is such that he must endure extremes 


339 


of cold, is provided with a natural blanket of fat, 
and his body is so well supplied with blood that 
the slightest abrasion of the skin is sufficient to 
produce hemorrhage that would be viewed with 
alarm by a resident of the temperate zones. The 
food which nature has provided for bis use con- 
tains an abundance of carbonaceous matter, 
which produces animal heat, necessary for bis ex- 
istence but not required by inhabitants of more 
favored areas on the earth's surface. The inhab- 
itants of the torrid zone, on the other hand, are 
provided by nature with food containing an 
abundance of nitrogenous matter, but deficient in 
carbon, which is just what is required to support 
their conditions of life. So closely has this sys- 
tem of natural compensations been traced tbat 
wherever crawls a poisonous reptile it is said that 
growing near may be found the plant which is an 
antidote for its bite. Nature leaves no want un- 
provided for; and it is not too much to say that 
if the ueed of social revenue is a natural want, 
nature has also provided ample means for the 
satisfaction of that want. 

By following out this train of thought we find that 
the need of social revenue and economic rent are 
both created by the operation of the same laws, and 
we are justified in concluding that the one should, 
and would, naturally balance and provide com- 
pensation for the other. It is pretty safe to say 
that the community whose economic rent fund 
is insufficient to balance its governmental ex- 
penses is afflicted with a government that costs 
more than it's worth. What creates the need of 
public revenue? The gregarious instincts of 
men, causing them to associate together in com- 
munities, and, where they have advanced beyond 
the state of savagery, causing them to erect fixed 
habitations and, attach themselves to permanent 
locations. What creates economic rent? Pre- 
cisely the cause which creates the need of public 
revenue, and no other. No matter what may be 
the inherent qualities of land, it cannot, econom- 
ically, assume value, ror produce rent, until it 
has been selected for the peimantnt uses of a 
community; and, no matter what may be the 
inherent qualities of land, it zvill assume value, 
and produce rent, whenever it is selected for the 
permanent uses of a community. This is not to 
say that land does not now have value unless it is 
devoted to communal uses; a vast quantity of 
land not so used now has value, but it is specu- 
lative, or monopoly, not economic value. And 
the economic value of land always keeps pace 
with the growth of the community which creates 
it, increasing as the community increases in size 
and the need for revenue becomes more apparent, 
and decreasing as the community decreases in 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


340 

-size and the need for revenue decreases. Thus, 
when the city of New York consisted of no more 
than a few houses, there was need for but little 
public revenue and the value of the land upon 
which it is built was correspondingly small; but, 
as the city increased in size the need of revenue 
increased, and the value of land also increased, 
and land which in the early days might have 
been bought for a few cents is now worth millions 
of dollars per acre. And land in the city of 
Washington which it was necessary to dispose of 
by means of a lottery scheme at seven dollars a 
ticket, less thao a century ago, in order to induce 
'people to buy it at all, could not now be bought 
for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Wherever 
we look we see the rent fund and the need for 
social revenue growing side by side and keeping 
pac6 with each other. As the little cross-roads 
settlement grows into a village, and. anon, into a 
great and busy city, it needs fire and police pro- 
tection, paved streets, water and gas mains, pub- 
lic schools on an extended scale, thousands of 
things which should properly be provided by 
communal effort and which the cross-roads set- 
tlement docs not need at all; and, keeping pace 
with these needs, the value of land is constantly 
growing, and the rent fund to provide for these 
needs is constantly increasing Scatter the larg- 
est community in existence to-day let the mem 
bers of that community migrate in a body to a 
new location, and the economic value attaching 
to the land upon which it is now located disap- 
pears like a mist in the presence of the orb of 
day. The need for social revenue has disap- 
peared, and with it has also disappeared the fund 
which is competent to supply that need. 

That the rcmomic rent fund created by society 
will always an wer to supply that society's need 
of revenue, is a logical d duction from well es- 
tablished principles and indisputable tendencies; 
let us now examine the reasoning by which the 
deduction is sought to be over hrown. That an 
enormous portion of our present land values is 
due to mo opoly an 1 not economic c - uses, is an 
indisputable fact; and. of course, the destruction 
of monopoly would destroy the monopoly rent 
fund and force land values to a purely economic 
basis At no period of the world’s history has 
there been a natural scarcity of land to supply the 
needs of the human race, nor is it at all probable 
that there ever will be Scientists whose opinions 
are entitl d to respect have declared that the 
valley of the Mississippi alone is capable of fur- 
nishing enough natural product to support in 
comfort the entire population of the world; and 
the great French scientist, Elisee Redus, has es- 
iimated that the present known resources of the 


globe, even in the present state of development of 
the arts and sciences, are sufficient to supply a 
population of twenty billions of persons with all 
the comforts and luxuries known to mankind 
The present population of the globe is but little 
more than a billion and a half. Whatever may 
be tbe opinion as to the reliability of such esti* 
mates, it is absolutely certain that the monopo- 
lized area is vastly greater than is needed merely 
for use; and it is a fact »hat any apparent scarcity 
of land is due to artificial, not natural causes. 

The destruction of monopoly would throw the 
entire area open for use, and annihilate the values 
now ba*ed on monopoly merely. The land which 
then yielded rent would do so from natural 
causes; it would be pure economic rent. Under 
such a condition, it is asserted that rent would be 
merely "nominal,” and it is assumed that the 
present rent fund would decrease in exact ratio 
with the decrease in the purely monopolized 
area. But. there are some considerations of fact 
vital to the truth of tbe conclusion, that have 
been overlooked in this reasoning, and. because 
they have been overlooked, the cone usion is en- 
tirely worthless. If the qualitative differences 
that give ri e to land value were absolute, if they 
had reference to inherent attributes of the land 
itself, and if men were not gr. garious animals 
there is good reason to suppose that, in a state ol 
freedom, such a thing as rent could not possibly 
arise Speaking in the absolute sense, there » 
probably enough first quality land on the earth's 
surface to supply all possible human needs for all 
time to come. But. in the appearance aid 
growth of rent, the absolute qualities of laud, as 
compared with the absolute qualities of land 
throughout the general available area, is a ques- 
tion of very s-condary importance ind. ed. It ij tbe 
relative qualities of laud, as compared with tbe 
relative qualities of laud lying within particular 
areas, that causes it to yield rent; and such rela- 
tive qualitive qualities have reference to certain 
specific, not general, uses as deti rmioed by tb* 
needs of a population seeking to avail themselves 
of such uses. The specific needs of a particular 
community for the use of 1 »nd can only be sup- 
plied by specific parcels of land, lying within the 
particular area where those needs arise; and it is 
the competition for the use of these specific par- 
cels of laud lying within particular areas that 
creates econom c rent. Thus, the corner lot 
in the city of New York or Philadelphia, wbicb 
is valuable because needed for specific uses by 
those communiti* s. is not so because of its supe- 
riority to an area of land of equal extent and ab- 
solute qualities in the state of Indiana or Mis 
souri, or a comer lot in the c ty of Chicago i* ** 


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34 * 


valaable because of its superiority to areas of 
equal exter t, for specific uses, in the city of New 
York or Philadelphia. And its place in tl e 
economic scale is determined by its superiority, 
for specific uses, to the poorest land lyiog within 
the par tic alar area to which those communities 
have attached themselves, and have access. 

The extension of the general area of free land 
would not affect the rent fuad of part cular areas, 
except to the extent that the drawing off of the 
relatively surplus population reduced competition 
for the use of particular s tes In many rural 
communities the rent fund would, at once, be re- 
duced enormously; if not entirely nnihilatcd. 
This, because of the great blocks of land situated 
within the areas occupied by such communities, 
now held out of use by speculators for a rise in 
value capable of being put to the specific u »es of 
such communities *nd which would be rendered 
absolutely free Tbi< would be the primary 
effect The rent fund of certain mineral areas 
would also, probably, di appear for the same 
reason The effect on permanent urban commu- 
nities would be very slight, because of the con- 
tracted areas occupied by such communities, and 
the const qaently small number of sites of equal 
economic value, for specific use*;, that would be 
thrown into competition with each other. We 
shoald, probably see a redistribution, rather 
'ban a reduction of the rent fund Suchcommu 
allies would naturally, when they were freed 
from the cause that now huddles them closely 
’ogether in abnormally contracted areas, spread 
out io their economic limits, and put to its full 
economic use all the land within th:se limits. 
This would reduce the rent fund of certain sub- 
areas. and increase the rent fund of others; but 
the to ality of the rent fund would only be de- 
creased to the ex^nt that the population of the 
whole area was reduced, by reason of being drawn 
off by the superior attraction of free land situated 
elsewhere This would to some extent occur. 
Sat, what course shall the people who are in- 
fluenced by these considerations pursue? Shall 
they separate themselves from all mankind, and 
seek the free la id in an absolute wilderness, or 
shall they obey the gregarious instincts which 
nature has implanted io their constitutions, and 
? eek the society of their fellow men? Most as- 
suredly. the latter. Instead of separating them- 
selves from all mankind, and seeking the more 
temotely situated free land areas, they would 
seek the society of their fellows and take advan- 
tage of the free land within those rural areas 
where the rent fund had been enormously re- 
cced or annihilated. Then would appear the 
secondary effects. The rent fund of these com- 


munities would reappear again, because of the 
economic differences in value which would make 
their appearaace under the influence of the de- 
mand created by the increase in the numbers of 
the community, and, this redistribution of popu- 
lation taking place throughout the nation, there 
is good reason to suppo?e that the economic rent 
fund would ultimately approximate pretty closely 
to the pre ent rent fund, with the single exception 
of the mineral areas, where the contingent cir- 
cumstances that give rise to rent would not have 
so general an effect, nor be so appreciably felt. 

In cities, the single tax would cause a gradual 1 
shifting of the population from the heart of the 
city to the suburbs, because the most valuable 
lands would be used for the most productive 
business. The tenement houses would disappeir 
and individual homes would multiply. Rapid 
transit^by the municipal railways — would too 
longer enrich real estate boomers, but would 
make it easy for the mechanic to possess a com- 
fortable and healthy home in the suburbs, his 
only tax being that levied on the site value of 
his lot. The need of escaping rent crowds peo- 
ple together in the city, but it scatters them in 
the country. Under the single tax the farming 
population would draw together. Men would 
follow their gregarious instincts, unrestrained by 
unnatural restrictions. Population would aggre- 
gate into cities and towns, (the very cause that 
creates economic rent) and a new era would 
begin for the human race under freedom from re- 
striction and correct, because natural, land dis- 
tribution Under such conditions, there is every 
reason to suppose that the economic rent fund 
would amply suffice for all needs of government. 
But suppose it would not? it would not affect the 
vital part of the question at all. To whom does 
the rent fund belong? to the people of the nation, 
or to private individuals? That is the contention. 

Mr. Stuart’s assertion that there is not one 
word in Progress and Poverty to indicate that 
Henry George had any conception of the fact 
that present rent is not economic rent is so incon- 
sistent with the fact that it is not worth the space 
necessary for its refutation. The reader may 
refer to Progress and Poverty, Chaf. Zl Book 
ll\ and Books l\ VZZZ and ZX, and satisfy 
himself on that point. But, suppose the asser- 
tions tffer* true, how, under Heaven, would it 
affect the real merits of the question? Are we to 
discuss the shortcomings of Mr. Henry George, 
or are we to discuss he logical consequences of 
the siDgle tax theory? If the former, I decline 
the issue; Mr. George must answer for his own 
shortcomings so far as I am concerned. But, 
look at this: ’He stated explicitly that 


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342 

present rent was what the single tax was designed 
to confiscate." How, in the name of common 
sense, could he have stated anything else? I can 
see no way in which rent may be brought to an 
economic basis except by confiscating present 
rent, just as it exists. I will now briefly point 
out where Mr. Stuatt’s objections defeat them- 
selves, in some important particulars. He as- 
serts that the rent fund would increase so enor- 
mously. and fluctuate so rapidly, as to destroy all 
security of tenure and force poor people to sacri- 
fice their improvements. He asserts that the rent 
lund would be reduced so enormously as to 
deprive society of all hope of meeting its gov- 
ernmental expenses from such a source, that the 
rent fund would be merely “nominal,” “enor- 
mously decrease to perhaps one* tenth of that 
obtained under present conditions.” He ad- 
mit* that wages is governed by the supply of 
laborers seeking employment, and it is an indis- 
putable fact that the supply is abnormally in- 
creased by reason of the monopoly that deprives 
the laborer of his command over the means and 
instruments of production; yet, he asserts that 
the measure which would throw open to the 
laborer the field, the natutal element from which 
is derived all wealth and all capital, and, too, 
only by the exertion of the laborer, would 
have no t fleet m reducing the supply of laborers 
seeking employment, would have no influence 
whatever on wages. 

With regard to the enforcement of the present 
land laws, relatirg to assessments, single taxers 
have done more service in calling attention to the 
immense undervaluations of property, and have 
more strongly insisted on the enforcement of 
present laws, than all other reform elements in 
this country combined. It is through the in- 
fluence of their prooagandism that improvement 
values have been separated from land values in 
numerous communities throughout the country, 
and it is because of their continued agitation that 
there has been a notable tendency to increase in 
land value assessments within the last decade. 
But, this is not all. and when one asserts that the 
enforcement of the present laws would have the 
same effect, and produce all the results, that the 
complete enforcement of the tingle tax principle 
would have, he uses the language of an igno- 
ramus. And just how assessors might^be in- 
fluenced by “boodle,” when land is periodically 
up at auction to the highest bidder, is not exactly 
clear. That the value of land is a constantly in- 
creasing magnitude, Mr. Stuart denies. That 
there may be, and has been, decrease in specula- 
tive, or monopoly land values here and there, is 
quite true; but that there has ever been a de- 


crease in economic land values contemporary 
with increase in population is not true. It is not 
true because it is an utter impossibility for it to 
be true. I challenge the record. Stationary 
\ populations by putting their land to more inten- 
sive uses, might decrease its economic value; but 
this is only on condition that their wants did not 
increase to correspond with their more intensive 
cultivation, and the natural value of land, in a 
state of increasing population, is a constantly in- 
creasing magnitude. It is impossible for it to be 
anything else. 

The point in regard to the altered composition 
of capital is not that there is now an insufficiency 
of factories, etc , to do the business of the 
country and supply the present demind for pr«.d- 
ucts, it is that in the new conditions there would 
be no way of employing wealth so as to make it 
produce revenue for its owners unless it was em- 
ployed productively, unless it was so used as to 
give employ men 4 to laborers. Instead of being 
used as a parasite to extract revenue from the 
earnings of laborers without an equivalent ren- 
dered, it must be put to a tangible productive 
service. The form of the organic composition of 
capital is a very important matter to be con 
sidered in the process of production and distribu- 
tion of wealth. The composition of capital is 
now such that the monopoly fund, in which is 
included the various rent and franchise funds, 
now enters into the fund of capitalistic accumu- 
lation. This fund is of a nature to permit the 
process of capitalistic accumulation to continue 
on a parasitic and unproductive basis, to permit 
capitalists to abssrb sufficient of the geoeral 
wealth to compensate for its magnitude of value 
without having rendered the slightest productive 
service in exchange for it. Laborers must first 
produce sufficient wealth to maintain this fund 
intact, and turn it over to the capitalists wholly 
without an equivalent, before they can claim any 
portion of the general wealth as their own. The 
diversion of this fund from the fund of capitalistic 
accumulation to its proper uses would bring about 
the result that the wealth, sufficient to compen- 
sate for its magnitude of value, which now enters 
into the accumulation of the capitalists would 
then enter into the consumption of the laborers, 
and there could be no employment of capital 
other than a productive one. no use of capital 
without also an employment of labor. 

I am not one of those who believe in discuss- 
ing economic questions on a personal basis, and 

I cannot undertake to descend to the level that 
Mr. Stuart reaches in bis Jane article; neverthe- 
less, there is one personal matter I must touch 
upon and I will do so as briefly as possible- Mr. 


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Stuart advanced two propositions in a former ar- 
ticle which were scarcely debatable; they were 
absurd. Nevertheless, the propositions, just as 
they appeared, were exactly the basis of Mr. 
Stuart s sugar factory argument. When they 
were placed in cold type I had no doubt that Mr. 
Stuart would have sufficient penetration to recog- 
nize both the absurdity of the propositions and 
their connection with his argument, dnd for that 
reason I devoted some space to exposing their 
weakoess. I suggested a printer's error for the 
purpose of allowing Mr. Stuart to amend his 
propositions so as to place them on, at least, a 
debatable basis, and it was my intention when he 
had done so to make the proper connection to 
the purposes of the discussion. Mr. Stuart has 
done as I supposed he would with regard to the 
propositions; he has amended them to a debatable 
basis. But he has done more than this, he has 
used the circumstance as an occasion for subject- 
ing me to a foul personal insult, as wholly un- 
called for as it is ignorant and vindictive. Cast- 
ing the insult on one side, as unworthy of further 
notice. I will call Mr. Stuart’s attention to the 
fact that he has cast himself on the horns of a di- 
lemoa. If he elects to defend his propositions in 
their amended form be must abandon his sugar 
factory argument. If he elects to defend his 
sugar factory argument he must put that comma 
right back where it was in the first place. Which 
horn will he accept? It is very commendable in 
Mr. Stuart to make it a point to answer all ob- 
jections that are urged against socialism, but I 
must call the readers’ attention to the fact that in 
the mass of gush, sentiment and gasconade, con- 
tained in his June article, he has not even at- 
tempted to answer my objections. Like his 
friend, Mr. Randolph, he wanders from the point. 
Contrary to Mr. Stuart's asseition, tie basis of 
my criticism of socialism is Scbaeffle's and no 
other. I have developed many details independ- 
ent of Scbaeffle, but, like him, I proceed always 
from the supposed economic unsoundness of the 
Marxian theory of value. With two or three 
very unimportant exceptions all of my objections 
proceed from that premiss. If the theory of 
value can be shown to be sound, my objections 
have no weight whatever, the ground is out from 
under them and they are left without a leg to 
stand on. It does not require an abnormally de- 
veloped logical faculty to perceive this, and one 
who was anxious to dispose of my objeetions in a 
legitimate manner would have proceeded straight 
to the point But, in the entire length of Mr. 
Smart's article, the theory of value is not even 
mentioned. To show my impartiality, I will 
make this proposition: Let Mr. Stuart clearly 


343 

establish the soundness of the socialistic theory 
of value, and I will myself undertake to show 
that every objection I have thus far urged 
against socialism is idle and worthless. 

No, I shall not permit Mr. Stuart to say that I 
am "guilty of gross and inexcusable ignorance,” 
etc. As well as himself do I know where to place 
Dr. Schaefflle in the socialistic movement. It 
was not yesterday that I began the study of 
social science, and I do not hesitate to assert that 
I am quite familiar with the ins and outs of 
socialism, from a to izzard. Dr. Schaeffie, chief 
of the Katheder Socialisten , and father of the 
system of compulsory state insurance now opera- 
tive in Germany, is one of the most eminent 
socialists in the world today. He is the most 
voluminous writer on socialism, and the most log- 
ical expositor of socialistic principles now living. 
German socialism, from whence has proceeded 
the socialistic agitation now convulsing almost 
the entire civilized world, has developed itself on 
two lines; the one proceeding from Ferdinand 
Lasalle, who was under the influence of the 
philosopher Fichte; the other from Karl Marx, 
who was influenced by Hegel. From the first, 
aided by Sismondi and the socialist Karlo M ir- 
lo— Professor Winkelblech — has proceeded the 
doctrine of state socialism; and Schaeffie is now 
chief of this school. From the second has pro- 
ceeded the doctrine of revolutionary, or demo- 
cratic socialism, with probably Frederick Engle* 
as its most able living champion. There is this 
distinction between state and democratic social- 
ism: State socialism aims to remedy social ills 
through the present system as far as possible. It 
allows a wide field for private ownership, but lays 
down a positive programme for the state. The 
state is to interfere at all points for the protection 
of its weaker members; it is to use its superior 
authority so as to realize the ends of justice and 
equality among men, to help make men con- 
tented, wealthy, secure them against exploitation 
by their fellows, by force of law. 

Democratic socialism, on the other hand, 
makes no sort of compromise with the present 
system; it recognizes no way to secure the laborer 
against exploitation except by the entire destruc- 
tion of the present industrial system, and its reor- 
ganization on different economic lines. It does 
not contemplate the arbitrary interference of the 
state for the protection of the laborer, but seeks 
to supplant the power of the state with the power 
of an economic principle. Democratic socialism 
has become the stronger development, probably 
because it promises greater freedom to the indi- 
vidual. Its agitation became so marked in Ger- 
many, after the Franco-Prussian war, as to ex- 


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344 

cite the alarm of the government. Many of the 
roost prominent disciples of Marx were banished 
from the country, and in order to allay the rising 
discontent, Bismarck expressed his admiration of 
the doctrines of Lasalle and announced a govern* 
ment programme of state socialism. “The state," 
said Bismarck, “shall be put fearlessly at the 
disposal of the laboring classes." He taunted the 
democrats with being negative, “but my pro- 
gramme," said he, “shall be positive." The state 
socialists seek practically the same ends as the 


democratic socialists, but they employ different 
means, and they do not recognize the claims of 
individual liberty to as great an extent. Schaeffie 
has written much to show that the only form of 
socialism possible is stite socialism, and I do not 
hesitate to say that unless the economic defects 
of democratic socialism can be overcome. I agree 
with him. As I am a disciple of P. J. Proudhon, 
and the “American Proudhon," Josiah Warren, 
Mr. Stuart need have no fear that I shall con- 
found bis dcctrine with the complicated idicsyn- 
crasies of socialism. 


UNDIGESTED THOUGHTS. 

BY 10SK GROS. 


One of the most discouraging features in our 
historical period is the large masses of economic 
literature that are written in a hurry for the sake 
of proving this or that set of conclusions. We 
have a specimen of such a work in the socialistic 
essay of The Conductor for May. We don’t 
doubt the good intentions of the writer: but we 
need something besides good intentions, in this 
world of ours. We then invite our readers to a 
quiet discrimination of a portion of that essay. 

It is there asserted that capitalists don’t care 
for land; that it does not pay to hold land; that 
most land is constantly depreciating in value; that 
we have more capital than we need; that money is 
Begging for employment as much as labor does; 
that later on we shall produce all we need with 
but 25 per cent of the workers willing to work, 
and the rest shall be forced to starve; that while 
it does not pay to hold land it does pay very well 
to produce sugar out of beets raised from land, or 
manufacture other goods out of other materials 
that land alone can furnish; that populati n may 
double in twenty years, and land be yet more 
worthless than to-day; that the Jevrs, not to men- 
tion many Christians, manage to accumulate 
wealth without bothering themselves about the 
land from which all the wealth is to come, if men 
have not made a great mistake on the subject; 
that if we should only tax vacant land a little bit 
more than we now do, that piles of land would 
then be abandoned; but that if all valuable land 
is so taxed as to take its full annual, economic, 
natural , value, and thus discourage all land 
gambling, that then the workers will become 
more wretched than ever, because, in some mys- 
terious way which is not explained, the capitalists 
will then manage to totally humbug the men who 
have become the arbiters of the source of all 
wealth. 

The above paragraph is a condensation of about 


two pages in which you can find the above men- 
tioned thoughts with all their implications or ex- 
plicit conceptions. Let us now see if we can 
evolve a little order out of that chaos of ideas, a 
little light out of that darkness, because cf its 
mixture in perceptions that negative each other. 

To begin with, why speak of land when we 
attack the single tax? The single tax has noth- 
ing to do with land. It has a great deal to do 
with land values. That is all. Don’t you see, 
dear readers, that the writer in question does not 
yet understand the subject he wants to 
handle? He mixes up two different ele- 
ments — Land , and Land Values: Of course, 
some Jews, and far more Christians than Jews, 
manage to accumulate wealth without hold- 
ing much land, if any. They simply hold land 
values, the very elements that the single tax 
would absorb and collect for public revenue 

Every public or corporate security as well as 
every real estate mortgage embodies from 40 to 6c 
per cent in land values. The single tax broom 
would sweep that into the coffers of the commun- 
ity where it belongs. We are afraid that many 
of our socialists hold securities of that kind. 
Hence their opposition to the single tax. 

Now let us see what we can do with the process 
of **rt duetto ad absurdum." 

If land tends to decrease in value, even with 
increased population, then, after 4,000 year* of 
increase in population, ever since Noah and his 
crew landed after the deluge, why is it that land 
has to day any value at all? Is it possible that 
we may need less and less land in proportion to 
the larger population we have to feed, clothe 
and house 3 If so. we must be learning how 
to live and work without land, how to 
produce without land, how to store goods without 
land, how *0 handle and transport labor prod- 
ucts without land in any form or shape, and so 


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without any roads, canals, bays, oceans, lakes, 
etc., etc. 

Of course, our good friend, the writer in 
question, did not mean that. He simply failed 
to digest his own thoughts, because writing in a 
hurry, and thus giving wrong impressions, trying 
to demolish redoubts built up by his own power- 
ful imagination. It does not pay to do that. 
The imagination is a very good friend to the 
poet, a wretched companion to the reformer. 

And so the capitalists don't care about holding 
land, as it does not pay for them so to do? Let 
us see how that works. We have at least 50, 000 
large capitalists, millionaires and semi-million- 
aires. Each one has a p 'lace in the city for the 
winter months, and one in the country for sum- 
mer use. At a very low valuation the average 
price of the site is $30,000. Multiply that by the 
100,000 palaces and you have $3,000,000,000 land 
values, on which the capitalists pay, say, $150.- 
000,000 annual rents, because it does not pay 
them to own that land, and the land in question 
must be held by some of our poor farmers, me- 
chanics and the like, because, who but them is 
going to hold the land of the nation if it does 
not pay the capitalists to hold it? Add to that 
the valuable sites of all the factories, all mines, 
timber belts, the 200.000.000 acres held by the 
railroads, that is. supposed to be held by them, 
etc., etc., and the land rents paid by our capital- 
ists to our workers must be immense! 

We know that all the above conclusions are 
foolish; but whose fault is it? They spring up 
from the premises and assertions of the writer 
whose essay we are overhauling. We are 
simply nsing the process of reductio ad ab- 
surdum in order to prove that it does not pay to 
write undigested thoughts. 

We are told that if vacant land was only taxed 
a little more than to-day that large quantities of 
land would be for sale, cheap. It then follows 
that it pays yet to hold land, even vacant, much 
more so when improved, or as much so, at least. 
There is a flat contradiction from the writer in 
question. 

It pays to hold buildings, machinery, merchan- 
dise. etc., etc. It does not pay to hold the land 
that must hold the buildings, the machinery, the 
merchandise, and anything worth holding! 
Buildings, machinery, merchandise and the rest 
of the list perish day by day, year after year. 
They can only be reproduced or kept in order 
through the continual use of land, and still it 
does not pay to hold land! Our writer wanted to 
prove too much and he did not prove quite 
enough! 

We can now mention one fact in which that 


345 

writer is correct. He is correct when he asserts 
that we have lots of capital and money begging 
for employment. And we also have piles of land 
begging for a sale, only at much higher prices 
than most workers and many capitalists, the 
small fry fellows, can afford to pay. That only 
proves the barbarism of our industrial conditions. 
It does not prove that socialism could do any bet- 
ter. Our present evils arise from non -adaptation 
to natural laws, and socialism does not even at- 
tempt to give to such laws any better chance than 
they ever had. For instance: is there anything 
natural in my abdicating the contiol of my own 
capital by giving it to a group of public officers? 
Is there anything even reasonable in letting those 
officers fix my own hours of labor and my own 
earnings? 

The men of the future shall consider our gen- 
eration a very poor one indeed, since we have de- 
veloped so many aberrations, most especially 
those forming the socialistic creed. And yet 
there is a certain way by which that creed can be 
made somewhat attractive, if the writer avoids 
all foolish attacks against other reforms which 
should at least be considered as steps toward a 
socialistic regime, if ever men want to try that 
because dissatisfied with anything short of that. 
Nothing is gained anyhow by undigested thoughts, 
such as we have been dealing with. Our object 
is simply to increase the efficiency of the friend 
we have been criticising. And he can be very 
useful to the final reorganization of human so- 
cieties if he stops to think before be writes, and 
tries to be less bitter against those who differ 
from him in the details by which reform is to be 
accomplished. 

Before we close this little hurried article we 
shall touch another thought from the friend in 
question. 

He stated that the Standard Oil Company ac- 
quired an immense capital without the aid of any 
especial privilege that was denied to others. If 
so, our social status rests on strict principles of 
equity and there is no room for or need of any re- 
form. We are all, then, like dogs at night, bark- 
ing at the moon. We, reformers of all kinds, are, 
then, a perfect nuisance. 

One thing, at least, is sure about the Standard 
Oil Company. The capitalists of that concern 
must find that it pays to hold land, since they 
have gradually become the possessors of the best 
oil lands in the country, about 1,000.000 of acres. 
Then, they hold the extremely valuable strips of 
land by which the oil travels from the oil lands 
and refineries to the cities from which the oil is 
to be spread all over the nation and reach all 


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346 

consumers. And all that is the result of privi 
leges that have been opened to everybody else. 

In good English, the word privilege means 
some advantage denied to others, unless Webster 
is wrong and^ we all have been talking through 
our hats for long centuries, on the subject of 
privileges. 

All civilizations have rested on privileges, from 
the very inception of the face, because they all 
have rested on land monopoly, on patents and 
franchises from kings or legislative bodies! 


Language should not be used as an attempt b 
let words hide the meaning of thoughts To day 
more than ever, the handling of a pen involve! 
great responsibilities to God and humanity Oar 
American civilization is rapidly advancing to 
ward a precipice. A great deal may depend upon 
the kind of seed we scatter during the next five 
or ten years. We don't refer to the precipice oi 
socialism, but to that of a military despotism 
And yet, perhaps, the latter would follow from I 
the individual militarism of the former Who j 
knows? \ 

1 

i 


DEMENTIA SINGLETAXIOCIS, AND ITS CURE. 


BY W. H. 

Mr. Borland’s reply in the June Conductor, 
under the caption: "The Right of Property in 
Land," illustrates how completely, under the 
search-light of economic criticism, the defense of 
the single tax has degenerated into mere 1 'apolo- 
getics." He commences his article with the state- 
ment that: "When socialists denounce the single 
tax as a scheme of 'confiscation and robbery,' 
while at the same time they deny the right of 
private property in land, they expose the weak- 
ness of their own position and exhibit a strange 
sort of logic, by making use of arguments drawn 
from the capitalistic regime which they so roundly 
condemn." Not at all; “on the contrary quite 
the reverse, " as Sairy Gamp would say. Social- 
ists on this question are thoroughly logical. They 
hold that society has a perfect right to change 
their industrial system, and make any disposition 
of the national wealth that will better improve 
the social and economic condition of the whole 
nation. If to effect this betterment of social con- 
ditions it were necessary to confiscate all existing 
wealth, they would not hesitate to do so. But it 
is not necessary, and socialists do not advocate 
confiscation of any sort. The total value of our 
national wealth is only about three and a-balf 
times the value of the annual product. With 
the increased capacity for wealth production that 
would be effected under organized socialism, the 
payment for the value of present fixed wealth 
would be a mere bagatelle. We could totally 
abolish poverty; furnish every citizen with all 
the comforts and many of the luxuries of life, 
and with the surplus in five years pay off the 
claims of all private owners. It really would not 
be worth while to have the stigma of confiscation 
attach to us. 

This enormous increase in productive capacity 
under a system of co-operation is not a chimera 
of the socialist imagination, it is acknowledged 


STUART. 

by intelligent critics of socialism of all schools 
But socialists deny that the abolition of private , 
ownership of land, to be effected by the confisca | 
tion of economic rent, would, of itself, effect My j 
betterment of economic conditions as long as tbe j, 
competitive system is retained. In a country | 
like ours of boundless extent and sparse popn 
lation it is not private ownership of land per < ' 
that is the principal cause of the poverty of th 
masses, for there is land of tbe first quality c 
abundance for all. It is the monopolization d 
unused land that prevents easy access to nataral ' 
resources. But easy access to natural resources : 
could te effected, as I have already shown, by 
the enforcement of present laws requiring til * 
land to be assessed at its full value. But whiir 
every socialist is in favor of the common owner- 
ship of the land, he contends, and scientifically 
demonstrates, that under present economic con 
dittoes mere freedom of access to land and 
natural opportunities to the man without capital 
is tbe merest mockery. Modern production by 
means of costly labor-saving machinery, con- 
ducted on a gigantic scale, requires enormous 
capital. How could a coal miner without capital | 
compete in cost of production with the capitalist 
operator controlling laborsaving machinery who 
could produce coal at a cost that would reduce 
the ordinary miner to starvation? He coaid 
make more by working for the capitalist at a dol- 
lar per day than he could by applying bis labor 
direct to the land under a single tax rtgime. It 
would be exactly the same in mining or lnmber- 
ing industries, and is rapidly becoming so in 
agriculture. Every intelligent observer of in- 
dustrial conditions must see clearly the 
tendency of all industry to production on a 
gigantic scale, and the continual and inevitable 
concentration of wealth into tbe hands of a 
diminishing minority of non-producing capital* 


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ists. The tools of production are under the con- 
trol of an alien class, who X exact from the real 
producers in the form of rent, interest and profits, 
all above the cost of the subsistence of the real 
producers. 

The transference of rent from the pockets of 
the private land o *ner into the public treasury 
would not in the slightest degree affect the wages 
of labor. The small producer would still be con- 
fronted with the impossibility of competing 
against organized capital. Take the case of the 
capitalist mine operators referred to by Mr. Bor- 
land. Under a single tax regime the royalties 
they now pay private owners of natural resources 
would be paid to the state. In what way would 
that enable them to increase wages? The single- 
taxer replies that under a single tax regime the 
miner, if not satisfied with the wages offered by 
the capitalist operator, could obtain the privi- 
lege of getting out coal, iron, copper, lead or 
lumber on the same terms as the cap.talist could, 
and could apply his lab Dr direct to natural re- 
sources and produce wealth independently of the 
capitalist(P) Very well. Let us say the product 
is iron, and can be produced by the capitalist at 
a cost of ten dollars per ton, on the basis of labor 
at two dollars per day. Let us suppose the 
miners demand three dollars per day, and are re- 
fused. They accordingly quit work for the capi- 
talists and commence digging out iron ore with 
picks instead of steam drills, and loading on cars 
by wheelbarrows instead of steam shovels, at a 
cost of forty dollars a ton, or four times the cost 
of capitalist methods. Where can they sell the 
ore at that price? Nowhere. It could be trans- 
ported from Russia at a less cost than that. No, 
the wage of two dollars a day would be five times 
as much as they could make by applying their 
labor direct to the land. Any intelligent man 
can be made to understand this readily and 
clearly, but your single-taxer stupidly sticks his 
bead in the sand like an ostrich and refuses to see 
what is palpable to every one else. A medical 
friend of mine assures me it is the result of a 
mental disease familiar to students of economics 
under the technical term, dementia singletaxi - 
ocis . My friend assures me that it attacks very 
bright minds, who, however, usually recover 
after a more or less acute attack, but those in 
whom the critical faculty is weak, or as often 
happens is altogether absent, the disease becomes 
chronic and a cure is rarely effected. Dr. H. P. 
Peebles, the friend referred to. tells me of a cure 
he effected of a very bright young fellow who 
caught the disease from attending a meeting of a 
local single tax club. The usual symptoms ap- 
peared, the patient could see nothing clearly but 


347 

the laiid; the usual hallucinations occurred, he 
imagined all wealth sprung directly from the land 
and that if the people only owned that, they 
would be able to absolutely control all the wealth 
produced, la violent paroxysms, he would often 
wildly declare that "the monopoly of land was 
the only monopoly; abolish that and all other 
monopolies would cease," and other incoberen- 
cies, quite unintelligible to any one but a single- 
taxer. He would also gaze intently on a rude 
drawing of some shrubbery and declare in rap- 
ture, "I see the cat! I see the cat!!" Well, the 
doctor's sympathies were aroused; he determined 
to save the yonng fellow if possible So one day 
he invited him to take a ride in his buggy. It was 
harvest time, and they drove out a few miles in 
the country, onto a farm of 50,000 acres, owned 
by one of our wealthy citizens. Most of the 
land was in. wheat. A few men in charge of a 
foreman were operating a combined header and 
thresher, propelled and operated by steam power. 
.In answer to some inquiries the foreman informed 
them that the machine cost, complete, $8,000; that 
it cut, threshed and sacked the grain at the rate of 
four sacks per minute, and at a cost of three or 
four cents per sack; that the land was plowed by 
gang plows drawn by a traction engine, at a cost 
of twenty-five cents per acre, and that the wheat 
as it was deposited in the ground in sacks by the 
machine cost the capitalist owner of the ranch 
less than forty cents per bushel, and that the 
grain would be loaded from the field into wagons 
and unloaded from the wagons directly on board 
ship at a neighboring harbor for Liverpool In 
reply to further question the foreman informed 
them that no small farmer could produce this 
wheat for less than one dollar per bushel. The 
doctor noticed that his patient took much interest 
in the operation of the machine, and in the con- 
versation with the foreman. As they rode home 
the doctor asked his patient how much better off 
a small farmer wauld be under a single tax regime 
in competition with such capitalist methods of 
production in agriculture? His patient was 
thoughtful, but replied "that all agriculture was 
not confined to the raising of the staple cereals." 

A few days afterwards the doctor and his 
patient drove out to an orange grove of 300 acres, 
the average size is ten to fifteen acres, owned by a 
wealthy capitalist. They were shown the irri- 
gating system by which the water from the large 
irrigating flume was conducted through iron pipes 
all through the grove, and at short intervals up- 
right pipes projected above the ground through 
which the water rose and overflowed the land, 
thus saving a great deal of labor during the irri- 
gating season. They were also shown a new de- 


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348 

vice for protection from frosts, consisting of a 
perfect net work of gas pipes all through the 
grove. At short intervals were large burners; 
electric wires connected every set of burners to a 
battery attached to a thermometer which, when 
the mercury lowered to a certain poiit, automati- 
cally lit every burner in the grove, and continued 
burning until the thermometer raised above the 
danger point. They were informed that the 
small orchardist lost part of every fourth or fifth 
crop through frost, that the cost of attending the 
grove was about half the cost proportionately of 
the small orchard, and that they would be able to 
produce oranges and 'lemons at a profit for much 
less than the actual cost of production on a small 
orchard. 

The doctor asked bis patient what he thought 
of the prospects of the small horticulturist of the 
near future in competition with such scientific 
methods of production. The patient was still 
more thoughtful, and frankly confessed that small 
production in horticulture as in wheat raising 
was evidently doomed. 

The doctor noticed that his patient was im- 
proving, his pulse was more regular and normal, 
his perceptions more acute; he commenced taking 
interest in economics generally. He read Gron 
lund's "Co-operative Commonwealth" and 
thought there "was something in it." The doc- 
tor regarded this as an excellent sign, as he said 
he never knew a case of dementia singletaxiocis 
where the patient had ever read any work on 
economics except "Progress and Poverty," and 
perhaps a slight smattering of David Ricardo 
and Adam Smith. 

Well, finally, the doctor and his patient drove 
out to the great sugar factory at Chino, where a 
plant costing half a million dollars is erected on 
land worth a thousand dollars. The doctor asked 
what the plant was assessed at and was informed 
$100,000, about a fifth of its value. Neverthe 
less, it paid taxes to the amount of over a thous- 
and dollars, which the patient denounced indig- 
nantly "as a tax on industry." "For," said he, 

* ‘capital is a 'good thing* whose production should 
not be discouraged by being taxed or ‘fined * " 
All revenue should be raised from the land, etc." 
(The reader is familiar with how those poor 
fellows talk ) They asked what the land was as- 
sessed for and were told $1,000 and the taxes 
thereon $12.50 (?) Under the single tax, land 
being plentiful, the tax paid by the half million 
plant would be probably half that now paid, or 
$6.25 (?). About 5,000 acres were under cultiva- 
tion with sugar beets. The farmers realized for 
their beets sufficient, after paying the landlords 
rent, for a bare living. "Ah," but says our pa- 


tient, "you will find, if you make inquiry, 
that the factory owners will only realise the aver- 
age income on their capital invested, if the busi- 
ness is an extra profitable one the land owners 
will surely absorb all above the usual returns to 
capital and a bare subsistence to the laborer; at 
least, that is what Lawyer Miller said at the last 
single tax meeting. Land monopoly is the only 
monopoly, the land robber always ‘takes what is 
left,"* exclaimed our patient, elapsing into one of 
bis bad spells. 

But further inquiry proved that the landlord 
could only absorb so much as rent for the land, 
for when he asked above a certain rent other 
owners offered the use of the land for the lower 
price. 

Beet sugar land was very plentiful and com- 
petition among land owners kept the rent down 
to about pay the current interest on the value of 
the land, i. e. , if the land was valued at $100 ner 
acre, the rent usually represented the current rate 
of interest on that amount with the taxes added. 
How about the profits of the factory owners, who 
controlled no natural opportunities except a few 
acres of land worth $100 per acre, who merely 
controlled capital in the shape of a beet sugar fac- 
tory? Well, it is impossible to tell, but as I have 
stated before, Louis F. Post declared at a single 
tax meeting in this city, that the factory owners 
had received in bounty from the government 
$78,000 more than they had paid for the beets 
last season (?) As the estimated cost of extract- 
ing sugar from beets is one cent per pound, and 
as the sugar sells for 5 cents per pound, add the 
bounty of 2 cents per pound, makes 7 cents per 
pound, they receive for the sugar, and as the 
bounty more than pays for the beets by $78,000, 
they must make something slightly over the 
"average returns to capital," which the land 
owner has not been able to touch. 

This is what the Doctor said to his patient, and 
further asked him in what better fix the producer 
would be to insist on a better division of the 
"swag" when the government, under a single tax 
regime collected the rent instead of the private 
land owners. "Do you not see," said the Doc- 
tor, "that wages for raising beets will under free 
competition, continue at the cost of subsistence, 
that rent of land will, under competition among 
land owners, be merely sufficient to pay the aver- 
age returns on the investment, white the only 
real monopoly is possessed by the owners of the 
factory, who, under competitive conditions, wilt 
never be compelled to pay for beets more than 
the average ‘wages' of labor, plus the amount 
paid to the private land owners, or under a single 
tax regime , to the state. That the factory own- 


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arsare the real robbers who 'take what is left,' 
who have merely to combine, and who have 
already combined to ‘take what is left , 1 witness 
the fact that the last census shows that labors' 
share in producing $100 worth of sugar is just 
$ 2 . 20 ?" 

This was rather a poser, but the patient re- 
plied "that the farmers might raise something 
else." "Wheat, or oranges, for instance," sug- 
gested the Doctor. "Well, no," said our patient, 
"I confess wheat and oranges will be monopolized 
by the capitalists, but why cannot they go on 
vacant land atd produce for themselves instead 
of producing for the capitalists; at least, a chap 
in the Railway Conductor insists that they 
could." Then, said the Doctor to me in recount- 
ing the conversation, "I lost my patience and 
nearly my patient, for looking at him strongly, I 
asked him if that was his ideal of the future of the 
wealth producers of this country, squatting on a 
piece of land at the "margin of cultivatin’’ and 
eking out a miserable living? Was humanity nev- 
er to be bettered by the advance of civiliza- 
tion, by discourses in science and in the arts; by 
the invention and use of labor saving machinery, 
by increase in knowledge and technical skill, by 
minute sub division and co-operation in labor? 
Must we continue forever to allow a few to con- 
trol the instruments of production, while the 
great mass of producers are forced by hunger to 
engage in fierce, brutal and degrading competi- 
tion with one another for the privilege of access 
to the modern tools of production; must we igno- 
rantly and slavishly continue to allow our pluto- 
crats to "skim off" everything above the cost of 
subsistence and reproduction of labor? Or, shall 
we adopt a co-operative and fraternal system of 
production and distribution where every labor 
saving device will increase — not the wealth of a 
few parasites and robbers — but the wealth of all, 
where there will be leisure to cultivate feelings of 
brotherhood and humanity, where it will not be 
necessary to suppress our higher and nobler as- 
pirations in this groveling and degrading com- 
petitive scramble to secure the bare necessities of 

a physical existence, where but here the 

Doctor was interrupted by his patient, who re- 
marked very thoughtfully, "I see it now clearly, 
the mere elimination of the private land owner, 
as contemplated by the single tax theory, would 
be of no avail, the small producer would be at the 
same relative disadvantage as at present, he could 
never compete with the large capitalist. The 
man without capital would still remain the slave 
of the capitalistic class, mere access to land and 
natural resources under competitive conditions, 
and the inevitable ownership of the tools and ma- 


CONDUCTOR. 349 

chinery of production by a small class of non- 
producers, will not, I now clearly perceive, solve 
the economic problem. My dream is o’er." 

The Doctor assures me that the cure was per- 
fect; his patient occasionally attends the single 
tax meetings and laughs at the platitudes that for- 
merly he considered fraught with profound wis- 
dom. He is amused at the wrangle among the 
"economists," as to whether the single tax con- 
templates the abolition of private property in 
land, the worthy president ^holding to the nega- 
tive, while one of the ' ’lawyers" asserts the con- 
trary. Or whether taxes on incomes and capital 
could be shifted, some of the "lawyers" contend- 
ing it could, while others as strenuously denied 
it, and finally all agreeing it was a matter upon 
which intelligent (?) single taxers would continue, 
to differ, and at any rate of no practical import- 
ance, whatever, etc., etc. 

The Doctor is, of course, quite pleased at the 
cure effected, which he ascribes to new impres- 
sions forced on his patient in their various excur- 
sions among the wheat fields, the orange groves 
and beet sugar plantations, and also to the exhibi- 
tion in large doses, of "Gronlund's Co-operative 
Commonwealth Capsules," "Bellamy’s Boluses,” 
and "Karl Marx’s ’Capital’ Compounds,” these 
and a naturally robust constitution, and an alert 
and critical mind brought the patient through all 
right. But tha Doctor shakes his head ominously 
when he refers to a couple of single tax writers 
for a leading railway employes magazine. One, 
he says, is too old to absorb any new ideas, 
hadn’t indeed, many to commence with, while 
the other might be saved, but unfortunately his 
dementia single taxiocis is complicated by an 
acute attack of "Individualism” in its most viru- 
lent form, so that that he fears the case is, alas! 
hopeless. 

Mr. Borland’s efforts to answer the objection, 
that security of tenure, both land and improve- 
ments, would be impossible under a tax that would 
vary so greatly with increase of population or 
business, suggests the struggles of a gentleman 
"in a hole." Feeling his inability to get out un- 
aided, he calls to his assistance Bre’r Thos. G. 
Shearman, who gravely and ponderously consid- 
ers the case of "a poor man who has built a lit- 
tle home upon a piece of ground with no specu- 
lative intentions," and proceeds to answer the 
objections that might be raised against the injus- 
tice of increasing his taxes until he was forced to 
sell out or remove in consequence. Note how the 
case is stated as of "a poor man," leaving the 
impression on the reader that such cases would 
be rare, occurring very seldom, whereas this rapid 
increase in land and rental values has been the 


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350 

normal condition of nearly the whole country. 
Think of the increase in land values in all of the 
western, northwestern and most of the middle 
states during the past thirty years; of the enor- 
mous increase in land values in Chicago, Kansas 
Cit), Minneapolis, St. Paul, Wichita, and hun- 
dreds of lesser towns and cities during that time. 
Thousands of acres of agricultural land increas- 
ing from a valuation of one and two dollars per 
acre to as many thousands! and in thousands of 
cases to as many thousands per front foot! A 
few months ago, at the Columbian Exhibition on 
"Chicago Day,” a part of the exhibit was the 
Indian who sold the present site of Chicago for a 
few flint-lock muskets and a plug of tobacco! A 
"poor man," indeed! Not only so but every 
single-taxer, nearly, claims this rapid increase 
will go on with accelerated pace upon the adop- 
tion of the single tax. Single tax editors every- 
where are claiming that upon the adoption of the 
single tax every foot of land in their respective 
cities will come into use and be improved. How- 
ever, to get over a difficulty that George stupidly 
overlooked, it is suggested that no owner could be 
dispossessed until his improvements were paid 
for. This is the suggestion of "a man in a bole." 
No, that won't do; because, to retain possession 
of the laud all that would be necessary to do 
would be to erect large shambling structures de- 
void of architectural beauty. No one would 
compensate the owner for such improvements, 
who would in consequence retain secure posses- 
sion, thereby retarding the growth of the town, 
and reducing its revenues I really sympathize 
with any intelligent man who is forced to defend 
so absurd a theory as the single tax. * * 

Referring to Mr. Borland's quotation from the 
Single Tax Conner , of St. Louis, I have to say, 


that at a meeting of a local single tax club, dis- 
cussing the inconsistency of single-taxers in de- 
nouncing land owners as "robbers." because rent 
was not the product of labor. I cited Henry 
George's defense in an editorial in the Standard 
of "Old Hutch," of Chicago, who "cornered” 
wheat a few years ago, and thereby enhanced its 
price, to the great suffering of thousands of the 
poor of the country. I stated that George de- 
fended ' 'Old Hutch"’ as a public benefactor, and 
the engineering of ' 'corners" a legitimate use for 
capital. That was my recollection of the edito 
rial in question. At the next meeting of the dab 
the president of the club made the denial quoted 
by the Courier. I cannot obtain access to files 
of the Standard containing the editorial in ques- 
tion. I have, however, publicly notified the 
editor of the Courier that if he will reproduce 
the editorial in question in the columns of the 
Courier , and that if my assertion is not borne oat 
substantially, I will agree to pay for the insertioa 
of the editorial at the usual advertising rates 
money to be deposited in advance. I will ven- 
ture the prophecy that the editorial will not be 
reproduced. 

In a future paper I shall analyze Henry George s 
shallow and misleading definition of "Capital, " 
as "wealth used to produce more wealth " lo 
the meantime I shall await with interest Mr. Bor- 
land's further defense of the objections I have 
categorically presented for his consideration. * • 

A man who will cite tne theory of "protection.'' 
confessedly in the interest of an exploiting capi- 
talist class, as "socialistic." or who cites the 
efforts of Gov. Tillman to enforce the state laws 
regard. ng the liquor traffic as an example of the 
baleful effects of "one man power." and there- 
fore also "socialistic." is too ignorant or malicious 
to waste time upon. 


OUR NEW YORK LETTER. 


We are accustomed in this big town, growing 
every day as it is, to be more and more a centre 
of all kinds of interests for the entire country, to 
correspondingly magnify the importance of our 
strictly local events and imagine them, perhaps, 
to be engrossing the attention of outside barbari- 
ans, more than is actually the case. Bearing this 
in mind, one has to make a reservation for the 
tendency to fancy that the forty-odd states and 
territories are all watching the progress of our 
police investigation with as much interest as 
Gothamites; but after making all such due allow- 
ance, it is quite probable that some portion of the 
countless columns devoted by New York papers 


to the subject, is sufficiently quoted by papers in 
other places to keep their readers fairly acquainted 
with the developments being made. And this is 
a likely supposition if only because it is the biggest 
unveiling attainable, of a condition of things 
which prevails to a greater or less extent in every 
city of any size in the country, and therefore has 
a real home interest wherever there is a considera- 
ble urban population. 

It is actually absurd to see how solemnly old 
citizens of our town take the whole thing, as if 
they had never heard the like before. To those 
who may happen not to have heard of the affair 
or at least not to have noticed it, it may be well 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


to explain that it is a favorite means with us of 
trying to make political capital, to have a legisla- 
tive commission come down every few years from 
Albany to investigate our city departments'. The 
Democratic party in the city is so large that it 
always has two factions, one or the other of which 
is in a perpetual state of a deal with the Republic- 
ans of the counties, and when it happens that the 
deal is being made by the faction out of office, an 
investigation is the usual result. It never ac- 
complishes anything, unless in the way of serv- 
ing for the basis of a new cross-deal; but it is 
only another example of the fact that the public 
is very slow to learn lessons of experience, that it 
is always tried just as hopefully as before, and as 
it progresses, there is a numerous body of on- 
lookers to stand aghast at what is revealed, par- 
ticularly when the investigation is conducted, as 
at present, by some lawyer with a turn for the de- 
tective style and not too much discrimination as 
to the credibility ofthis witnesses, provided he has 
enough of them. 

But the funny thing is to see the amazed horror 
with which the testimony is discussed. Every 
one with the slightest knowledge of city life has 
been perfectly aware all along — and from all ac- 
counts, it is just as true in Chicago or St. Louis 
or Boston or San Francisco, as it is in New York 
— that there are numerous bouses of prostitution 
and gambling hells, that saloons keep open on 
Sundays and at forbidden hours, and that these 
things beii^g against the statutes made and pro- 
vided and yet being demanded by a taste in some 
cases depraved and in others perfectly legitimate, 
they are kept up secretly and as a condition of 
doing so that they afford material for blackmail 
to the officers of the law who are presumed to 
suppress them. Whether they could suppress 
secret violations of law, which affect only those 
concerned in such violation, is a question best 
answered by the fact that they never do any- 
where; and in the case of Sunday liquor selling 
at least, it is tolerably certain that the population 
at large would rise up in arms against any real 
attempt at enforcing the prohibition. 

Yet there is such a fine opportunity to display 
the intolerance anc humbug of which most of us 
have a share, by making laws against things that 
we don't approve of, that but few of us can resist 
the tempation; and when a chance is given us 
like the present, the humbug comes beautifully to 
the surface in pretending that one did not know 
anything about all these goings-on. Some day, 
the world will grow wise enough to recognize that 
so far as legal compulsion goes, it is nobody's 
business how actually wicked a man may be, 
Qotil his wickedness becomes such, either in kind 


3Si 

or degree, as injures other people. But just at 
present, we refuse to confine our restrictions to 
this latter kind of wickedness, and in attempting 
to restrict the other kind, which concerns only the 
wicked ones themselves, we ignore utterly the 
fact that since of this there is no one injured to 
complain and bring the force of public opinion to 
its repression, it goes on all the same; the sole 
effect being to cprrupt our public officials by 
offering them a strong temptation to take black- 
mail as a price for not battering the offenders of 
the law against the law. Politics has absolutely 
nothing to do with it, as is evidenced by the fact 
that the first police captain to become notorious 
for gaining wealth from mysterious sources, was 
a leading Republican, who is still high in the 
force, and in the councils of his party; and also 
by the fact that a large percentage of the agents 
oi the various societies against vice, are invaria- 
bly engaged in the same business. In fact, it is a 
question whether the blackmailers do not justify 
their behavior to themselves by the reflection 
that such laws are bound to be futile, and that 
they may as well make something out of the situa- 
tion as not. 

A circumstance which has stirred the commu 
nity deeply has been the conviction of Erastus 
Wiman on his trial for forgery and his sentence 
for six years; and the general sentiment appears 
to be one of pity — except among the class of 
newspaper jackals who have been eating dirt for 
him for years and who are now snarling at him 
most unanimously — at the pitiful outcome of a 
career that has been a notable one, though 
always more doubtful in its methods than was 
generally admitted while it was successful. He 
certainly made a very bad showing on his trial, 
but the evidence was by no means clear to over- 
throw the theory suggested in a recent one of 
these letters, that he has been the scapegoat in 
what was apparently a conspiracy against the 
public who might be interested in his land specu- 
lations, and in which his partners were at least 
equally guilty with himself, instead of being the 
injured parties which the verdict has declared 
them to be. * 

Another of the trusts has gone by the board, 
that for controlling the warehousing business in 
New York harbor; and like all the rest, it has 
turned out to be not so much a device for amass- 
ing great profits by a monopoly of the business, 
as a means for playing a confidence game on in- 
vestors in its shares. Uncover them where you 
will, it always turns out that mere combination 
avails nothing for monopoly, except so far as it 
rests on some natural monopoly or one created 
by law, and the really shrewd men who want to 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


352 

engross the results of others' labors, do not 
bother with trusts, but content themselves with 
taking possession of things that cannot be dupli- 
cated, whether or no combination exists; such as 
productive mines or even more productive city 
lots. 

Foreign news is singularly devoid of interest 
just now, to those who are not deeply wrought up 
over the question of whether the baby about to 
be born in England, shall be of the right sex to 
make a coming king, and it is a little strange that 
in this dearth of news, so little attention has been 
given to the latest development of the unsavory 
Hawaiian question: the outrageous constitution 


which the land grabbers out there who have 
been posing as the representatives of liberty, have 
just promulgated. Not content with provisions 
for educational tests such as might keep the na- 
tives out of any share in their own government, 
they have bespattered it with conditions for 
property tests, not only to sit in office, but to 
vote, that boldly proclaim their intention to stand 
in the front rank of nations whose land owners do 
not allow the serfs without land even a show of 
ruling themselves. Truly, they must have 
studied our institutions and the conditions to 
which we are rapidly progressing, most faithfully. 

Edward J Shrivrr. 


Told Betweien Stations. 


We fell to discussing the old, old theme, Tom 
and I; he said one could learn to love another, 
while I insisted that love sprang spontaneously in 
the human heart, that it could not be bought, nor 
coaxed into existence. 

“Tom my sweetheart," did you say? 

Oh, no; merely an old friend whom I had not 
seen for several years. I am an orphan and had 
been away to school, and as letters from my 
guardian had not been very frequent nor full of 
news we had a great deal to talk about, how this 
one had married, and that one died, and another 
had gone to Europe, and so on, as old acquaint- 
ances will when they meet after an absence. 
I did not know that Tom was a conduc- 
tor and it was only by chance I hap- 
pened to meet him. I was reading and my 
mind was deep in the sorrows of the heroine, 
when I heard a familiar and cheery voice say, 
"Well, well; is that you, Madge; or your ghost?” 
And. looking up. whom should I see standing 
there, all in blue clothes with brass buttons, tak- 
ing up tickets, but Tom! It goes without saying 
that I was both surprised and pleased, and after 
he had finished his duties a ad come back and sat 
down — the train was an express and only stopped 
at the larger places — we had quite a visit. Then 
it was, in speaking of our mutual friend, Sadie 
Brett’s marriage, Tom said she "would love her 
husband in time." Sadie was pretty, and poor as 
pretty, and as standing from 8 a. m. to 6 p. m. 
behind the counter at Cashem's big store was 
hard work, one could hardly blame her, when 
rich old Mr. Vail asked her to be bis wife and 
preside over his elegant home, for accepting him, 
even though he was old enough to be her father 
— that led to our argument. 

I could immagine no fate worse than her’s, a 
horrible existence, than which no tragedy could 
be more grim. How each day must seem longer 


and more terrible than the last. In the morning 
how she must long for night and oblivion, and at 
night tossing restlessly upon a sleepless pillow 
longing for day with something to divert her 
mind. How long life is if we are unhappy, and 
how short it is if we are happy. I said some' 
thing of this to Tom. 

"Now," said he. "let me tell you a story. 
Years ago, you know, I loved Kittie Wentworth. 
A day of parting came and I went west on the 
U. P. For a year we corresponded and 
I was looking forward to the time when 
I could return and claim Kittie. At last 
her letters ceased. I wrote again; no ans- 
wer. I passed through all tbe stages of doubt, 
jealousy, despair. I could think of nothing else. 
I could not run my train. The suspense became 
horror unendurable. I could endure it no longer. 
I would return and hear from her own lips if she 
had ceased to care for me. There u%s a recep 
tion being held at a friend’s house the evening I 
arrived. I determined to go and see for myself. 
I had heard it rumored she had transferred her 
affections to my most hated rival. Still I hoped 
it was only rumor, but — 

"She was there that night — God help me! 

I saw her with him — ah, well, 

There are times when earth does nobly 
As a substitute for hell." 

"I was mad with jealousy. I determined upon 
having revenge. I would make love to his former 
sweetheart. Time went on. I was all attention. 

I would not let them see I cared. At last I de- 
cided I would go him one better That lady is 
now my wife." 

"What !" I gasped, "did not you and Kittie 
become reconciled?" 

"No. I married the other. And that is why I 
claim one can learn to love another. I think a 
great deal of my wife, and we have a lovely little 
daughter. But come and make us a visit and yon 
shall see." 

"But, Tom," I said, "a fond regard, and love, 
are as night and day. Do you love her as you 
did Kittie?" 

He looked away a moment and a far away look 
came into his eyes; then— ‘Here we are— excuse 
me." and he was gone 

just then the brakemao opened the door and 
shouted “Union depot — Grand Rapids " Anon. 


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Oar readers who write to any of the firms advertising in these columns are requested to mention 

Thr Railway Conductor. 

B. B CLARK and WM. P. DANIELS, Managers. E. B. CLARK, Editor-in-Chief. 

W. N. GATES. Advertising ManagIke, 99 Euclid Avenue. Cleveland, O. 


PAY YOUR FARE OR GET OFF. 


We are under obligations to Hon. John Bell, of 
Belleville, Ont , for a copy of the decision re- 
cently rendered by the supreme court of Canada 
in a case that will be found of interest by all rail- 
road men in this country, and especially by the 
members of our Order who are all directly con- 
cerned in points there decided. The facts in this 
case, a i shown by the papers, were as follows: 
Beaver, the plaintiff, had bought a ticket from 
Detroit to Caledonia, good for a continuous trip 
over the Grand Trunk Railway. When the con- 
ductor came round to collect fares Beaver was 
unable to find his ticket The conductor allowed 
ample time for finding the ticket and then told 
Mr Beaver he must pay fare or leave the train 
at a certain station. The unfortunate passenger 
left the train at the station named, and, subse- 
quently finding the ticket, sued the company for 
damages. He was non suited at the trial but the 
divisional court held that decision to be wrong 
and that the case should have gone to the jury. 
The case was carried to the supreme court where 
the original “non-suit" was sustained and the 
action of the conductor thereby upheld The 
opinion of the court was delivered by Justice 
Gwynne, and from it we take the following ex- 
tract, giving a brief but comprehensive exposition 
of the Canadian law upon this suoject and the 
rights of conductors under that law: 

The conductor of every passenger train is in a plain 
common sense understanding of the terms of the statute, 
the person responsible for the collection of the fares of all 
passengers upon his train and the person to be satisfied of 
such payment, either in money or by the production of a 
ticket authorizing the person producing it, 10 travel on 
the train of which he is conductor. The judgment ap- 
pealed from is to the effect that it is not so, but that when 
R railway company issues a ticket to a purchaser thereof 
for a passage on a particular train, such ticket constitutes 
a contract between the purchaser and the company, that 
the company will carry the purchaser upon such train; 
and that they must do so whether he produces the ticket 
to the conductor or not; and that in case even of his re- 
fusal to produce It to the conductor, or to pay his fare in 
money to him, he cannot, under the terms of the statute, 
be put off the train, bat must he carried to whatever place 
upon the railway to which the train by which he is travel- 
ing goes, that he may select as the point of his destina- 
tion. In short, that the conductor is a wrong doer and 


the company responsible for his wrong, if he should pu. 
a passenger off his train who excases himself for not pay. 
ing the conductor his fare in money by the simple alle^a 
tion that he had purchased a ticket which authorized him 
to travel upon the train on which he was, but that he 
had forgotten to bring it with him — or that he had lost it 
--or that he had destroyed it— or that he had it in his 
pocket but would not produce it — such a construction 
would render the statute absolutely inoperative, but let us 
consider what is the true nature of the contract involved 
in the ticket which the plaintiff had purchased, and which 
he had not with him, or if he had, did not produce when 
on the train from which he was put off. 

It was upon its face declared to be "good only for a 
continuous trip from Detroit to Caledonia until Oct. 14th, 
1892." Now construing the contract evidenced by that 
ticket in the language of Lord Esher in Butler vs. the 
Manchester and Sheffield R’y Co., as implying only such 
terms as were clearly and obviously in the contemplation 
of the parties, can it be doubted for a moment that both 
parties had in contemplation what had been the practice 
and uses ever since the introduction of railways into 
Canada, without ever a doubt being entertained on the 
point, namely, that the ticket was purchased by the pur- 
chaser and was issued bv the company for the sole pur- 
pose of being produced to the conductor of the train 
upon which tbepuichaser should travel upon the faith or 
it, to be taken up by such conductor as and for the fare of 
the purchaser for his being carried upon such train; and 
upon the thorough understanding and intent that unless so 
produced it was utterly valueless and "good" fornothing. 
It was only when so produced within the period men- 
tioned on the ticket, that it was to be, or could be "good” 
for the continuous trip also mentioned on the ticket. The 
contract simply was to convey the purchaser upon one 
continuous trip from Detroit to Caledonia tup to the 14th 
of Oct., 1892) upon any train of the company traveling De- 
tween those two places upon which the purchaser should 
travel, and when called upon for his fare, should produce 
and deliver up the ticket to the conductor of the train, as 
and for such fare. 

No other construction of the contract is admissible, and 
this being the plain, sensible construction of the con- 
tract, the plaintiff, upon the facts in evidence was, when 
called upon for his fare by the conductor, in the same 
position precisely as if he had never purchased a ticket, 
and not having paid his fare to the conductor, was, in the 
terms of the provision of the statute in that behalf, liable 
to be put off the tram by him. 

This will be recognized by every fair minded 
man as no more than justice. If the conductor 
is held responsible for the fare of every passenger 
on his train he certainly should have the power 
to secure from each of those passengers his fare 
or its equivalent. If the same sort of common 
sense reasoning could be applied by all the courts 
to all the different problems the conductor is 
called upon to solve, the responsibilities of the 
position would be greatly lightened and all parties 
would be greatly the gainer thereby. 


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354 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

THE ST. LOUIS MEETING. 


It was the sense of the Knights of Labor, asex- 
. pressed at their last general convention, that some 
means should be devised for bringing the labor 
organizations of this country into closer touch 
with each other. To that end they directed their 
officers to invite the representatives of the other 
organizations to meet with them for the purpose 
of discussing any matters of general interest that 
might be brought up to see if some common 
ground tor action might not be found. Pursuant 
to this order a meeting was called at St. Louis on 
the i ith of June last. There were present rep- 
resentatives of the Knights of Labor, American 
Federation of Labor, Green Glass Workers, 
Farmers Alliance, B. of L. E , B. of L. F., B. of 
R. T. and our Order was represented by the 
Grand Chief Conductor. The chief interest of 
the sessions centered about a series of resolutions 
presented by the K. of L , of which the following 
is a brief synopsis: 

A congress composed of three representatives from each 
of the national labor organizations of America shall meet 
in the city of Washington on the 22d of February of each 
year for ihe purpose of considering all plats and ques 
lions of importance that may be before the industrial and 
political world, w th a view to securing united action upon 
them in the following year. The officers of this congre-s 
will consist of president, secretary, treasurer, and an 
executive committee of one from each organization rep- 
resented. 

All questions in dispute between labor organizations 
as to lorm of organization, jurisdiction and action in strike 
matters or minor controversies, shall oe referred to an ar- 
bitration committee ot three members to be elected at 
each annual congress. One of these members shall be 
taken from some national trade union, one from some body 
of the K. ot L. and the other from the ranks of the people, 
neither directly nor indirectly connected with organized 
labor and as far far as possible removed from any connec- 
tion wi h industrial or political questions, aiming at all 
times to secure a man oi the highest character, integrity 
and statesmanship. 

No national or international strike involving more than 
1,000 men -hall be entered into until it has received the 
sanction of the executive committee of this congress, but 
when so endorsed it shall be given the united moral and 
financial support of all the organizations represented in 
the Congress and if necessary the Executive Committee 
shall have power to order or request the Executive 
Boards of the affiliated organizations to call out all their 
member* to support such strike, and in every way to make 
its success the first object of all. 

After July 4 . 1S94, the organizations herein represented 
agree to mutually recognize each other's workmg cards 
and a member’s good standing in one organization 
shall insure him recognitition, assistance and support 
bv all members of all the various bodies thus affiliated. 

Where two or more organizations of the same craft 
exist in anv one locality they should at once or as soon 
as possible after February 22, 1^5, appoint joint execu- 
tive committees to arrange wage scales and hours of work 
mutually satisfactory, and thence forward endeavor to 
secure by joint etioi t such benefits as may arise from 
higher w ages and shorter work day 

In the coming campaigns and elections all members of 
organized labor should cast their ballots against the two 
old political parties and endeavor, whenever possible, to 
elect the third party candidates, unless said third party 
candidates shall avow themselves inimical to the interests 
of the masses, and, believing further that the People s 
Party presents the most available means to an end, we 
suggest that they, at least for the present, receive the en- 
couragement and support of united labor. 

These resolutions were referred to a committee 
consisting of Samuel Gompers, of the American 
Federation of Labor. M B. Bishop, of the K. of 
L.. and C W Maier, of the B. of L F. After 

D 


due consideration a majority report was sub- 
mitted and finally adopted by ao almost unani- 
mous vote, the substance of this report being as 
follows: 

A conference of the representatives of the organized 
labor of North America shall be held semi-annually, the 
ftrst conference to beheld February 22. 1^95, in theCityof 
Washington, for the purpose of considering questions and 
devising plans for the protection and advancement of the 
toiling ma?ses. 

Representation in the conference shall be from the gen- 
eral assembly of the Knights of Labor, the American Fed- 
eration of Labor, the various brotherhoods and orders of 
railroad men and such national and international organi 
zations as are not affiliated with cither of ihe above, pro- 
vided that any such national or international labor orgam 
zation is not organized to antagonize or undermine any 
existing bona fide national or international union of the 
same trade or calling. 

Each organization is entitled to representation in the 
conference: provided that the basis shall consist of three 
men for each organization. 

The officers of future conference* shall consist of » 
President, Secretary, Treasurer and Executive Commit 
tee of one from each organization represented. 

For the purpose of preventing strife and antagonism 
between labor organizations, we declare that there should 
not be a dual organization or authority in any trade or 
calling, and that in all matters of trade c nflicts. boycott* 
and trade- labels, the union particularly in interest should 
have absolute authority and autonomy. 

Recognizing that corporations and the moneyed clans 
of the country are dominating and dictating ^“legisla- 
tion of t lie nation, the stale and the municipalities, to the 
de'rim-ni of the interests of the toiling and wealth pro- 
ducing millions, and recognizing further that the power 
of wealth has subordinated the executive, judirial and 
military forces to its behest, thus undermining the under 
lving principles of our Republic, endangering its consti- 
tution and tending to deprivt our people of their cher- 
ished liberties, we declare- that the working masses should 
throw off the yoke of political partisanship and vote inde- 
pendently in order that representatives of the wealth pro- 
ducers of America may be fully represented in making 
and executing our laws. 

By this action it will be seen that the meeting 
was strongly op peed to giving any Congress any 
authority over the affairs of the different organi- 
zations participating therein, and that the senti- 
ment was overwhelmingly in favor of preserving 
the perfect autonomy of each of them. The prin- 
cipal discussion hinged upon the question which 
is really the pivotal one of difference as between 
the Federation of Labor and the Knights of 
Labor, or as between the old organizations of 
railroad employes and the ideas advanced by the 
A. R. U. The line being thus drawn it very nat- 
urally caused th 3 different representatives to ad- 
vocate the policies supported by tbeir various 
bodies. While no one. perhaps, was able to con- 
vince the others that his particular views were 
correct, a general gooi feeling seemed to ex hi 
giving promise of better things in the future. 
There can be no question but much good will re- 
sult from a few such meetings as this when 
matters of the first importance to all may be dis- 
cussed and the delegates be brought to agree 
upon all points where agreement is possible and 
upon the others, it is hoped, agree to disagree. 
The question of endorsing any political party or 
movement was decided to be foreign to the pur- 
poses for which the meeting had been called and 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


355 


no expression was made upon points of that 
nature. Some of the writers for the public press 
jumped at the conclusion that the purpose of the 
gathering was to amalgamate some of the great 


labor bodies of the country, but no propositions 
to that end were advanced or discussed. Ar- 
rangements have been made to print a condensed 
report of the meeting and as soOn as it is out a 
copy will be mailed to each one of our Divisions. 


THE COAL MINERS 1 STRIKE. 


After continuing some eight weeks, the coal 
miners' strike, one of the largest and most im- 
portant movements ever engaged in by organized 
labor in this country, was brought to a close by a 
compromise agreement entered into by the repre- 
sentatives of the miners and operators at a meet- 
ing held in Columbus, Ohio, June n, last. Affairs 
had been shaping themselves badly for the 
miners for some time before the call for this 
meeting was agreed to, and the more thoughtful 
among their number were becoming fearful for 
the result. In many places their own men were 
deserting in numbers sufficient to greatly weaken 
thetr force, men outside their organizations were 
being hired to fill the places of the strikers, many 
of the great corporate interests of the country 
were combining with the operators to start up the 
mines with new men regardless of the old, their 
money had run so low that the officers were 
obliged to use their private means, and it was im- 
possible to keep organizers in the field to main- 
tain discipline and sustain the courage of the 
men, and the militia had been called out to guard 
property and suppress lawlessness. In addition to 
all this President McBride gives, in his letter of 
explanation and advice to his men, the following 
as the most potent of all the many causes forcing 
the officers to the course taken: 

As long as the miner s engaged in the suspension ob- 
served this policy of peace and order, there was no uoubt 
of their ultimate triumph There has been at no time 
nor can there be any reason for setting law and the au- 
thorities at defiance^and indulging in violent demonstra- 
tions to redress imaginary wrongs. That violence has 
been committed and law in other ways disregarded, there 
can be no doubt; but that our men have been so outrage- 
ously lawless, as press reports indicate, we deny. Any 
violation of law, nowever small, supplemented by the 
maliciously exaggerated press reports, proved sufficient 
to change and turn against us a public opinion, never too 
friendly toward the laboring men when in conflict with 
corporate greed. 

In the face of these adverse influences. Presi- 
dent McBride was forced to make a settlement at 
this time when he could do so and serve the best 
interests of a large majority of the miners and 
snatch victory from what promised to be defeat. 
He had strained every nerve, had brought every 
agency within his power to bear, had made every 
effort that could be asked by any reasonable man, 
in short he had left nothing undone that promised 
to secure the success of the movement. After 
going to the extreme limit of his physical powers 
in working for the common cause and doing the 


very best it was possible for him to do, he was 
rewarded, as is usual in such cases, with the ac- 
cusation of having sold out his friends and follow- 
ers. We are unable to discuss intelligently the 
technical .points in the agreement signed at the 
conference, but the advantages gained are sue- 
cintly pointed out by President McBride, in the 
circular letter before mentioned, as follows. 

While we have not been able to restore wages to what 
they were in the early part of 1893, we have, in many in- 
stances, prevented reductions from taking place, and in 
others secured part of what we lost. Reductions have 
been prevented in Southern Illinois, and in Iowa prices 
have been restored and the organization recognized. 
One-half of the reduction pending on May 1 has been 
saved to the miners of Indiana and a similar amount 
saved to the miners of northern Illinois In addition to 
this, the operators from the latter field have promised to 
abolish the infamous contract system which has caused 
so much dissatisfaction to the miners of that part of the 
country and so much injury to their competitors in other 
fields. In Ohio an increase of ten cents per ton has been 
secured, and in western Pennsylvania an advance of a 
similar amount. In addition to the price of mining the 
inter-state agreement has been re-established and once 
more peaceful methods of adjusting wages will take the 
place of strikes. 

In electing check weighmen, miners will no longer be 
hampered by the interference of the operator, as under 
the agreement they wiM have the privilege of electing a 
■nan of their owu choice to fill that position, something 
not heretofore enjoyed by a large portion of their number. 

While we have not succeeded i" accomplishing every- 
thing mapped out by the National Convention, we have 
secured more for the men than could have been obtained 
through local or sectional effort, and in our judgment all 
that could be secured by the present movement under the 
conditions by \vhich we were surrounded, and conditions 
that were unforeseen at the time of the National Conven- 
tion. 

So far as we are able to judge, the officers of 
the Mine Workers’ Union have done all that 
anyone could have done under the circumstances, 
and we look upon the settlement as a victory for 
the Association. We cannot help feeling that it 
would be much better for the Association, and for 
its members generally, to have the settlement ac- 
cepted in good faith by all instead of having dis- 
cord caused by some refusing to join with their 
brethren in what must be considered by the fair- 
minded as a creditable solution of their difficul- 
ties. 


“The church,” says Grand Master Machinist 
O'Connell, of the International Association of 
Mach nists, “aims to raise the human family to a 
higher standard and teach them the fatherhood 
of God and the brotherhood of man. This is the 
teaching of organized labor, first, last and all the 
time. Hence I say the church and the labor 
movement are identical." — Trackmen's Journal . 


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356 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


A SAMPLE OF CORPORATE LOGIC. 


The recant decision of the Indiana Appellate 
Court, in a suit brought by an employe against 
the Pennsylvania road to recover damages for in* 
juries sustained while in its service, has been the 
subject of wide comment and that comment has 
been, for the most part, so far from the truth as 
to give color to the charge that it was fathered 
either by ignorance or a blind surrender to the 
interests of the roads. The employe in question 
was a member of the benefit department carried 
on under the name of the road and accepted the 
benefit due from it, after which be brought suit 
to recover from the compiny for the injuries sus- 
tained. The Appellate Court decided that an 
employe could not draw the benefit from the re- 
lief association ot which he was a member and 
also bring suit for damages against the company, 
and this decision at once received the hearty 
sanction of every subsidized sheet in the country. 
The following from one of the Philadelphia 
papers is a fair sample, both in tone and logic, of 
the stand taken by all in the same class: 

“Children are taught the impossibility of, at the same 
time, obtaining a cake and retaining possession of the 
penny given in payment for the edible. Grown people, 
as well as juveniles, sometimes need the pithy advice of 
the old saying. A western court has recently decided that 
a railway employe belonging to a relief association can- 
not draw benefits in consequence of an injury, and also 
bring suit for damages against the company. He can re- 
linquish his membership and seek to obtain compensation 
for his injuries, but he must not suppose that the com- 
pany will pay money to be used for legal expenses in a 
suit brought against itself. 

“Efforts have been made to misrepresent this position. 
It has been claimed that a man who entets a relief associ- 
ation is, by judicial ukase, prevented from obtaining 
damages in case of injury. The judge savs pothing of the 
sort. He merely points out that the employe must choose 
between the certainty of a benefit and the possibility of a 
larger sum or of nothing. A suit might result adversely 
to the plaintiff. It might appear that benefits -offered by 
the company were reasonable, and the appeal might seem 
to be a fortunate one. and yet when the legal expenses 
were defrayed the plaiutiff might find that his claim had 
not been a profitable speculation. % 

“An employe who has been hurt while in the discharge 
of his duty may find that as soon as he is able to re>ume 
work a place is ready for him. Even though his injuries 
are serious, there are posts that can be filled by crippled 
men. If an employe is rendered helpless there is often a 
place for some member of his family. The benefits of a 
relief association do not of necessity end with the amount 
of cash actuallv paid at the time of the casualty. There 
may be excellent reasons for accepting the sum guaran- 
teed by the company rather than beginning a series of 


legal proceedings that may result in nothing or may be 
protracted for months or years. At all events, on* can 
rot draw benefits and sne for damages. He must choose 
between the two.” 

The fallacy of this argument is to be found to 
the assumption that the benefits paid by the 
benefit department come from the company. If 
this were true, if the company offered its men 
an absolute guaranty that they would be paid * ' 
certain sum in case of injury, then there would be 
reason in the statements made, but such is not 
the case. In all these cases the benefit is paid 
from a fund made up from the forced contribu- 
tions of the employes of the system and does oot 
come from the coffers of the company. Whether 
they like it or not, the working men are com- 
pelled to contribute from their hard earned 
wages to provide the means out of which they or 
their co-Uborers are reimbursed io case of acci- 
dent. The company is simply the self appointed 
guardian and distributer of this fund, and for that 
service expects to be given immunity from all re- 
sponsibility in case one of its men is injured. If 
the man in question had taken the money he paid 1 
for indemnity by the benefit department, and had » 
given it to one of the regularly organized insur- 
ance companies, there could have been no qnes- j 

tion as to his r*ght to collect the amount of such I 

insurance and then fall back upon the company 
for further damages if he saw fit. If any distinc- 
tion of right is to be made between the two cases j 
it would seem to be in favor of the man who is | 

compelled to take on insurance rather than the , 

one who does so from choice. The benefit re- I 

ceive^ by plaintiff had been paid for by him and 
was $s much his private property as if be bad 
purchased it from a corporation entirely foreign 
to the one by which he was employed. It will re- 
quire better argument than has been yet ad- 
vanced to convince the fair-minded that any 
company can compel its employes to pay for in- 
surance and thereby release itself from responsi- 
bility in case such employes should be injured 
while in its service. 


PROPOSED 

In the Dominion Parliament at Ottawa. Ontar- 
io, Sir John Thompson proposes to add the fol- 
lowing to the Criminal Code: 

Everyone is guilty of an indictable offense and is liable 
to three years' imprisonment who. being or acting in the 
capacity of a train conductor or other agent or employe of 
a railway company authorized to sell tickets or take up 
tickets or collect fares from passengers while traveling 


IN CANADA. 

on any train operated by such company, fraudulent!? al- 
lows any person to travel on such train for any distance 
withuut either paying the proper fare for that distance, or 
producing a ticket or other evidence that soch person U 
entitled so to travel foT that distance, or willfully omiti 
either to punch or otherwise mark any ticket traveled on 
so as to mark that it has been traveled on. 

Dishonesty should of course be punishable by 
a punishment which fits the crime, but the evi- 


fl 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


dence should be most conclusive and should be 
presented by soneone more reliable than the 
average "spotter." Charges of most dishonor- 
able and dishonest transactions, involving rail- 
road detectives, were freely made, in connection 
with the investigation of the killing of one of 
their number on the Chicago & Grand Trunk 
Railway, not long since. They were so sweeping 
in tbeir nature that they justify belief in the say- 
ing. "When thieves fall out, honest men get tbeir 
dues." 

If it is consistent to imprison the conductor if, 
in the bigness of his heart he should ' ‘fraudu ent- 
ly" allow a fellow employe, a destitute woman or 
a cripple, to ride without exacting the payment of 
fare, what should be done with the man who can 
well afford to pay his way, but who. in order to 
beat the company, and save a little himself, 


357 

steals a hat check, and after surrendering to the 
conductor a ticket for a short ride, exposes the 
check in hopes the conductor will overlook 
him; or the man who present* a mileage book 
with the statement that he is going twenty miles 
when he knows he is going one hundred, but 
who hopes he conductor will forget? What 
should be done with the man who. in order to 
keep himself employed, to ingratiate himself 
with the officials or to get revenge for some real 
or fancied wrong, makes false accusations against 
a conductor whose business transactions are as 
open as the day? 

It is said in Canada that the Dominion Govern- 
ment is one department of the Canadian Pacific 
Pail way Company, and we suppose, if the C. P. 
R. wishes this law enacted, Parliament will obey 
instructions. 


A news dispatch from London, Ontario, dated 
April 30, 1894, speaking of the meeting of the 
Board of Directors of the Grand Trunk Railway, 
said: “The board instructed Mr. Seargeant to 
call together his officials and see whether further 
reduction of expenses could not be made at once. 


This must needs be done with discretion, owing 
to the present strength of the labor unions in 
America." This is evidence that the organiza- 
tions have made themselves felt in the Dominion 
and that the good effects of the victory won by 
the conductors and brakemen on the Canadian 
Pacific have not as yet worn away. 


The “grade crossing" question now bids fair 
to find solution in the absolute requirements of 
the service rather than in the more or less uncer- 
tain processes of the courts or the interminable 
negotiations of officials with the politicians who 
make up the ordinary city government. The de- 
mands of modern traffic have made speed one of 
the prime requisites in the passenger service of 
all the great lines, and the proper rate of speed 
can not be reached without the use of the latest 
and most approved equipments, both in roadbed 
and rolling stock. This also includes rapid run- 
ning through the cities and towns along the line, 


and that can not be done unless the roadbed is 
placed either under or above the street crossings. 
The managers of the great trunk lines are be- 
ginning to recognize this fact and many of them 
are already at work making the necessary changes. 
Naturally a change of this importance cannot be 
effected in a day, and it should suffice that a be- 
ginning has been made with every promise that 
the good work would be carried on to its legiti- 
mate conclusion. There will be reason for general 
congratulation if this important question can be 
settled in some such natural manner as this with- 
out any of the strife which is almost certain to 
follow the methods now under consideration. 


COMMENT. 


That quaint old philosopher, John Ruskin, 
gave utterance to many sentiments that are 
worth heeding, and the following has special ap- 
plication to the social situation as its exists today : 
"Quixotism or Utopianism — that is another of 
the Devil's pet words. I believe the quiet admis- 
sion which we are all of us ready to make, that 
because things have long been wrong it is impos- 
sible that they should ever be right, is one of the 
most fatal sources of misery and crime from which 


this world suffers. Whenever you hear a man 
dissauding you from attempting to do well on the 
ground that perfection is 'Utopian,' beware of 
that man. Cast the word out of your dictionary 
altogether, there is no need for it. Things are 
either possible or impossible — you can easily de- 
termine which — in any given state of human 
science. If the thing is impossible, you need not 
trouble yourselves about it; if possible, try for it." 
The dividing line between the possible and the 


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358 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


impossible — where is it? There certainly is such 
a line, and it is certainly possible to establish its 
outlines. «Men who are trying to improve the 
condition of labor, who are endeavoring to bring 
about conditions that will permit the laborer to 
enjoy the full product of his own labor, are con- 
tinually met with the cry that they are attempt- 
ing to accomplish impossibilities; they are called 
"Utopists." But those are very poor, or very 
blind students, of human affairs who reason in 
this manner. To cross the ocean with steamships 
was once declared an impossibility, and during 
the very week that the first trans- Atlantic steam- 
boat steamed into Liverpool, a noted French sci- 
entist demonstrated to the satisfaction of an ad- 
miring audience how utterly impossible it was 
that the thing could be done Field was declared 
a "Utopist” tor attempting to establish the At 
lan tic cable; it was said that he was attempting 
to accomplish an impossibility; but he proved the 
thing possible all the same. Less than fifty years 
ago men who worked for the abolition of slavery 
were called •'Utopists;" it was said that they were 
trying to accomplish impossibilities; and now, the 
men who are trying to bring about conditions of 
justice for laborers are met with the same cry, 
and eminent scientists enter into long demonstra- 
tions that really demonstrate nothing but their 
own blindness. 

* # * 

Editor Godkin, of the New York Post, spreads 
himself over considerable space in the June 
Forum, in the effort to show that it is impossible 
for laborers to get any more than they have now, 
because there is no more for them to get . He 
expresses great contempt for those whom he dubs 
"ethical economists," who are endeavoring to ac- 
complish impossibilities by establishing exact 
justice between man and man, and rendering to 
the laborer what actually belongs to him. It may 
very readily be admitted that if the present 


economic status is allowed to continue, there is 
no possibility for laborers to get any more than 
they have now. But is it not possible to change 
that status, to establish new and better economic 
conditions? The possibility of such an event is 
just as certain as that the earth moves. If we. as 
a people, continue to allow our trusts and mo- 
nopolies to absorb all the surplus wealth of the 
country by means of class laws purchased from 
our law makers, although in accordance with our 
national policy of government, why, certainly, 
laborers can get no more than they have now, 
because there will be no more for them to get. 
But the present is not a natural, it is a man-made 
condition. It has been established by the votes 
of the people, it is maintained and perpetuated by 
the votes of the people, and it can be utterly an- 
nihilated by the votes of the people. There is no 
impossibility about anything of that sort; all that 
is required is unified action for a common purpose, 
and that purpose the destruction of the conditions 
which permit the trusts and monopolies to ab- 
sorb the surplus wealth of the country without 
rendering an equivalent to labor in return for it. 
# » # 

There is nothing impossible, nothing im- 
practicable, nothing "Utopian,” about any 
of these things which may be accomplished 
by the votes of the people in this re- 
public of ours. On the contrary, they will 
prove the salvation of labor, and the laborers 
have the votes to do the business with, too. The 
votes are a thousand times better than any other 
weapon that can be used, but they must be used 
intelligently. Men must stop voting as republic- 
ans or democrats, and begin to vote only as work- 
ingmen. In that way will their salvation be 
accomplished, and it will come so easily that 
people will wonder where they have been at for 
the last two or three hundred years or so. 

"B." 


BORROWED OPINION. 


It is eminently proper and fitting at this time 
to take up in a brief and pass upon all pertaining 
to labor and its advancement in channels that are 
in every way law-abiding and consistent with the 
higher education that is daily making itself felt 
among the masses. In railway organizations, the 
tendency of education is toward arbitration be- 
tween employes and the governing employers, 
and the former are first in the field looking 
towards that end . At the recent union meeting 
of railway employes, held in New York City, the 
question and modes of arbitration were exhaust- 
ively discussed and practically agreed upon by 
that great number of bright railway men from 


all sections of the United States and Canada. 
They also favored taking such political action in 
future as would protect railroads from unjust 
legislation, the substance of such action being 
to cast a solid railroad vote regardless of any 
party feelings, and with whatever party would 
best preserve corporate and individual interest on 
a just and equitable basis as against those interests 
on the other hand that seek but to make war upon 
railroads through prejudice or mistaken poli- 
cies. They also favored election of rail- 
road commissioners by popular vote, and 
not by appointment, as now. There is 
method in all this of such fine conception as 


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THE RAILWAY 

must necessarily commend itself to all liberal 
and fair-minded people, and clearly shows that 
the rank and hie of railway men are sufficiently 
bright and far seeing to rank in the near future 
as a great, and we may say, governing factor in 
politics If not the latter, then a factor that no 
party can ignore in its pledges. Now the ques- 
tion presents itself — what steps will railroad 
officials take to meet and further views prolific of 
such vast resources to the companies they repre- 
sent? Will they, too. be willing to sink all party 
feeling and line up solidly for the work as out 
lined? Refusal to do so would at once stamp 
them as men having no interest in the matter 
save that of drawing their regular salary. It is 
high time that in view of what their employes 
are doing they bestir themselves, and thus show 
they are alive to corporate interests beyond the 
point of drawing salary and laying awake nightsoft- 
times hatching up schemes whereby they circum- 
vent them in a "finish fight" when there is a 
struggle on. There should be a blending together 
of interests in all this that would go far, if not 
entire, in doing away with "strikes" that are 
costly to the men. the company and the public, 
through the suspension of traffic. The idea as set 
forth by The Herald is in every sense applicable 
to present conditions, and railway officials may 
take it home with them as a gratuitous mess of 
wholesome food for reflection. — Ray Raymond in 
Salt Lake Herald. 

It is said that a man is the victim of heredity 
and environments. This, in a measure, is true, 
but man is principally the result of his own work. 
There comes to every individual a crisis, or often 
several crises, when by an act of choice he molds 
his future. It would be a vast stride in the in- 
terests of peace and of the laboring classes, if the 
policy of arbitration, which is now gaining favor 
for the settlement of international quarrels, 
were also availed of for the adjustment of dis- 
putes between amplo>er and employe. . We are, 
and always have been in favor of compulsory arbi- 
tration of differences arising between railway 
managers and their employes, which they could 
not of themselves adjust. Arbitration, as a 
method of settling differences between nations 
and individuals, has already made great triumphs 
and secured the best results. In France and Eng 
land, arbitration and conciliation have made 
gratifying progress in adjusting differences be- 
tween capitalist and worker. Several of the 
States have a law providing regulations to govern 
arbitration of disputes between employer and 
employed. It has already prevented some strikes 
and violence, and promises in the future to do 
well. When employer and employed can lay 
down their irritation and grievances sufficiently 
to meet as equals and discuss frankly and cor- 
dially the disputed issues before a Board of Arbi- 
tration, selected by both parties, it is a great step 
gained. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi- 
neers have never bad a case, to my knowledge, 
they were not willing to submit to a Board of 
Arbitration composed of disinterested men. I 
hold that it is within the power of Congress to 
enact a law creating such a board, with full 


CONDUCTOR. 359 

authority to settle all disputes, thereby prevent- 
ing a recurrence of the disastrous railway strikes. 
Experience has proven that strikes, which lead to 
violence and destruction of property, afford no 
satisfactory relief; on the contrary, they engender 
ill-feeling and entail misery and suffering upon 
thousands of innocent women and children. — T. 
S. Arthur, Grand Chief B. of L. E. 

There will have to be some very severe ex- 
amples made in this country of successful and 
would-be train wreckers before long or there will 
be some terrible wrecks and los* of life. It 
is bard to understand how any human being could 
become so vin lictive and regardless of life as to 
attempt the wrecking of a passenger train filled 
with helpless and inoffensive people; but that such 
devils exist we hive only too frequent proof. 

The merciful feature of our criminal law which 
provides degrees of punishment for a crime 
attempted and a crime committed is of doubtful 
justice in any case, but in the matter of train 
wrecking it is a positive travesty of justice. Six 
feet of earth should make train wreckers all of 
one size, whether their attempts are successful or 
not. Public safety demands that fiends who 
would wreck trains must be put deep under the 
sod in short order. This is the only wav to stop 
wrecking, and it is the way that must eventually 
be adopted. — National Car and Locomotive 
Builder. 

The problem of grade crossings has been satis- 
factorily solved in the city of Elizabeth, N. J., in 
the heart of which formerly two great railway 
lines — The Pennsylvania and the New Jersey 
Central — crossed each other at grade. The tracks 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad have been elevated 
and its trains run on a viaduct through the city, 
above all the streets and the tracks of the other 
railroad In addition, the grade of many streets 
have been altered so that they now pass under 
the Central Railroad. The advantages to both 
the city and the railroads are obvious. Higher 
speed can be made by trains on both lines with- 
out the least danger of accidents, and the people 
of Elizabeth are free from the perils that lately 
beset them. The city is to be congratulated on 
the happy change that has been brought about. — 
Nczu York Tribune. 

Another nob’e triumph of the principle of arbi- 
tration in wage and labor disputes is that of the 
Mobile & Ohio decision. The officers of the road 
thought there should be a reduction of 8 per cent 
in wages. The men thought differently, and, in- 
stead of fighting upon the issue, both sides agreed 
to continue the operation of the road as usual, 
pending the decision of a committee of arbitra- 
tion. The committee, consisting of G. W. Boyd, 
president of the Merchants’ Exchange, of St. 
Louis; Lieut. Gov. J. M. Gill, of Illinois, and 
F M. Alexander, a clergyman living on the line 
of the road, agreed that there should be a reduc- 
tion of 4 per cent for a period of four months 
from June i, after which wages are to be restored 
and continued indefinitely, sixty days' notice be- 
ing required of either party desiring or proposing 
a change. The decision was promptly and heart- 
ily ratified by both sides. — American Machinist. 


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St. Joreph, Mo.. Judo io. 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

An I have been chosen correspondent to fill the 
place of Sister Harris, resigned. I will endeavor 
to write a few lines in behalf of Benevolent 
Division No. 17, and hope that they will prove 
as interesting to some of the Sisters at a distance 
as their communications have to us. 

We meet the first and third Wednesday* of 
each month, and as a general thing oar meetings 
are very well attended. The Sisters all seem to 
be very much interested, and do all they can to 
further the cause. 

We have not been so prosperous this year as 
we would like to have been, in regard to members 
uniting with us, but we have the prospect of 
several in the near future. We were very sorry to 
lose from our number our Junior Sister, Sister 
Smith, who was one of our most regular attend- 
ants. but perhaps she may be the means of the 
organization of an Auxiliary at her place of resi- 
dence. Horton, Kansas. Sister McGregor, our 
organist, has also left us to reside in Nebraska. 
We miss her presence very much. 

Sister McKeeby, one of our charter members, 
formerly of St. Joseph, but now of Spokane, 
Washington, made us a very pleasant visit in 
April. It was like old* times to have her with us. 
Our first President. Sister Kimball, now of Kan 
sas City, also made us a v.sit 

We have instituted the monthly socials in our 
midst, and derive a great deal of pleasure there- 
from. We are now engaged in piecing a quilt, 
which, when finished, will be sold to the highest 
bidder. 1 had the pleasure of accompanying D. 
G. P. Sister E. N. Foote to Des Moines, where a 
union meeting of the L. A. to O. R. C. of the state 
of lo*a was held. We had the pleasure of meet- 
ing our Grand President, Mrs. J H. Moore, while 
there, who gave us some very good advice The 
Sinters of Excelsior Division No. 19 certainly 
know how to entertain, for they did everything in 
thru power to make it pleasant for us, and we re- 
turned to our homes feeling that it was good to 
have been there. Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. D. L. Sims. 


Jackson, Term.. June 18. 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

April 26, last, was the first anniversary of 
Ideal Division No. 39, L. A. to O. R. C., and the 
occasion was fittingly observed by tbe ladies 
The annual address by Mrs. P. B. Wilkinson, 
President, opened with a brief history of tbe 
Division, followed by a highly complimentary 
mention of the excellent work done by the Secre- 
tary, Mrs. P. C Callahan. The speaker then 
proceeded to outline the proper sphere of useful- 
ness for the members of the Auxiliary as being 
to support rather than to direct, and urged upon 
her bearers the need for keeping constantly in 
sight the precepts of the Order in which they all 
took so much pride. "This, then," said the 
speaker, "is the mission of our Order, to scatter 
with one hand rays of sunshine and the brightest 
flowers of Christianity and of love, and with tbe 
other hand ward off the temptations of life aod 
gently lead those we love to a brighter hope.'’ 
Feeling mention was made of the two Sisters who 
had answered to the last call, and tbe address 
closed with warn, congratulations upon tbe good 
work done during tbe past year and tbe promise 
of even better things in the year to come. The 
report of the Secretary showed the affairs of tbe 
Division to be in excellent condition, tbe mem- 
bership having gone up from twenty-one to 
thirty- five during tbe year, while a handsome 
balance was left in tbe treasury in spite of tbe 
large amount of charitable work done by sanction 
of the members. 

In addition to tbe addresses mentioned, an ex- 
cellent program of music and recitations was pre- 
sented and greatly enjoyed. The ball was taste- 
fully decorated, a feature being an evergreen 
arch bordered with conductors' lanterns. An- 
other feature was the presence of a "Sibyl." 
who received the gentlemen in her secret cavern 
and, for the small snm of 5 cents, solemnly ad- 
vised each and every one to "Always cot from 
you and you will never cut yourself," at tbe same 
time giving a practical illustration of this good 
advice with a carving knife and stick witb which 
she was armed. All present felt with tbeir 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


officers that the social gain to them through the 
organization was far more than could be given 
expression, and that they had been more than re- 
paid for every exertion it had called for. 

Our officers for the ensuing year are: Mrs. P. 
B. Wilkinson, President; Mrs. J. D. Morgan, Vice 
President; Mrs. P. C. Callahan, Sec. and Treas. ; 
Mrs P. Leister, Senior Sister; Mrs. J. C. Rey- 
nolds, Junior Sister; Mrs. R. Phillips. Guard; 
Mrs. R. Stout, Chairman Ex. Committee; Mrs. 
W. J. Murphy, Cor. Sec. 

December 25 and 26 last were celebrated by 
conferring the ‘‘Oh Why” degree upon a large 
number of deserving candidates, after which an 
elegant repast was served and thoroughly en- 
joyed. On February 13th the ladies adorned the 
altar with a beautifully embroidered cloth, the 
work of Mrs. j. C. Reynolds, who is famed for 
her taste and skill in needle work. The presen- 
tation was made by Mrs. Robert Phillips, in a 
thoroughly appropriate speech which won for her 
many warm encomiums. 

Our meetings have all been well attended and 
full of interest and pleasure for the members. 
We now have a membership of thirty-seven, with 
three petitions out and hope for more in the near 
future. The weather has been very warm of 
late, but all the sisters who have answered to roll 
call have been more than repaid. With best 
wishes for the Conductor and all Sister Divisions, 
I am, yours in T. #., 

Mrs. W. J. Murphy. 


Des Moines, Iowa, June 4, 1894. 
Editor Railzva y Conductor : 

All the Sisters will doubtless be pleased to hear 
of our union meeting, and of how we enjoyed 
our visit of the Grand President, Mrs. Moore. 
Tuesday evening our guests began to arrive, the 
first being Mrs. C. O. McBride, of Muscatine, 
and Mrs. C. A. Ross, of Cedar Rapids. Wednes- 
day brought Mrs. E. N. Foote and Mrs. D. L. 
Sims, of St. Joe, Mo.; Mrs. Burns and Mrs 
Hammond, of Eagle Grove; Mrs. Grace, Mrs. 
Simmons, Mrs. Parks, Mrs. Price and Mrs. 
Crail, of Ottumwa. That evening our Grand 
President arrived and was driven at once to the 
borne of Mr. and Mrs. O. T. Johnson, where we 
tendered a reception in honor of our guests. 
There were about seventy- five present. The 
evening was spent in card playing, after which 
dainty refreshments were served, The veranda 
*as beautifully arranged with Chinese lanterns, 
where the mandolin orchestra played sweet music 
during the evening. About midnight the guests 
began to depart, after having spent a very pleas- 


361 

ant evening, with the understanding we would all 
meet in our hall at 9 o'clock the next morning. 

At 9:30 the meeting was called to order and 
after the reading of the minutes and letters of 
regret from Sister Higgins, Grgmd Secretary and 
Treasurer, and Sister Flanagan, of Perry, our 
President, Mrs. Rich, asked Mrs. Moore to take 
her place and give us some instructions and good 
advice. I must s%y she did give us some excel- 
lent advice, as all who ever met Mrs. Moore 
know she can do, in her ever genial and practi- 
cal way. 

She highly complimented Excelsior Division 
for being the first to have a union meeting, and 
hoped our example would be followed by other 
Divisions, as she thought it was a good thing, 
and so did all present. At one o’clock our meet- 
ing closed. 

After dinner our guests were driven about our 
beautiful city and to see Iowa’s pride, the capitol 
building. All left for home hoping Excelsior 
Division would soon have another union meeting. 
Word has just reached us that Sister Nicholas, 
who has been spending the summer at Colorado 
Springs, is very sick. We are in hopes she will 
meet with Sisterly love out there and will soon be 
able to return home. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. A. Me. Lees. 


Cumberland, Md., June 28, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

It is with pleasure that I again report to you in 
behalf of Maryland Division No. 46. Our 
membership is not large, but they make up a 
circle that can hardly be excelled for friendliness 
and sociability. We are constantly growing in 
numbers and our meetings are all well attended, 
the Sisters all being enthusiastic in the work. 
On April 21 last, our Division raffled off a silk 
quilt that bad been pieced by the members, each 
lady contributing a square, and it brought the 
neat total of $100 into our treasury. Since my 
last letter Sister Bums has been called upon to 
mourn the death of her only daughter, Anna 
Pearl, aged two years and fifteen days. The 
funeral was held from the M. E. Church at 
Hyndman on the 8th of April. The ladies of the 
Division sent a beautiful floral offering in 
token of their sympathy with Sister Burns in her 
deep bereavement. 

We are looking forward with most pleasant an- 
ticipations to a visit from our installing officer, 
Mrs. B. F. Wiltse, in the near future. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. W. W. Dunlap. 


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362 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Ft. Wayne, Ind., June 5, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

It is with pleasure that I inform you of the 
formation of a new Division in this city, which 
we have named Kikiouga. The officers who will 
have charge of our affairs during the coming year 
are: 

Mrs. Charles Kaler, President; Mrs. Charles 
Taylor, Vice President; Mrs. Will Kitselman, 
Secretary and Treasurer; Mrs. Hubert Taylor, 
Senior Sister and Corresponding Secretary; Mrs. 
Charles Schofield, Junior Sister; Mrs. Del El- 
liott, Guard. 

We start out with fifteen charter members and 
hope to be able to double that number by the 
close of the year. Our board of officers are all 
enthusiastic in the cause, and being good workers, 
we may confidently expect to grow from the 
first. 

In the evening following the initiation we gave 
a reception in honor of visiting officials, Mrs. 
Irene Moore, of Toledo, and Mrs. Spach and 
Mrs. Senel, of Huntington. There was an excel- 
lent attendance and all passed a very pleasant 
evening. 

With greetings to all the sister Divisions, I am 
Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. Hubert Taylor. 


Cedar Rapids, Iowa, May 24, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Since our last report Colnmbia Division No. 
37, L. A. to O. R. C., has been in a prosperous 
condition both socially and financially, two new 
members having been accepted, with applica- 
tions out for more. During the same time a 
promising Auxiliary has been organized at Eagle 
Grove with a charter membership of twenty- 
seven. Columbia Division was represented on 
that occasion by Mesdames Barber, Francis and 
Ross, the others being prevented from accepting 
the kind invitation of the new Division by sick- 
ness and other causes. After the business ses- 
sion the guests were given a banquet which was 
most enjoyable in every particular. 

Estherville has also been added to our list with 
a flourishing Division, starting out, I think, with 
twenty charter members. 

The first anniversary of Columbia Division 
was celebrated on April 17 last, by giving a ban- 
quet to our many friends. I am pleased to be 
able to report that it was a success, showing 
something of the progress made by the Division 
during the past year. Dancing began at 8:30 
and was kept up for two hours, when the floor 
was cleared and supper served. After this por- 
tion of the entertainment had been sufficiently 


discussed, dancing was resumed, and in this the 
time passed so pleasantly that when the hour for 
separation came all were surprised at the short- 
ness of the night. If the kind words of our 
friends may be taken it was a happy ending for 
what has been a prosperous and profitable year 
to our Division. 

The ladies of Des Moines Division extended us 
an invitation to attend the reception given by 
them, in honor of the Grand Officers, on the 23d 
of May. The President and one delegate were 
in attendance and report a pleasurable gathering. 

We gave a surprise party at the home of Sister 
Buttre, on May 7. Ice cream and cake were 
served and a general good time was had by all 
present. Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. Barr. 


Denison, Texas, JuDe 8, 1894. 
Editor Railzuay Conductor ; 

Turner Division No. 28 has been quiet lately, 
but we have been very busy, having had several 
initiations. The last to be initiated into the mys- 
teries of our Order was Sister Sam Knapp, of 
Mineola, Texas, and we feel sure she will make a 
good and useful member She is unable to be 
with us very often, but when she does we can 
make her all the more welcome. 

We are still having our teas once a month and 
find them a success both socially and financially. 
The last tea was given at Sister Finley's and there 
were twenty present and a pleasant time was had 
by all. The O. R. C. men are a little backward 
about attending. They seem to be afraid of a 
crowd of women now. But just wait till they 
get started, they will take us by storm. We gave 
an ice cream social and donkey party at Sister 
Oldham's, last month, which was a success in 
every respect. Brother Stone made a very 
neat little speech in behalf of the donkey— 
which was the funny feature of the evening. 
The net proceeds of the social were $8.25. I 
think the Ladies’ Department of The Conduc- 
tor is the most interesting part, and if our 
Brothers don’t look out they will be crowded out. 
There were eight pages from the ladies in the 
April number and only five from them. I wfll 
make my letter short and give the other Sisters a 
chance. Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. C Y. 0 


Toledo, Ohio, July 7, 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor ; 

The June number of The Conductor to band. 
I turn instinctively to the Ladies' Department and 
feel a pang of disappointment. All due praise to 


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THE RAILWAY 

those who have furnished matter for this depart- 
ment. but from our fifty four Divisions we should 
enjoy a greater amonnt of news. The working 
of our different Divisions, if reported, keep all 
well informed, and the arrival of The Conductor 
will be eagerly awaited. In a recent number of 
Tea Conductor our editor for the first time said 
to the ladies: "The Ladies' Department is just 
what you make ft.” This crumb of comfort I 
gladly accepted, and felt sure the assurance of 
our responsibility for the Ladies’ Department 
would call forth our best efforts. The two pages of 
matter in the Juae number (which does not com- 
pare favorably with the contents of the depart 
ment for several preceding months) causes me to 
wonder if it can be possible the wites of railway 
conductors are insensible totbeie responsibilities. 

I can’t believe the wives of railway conductors 
derelict in their duties, but am sanguine when 
the subject is better understood our department 
will be improved. I desire to express my appre- 
ciation of this favor, and am only voicing the 
sentiments of all conductors' wives when I say 
we will labor to make this department one of the 
leading features of The Railway Conductor. 
Our appeal for our department is not to the mem- 
bers of the Ladies' Auxiliary alone, but to the 
wives of all railway conductors In this broad 
land there are many conductors’ wives not united 
with us in our efforts to advance the best inter- 
ests of \he women, to which, as a class, we be- 
long, but this does not debar them from the priv- 
ileges of the Ladies' Department. I would that 
every conductor's wife would cast her lot with 
os. While in one sense the women are the same, 
they are possessed of honest and upright princi- 
ples and true, womanly characteristics, as a class 
conductors's wives excel in these virtues, but we 
must organize to bring out the very best wisdom 
and knowledge of the best women for our cause. 
Oar growth, considering the prevalent financial 
depression, is encouraging. Never has there 
been a time since I took up this work that the 
requests for information have been so urgently 
persistent as at present. I have great satisfaction 
in being able to say that the conditions affecting 
our interests are favorable for a great addition to 
our Order. I am well aware the intense heat 
prevents in a degree very active work. Many 
have already left home for the mid-summer vaca- 
tion, but these circumstances do not in any way 
free us from our responsibilities. Neither sum- 
mer's heat nor winter's cold should affect in the 
least the enthusiasm we should all possess for our 
cause. Honest work will tell. A word fitly 
spoken, a deed feelingly enacted, is not without 
its reward. Persistency is necessary if we would 


CONDUCTOR. 363 

succeed! I am glad to be able to s*ate we have 
those engaged in this work who are persistent, 
who cannot be moved by any condition of their 
summer outing, nor heat, nor cold, has any effect 
to detract from their earnest work. Such mem- 
bers are a credit to any work, and we have many 
such. When the great power of labor is in a 
state of unrest to the extent of its present condi- 
tion, it behooves us to be * vigilant, active and 
brave.” to use our influence in the right direction, 
and to be ready to do our part. There is no in- 
fluence so powerful as home influence, and in 
times like these we feel and need their power. 
The true woman will, now that the imperative 
demand is made, be the husband's encouragement 
and comfort m the trying times before us. Annie 
Besant has well 9aid: "Our work is for human 
brotherhood. Our influence to be used in spread- 
ing the feeling that progress will be won, not by 
working for our sex against the other, but as for 
both, common service of the race, being the true 
ideal." 

' Mrs. J. H. Moore, G. P. 


Her Speechless Agony. 

The music ceased, the curtain rose, 

I did not heed the play 
But gazed upon her lovely face — 

She sat two seats away. 

Her cheeks were tinted apple bloom, 

Her teeth like gleaming pearls, 

Her eyes as blue as Summer skies, 

A wealth of golden curls. 

And as I gazed upon her face 
There came a look of pain, 

Like cloudy shadow o’e the land, 

It passed, then came a., tin; 

I saw the teardrops in her ey s, 

The rose tint fade away, 

And that fair cheek grow deathly pale — 

In speechless agony. 

She turned and touched her escort' s arm, 
Then slowly went away, 

My heart beat fast with sympathy, 

I did not heed the play. 

He soon returned and took his seat; 

I gazed in great surprise, 

He read the question I would ask 
Flash from my eager eyes. 

And as the music died away, 

His lips this answer bore: 

"My sister’s feet are number five, 

Her shoes are number four.” 

— Trainmen's Journal. 


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Cbdartown, Ga . July 3 1894 
Editor Railiuay Conductor : 

Something must be wrong with the correspond- 
ents of The Conductor, since only a few Divis- 
ions have been heard from for several months 
past, and I must confess that Division 230 has 
been among the ones to keep silent Business has 
been on the down grade with us for some time 
now, and everything seems to have gone wrong. 
The Chattanooga, Rome and Columbus Division 
of the Central, of Georgia, has been turned loose, 
left out in the cold. The Central people said it 
would not pay expenses, and for a time it seemed 
that no one wanted to have anything to do 
with it. Finally they secured a receiver from 
somewhere. he brought a superintendent from 
somewhere else, and between them they managed 
to get a trainmaster. Then about half of the con- 
ductors were given runs, some went to braking, 
and the consequence was the worst demoralized 
set of trainmen ever seen in this part of the coun- 
try. The conductors formerly made from $90 to 
$100 per month, but, since the change, the divis- 
ion is forty miles longer than it was before and 
they can now make only from $57 to $63 per 
month. If the C., R. & C. does not pay now, it 
will certainly not be for the want of manage-ment. 
A few years ago the line was doing a fine busi- 
ness, running two truns where it now runs one, 
and was handled by a trainmaster and a good dis- 
patcher, but then it was run to make money, 
white now it is run, I suppose, to make places for 
certain officials. Naturally, all these things had 
a bad influence on the members of 230, most of 
them having to look for work elsewhere. Some 
of them were transferred to other divisions, and 
the rest are scattered from Florida to Texas, mak- 
ing it difficult for us to get enough together for a 
meeting. If we could have a superintendent like 
Geo. R. Brown, of the Fallbrook line, a change 
might be made that would be of advantage to all 
concerned 

We still have a few of the “old timers” left, 
however Brothers Dave McEachern and Jim 
Harris are running the passenger trains; Brothers 


Frank Ford and Pink Carer (better known as 
"Sorrel Top”) are on t e Chafanooga local; our 
dude, Geo Agee, has the Carrollton local, we 
have loaned Brother Hawkins to the Rome road, 
while Brother Allen is off on leave; Brothers Zack 
Taylor, Tom Hunt and W. F. Thompson have 
through freight, and E. W. Williams is on bag- 
gage car; Brothers Thacker. Morgan, O Bryan 
and Heslop are doing extra when they can find 
any to do. while Brothers Estes, Porter, Glozier 
and the writer are helping each other until the 
clouds roll by. 

I like the way Brother Mike Mahan hit ’em in 
the June Conductor. Give them some more. 
Brother, I know you have been there. I would 
also like to hear from Brother Welsh, of Kansas 
City, again. I am sure, if times continue as hard 
as they are in this region, we will have to cut ex- 
penses somewhere. 

Yours in P. F., 

Rome Division 230. 


Knoxville, Tenn., July 6. 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Organization without vitality is a corpse. 

You may make hands and feet jerk by so many 
volts of electricity, but the moment the current is 
off the body is rigid as before. A lasting, every 
meeting day, all the time, life is what is wanted. 
A Division may be well organized and yet do 
little good, and the time spent by the few who 
keep up the meetings by their attendance is a 
waste of their time and talents. 

The Order to be of the greatest good to the 
greatest number should be helped and advanced 
by every member in every Division These meet- 
ings can and should be instructive and entertain- 
ing. No one will think of saying that the Order 
should not be kept up at all places, for if ever we 
needed a solid, unbroken front, *tis at this tune 
Because of the great finan iai troubles that ex- 
ist everywhere, thereby causing little or no de- 
mand for our services, do not let us weaken now. 
Brothers, but, on the other hand, stand up 
show that we are made of the right kind of ma- 


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THE RAILWAY 

teri»l, and are not to be swept away by any of the 
storms that may assail us. 

Brothers of 139. you should know it. and if you 
do not, 'tis your own fault, frr the books are open 
to every one of you— that your attendance at 
Division meetings is not what it should be. and 
that some of you are behind with your dues — that 
should have been paid long ago. I am confident 
that this Order of ours is worthy of your attend* 
ance. your counsels and your money. Brothers 
and gentlemen. I wish I could say something in 
some way to arouse you to the importance of your 
duties. This is every one's personal business, and 
I look upon it as a very important part of the 
railroad business. Look back and see what we 
were before we became organized. The work is 
not complete by any means, and must be kept up. 

Looking at it from any standpoint, it will not 
do to let a single Division go out of existence and 
really, I do not think that is what any of you 
want to see happen, but some of you are acting 
tha* way. It costs you nothing to attend the 
meetings, and as to paying dues and assessments, 

I think if we will all try we can manage some way 
to pay them all. I know that some have paid up 
that have a hard row to hoe, while others do not 
come out, and we do not hear from them in any 
way in regard to Order business. Brothers, let 
me entreat, beg or do anything else that I can to 
make us all better members — and get better and 
be better for the doing. Let us all, everywhere, 
wind up the year 94 with the ledgers all having 
the weight on the right side, in spite of hard times 
or anything else. 

Head The Conductor. A Member. 


North Bay, Ont., May 26, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The question of seniority has been pretty 
thoroughly threshed out by the different railway 
journals, and, as yet, we do not seem to have 
reached its practical solution. The stringency of 
the times has thrown many experienced railroad 
men out of employment, and the question, to my 
mind is, will seniority prove to be a detriment to 
these men when the companies are again ready 
to hire? Are there not too many men now in the 
various departments of railroad work, without 
producing more simply to add them to the long 
list of the unemployed? The systems having 
this danse in force in their schedules are respon- 
sible for much of the over* production which is 
Shoving so many of our Brothers to the wall and 
for placing the mtfn hired yesterday ahead of the 
the man with years of experience. We can 
hardly wonder at the number of railroad men 
seeking employment when we consider these 


CONDUCTOR. 365 

facts. The question then arises, will these men 
stand by their organizations when they see new 
men given precedence over them through this 
system? Is it any wonder other organizations 
are constantly coming into existence? 

Many of the younger railroad men think they 
will always hold their positions. If they do, it 
will not be because of seniority, as that can only 
push them into positions where they will have to 
prove fitness or be discharged, to commence at 
the bottom again. 

If seniority could be blotted out of every 
schedule containing it, our organizations would 
all be strengthened and there would not be so 
many of our Brothers looking for jobs, neither 
would there be so many new men anxious to go 
into the business. If we believe in fraternal or- 
ganizations let us show it by helping our Brothers 
who are now ont of work by taking this stumbling 
block out of their paths. 

Yours in P. F., 

"A Canadian. ” 


Across the Rio Grande, June 16, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Is it an octopus? Quien sabe? Can it be dis- 
pensed with? How? For example — Mark Twain 
engineer and Bill Nye conductor— Engine, "Bull 
of the Woods,” train, ’‘Belle of the Prairie,” set 
sail from Rispapbone Gap on forty-five minutes 
to "tack about” ten miles over to Foghorn Hol- 
low, against the Slov Dove; the latter having the 
right to the puddle after stated time. Mark 
moves along swimmingly, but blankety old en- 
gine gets the heaves; won't steam, and the "Belle 
of the Prairie” detains the Slow Dove at the land- 
ing five or eight minutes, making anchor to clear 
in the "wash.” Result, «pay stopped, Mark and 
Bill decline to work; record on log book, Fast 
Discharge Line, reads, ' 'Taken off hooks for an- 
choring on time of Slow Dove ” They go in 
quest of pastures green, bread and butter, with 
credentials reading, "Resigned by request, work 
otherwise satisfactory; character good." On the 
1 he bottom of the missive in the water color, may 
be seen a proud bird — a crane— but instead of 
being observed strutting onward with head up, 
he has his head down and pecks at his toes — re- 
markable. Oft these missives show the bird in a 
hurry; all apparently showing the way he either 
took his departure or the manner in which he is 
going elsewhere, y yo queria a pregnutar por quo? 
Asking for employment, greeted with request for 
release; read by Superintendent, who smiles, say- 
ing, "Nothing for you ” Fihally Mark and Bill 
get "pntQ the crane,” and hit the giddy whUicr 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


$66 

go to work filling out applications with pen por- 
trait, where last worked, etc. "This is only 
wanted for reference in case of accident {?) In 
a few days or a month, Mark and Bill are notified 
"reference unsatisfactory ." They vanish — 
adieos; obtain work on the Dizzy Razzler, result, 
ditto; another line ditto, etc., and an endless 
repetition, until finally the reference reads — 
“name taken off the bills, account reference from 
Smoothe Line, says that reference from High 
Line, says that reference from Dizzy Razzler, 
says that reference from Giddy Wbizzer, says 
that reference from Fast Discharge Line reads 

. Effect — Mark and Bill 

exasperate internally, handle arms frantically, re- 
marking emphatically, and brace up medicinally, 
lock hooks mechanically and scheme naturally, 
change names, clothes, etc., hit the Swamp 
Angel for a lime; “queered" again and again, and 
^t last accounts were “en marche" for Denver to 
let Nye’s mule “Boomerang" kick them out of 
existence, or until they heard of a line that would 
retain them in its employ according to their 
ability and record, intelligence or ignorance dis- 
played, after beirg in its employ a reasonable 
time for said developments, regardless of the oc- 
topus originating from the F. D. L. , account of a 
small detention to the Slow Dove, or a thousand 
other cases not mentioned in the experience of 
others. For this octopus, que remedio tenemos? 

12. 


Cleveland, Ohio, June 25, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

It seems that the only organization that is cut- 
ting any figure in labor circles just now is the 
A. R. U., and had its leaders stuck strictly to the 
principles they advocated at the outset it would 
have been without a doubt the coming order. It 
would have been national federation of the 
“simon pure" brand, but as it is now it is hard 
to say just what it is, or just what its future may 
be. Yesterday it was a labor society; to day it is 
a political and labor society combined; to-mor- 
row I would not be surprised if it joined issue 
with some religious society. The sole aim and 
object appears to be to get everybody to join, no 
matter what their past record has been. I think 
it is a good idea to look before you leap in this 
case. Brothers, do not forsake the old craft too 
soon. It has taken years of hard work to bring 
it up to its present standard, which none of us 
should be ashamed of. Now let us stay with it 
and not get discouraged because the outlook is 
dark and gloomy Every cloud has a silver lining, 
and I predict that those who remain loyal to the 


O. R. C. and steer clear of the A. R. U. will 
never regret it. It is evident that the time is 
coming when every man must show his colors, 
and as we cannot serve two masters, let us choose 
the one we know to be of the right material, the 
one that has stood the test. As business stands 
at present it is out of the question for us to get 
an advance, but if we are firm and remain loyal 
to our Order we will be able to keep what we 
have. Furthermore, do not let us be deceived 
by being made the tools of those who merely 
seek revenge for past disappointments. 

Brothers, remember your obligation and keep 
it inviolate, is the advice of 

Yours in P. F., 

O. N. Pomeroy 


Wilkes Barrb, Pa.. June 8, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Once more I beg the privilege of a few words 
through your valuable journal, which I read with 
great pleasure. 1 will say to the Brothers who 
chance to read this letter that the Lehigh Valley 
boys are, with a few exceptions, getting back to 
work. There are still three of us conductors at 
this place who have not returned to the service of 
the company. I, for one. have tried bard to enter 
the service of other companies, but the Lehigh 
Valley officials have been ahead of me in nearly 
every instance, and when I ask for a job and my 
name is given I am told “we cannot hire any 
Lehigh Valley strikers." With such words from 
every superintendent to whom you apply for 
work, and the majority of the Brothers in the 
Order voting not to give us any financial aid, it is 
hard to expect the Brothers on the Lehigh Valley 
system to have a good word for the Order, for 
which they so loyally stood on Nov. 18th, 1893 
Some of the Brothers blame Brother Clark, but 
I am not one of them, as he himself will say. But 1 
do agree with him and say if Division No. 356 
had kept their bands out of the matter everything 
would hatre turned 'out all right. There is but 
one thiog which I blame Brother Clark for. and 
that is. he should have issued his circular sooner 
than he did. and I think could have made it more 
plain and left out the word “Precedent." If 
those Brothers who are out of employment 
through being loyal to the Order would only get 
two months' more pay they would be satisfied 
and it would bring back the good feeling of every 
member who at present is in doubt. 

I was at the convention in New York City May 
27th, 28th and 29th, under the direction of 
Divisions 54 and 104, and I think it will prove 
one of the best meetings ever held for the good 
of workingmen in general, if the platform 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 36 7 


adopted there is carried out by the organizations. 
Some good instructions were given by Brothers 
Clark, of the O. R. C., Sargent, of the B. L. F., 
and Morrissey, of the B. R. T. The meeting was 
opened Saturday, May 27th, by Brother C. E. 
Weisz, chairman. Serator O'Sullivan made the 
opening address of welcome in behalf of the 
mayor of th 1 city, and to the credit of the sena- 
tor let it be said that he did his part well. I met 
Brother Mahan, of Division No. 180, and must 
say he is a good entertainer, as you will not go to 
sleep while in his company. Tht same can be 
said of Brother Dewson, of Division 196; in fact 
all the Brothers who were strangers to me made 
me ffeel as though I should like to meet them 
again. 

It is with sadness that I inform the Brothers, 
through The Conductor, of the misfortune 
which befell Brother T. T. Turby, a true mem- 
ber of Division 160, who lost his right arm some 
four weeks ago on the P. R. R. Brother Turby 
was in charge of the yard engine and when hurt 
was in the act of making a coupling, when he 
stumbled, and in falling his wrist came between 
the bumpers, smashing the wrist so that he had 
‘to have it taken off. Let me say here this should 
be a warning to the Brothers who are not mem 
bers of the insurance department. Brother 
Turby was insured for $1,000, and he had just 
joined the relief fund on the road, which will en- 
title him to draw pay after one year if the com 
pany does not find something for him to do be- 
fore that tims. So, I say, Brothers, get into the 
insurance at once, for think of the state some of 
your families would be in if you were in the place 
of Brother Turby. Brother O’Sullivan is now 
braking on the W. B. & E. R. R.; also Brother 
T. H. Garrity. 

We have taken in a few new members from 
this road since it has opened. Now I think I 
have spouted enough for this time, and with love 
and best wishes for the Order in general, I re- 
main 

Yours truly in P. F. . 

James Finley. 


Moulton, la., May 27, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The May number of The Conductor contains 
a letter signed "S from Topeka, Kan., con- 
demning Brother Welsh's views on seniority in 
very harsh language. Now I wish it distinctly 
understood that I am not fighting Brother 
Welsh's battles for him, for I believe him fully 
able to take care of himself, but, as has been sug- 
gested, now that The Conductor goes to every 
member in good standing, why not give expres- 


sion to our views through its columns? Brother 
S. says he believes a man who does not want 
seniority wants a better job than he now has. and 
believes he will get it through rome kind of favor- 
itism or other. It looks to me like a man that 
does want seniority has reason to believe he will 
never get a promotion unless he has something of 
this kind to back him. Brother Welsh says, 
"Seniority is only good for the man that is no 
good for himself," and from close observation and 
experience in the ^ast, these are my sentiments 
exactly. Only good for the man who wants to 
work about fifteen days out of every month. You 
all know this man. He is to be found every 
place This same man is always ready to go when 
he is called for a "hot" stock run on a sunshiny 
day, but when you call him for way freight some 
rainy morning he is sick and can’t go. This is 
the kind of man seniority is good for. 
The faithful brakeman who works every 
day, rain or shine, is fully competent, 
has had experience enough, and deserves promo- 
tion, is one day behind this man. The Train- 
master says to him, "A, I would like to do some- 
thing for you. but you know B. is ahead of you. 
I know B. is not nearly as able to run a train as 
you are, but then you know this seniority busi- 
ness. I guess I aa ill have to give it to him." 
With this seniority a man’s ability and past ex- 
perience count for nothing. I am for seniority, 
but in this way: l believe every man should get 
his turn according to age, ability and experience. 
But, as Brother Welsh says, seniority destroys a 
man’s ambition, he does not have to work for 
anything, all he does is to haog onto his job of 
braking and seniority will do the rest. Seniority 
is a curse, the worst that has ever confronted the 
trainmen of this continent, and it is flooding this 
country with good, honest, capable men, not only 
conductors, but brakemen. Seniority is as much 
of an enemy of the brakeman as it is of the con- 
ductor. Take the instance of some brakeman 
who has worked three, four or five years on some 
railroad and finally gets promoted, and a few 
months later gets discharged for some little thing, 
probably just to make an example of. Where 
does this man start — right at the bottom of the 
ladder again with another long four or five years 
ahead of him, unless he chooses to give up the 
business. If he does, what then, what are his 
prospects? The chances are he has no money, 
even if he has managed to save a little, he hasn’t 
enough to start him in any kind of respectable 
business. He will probably be tempted to do as 
Brother C. H. D. says, set up a little joint some- 
where, or even worse. He will probably be in- 
vited to help out some railway which is sorely in 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


need of men. If he does this, he is surely at the 
end. This is what seniority helps to do. 

Brothers, I have seen all of these effects in thfc 
past ninety days. I do not mean to say that 
seniority is the cause of all this, but I do say it 
has more to do with it than any other cause. 
What shall we do with it? Shall we rid the 
country of this curse? Shall we reason with our 
fellows, the brakemen? Shall we help ihe good, 
honest brakeman, the man who works and is ca- 
pable, to get something better? Shall we help 
our worthy Brothers who are out of positions, to 
something? Shall we do this? If so, then let us 
do away with this curse, that has every good rail- 
road man, conductor or brakeman, bound hand 
and foot. Let us hear your sentiments, let every 
Brother take bis stand, let him go on record, let 
us do nothing behind the bush, let us come out 
boldly like men, and convince every good, honest 
faithful man that his interests are ours, and if we 
have enough Brother Welsh’s and C. H. D.'s in 
the Order of Railway Conductors, we can speedily 
do away with it. 

Yours truly in P. F., 

D. M. A. 


Bucyrus, Ohio, May 21, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

At the regular meeting of Bucyrus Division, 
No. 193, held May 20, we were' surprised when 
informed by the Outside Sentinel that the con- 
ductors’ wives were at ihe door and desired ad- 
mittance. As soon as convenient they were 
admitted. They carried with them a beautiful 
silk banner, which, with a few well chosea re- 
marks by Mrs. W. B. Baylor, was presented to 
this Division. In his accustomed pleasant way 
Brother A. H. Gardner responded in behalf of 
the Division, assuring the ladies that their gift 
was appreciated and the occasion, which was a 
very enjoyable one, would always be remem- 
bered. The remainder of the evening was given 
up to sociability, during which each one of us 
took occasion to assure the ladies of our appreci- 
tion of their remembrance. As soon as possible 
the ladies intend to have a Ladies' Auxiliary here 
and we all hope it will not be delayed long. 

Yours in P. F., 

••Ed.” 


Columbia, Pa., May 30, 1894. 
Editor Rathuay Conductor : 

Not having seen anything in The Conductor 
from Susquehanna Division No. 331, I believe 
this will be a good time to start the ball to roll- 
ing and will do my best to fill “the long felt 
want.” 

Die 


We celebrated our second anniversary on the 
26th of May, and I am glad to be able to report 
that the celebration was a complete success. 
Covers were laid for 130 at the banquet, and every 
place was filled We had hopes that Brother 
Clark might stop off on his way to New York, but 1 
received a message from him saying that it would 
be impossible to be with us, though he wished for 
us a royal good time, which we had. It was a 
banquet that will not be forgotten soon by those 
who were there. Brother Clark, not our Grand 
Chief, but Clark of 331, is a hustler when it comes 
to banquets. Brother Heafner distinguished him* 
self when the feast was once fairly spread. 
Brothers Albright and Wood of 143, were present, 
but the Brothers expected from 162 were obliged 
to disappoint us. We also hoped to have the 
ladies of Erickson Division No. 5, L A. to O. R. 

C., present, but it was impossible for them to 
come. Our ladies were especially anxious for 
their presence as they wished to consult about 
forming an auxiliary here, but it wQl now have 
to go over until another anniversary, when we will 1 
try and bring them together. I cannot close with- 
out extending the thanks of 331 to the ladies for 
their assistance in making our anniversary the 
success it was. g Yours in P F., j 

••Growler.’ f | 


Colorado Springs, May 25th, 1894 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

I must take issue with Brother S., of Topeka, i- 
in regard to seniority. His article soands to me 1 
like the talk of a man who never had but one po- 1 
sition, and never felt the effects of seniority If 
it is the good thing that Brother S. claims it to 
be, why should it stop when a man gets to be a 
conductor? The rules of the road which Brother* 

S. quotes say that men shall be considered in line 
for promotion according to their capacity for in- 
creased responsibilities. Why, then, does not 
our boasted senijrity demand a showdown when 
a Trainmaster or Superintendent is to be ap- 
pointed, and give the oldest man a chance? I 
think Brother Welsh in the April number is about 
right, and seniority is only good for the man who 
lacks ambition or ability. Brother S. says before 
we had this great boon that a change of superin- 
tendents meant a change of conductors. We all 
remember those days, but how the Brother can 
give seniority credit f jr the change I am unable 
to see. I myself am inclined to credit the Order 
of Railway Conductors instead. The Brother 
says that it is a well known fact th .t, with agreot 
many officials, ability counts little against favor- 
itism. Now, the day has gone by when the nda- 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


live of the superintendent with no ability and 
nothing to recommend him but his relationship, 
can successfully run a train, and no one should 
be more fully aware of this than a conductor on 
the A. T. & S. F. iq Kansas. The Brother holds 
up a clause of the schedule in force on the 
Santa Fe which says that for every Iwo men pro- 
moted one may be hired or promoted from the 
ranks of brakemen, regardless of age in the serv- 
ice. This clause says may be hired, not must be 
hired, and it is all at the discretion of the official 
whether he hires an O. R. C. man or a B. R. T. 
man, or neither, only so he can show one 5 ear's 
experience as a conductor on a steam surface rail- 
way. I would ask what protection there is in 
this clause for an O. R. C. man? He also wants 
to know how an incompetent man can ge{ into the 
service under this rule. The Brother can find 
many men who have managed to hold the posi- 
tion of conductor for a year, and the time card 
examination can be passed by a man who never 
saw a railway, by a few days’ careful study. 
Brother S. seems to be much worried over the 
condition of the B. of R. T. I think if he would 
show the same amount of solicitude for the Order 
of which he is a member, he would come nearer 
living up to certain obligations His remarks in 
regard to officials do not look well in 
print coming from a member of an or- 
ganization which furnishes so large a 
number of the officials of the road he is 
employed on. In conclusion, if the Brother can 
point out only one instance when seniority bene- 
fited the experienced man I will quit. I am not 
sore on this question from any injustice that it 
has done me personally, but simply from the 
number of Brothers, good men and true, I meet 
every day who are carrying a brake club, after 
carrying the bills for twenty years, just on ac- 
count of our dear friend Seniority. I would like 
to hear more from Brother S., also his name. 
My sentiments are but a faint echo of what you 
would hear any Friday night in Division 244, of 
which I am proud to say I am a member. 

Yours in P. F., 

J. V. Russ. 


Caldwell, Kan., May 30, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The May Conductor contains a letter from 
Brother "S," of Topeka, answering a former let- 
ter by Brother Welsh on the subject of seniority. 
I have always found Brother Welsh well balanced 
when writing for "the good of the Order" and, 
in my opinion, many of his ideas might be put in 
practice to the great benefit of us all. Judging 
by his letter, Brother "S" thinks age, and not 


369 

ability and experience, should gdvern promotions 
to conductorship on railroads. Seniority has 
been in force on some of our roads for seven 
years and is, consequently, no infant. \fre see 
its workings on the platform every day (do you 
show favors to conductors?) They used to come 
our way occasionally, but now there are frequent- 
ly three or four waiting to hear the ansver to 
that question. I claim that seniority has been 
the chief cause for this condition of affairs, my 
first reason being that many conductors have 
been making places for the friends of seniority, 
brakemen who have never been promoted, by ac- 
cepting "office" on some seniority road and 
resigning when promotion is fount} to be too far 
away, thus giving the seniority man, who never 
quits, the place. If he happens to be a new man 
another is added to the already great army of 
railroad men, constantly swelling the ranks of the 
unemployed. Second: When retrenchment is 
undertaken on any seniority road the oldest men 
in time of employment must be retained, no mat- 
ter whaf his ability or actual experience in train 
work. This has occurred on the system where 
Brother ' S" is employed and I want to ask him 
if it is justice? It works an injustice on the ex- 
perienced brakeman as well as the conductor who 
is so uofortuna e as to be filling a brakeman's 
place. The brakeman serves his apprenticeship 
but once; why should the conductor serve over 
and over again when he loses his "office?" Only 
because of seniority and its strict enforcement. 

Brother "S" says the O. R. C. has tried the 
fallacy of securing justice from railway officials 
on a basis of merit and asks where we landed. 
If he means a line of promotion, we landed with 
a compromise of "two to one," such as is now in 
force on the Santa Fe. That road has enforced 
seniority for four years add its records show more 
incompetent men advanced than on any road not 
following that rule. The good Brother will re- 
member how some of the men on that system 
broke long enough on passeuger trains for senior- 
ity to make them conductors. I am informed 
that some of the men promoted there, three or 
four years ago, are still on the extra list. This is 
what seniority has done for you, and when we 
take it away we shall expect you to succeed on 
merit alone. 

The conductor who supports seniority does so 
in fear of the superintendent's friend, or because 
he is afraid to stand on his ability to run a train, 
or because he has not given the subject careful 
thought. The brakeman who favors seniority 
usually has a friend or brother whom he wishes 
to educate in railroad work and add to the army 
of unemployed. Brother "S" admits that senior- 


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370 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


::j ts act p effect bit c&ers bo a needments to 
r *0*717 toe deiecta. I do^'c* the possibility of 
improving it. We vast bo proviso* as to per 
cent of proootkns . we want them all made 00 a 
haul otf ability The Brother says seniority .takes 
from officials the temptation of promotion, and 
that is trie They are not even allowed to exer- 
cise their abCity to select the men they know to 
be the most competent to manage their trains. 
The companies have seniority because it is 
forced upon them not because they prefer iL 
The examinations referred to are largely theoreti- 
cal and could be passed by any school boy who 
had studied the roles. If all examining boards 
could be composed of men having at least ten 
years experience in train, engine and telegraph 
service, their work would have practical value 
and seniority m.ght do. 

In selecting tbeir officials the company take 
certain men because of their ability, experience 
and good judgment, not because of the date of 
their employment. The business man applies the 
same business princip'e when be comes to choose 
a man for a responsible position. Illustrations 
might be multiplied without end showing how the 
seniority system is condemned by business men 
of the country, and what is true for them is 
equally trae for the railroad men. Let Brother 
“S' lose bis job once aad be obliged to take his 
place behind some inexperienced mao for years 
because of this rule, and I am confident he will 
think seniority the greatest curse with which rail- 
road men have to contend. No competent con- 
ductor should be afraid to stand on his ability to 
fill the position acceptably. That has beea my 
motto during fifteen years of train work; I have 
always been willing to let my record speak for 
itself. No competent man need fear to place his 
record along side of that of the “superintendent’s 
friend," nor does he need to fear fjr the result. 

We select our Grand Officers for their fitness, 
and the same rule applies in selecting officers for 
our local Divisions, and no one thinks of applying 
the Jeniority rule to them; why should we do it 
elsewhere? I am reliably informed that the 
reason why seniority was not knocked out on the 
Santa Fe at the called meeting in Newton. Kan., 
recently, was because one good Brother fought so 
hard against it. and his influence enabled him to 
carry his point (Veil he was a goot vellow mit 
de brokesmon.) They say he is better now and 
no longer fears that the “superintendent’s friend" 
may get his run on the “yellow cars " I have 
worked on one of the strongest seniority roads 
west of Chicago and am now on a road where we 
have no such rule. My experience convinces me 
that to support seniority, with or without amend- 


ments. is retrograding, a ad that bow is the best 
time to make a determined stand 00 that question 
Let ns bare promoiioat because of ability only 
and we will have better conductors, better brake- J 
men and belter roads, thereby improving oar J 
standing :oc per cent No conductor who is in- 
terested in giting good service wants to keep the 
bniceman of ability down. The supply of both 
however, exceeds the demand and something 1 
mast be done to check it Let tte brakeman 
with the support of his conductor, use all honor- 
able means to discourage the hiring of inexpe- 
rienced men. Let him induce all seekers after 
railroad work to take np other lines, even if the 
applicant is his friend or brother. If we can j 
stop this “seniority machine ‘ from continuing l 
the over supply, I think we will have done the j 
best thing possible for oar Brothers who are 001 
of employment. * 

I have sought to show you that seniority ofiers j 
a premium to the inexperienced man as against 1 
the one with experience. Let us use all onr in* j 
flaeoce to knock oat the last vestige of seniority ! 
in America and then stand fearlessly upon oar 
ability to successfully manage the trains given 
into our care. Let us show the companies giving 
us employment that we favor placing a premium 
on fitness and faithful service aod we will not be 
disappointed in the result. 

Yours in P F., 

Geo. M Loughridge 


Galesburg, 111 ., June 5. 1894 
Editor Railzuay Conductor : 

I suppose a letter from Division No. 83 will be 
a surprise to many readers of The Railway Con 
ductor. but, perhaps, they can stand the shock 
Division No 83 is in good, sound, substantial 
condition, and the prospects for the future are 
brighter than ever. Business is not what it was 
in the freight department one year ago. yet we 
cannot complain, as we are making a good living. 
We are still taking in new members and hope 
soon to have every conductor running into 
Galesburg enrolled as a member of the Order of 
Railway Conductors. 

There was a man here a few days ago in the 
interest of the American Railway Union He 
stayed a few days, but soon found out there was 
no room for another railway organization in this 
city. 

The new by- word here is “don’t touch my 
arm " All trainmen running to Chicago have to 
be vaccinated by order of the board of health 
Consequently there are a good many of the boyt 
who have pretty sore arms, hence the saying 
Yours in P. F., 

F. M. Sheridan 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 371 


Montreal, Quebec, June 6, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Brother E. Mundy and wife celebrated the 
twenty- fifth anniversary of their marriage, at 
their home in this city, on the 7th of last May. 
A long list of invitations were sent out and in 
response a happy throng gathered to do honor to 
the occasion and to extend their host and hostess 
their best wishes for a long continued and happy 
life together. More substantial remembrances 
were not wanting as was evidenced by the array 
of rich and tasteful presents of the appropriate 
material, bearing mute testimony to the high re- 
gard in which this estimable couple were held 
wherever known. Among these, one of the most 
noticeable and one that must be always treasured 
by the recipients, was from the mail clerks on the 
Montreal and Island division of the Grand 
Trunk. It was accompanied by an address con- 
veying so much of good feeling and friendly 
hopes for future happiness as to make it doubly 
prized. A number of absent friends also caused 
themselves to be remembered in the same kindly 
way. It was indeed a pleasurable occasion and 
one that will not soon be forgotten by those who 
were so fortunate as to participate. May they 
live to celebrate with us their golden anniversary 
is the wish of 

Yours in P. F., 

" 75 -" 


Bedford, Ind., March 27, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

On March 25th last the members of Division 
No. 303 held a union meeting which was largely 
attended. We were honored by a large delega- 
tion from Division 89, across the river, including* 
Bro. Harry Mounts from Indianapolis Division 
103, and Brother Flory from Division 3, St. Louis, 
and a better lovefeast than we had is seldom seen 
among conductors, and a more instructive day we 
could not have spent. It was the universal 
opinion of all present that union meetings should 
be held more frequently and views exchanged 
which would benefit all. Bros. Mounts and Flory 
gave us a good talk, for which we are under ob- 
ligations to both, as well as Bros. Harrison, Mc- 
Kinney and Dodson, of Division 89. Hoping 
they will give us the benefit of their presence 
ofteoer, we remain 

Yours in P. F , 

Division 303. 


Williams, A. T., June 28, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

In reading an article on seniority in the June 
Conductor, by Brother M. O. Felkner, I was 


very much interested, as his views are almost 
identical with mine. Let us first practice non- 
seniority in our own Order before we ask it of an- 
other organization. I find that the Atlantic and 
Pacific is the only railroad I have ever worked 
for that gives the old-timer, or experienced rail- 
road man, any show. The Order of Railway 
Conductors are the ones to thank for that one 
blessing, that is, that none but experienced rail- 
road men will be employed, and seniority cuts no 
figure. I visited Division No. 85 last Sunday 
and met some very nice Brothers I must agree 
with Brother Mike Mahan, of Division ,Nd. 180, 
that we do not exercise the brotherly' feeling to- 
wards one another that we should, and until we 
do we will never be "a perfect organization" as he 
says. I wmld like to meet such Brothers as 
Brother Mike Mahan, and I hope I shall be given 
the opportunity some day. 

I have been a member of the Order over four 
years and the only Grand Officer I have ever met 
is our Grand Chief Conductor Clark. I cannot 
see why some of these Grand Officers do nit 
come out in the western country- once in a while 
and visit Divisions and examine their accounts. 
I do not believe in allowing permanent members 
a vote in the Grand Division on questions that 
are of no interest to them. This is especially 
true of insurance matters, since, if they are not 
members, they can give those who do belong to 
that department the worst of it. I would like to 
know from our G S. and T. hiw it is that a 
member is assessed three or four m mths after he 
is in his grave. It often .works a hardship on a 
Brother's family, and I believe it is unjust, and 
should be revi«*ed in the constitution at the next 
convention. [See page 324 June No. The Rail- 
way Conductor. — El.]. I think if delegates 
would consider a good many questions of import- 
ance we would hive a better constitution to gov- 
ern us. 

Yours in P. F., 

Geo. H. Herbert. 


Harrisburg, Pa., July 9, 1894. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Dauphin Division, No. 143. is still in the line 
of progress, having good meetings and good 
attendance. Owing to the depression in business 
the majority of the men are at home over Sun- 
day, consequently if they don’t attend meetings 
they have no sufficient excuse to offer. We have 
only been making ten days the last two months, 
which is very slow, but we have all we want, and 
more, too. We have the capitol, the scarlet 
fever, diphtheria, smallpox, hard times, good 
river water to drink, with plenty of coal dust in 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 



372 


it, nice warm weather, and a branch of Coxey’s 
army. No one can' complain of that variety. 
Then we have very nice, commodious churches 
to attend, which we do, provided we can’t drum 
up a good excuse- for staying away. Dauphin 
Division had a sermon preached to them on June 
17th, and invitations were sent to the different 
organizations in the city. The B. of L. E. was 
represented by two or three members; the B. of 
R. T. and B. of L. F.. by about the same num- 
ber, and the O R. C. by the puny sum of about 
twenty- four, out of a membership of one hun- 
dred, or nearly. Last evening, July 8th, the dif- 
ferent railroad organizations were invited to 
attend special services by Dr. Stewart, in behalf 
of the B. of R. T. The B. of L. E. was not 
represented at all, the B. of L F. did fairly 
well, and the O. R. C. was represented by one 
member, that being myself. I felt ashamed, and 
would have been lonely, but I knew the better 
part of the men who were along, and I also knew 
I was welcome. This is too bad There seems 
to be a sort of a prejudice existing between labor 
organizations, which must be overcome, as it 
works no good. When a man allows a bit of a 
position in this life to elevate him then I brand 
that man as a miserable fool, (and, of course, he 
is not sensible of his misery). I am sure we 
have railroad men who are ashamed of their 
occupation; poor, miserable creatures. It seems 
a man who happens to secure a position which 
pays a dollar or two more than the po ition held 
by a less fortunate man is just a do. lar or two 
better in bis own estimation. But he should re 
member that those who think so extremely well 
of themselves are generally little thought of by 
others, no matter what position they hold. There 
has beea fools in all ages of the world, and the 
present age is no exception, since we have them 
by the score. The greater part of this elevation 
(because of pssition) comes through an ailment 
located immediately under the hat, and we have 
an institution located in this city for that sort of 
people. If I am mistaken in my diagnosis, then 
we must acknowledge that the whole cause is on 
account of pure ignorance, and no mistake. Now, 
X like to see a man have some conceit, or self 
esteem, to carry him respectfully and honorably 
through the world; that we need a certain amount 
of that kind of elevation is very evident, and I 
do hope the day is not far distant when this detri- 
mental feeling existing toward one another may 
be overcome and we may be solidly federated for 
.all that is good. 

Yours in P. F., 

Mox. 


The Fisherman and the Stream. 

I’ve lost my heart to a maiden, 

So glad and gracious and gay! 

My dreams by night are love-laden; 

I follow her all the day. j 

She leads me through winding mazes; 

She trips down the green bill-sides; 

She cuts a path through the daisies; 

She comes, but she never abides. 

She glides into darkest angles; 

The boughs dip low at her glance; 

Then away from their shadowy tangles. 

She speeds like a silvery lance. 

She slides through the wheat* fields yellow, 
She hides ’mid their stalks of gold; 

Then bursts into sunlight mellow, 

Or frolics in forests old. 

But now from the dim seclusion, 
Dew-pearled, its mosses and grass. 

She is gone, the lovely illusion, 

The bewitching, bewildering lass! 

Just once — bees hummed in the clover— 

She did not say me nay, 

So I always shall be the brook’s taver, 

Till my very latest day! 

— Outing for July 

The Song of the Goldenrod. 

Oh. not in the morning of April or May, 

When the young light lies faint on the sod 
And the windfl jwer blooms for the half of 1 
day — 

Not then comes the Goldenrod. 

But when the bright year has grown vivid and 
bold 

With its utmost of beauty and strength, 

Then it leaps into life and its banners unfold 
f All along the land’s green length. 

It is born in the glow of a great high noon, 

It is wrought of a bit of the sun; 

Its being is set to a golden tune 
In a golden summer begun. 

No cliff is too high for its resolute foot, 

No meadow too bare or too low; 

It asks but the space for its fearless root, 

And the right to be glad and to grow. 

It delights in the loneliest waste of the moor, 
And mocks at the rain and the gust, 

It belongs to the people. It blooms for the poor. 
It thrives in the roadside dust. 

It endures, though September wax chill and uo 
kind; 

It laughs on the brink of the crag; 

Nor blanches when frosts turn white in the wind . 
Though dying, it holds up its flag ! 

Its bloom knows no stint, its gold no alloy, 

And we claim it forever as ours — 

God’s symbol of freedom and world- wide joy — 
America’s flower of flowers! 

— Locomotive Engineers' Journal 


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It is probable that the average American citi- 
zen does not realize the iniquity and ty anny of 
the refusal of the Uoited States and other western 
nations to allow Jajan to revoke the treaty of 
1858, a right guaranteed by the treaty its -If, but 
which has been ignored since 1872, when it was 
demanded under the treaty. B O. Flower con- 
siders this treaty issue, and cites all the leading 
authorities on the subject in an able argument, 
“Justice for Japan,” in the July Arena . Mr. 
Flower a ways takes the highest grounds on all 
questions, international as well as social, and he 
shows that, while the national honor of America 
is at stake in this question, t: e main issue is the 
doing justice to our fellow men. He cites case 
after case revealing the prostitution of the civil 
and criminal laws under the English and Ameri- 
can consular ad min is; rat ion, and the utter rotten- 
ness of the whole system, that merely favors cer- 
tain vile trades in which English and Americans 
engage and prosper at the moral and financial ex- 
pense of the Japanese. This treaty is already 
abrogated by process of time, and the United 
States is acting a mean and tyrannous part in de- 
nying Japan's right t ) an equitable revision. 
There is some probability that England will soon 
take the initiative in giving justice to Japan if the 
United States does not, and the commercial ad- 
vantages to be gained by John Bull and lost to us 
are at once apparent if England makes the move. 
It is a commercial question, as well as one of na- 
tional honor and justice. Such a move by Eng- 
land would secure her almost a monopoly of a 
most lucrative and ever increasing commerce. 

A holiday under canvas can be made a re- 
markably pleasant experience if congenial spirits 
compose the party, but there is a common mis- 
take made by too many of those who take to the 
woods at a time when fish are the only lawful 
quarry. I refer to the practice of taking guns 
and rifles to camp when the law forbids the kill- 
ing of any game. There is no sense in carrying a 
weapon which is not to be used, and I know cases 
where the fact of one being within reach has 


made a law-breaker r f a man who meant no harm f 
but was tempted by an unexpected chance at un- 
lawful game. Furthermore, country people vis- 
iting a camp and see ng gun or rifle included in 
the outfit, are apt to conclude that it is there for 
use and that the campers will have a quiet try at 
whatever game appears This idea encourages 
the countryman to do a bit of illegitimate killing 
himself when he gets a chance. Gun and rifle 
are excellent in their proper place, but that place 
is not in a July camp. The usual excuse offered 
for their presence is the possibility of a shot at a 
bear or wildcat. That is all very fine, bu f the 
'bears' and ‘cats' really killed have always ap^ 
peared to me to strangely resemble does and 
fawns. It is far better to leave weapons at home 
than to run the risk of being tempted to join a na 
tive in that miserable business, 'floating, 'or jack- 
ing.’ — Outing for July . 

The July Cosmopolitan marks the close of the 
first year since the revolutionary announcement 
was made that the price of that magazine, al- 
ready low, had been cut to one- half of three 
dollars a year. All sorts of predictions have 
come to be unfulfilled during the year — it would 
be impossible to maintain the rate — the quality 
would be lowered — the size would be decreased. 
But even severe critics admit that with each suc- 
ceeding number there has been a betterment in- 
the quality of articles and illustrations, and the 
size has remained unchanged, except the always 
growing advertising pages. The magazine 
printed, for the six months eigbrafpd in Volume 
xvi, one million four hundred and nineteen 
thousand copies, an entirely unapproached’ 
record, and has doubled its already large plant 
of presses and binding machinery. The walls of 
the magazine’s new home are rapidly rising at 
Irvington-on the-Hudson. Artistically designed 
by Me Kim, Mead & White, the new building, 
with its eight great porticos, will be 279 feet long 
by 76 feet wide, and one of the most perfectly 
lighted buildings in the world, having 160 large* 
windows, each nearly double the size of the ordi- 
nary window opening. 


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374 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Love of country must be the foundation of na- 
tional progress, and to cultivate patriotism the 
child must be taught it from the beginning. In 
the July number of St. Nicholas the young 
American will find valuable lessons in history 
and loyalty. After an inspiring poem by Wm. R. 
Thayer, with pictures by Birch, the prose leader 
is a story by Alice Balch Abbot, entitled "Nan 
Merrifield s Choice." Nan, a young school girl, 
with some local reputation for "speaking pieces" 
of a humorous sort, decides that declamation is 
worthy of serving higher purposes than raising a 
laugh, and she therefore learns and speaks Lin- 
coln's Gettysburg Address. From these simple 
elements, Miss Abbot has constructed a stilting 
and touching story that whoso misses will lose 
the full appreciation of Abraham Lincoln that is 
the duty of all true Americans. Miss Seawell's 
serial. "Decatur and Somers," is likewise fitted 
to the season, as this installment deals with the 
destruction of the "Philadelphia" in Tripoli 
harbor — an achievement worthy to rank with 
Cushing's sinking of the "Albemarle." Then 
follows an article by Mary S. Northrup upon the 
"Kartyr Spy," Nathan Hale, illustrated by a 
<iew of his birthplace, and excellent pictures by 
Harry Ogden, besides one of the McMonnies 
statue recently erected in New York. 

The recent loss of the United States steamship 
"Kearsarge," on Roncador Reef, is told about in 
a sketch by H. ’ Gilbert Frost, who went to visit 
the wTeck in the "Orion," the steamer sent by 
the Government to save the remnant of the 
famous vessel. Taken all in all, the number is 
full of patriotic thought and action and carries a 
lesson well worth considering by old as well as 
young. 

In those rose and lavender- scented days in the 
beginning of the century all men were chivalrous 
and all women beautiful; at least so we are led to 
believe by art, by romance, and by our grand- 
mothers. Who ever had a grandmother, or 
maiden aunt, or elderly female relative of any de- 
gree, for thfct matter, who was not a beauty in 
her youth? And if we can trust these sources of 
information, there were no winters in those days, 
no clouds, no broken hearts; there was no pov- 
erty, no misery. Our ancestors were gay and 
debonair, dressed like Brummels and Recamiers, 
and drank tea out of old-fashioned china cups — 
which, by the way, were not old-fashioned then 
— in shady arbors, or whispered poetry and high 
flown compliments in garden walks between trim 
hedges of clipped box. And they were always in 
love, too — at least the men were; the girls, I am 
told, were arrant flirts. But then it was a grace- 


ful, philosophical sort of love that relieved itsdi 
in tender verse, and was as happy in being 
trampled on as in being smiled on. We believe all 
this because the old ladies that we know have 
had so many love affairs, and never strike a 
tragic note in telling of them, but sometimes 
laugh till the tears fill the cracks and crevices 
around their eyes as spring rains fill dry ditches 
"Yes," we think and sigh; "all was comedy and 
sunshine then ." — Nannie A. Cox, in the Century 
for July. 

Land is rapidly concentrating into a few hands 
The producer has lost control of his product 
Causes are plainly operative which will soon find 
the republic owned by less than 50.000 men. The 
current ethics of trade are an abomination, and 
politics have become mainly a scramble for the 
spoils. Confronting this drift are three extreme 
phases of protest: Individualism, seeking the 
neutralization of injustice through the free opera 
tion of mutual selfishness; Communism, seeking 
to eliminate individual initiative, and Anarchism, 
which means despair of the ballot — political 
atheism. In none of these is the true solution 
Somewhere between the extremes lies the field 
for a genuine Christian economic system. The 
supreme court can never locate it. Congress and 
the local legislatures even refuse to look for ii 
and still less do their laws incarnate it. It is we. 
who make courts and legislatures, who must find 
them. Give the saving thought wings, and do 
not fancy that it is lost because it does not roost 
on the dome of the capitol the same night.— 
Donahoe's Magazine for July. 

The Revieiu of Reviews for July finds cause 
for rejoicing in the reports which it is receiving 
from all parts of the country concerning the 
steady diminution in the numbers of unemployed 
It will be remembered that The Review canvassed 
the situation thoroughly in the early winter, and 
placed before its readers returns from nearly all 
the large cities, showing the number of men out 
of work and the measures inaugurated for their 
relief. Supplementary information has been re* 
ceived which enables The Review to state that al- 
most everywhere such relief work has ceased be* 
cause the necessity for it has dinppeared. The 
editor comments on this improved condition 6f 
affairs, and adds some interesting reflections on 
the passing of Coxeyism. In this connection the 
status of the Populist party in Congress is dis- 
cussed. 

The Conductor is in receipt of "Holidays in 
England," a handbook to an interesting part of 
the old country, familiar to many Americans wio 


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375 

have not traveled through the, works of Dickens MacGowan, and "A Chemical Detective Bureau," 


and Tennyson. It is on the way from London to 
Liverpool and includes some of the finest 
cathedrals and abbeys, the East Anglian homes 
of the Pilgrim Fathers, Cambridge University. 
It is ably edited by Percy Lindley, and hand- 
somely illustrated, making it a work well worth 
having by the general reader, and invaluable to 
those who contemplate a trip to the scenes so 
pleasantly described. 

The July Midland Monthly is well named “A 
Midsummer* Reading Number," for. while it con- 
tains several full page portraits and profusely il* 
lustrated descriptive articles, it also has more 
reading matter and a greater number and variety 
of articles than has any previous number. Be- 
sides Col Keatley’s refreshing “Life Among the 
Alaskans;" Miss Lowater's out door sketch of 
Lake Pepin Scenery; the editor's trip from Lon- 
don to Antwerp; and Mrs. Hawley's illustrated 
paper. American Pottery; Mrs. Reed, of St. Paul, 
has a new view of Riley's Poetry; Harriet Beech- 
er Stowe’s latest autograph utterance is given; 
Col. B. F. Clayton cools the heated reader with 
his picture of a Cyclone; a new contributor writes 
on “Home Theories." Labor Commissioner 
O'BIeness talks on Employment Bureaus; and 
several sketches, short stories and poems provide 
diversion for hot weather and remedy for the 
blues 

Willy’s “boss" is one of the best examples of 
the American workingman. He belongs to the 
class of workmen who respect their work more 
than their wages. Terence Bajry feels hurt when 
his men turn out a casting the lines of which are 
not flawless. He has the artist's soul. He is 
loyal to bis craft, and loves his work. In all 
countries, at all times, there have been artisans 
with the artist’s soul, like Terence. However 
bumble their handiwork, it has been saturated 
with a personal element that set it apart. Em- 
phatically they did good -work. * * * Ter- 
ence's molds and patterns, in which he takes in- 
finite. almost fanciful, pains, will, I foresee, pass 
into tradition after the fashion of the cobbler's 
shoes; and Willy will describe them to his grand- 
children with a sigh, for there will be giants in 
these days, when the other days shall have come. 

Terence himself would state his artistic creed 
very simply; he would say, “Well, Willy, try to 
make a good job every time." — Octave Thanet % in 
the July Scribner. 

The July number of McClure's Magazine , in 
"The Heraldry of the Plains," by Miss Alice 


by Miss Ida M. Tar bell, continues a class of ar- 
ticles which have become one of the most accept- 
able features — articles exhibiting the picturesque 
side of very practical and matter-of-fact institu- 
tions. The first exhibits the humors and conven- 
tions of cattle branding as practiced on the great 
ranges of (he southwest, and the second describes 
the work of the Municipal Laboratory of Paris in 
promoting the public health. Both articles are 
well illustrated. Falling into the same class is 
an article which reports the observations and ex- 
periences of an actual workman in the great steel- 
mills at Homestead. The number is especially 
notable in short stories, including such authors as 
Robert Barr and Bret Harte; and a story that in 
the recent McClure prize-story contest secured 
the two hundred dollar prize, “Told in Confi- 
dence," by Celia Eliza Shute. 

The Prayer. 

Dear Lord! Kind Lord! 

Gracious Lord! I pray 
Thou wilt look on all I love, 

Tenderly today! 

Weed their hearts of weariness; 

Scatter every care 
Down a wake of angel wings, 

Winnowing the air. 

Bring unto the sorrowing 
All release from pain; 

Let the lips of laughter 
Overflow again; 

And with all the needy 
O divide, I pray, 

This vast treasure of content 
That is mine today. 

— James Whitcomb Riley. 


The Passing of Day. \ 

Blue bloom is on the distant hill; 
Mystic grays the mid-air fill. 

The low winds say: 

“Farewell to Day; 

Evening is on her way." % 

She walks the waters and the land, 
She and Quiet, hand in hand, 

The low winds say; 

“Sweet sounds, obey; 

Soft colors fade away. " 

And all the lovely colors go; 

All the sounds; and very low 
The winds say on — 

Do they say on? 

No whisper. Day is gone. 

— John Vance Cheney , in the Century for* 


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The plan for reorganizing the Central of 
Georgia has been completed. 

* # * 

According to the press reports the Kansas City, 
Fort Scott & Memphis has absorbed the Green- 
field & Northern. 

* * * 

The Richmond & Danville has been sold to the 
Southern Railway Company, and will be operated 
under the direction of the new owners. 

* * * 

M Not for thirty years has the total of new track 
laid been as small as it is certain to be at the end 
of this year, nor have there been so few miles 
laid in the first six months of the year as we are 
now called upon to chronicle. During the half 
year of political, financial and industrial unrest 
and uncertainty just ended only 525 miles of 
new road have been added, and these were laid 
on fifty-one lines in twenty-five of the state*, 
showing that the average length of the roads was 
very small indeed — only about ten miles, while 
most of the additions consisted of short branches 
or extensions of still less than ten miles. * * * 
In twenty* three new states and territories no new 
track has gone down in the last six months; in 
seventeen only a single line has been added in 
each; two have two new lines each; two have 
added three; one has built four; two boast five, 
and one, Pennsylvania, can beast seven new 
lines, but they average only six miles each. The 
largest mileage has been laid in Colorado, fifty- 
four miles, chiefly in the construction of two 
roads to reach the Cripple Creek mining camp; 
South Carolina adds fifty miles, Florida forty- 
eight, West Virginia and Louisiana forty-six 
each, Pennsylvania forty two, New Jersey and 
Texas eich tbirty-four; the rest much smaller 
amounts. The largest extension this year is a 
branch of the Atlantic Coast Line in South Caro 
lina, forty four miles; the next the Jacksonville. 
St. Augustine & Halifax River extension to Fort 
Worth, Fla.; the next a stretch of forty miles on 


the Florence & Cripple Creek in Colorado. Not 
a single trunk line of any importance increased 
its length. The work has been confined to the 
completion of work previously under way or to 
building little branches which seemed impera- 
tively demanded.” — The Railway Age. 

# * * 

7 'ransportation is authority for the statement 
that the new “Bicycle” system of electric roads 
is to be giveman extensive trial on Long Island. 
An experimental "one wheel" line has been in 
operation at Patchogue for some time and is said 
to have proven a complete success. In speaking 
of the new project Transportation says: 

The transportation problem for Long Island is 
about to be solved by Mr. Frederick W. Dunton, 
President of the Kings, Queens and Suffolk 
County One Rail, or Bicycle Electric Elevated 
Railway System No. 106 Fulton street. New 
York City. It is the announced intention of Mr. 
Dunton and the gentlemen associated with him 
in this enterprise, to cover Long Island with a 
regular network of railway lines, connecting dis- 
tant points with New York and Brooklyn, and 
making direct communication by steamer and 
otherwise from New England to the undeveloped 
beaches of Long Island. The car runs on one 
rail, with an overhead guide to steady it. by 
means of wheels placed horizontally over the 
centre of the car, which come in contact with the 
guides when necessary. These wheels are 
fastened to channels, and to these vertical steel 
posts, six inches in diameter, are rigidly fastened, 
the latter being in turn connected rigidly to 
wrought-iron frames which hold the supporting 
wheels. Of these there are two, one at each end 
of the car, and five feet in diameter. The 
springs, which are of the ordinary leaf variety, 
are fastened at the top of the car, the weight 
thus being transmitted to the top of the wheel 
frame. For each of the wheels an indepttident 
swivelling motion is provided, thus enabling the 
car to round any curve without additional fric- 
tion. At curves the overhead guide is set out of 
the vertical plane — i e., tipped to the right or 
left as the case may be, thus enabling the car to 
pass curves at a high rate of speed with very 
slight strain on the guides, and with no disagree 
able effect on the occupant of the car. 


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Railway Relief Company — Benefits— Master 
and Servant — Release of Claim for Damages 
— Validity of Contract. 

In an action to recover damages for an injury 
alleged to have been suffered by reason of negli 
gence of the company, the court Held, that an 
employe of defendant railway company, who it a 
member of its Voluntary Relief Department, 
and who is injured by the negligence of the com 
pany, is not bound to accept relief as such mem- 
ber, but may elect to pursue his remedy of a suit 
for damages for the injury. If, however, he 
elects to accept the benefits of the department of 
which he is a member and does so, the provision 
in his application “that the acceptance of bene- 
fits from said relief fund for injury or death shall 
operate as a release of all claims for damages 
against said company arising from such injury or 
death." etc , precludes a damage suit for such 
injury, for such a contract is valid. 

James Lease v Pennsylvania Company , Ind. 
App. C., May 9, 1894. 

Injury to Passenger — Carrier's Duty — Degree 
of Care — Passenger at Sufferance — Evidence 
A railroad company does n Dt owe to a person 
riding on one of its trains without payment of 
any fare, merely by sufferance of the conductor 
in charge of the train, that high and extraordi- 
nary degree of care for his personal safety that is 
due to an ordinary passenger paying the custom- 
ary fare, but is liable only in such case for in- 
juries occasioned by the ordinary negligence of 
its employes. 

Kansas City , Ft. S. &> M. R. Co. if. Berry. 
Has. S. C., March 10. 1894. 

Note: Plaintiff, a female passenger, was in- 
jured while getting off of a freight train. The 
evidence is conflicting as to what took place be- 
tween her and the conductor about her ticket. She 
testified that the conductor did not ask for the tick 
et. The conductor and others testified that he asked 
her for her ticket, and she answered that she did 
not have to have any ticket. She in fact neither 
delivered her ticket nor paid her fare. The evi- 


dence was conflicting about her getting off in the 
yards. In any event she was injured while get- 
ting off the train while it was in motion at the 
instance of the brakeman. In the trial court she 
obtained judgment. This court reverses that 
judgment on the ground that the slight negligence 
of the employe in this case was not sufficient to 
warrant a recovery. 

Railway Company — Negligence — Person on 

Train by Sufferance. 

Where one is upon a freight train, by arrange- 
ment made with him by the conductor and brake- 
man, without authority from the company, 
whereby he b to assist them in their duties, in 
consideration of his being carried upon such 
train to a certain station. 

Held , That the company is not liable to him 
for an injury received by him through the negli- 
gence of such conductor and brakeman. 

Cooper vs. L. E. W. Ry, Co., March 19, 
1894. 

Railway Waiting Rooms — Statute Construed 

— Criminal Proceedings. 

In an action of prosecution the court 

Held, i. That penal statutes are to be strictly 
construed. 

2. That the act 1891, (page 70,) in relation to 
waiting rooms at railway stations creates three 
separate offenses, viz. : failure to provide and 
maintain saitable waiting rooms, failure to pro- 
vide separate water closets for men and women, 
and failure to keep such waiting rooms open for 
a period of one hour next preceding the arrival 
of all passenger trains stopping at the station. 
In charging the latter offense it is necessary to 
aver that the company have provided and main- 
tained such waiting rooms. 

3. That constitutional questions will not be 
determined unless their consideration is abso- 
lutely necessary to the final end' of the case in 
which they are supposed to be involved. 

State of Indiana vs. C. C . , C. & St. L. Ry. 
Co., Ind. S. C., March 8, 1894. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Sleeping Car Company— Loss of Passengers' 

Effects. 

Whatever diligence a sleeping car company 
may owe a passenger in guarding and protecting 
her while she is asleep in the berth assigned to 
her, with her money and personal jewelry in her 
sachel, she having the sachel beside her in the 
berth, between herself and the wall of the car, 
if the company so negligently and carelessly 
guard and protect her while so sleeping that 
through its negligence the money and jewelry are 
stolen from her. and thereby wholly lost, she has 
a cause of action. Although the declaration in 
the present case is defective in not setting forth 
any particular ac*. or omission constituting negli- 
gence. yet as there was no special demurrer on 
that ground, and as the declaration is good in 
substance, there was no error in overruling the 
demurrer to the declaration upon which the court 
adjudicated. Judgment affirmed. 

Pulman Palace Car Co. vs. Martin , Georgia 
S. C , June 5, 1894. 

Mutual Benefit Insurance— Rightful Claimant 

of Insurance Money. 

This action was originally brought against a 
Mutual Benefit Association on a certificate of 
membership t> S, who, subsequent to her mem- 
bership married plaintiff, and when S joined the 
order the beneficiary named was defendant, her 
aunt; but upon her marriage, and under the laws 
of the order, she procured the certificate in suit 
to be issued, naming plaintiff as the beneficiary. 
He was a member of the order, and the secretary 
simultaneously with the change in her beneficiary, 
changed his certificate making her his beneficiary. 
The present defendant was brought in by the 
order under an application of interpleader. 

Meld, In an action to determine the right to in- 
surance money, defendant claimed that the origi- 
nal certificate, which named her as beneficiary, 
was issued pursuant to an agreement with the in- 
sured that the defendant should pay the assess- 
ments and receive the money. After plaintiff 
had married the insured, another certificate was 
issued, naming plaintiff as beneficiary. Defend- 
ant gave no evidence of the alleged agreement 
except a statement made by the insured that it 
was agreed that defendant was to pay the assess- 
ments and receive the benefits. There was no 
evidence that defendant paid any assessments, 
but it appeared -that she had loaned the insured 
money to make payments. When plaintiff re- 
quested plaintiff to give him the original certi- 
ficate, she said it was lost. Hence, in such case, 
a finding that the insurance was procured under 


the agreement alleged by defendant was not sus- 
tained by the evidence. 

Manard vs. Vandervuerkcr , N. Y. S. C., Feb. 
12. 1894. 

Mutual Benefit Company — Mon-Payment of 

Dues — Suspensions — Estoppel. 

1. Where the constitution of a Mutual Benefit 
Association provides that a member failing to 
pay any assessment “shall stand suspended." a 
member, by failure to pay his assessments ipso 
facto, is suspended, without any vote of the 
local branch to which he belongs. 

2. Where the constitution of the grand body 
required each subordinate branch to hold month- 
ly meetings, and provided that, if more than sixty 
days had elapsed since a member's suspension, he 
must present a medical certificate, and his appli* 
cation for reinstatement must bs favorably voted 
upon by a majority of the members of the subor- 
dinate branch. 

Held, That when no meeting of the local 
branch was held for several months after a mem- 
ber was suspended, and at the next meeting he 
presented his application for reinstatement, but 
failed to present the medical certificate, but pre- 
sented it later, and, before it was accepted, was 
killed, the failure of the subordinate branch to 
hold regular meetings does not estop the supreme 
body to set up the suspension of the member as a 
bar to his right to benefits. Neither does the 
fact that the subordinate branch received the 
member's delinquent dues, and gave him a re- 
ceipt therefor, constitute such an estoppel. 

3. In such action by a widow of such mem- 
ber to recover the amount of his benefit certifi- 
cate, ovidence of the action taken by the 
subordinate branch in regard to his reinstatement 
after his death was inadmissible. 

Supreme Lodge, K. of M. vs. Keener , Tex. 
C. of App., Feb. 1, 1894. 

Proof of Death — Suicide — Insanity. 

x. In an action on a life certificate, where 
plaintiff testified that a statement by her in the 
proofs of death that the insured died “by his 
own hand, while temporarily insane," was 00 
hearsay, and under mistake of fact, it was error 
to charge that she had the burden to prove that 
she was mistaken or “ill advised," and that such 
statement was made unadvisedly, or ignorantly, 
or by mistake. 

2. The court charged that if insured was sane 
when he took the poison, the mere fact that be 
died from the effects would not overcome 
presumption against suicide, left it to the jury to 
say if he was sane, and if there were any other 


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facts pointing '‘irresistibly” to suicide; saying 
that, if he was sane, they would have to scan 
the evidence very closely, and overcome "many 
doubts, and a strong presumption. ’’ of the law, 
to find snicide. 

Held, An unfair enlargement of the burden of 
proof. 

3. In the presence of evidence that the in- 
sured had sought to turn away penniless his wife 
of twenty-five years, retaining all the property, 
and that he had poisoned himself, it was unfair, 
on the issue of his insanity, as overcoming the 
presumption against suicide, to comment only on 
the facts that he had wished to marry, and had 
made indecent proposals to a young girl. * 

Baclmeyer vs, Mutual Life , etc., Assn., Wis. 
6. C. March 16, 1894. 

Train Service — Master and Servant — Injury 
to Passenger — Conductor — Physical Condi- 
tion of Plaintiff. 

1. In an action for personal injuries, where 
plaintiff could not testify in court owing to his 
physical coqdition, it was discretionary with the 
trial court to refuse to admit plaintiff's photo- 
graph as evidence of bis health and strength at 
the time of his injury, though there was evi- 
dence that his appearance had not changed in the 
year between the taking of the photograph and the 
injury. 

2. The court properly refused to charge that 
the carrier was negligent if it was possible for it 
to have prevented the accident to plaintiff. 

3. A conductor was not negligent in starting a 
train so as to throw off a passenger who was about 
to alight, when the car had waited a reasonable 
length of time for passengers to alight. The 
passenger had delayed, and was not apparently 
in the act of leaving the car when the signal to 
start was given, and the conductor had no 
knowledge of the passenger’s desire to alight. 
Gilbert vs. IV. £. & St. Ry. Co., Mass., S. /. C. 
Jan. 6, 1894. 

Duties of Railroad Company — Suitable Appli- 
ances. 

z . A railroad company, in furnishing an em- 
ploye with tools and appliances, in shop or 
otherwise, is liable only for such defects in them 
as might be guarded against by the exercise of 
reasonable care It is sufficient if an employer 
furnishes his employe with reasonable safe and 
suitable appliances and he need not furnish ap- 
pliances of a peculiar kind. Plaintiff's judgment 
reversed. 


CONDUCTOR. 379 

Nutt vs. Southern Pac. Ry. Co., Oregon S. 
C., Jan. 29, 1894. 

Note: No such presumption in law will be 
sustained as that a railroad company is bound to 
employ the latest or most improved appliances or 
appliances of a particular kind. 

Liability of Carrier — Assault On Passenger — 

Conductor and Trainmen — Duty to Protect. 

1. Action for personal injuries. Plaintiff, on 
entering defendant's train, was struck and jostled 
by three men, and missing bis pocketbook, he 
shouted to the conductor and trainmen for help, 
saying that he was being robbed, and accused 
the men of robbing him. The pocketbook was 
found on the Boor and restored to him, but the 
dispute was renewed, and plaintiff, though call- 
ing loudly for help, was set upon and severely in- 
jured. Neither the conductor nor any trainman 
came to his assistance. 

Held, that though the railway company em- 
ployed a proper number of train and station men 
to protect passengers in ordinary contingencies, 
it was liable if any of these could have heard 
plaintiff's cries and failed to respond in his pro- 
tection. 

2. In this case whether plaintiff's cries were 
loud enough to be heard by the trainmen, or any 
of them, if they were in their proper places, and 
whether defendant company should have had an 
employe stationed in the car where plaintiff was 
assaulted, were questions for the jury. Judg- 
ment for defendant reversed. 

Wright vs. C., B. &> Q. Ry. Co., Col., S. C., 
Nov. 27, 1893. 

Carriers — Ejection of Passenger — Action For — 

Instruction — Conductor' s Duty. 

In an action for ejection from defendant's 
train, there was evidence that plaintiff fell asleep 
after entering the train, and. on recovering con- 
sciousness, found he was being ejected from the 
car by the conductor; that before he reached the 
door, he informed the conductor that he had a 
ticket, but was not allowed to present it. 

Held , That an instruction that, if the conduc- 
tor did not give plaintiff a fair opportunity, he 
was wring in ejecting him; that it was the con- 
ductor's duty to surrender it; and that if the con- 
ductor started him rightfully towards the door, 
and plaintiff tendered him the ticket at any time 
before reaching the ground, he should have re- 
ceived it, — was correct. Judgment for plaintiff 
affirmed. 

Furgeson vs. Mich. Cent. Ry. Co., Mien. S. 
C., Feb. 6, 1894. 


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THE PULLMAN BOYCOTT 

The all absorbing topic for this country during mg its peaceful solution impossible. The exact 
the past month has been the strike at Pullman purpose'leading these men to desire a general 
and the troubles growing out of it. The conflict strike must, probably, be left to conjecture, but it 
has been a fierce one, at times almost reaching has apparently been accompanied with but little 

the proportion of civil war, and it was but natur- thought for the best interests of the men most 

al that its progress should be followed with the nearly concerned or for the buffering and loss en 
gravest apprehensions by those who love our na- tailed. j 

tional institutions and believe in upholding the If we admit, however, that the only purpose of 
supremacy of the law. To all such, no matter the boycott was to force Mr. Pullman to arbitrate j 
what may have been their opinion as to the right with his men. the movement still lacks justifica- J 

or wrong of the original question, there have tion. There can be no fairness in attacking a /| 

been apparent in the conduct of the movement man who has no actual interests with the one you 
defects and inconsistencies sufficient to condemn wish to reach. The relations between tbe roads 
it utterly. When the matters at issue between and the Pullman Co are on a purely business 
the Pullman Co. and its employes had been sub- basis. and there is no more reason in attacking the 
mitted to the officials of the company and were roads to reach Pullman than there wonld be in 
being considered by them, the strike was ordered doing the same thing to reach the Baldwin Lo 
without warning and before any answer had been comotive Works. 

or could have been returned to the questions Every relation in life depends upon tbe faith 
therein submitted. This initial breach of faith held by man in the integrity of bis fellows. This 
could hardly have the effect of bringing employer is especially true of railroad men in their rela- 
and employe into more friendly relations, and it tions with their employers. We can only hope tc 
afterwards proved the first of many measures better our condition by keeping inviolate every 
driving them farther and farther apart. It was, agreement we make Railroad managers will 
however, in perfect keeping with the policy treat with us only when they feel assured we will 
pursued by the leaders of the same or- keep all our contracts to tbe letter, and when 
ganization during their struggle with the they have that assurance we can expect to be met 
Great Northern a few weaks before, and man to man. What confidence can they have in 
should have occasioned no surprise. This men who willfully violate and throw to the winds 
action was followed by the boycott upon the Pull agreements made in good faith, admitting that 
man cars, the ostensible purpose being to force they have no grievance but are only desirous of 
Mr. Pullman to arbitrate with his men, but it giving aid to a new and untried movement and of 
must be remembered that no mention of arbitra- showing their sympathy for men with *hom they 
tion was made until it had been clearly and have no direct connection What can such men 
definitely determined that Mr Pullman would expect in the future when they come, as come 
not surrender. Arbitration, to produce its best they must, to ask for consideration at the hands 
results, should be brought into play before war of the very men whom they assault at the ex- 
has been declared, and not after bitter feelings pense of every sentiment the honorable man 
have been engendered between the parties. No holds dear 5 

one can know this fact better than the men who It is difficult, after even a brief review of the 
are at the head of this movement, and the course real history cf this struggle, for the fair-minded 
thev have pursued from the first gives some man to discover wherein its leaders expect to find 
ground, at least, for the suspicion that the strike justification Their faith in the gullibility of the 
was planned with the deliberate intention of mak- American people must approach tbe sublime if 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 381 

they expect them to sanction such strife when it whatever by the Order, and that position was 


was born in a treacherous violation of faith and 
supported only by the mob and the torch. It 
was ordered pending an investigation of the 
troubles sought to be remedied, and before an 
answer to the demands made was possible. All 
mention of arbitration was carefully suppressed 
until the fact was patent that it would rot be ac- 
cepted. The strike was then broadened into a 
boycott upon all the roads that could be reached, 
forcing them into a struggle where they had no 
interest save that of self* preservation, leading 
hundreds of railroad men into the violation of 
agreements they were in honor bound to main- 
tain. and bringing untold suffering and loss upon 
the country at large. To bring all this about re- 
course has been had to violence unparalleled in 
the peaceful history of this country, save at 
Pittsburg in 1877. The laws have been trampled 
upon, millions of dollars worth of property de- 
stroyed and the sacred rfjghts of countless of our 
citizens ruthlessly invaded in the name of this 
new movement that was born to be the regenera- 
tion of the world. It is but fair to say that *j*?st 
of the violence and destruction has been the work 
of those vandals who are always on the watch 
for an opportunity to plunder and destroy, but no 
one who has given the matter careful study will 
doubt that the only hope for the success of the 
boycott was in their outrages and that all its 
leaders builded upon the crimes they so loudly 
denounced, but carefully made no effort to sup- 
press. 

The strike has assumed such serious phases in 
many localities, and so many complications have 
arisen, that the Grand Chief Conductor has been 
inundated with messages asking for advice as to 
the proper policy to be pursued by the members 
of the Order. In every instance he has replied 
that the Order expects its members to comply 
strictly with its laws and to perform their own 
proper and regular duties; and its support will 
not be given in case of violation or refusal. The 
members are not expected to perform the duties 
of employes of other classes who are on a strike, 
and, if any company undertakes to force them 
into the performance of other duties than those 
belorging to the class in which they were em- 
ployed at the time the trouble began, the Order 
will lend them that degree of support that is 
sanctioned, under our laws, by the membership 
on that line Upon the question of going out 
with men hired to take the places of those who 
have quit, the stand taken is precisely the same 
as in the case of the illegal strike on the Aransas 
Pass Ry. It was there decided that the strike 
was illegal and could not be given any recognition 


afterward endorsed by the unanimous vote of the 
Grand Division and thus became part of the set- 
tled policy of the Order. 


Ths annual convention of the Station ^gents’ 

Association will be held in Boston, commencing 

on the. 15th of the present month. 

* * 

* 

Will someone give us the address of A. H. 

Rennecamp, at ore time member of 103? He is 

wanted as witness in a law suit. 

* * 

* 

Bro. D. I. Furbeck, of Division ryg, is a can- 
didate for the responsible position of Lieutenant 
Governor of Kansas. Bro. Furbeck is well quali- 
fied to fill this position and all will hope that 
his honorable ambition may be crowned with 
success. 

* * 

« 

Brother F. W. Kimball, of Division 222, has 
retired from the railroad service and started in 
the mercantile busioess at Baraboo, Wis. All 
will hope that his new venture may be attended 
with the most complete success. 

*** 

The notorious A. D. Potter, who has imposed 
upon many by claiming membership in the Order, 
and whom you have been warned against, is now 
in jail at Morrison, III., to answer to a charge of 
obtaining money under false pretenses. His con- 
viction is certain. 

Brother D. M Kittle, of 155, is the inventor 

and manufacturer of a "safety” fish hook that 

promises to revolutionize the science piscatorial. 

It is a new departure in that line and appears to 

be just the thing the disciples of Walton have 

been wishing for so long. 

* * 

# 

Bro. Joe Flo y orgarized a new Division of the 
Order at Nevada, Mo., on June 17th. Judging 
from his report of the genuine interest manifested 
by the members of the new Division, they may 
be expected to be always found in the front ranks. 
Thanks to Brother Flory and best wishes to the 
new Division. 

At St. Paul the union cigarmakers dug up 50,000 cigars 
bearing bogus union labels, one brand bearing the ad- 
vertisement that it was the only one endorsed by the Or- 
der of Railway Conductors. This is, of course, a slander 
on our brothers of the O. R. C., and A. R. U. men will 
look out for them — Railway Times. 

The Times is correct in pronouncing it a slan- 
der. The O. R. C. has given endorsement to no 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


382 

brand of cigars, but cheerfully endorses the waterway requiring to be bridged is about thirty 


genuine Blue Label of the Cigar Makers Union. 

v ii 

Brother W. R. Mooney, member of our Board 
of Trustees, organized Providence Division No. 
370, at Providence. R. I., on the 1st inst., Brother 
George Had away also organized a new Division 
of the Order at Thayer, Mo., on June 17.. Both 
of these new Divisions start under the most 
favorable auspices, and the enthusiasm with 
which they take up the work gives warrant for 
their continued growth and prosperity. 

* 

* * 

On the evening of June 30 last, Brother R. S. 
Werts, of Division 11, was so unfortunate as to 
have bis valise stolen while connecting with a 
north bound train at Catorce, Mexico. Besides 
letters, receipts, papers and such things as a con* 
ductor usually carries for bis own convenience, 
the valise contained traveling card No. 5466, 
which should be taken up and returned when 
presented. The fireman on the connecting train 
pawned a portion of the stolen goods the next 
day and is now under arrest, with pretty good 
prospects for bis final conviction for the theft. 

* # 

* 

After an active railroad life of twenty-two 
years, Brother James White, of 179. has decided 
to take up another line of business. He may be 
found with G. H. Pierson & Co., stock commis- 
sion merchants, at rooms 215 and 216 of the Live 
Stock Exchange building, Kansas City, Mo., 
where he will be glad to welcome old friends. 
Brother White is also vice president of the First 
National Bank of St. Mary's, Kan. He has 
friends in every rank of the railroad service from 
ocean to ocean, all of whom w»ll be gratified to 
learn of bis location and will wish him every suc- 
cess in the future. 

* # 

* 

The island of Ceylon is one of the most valu- 
able possessions of the British Empire. It has 
an area of over twenty-five thousand square 
miles, and a population of over three millions. 
Great progress has been made within the past 
few years. Railways and telegraph lines have 
been extended. The people are industrious and 
educationjis making progress. Ceylon is situated 
off the southeast side of the extremity of Iudh, 
and the island is supposed in past geological ages 
to have formed a part of the mainland, between 
which and Ceylop there are no* some islands 
and some reefs. The depth of water on the lat- 
ter is small. A railway is now projected to con- 
nect Ceylon with India. It is estimated that the 


miles in extent. The whole work, it is supposed, 
will cost not more than $5,000.000. — Scientist 
American. 

* # 

« 

Brother J. F. Kelly, of Division 218, was re- 
cently called to the west by the accidental death 
of his brother, who was killed while in charge of 
a bridge gang on the San Antonio St Aransas Pass 
R. R. Brother Kelly speaks in terms of the 
highest praise of the kindly treatment extended 
him by the members during this trip, and es- 
pecially of the aid and sympathy of Superintend- 
ent Berry, under whom his brother had been 
working. All did everything in their power to 
assist him and to lighten his sorrow and for this 
be is most truly grateful. 

V 

Brother Joseph Flory, of Division 3. is before 
the people of Missouri as a candidate for the po- 
tion of Railroad Commissioner, and his many 
friends the country over will be pleased to learn 
that his chatices for success grow brighter with 
every day of the canvass. . Brother Flory is a 
thorough railroad man, is amply qualified m 
talent and education for the performance of 
every duty of the position and his sterling integ- 
rity is warrant that all interests would receive 
justice at his hands. The people of Missouri can 
make no mistake in selecting him for this honor. 

V 

Brother E. A. Sadd, of Chicago, well and 
favorably known by large numbers of our mem- 
bers, met with a painful accident on the 17th of 
June. He was accompanying Brother Penfield, 
Secretary of Division 1, home to dinner when 
they were overtaken by a shower of rain. Rais- 
ing their umbrellas, they started 00 a run and 
ran into a crossing gate on the B. St O. tracks 
which was down and unobserved. Brother Sadd 
was badly bruised and bis collar bone was 
broken in two places. He was taken to the home 
of Brother Penfield, where every care and atten- 
tion was given him All will be pleased to leant 
that at the last account, be bad improved suf- 
ficiently to allow of removal to his own home, 
where he was recovering as rapidly as could* be 
expected from the nature of his injuries. The 
Conductor extends sympathy and earnestly 
hopes for his speedy and complete recovery. 

* * 

* 

Our action leading to the official InvestigatioD 
of Judge Jenkins’ decisions in the Northern Pa- 
cific matter by a congressional committee is 
beginning to bear fruit. Evidence of this is 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


found in the fact that Mr. Boatner, chairman of 
the committee mentioned, has introduced the fol- 
lowing bills in the House of Representatives. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled. that no judge of any court of the United States 
shall enforce, or attempt to enforce, the specific perform- 
ance of any labor contract, or contract expressed or im- 
plied, for continuous personal service by the writ of 
injunction or any other legal process whatever: Provided, 
that the right of action at common law for damages for 
breach of such contracts is not hereby abridged. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled, that contempts of court shall not hereafter be 
punished in any courts of the United States by fines ex- 
ceeding two hundred and fifty dollars or i nprisonment 
exceeding forty-eight hours: Provided , that the above 
limitation as to imprisonment shall not apply to officers of 
coart, parties litigant, aod witnesses who are in contempt 
for failure or refusal to obey any lawful order of court, 
and wbo may be committed until they comply with such 
order, or otherwise purge themselves of the contempt 
with which they stand charged. And provided further , 
that the party adjudged guilty of contempt may be com- 
mitted until the fine imposed by the court is paid. 


On the evening of June g last, the members of 
Chillicothe Division, No. i8i, assisted by their 
ladies and a large number of friends, formally 
dedicated their beautiful new home. The exercises 
were opened by Bro Wm. Hall, as master of cere- 
monies, in a pleasing speech, giving a brief his 
tory of the Order and Division and extending a 
warm welcbme to all the friends present. This 
was followed by an able address from the mayor 
of the city, which was well received. Appropri- 
ate remarks were also made Messrs. G. W. 
Cutter, J. R. Schoolev and Thomas Hickey, rep- 
resenting the engineers, firemen and trainmen 
respectively. Congratulatory letters were read 
from a number of prominent railroad officials, 
after which the gathering adjourned to the ban- 
quet room and proceeded to a discussion of the 
generous feast provided by the ladies. It was a 
pleasing occasion and one that will be held in 
memory by all who were so fortunate as to be 
present. The members of 181 are to be congrat- 
ulated upon the enterprise which led them to the 
securing of such a home and upon the hospitality 
which made of its dedication so memorable an 
occasion. 


A recent dispatch from Washington gives the 
following interesting bit of railroad news that 
may very appropriately be placed under the head 
of "important, if true:’’ 

The day the President’s signature is affixed to the bill 
to admit Utah as a State will see the launching of the 
great railroad entei prise of the year. A transcontinental 
scheme has been matured and is only held back until 
Utah can be dealt with as a State. Behind the plan of 
development is the wealth and influence of the Mormon 
church. With the quietness characteristic of the Mormon 
leaders, the surveys have been made, the estimates com- 
piled and the resources of the country carefully investi- 

t aied. The work is in such an advanced stage that the 
lue prints of the engineers' maps are now here and are 
ready to use for construction purposes. 

The road surveyed and to be built extends from Salt 
Lake City southerly and then westerly to a Pacific conoec- 


383 

tion in the Los Angeles country. If the Connection can 
not be made with the Santa Fe in southern California, 
then this Utah road will be built through to the coast at or 
near Los Angeles. But the probabilities are that a traffic 
arrangement will be made with the Santa Fe from The 
NeedlesHbrough to the coa-t. The projectors of the new 
road have already sounded President Reinhart, of the 
Santa Fe, and are to have a formal meeting with him im- 
mediately after the statehood bill is signed. By reference 
to the map a branch of the Union Pacific will be seen 
reaching southwestwardly from Salt Lake City toward the 
coast country, but stopping short in the midst of ihe 
Sierras. The Mormons have done better than that. They 
have laid out a route which is a marvel to engineers who 
have seen the profiles. They parallel the ridges instead 
of crossing them. They have tangents sixty and seventy 
miles long, demonstrating that what appears to be the 
longest way round is really the shortest way to the coast. 
In southern Utah are anthracite coal beds which exceed 
Pennsylvania's by one-half, but which have until now en- 
tirely escaped the railroad builder. These coal fields will 
be pierced by the new road. 

Bishop Clawson, of the Mormon chufch, is the active 
representative of Zion in this project. He is here and in 
charge of the lobby which has put (he statehood bill 
through to the President's hands so smoothly. Associated 
with the Bishop is Mr. Trumb, one of the executors of the 
Stanford estate. Co-operating with the Mormons in the 
railroad and statehood hopes is Col. J. S. Clarkson, who 
represents capital to be invested in the road, and who will 
probably give his attention to the financiering of the road, 
retiring from active participation in politics. 


A French statistician says that the number of 
men and women in France is more nearly equal 
than in any other country of the world, there be- 
ing only 1,007 women to 1,000 men. In Switzer- 
land there are 1,064 men to 1,000 women, and in 
Greece only 933. The conditions in Hong Kong, 
according to this authority, are "appalling,’’ 
there being only 366 women to 1,000 men . — New 
York Tribune. 

v 

Ask the average person how many stripes there 
are in the flag, and he will answer readily enough, 
thirteen. But ask him how many are red and 
how many white, and he will hesitate in such a 
way as to make it clear that, at the best, he is 
only guessing. Well, as a matter of fact, the red 
stripes number seven and the white number six. 
Nearly all the details of the official flag are really 
fixed by law. Besides the designation as to the 
number and color of the stripes, it is decreed that 
the flag shall be three times as long as it is wide 
and that the union shall be level with the sixth 
stripe, and shall be one-third the* length of the 
flag. There shall be a star in the union for every 
State. The position that the stars shall take has 
never been determined by law. The ordinary 
position in which one sees them, that is to say, a 
series of rows, is the War Department arrange- 
ment . — Philadelphia Press. 


A Silly Girl. — Minnie: Here is a story about 
a girl who refused to marry a man because his 
complexion didn’t match her hair. 

Mamie: Goodness. The silly thing must have 
thought that married people had to be together 
most of the time . — Indianapolis J ou» nal. 


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384 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OF AMERICA. 


MUTUAL BENEFIT DEPARTMENT. 


Cedar Rapids, Iowa, July 1; Expires August 31, 1894. 

Assessment No. 283 is for death of G W. Dedman, June 17, 1894. 


BENEFITS PAID FROM JUNE 1 TO JUNE 20. 


Bea. 

No. 

AM’T. 

FOR 

OF 

CAUSE. 

Cert No.| 

| Series. 

DIV. 

697 

$1,000 

Death 

M. J Gilmore 

Accident 

3294 

A 

183 

698 

3,000 

Death 

W H. Wade 

Apoplexy 

2 59 ! 

C 

61 

699 

3,000 

Death 

G. K. Lindsley 

Typhoid Fever 

5096 

C 

253 

700 

3.000 

Dis. 

J. ConnoTS 

Loss of Arm 

246 

C 

138 

701 

1,000 

Death 

Jno Holland 

Drowned 

3806 

A 

49 

702 

3 000 

Death 

E. J. Pearson 

Ententes 

1186 

C 

6 

703 

1,000 

Dis. 

T. T. Turby 

Loss of Hand 

1358 

A 

160 

704 

3.000 

Dis. 

Jas. Flanagan 

Loss of Arm 

5039 

C 

341 

705 

3,000 

Death 

W. J. Bartlett 

Uremic Poisoning 

4668 

C 

260 

706 

1. 000 

Death 

N. Hill 

Accident 

183 

A 

290 

707 

1,000 

Death , 

Frank Black 

Consumption 

1509 

A 

191 

708 

1.000- 

Death |T. P. Dudderar j 

Con. of Bowels 

1858 

A 

89 


NUMBER OF MEMBERS ASSESSED. 

Series A, 4.973; Series B, 2,733; Series C, 4,838; Series D, 365; Series E, 89. Amount of as- 
sessment No. 283, $26,856; Total number of members 13,018. 


FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 


Received on Mortuary Assessments to May 31, 1894 $1,604,300.00 

Received on Expense Assessments to May 31, 1894 25,995.00 

Received on Applications, etc., to May 31, 1894 27.227.04 


$1,657,522.04 

Total amount of benefits paid to May 31, 1894 $1,593* 376- 00 

Total amount of expenses paid to May 31, 1894 60.284.05 

Insurance cash on hand May 31, 1894 3861.99 


$1,657,522.04 


EXPENSES PAID DURING MAY. 

Insurance Committee, $508.95; Assessments refunded. $8.00; Postage, $212 00; Incidental, 
50c; Salaries, $37250; Fees returned, $15.00; Stationery and Printing. $21.75. Total, $1,138.70. 

The above amounts were paid out during the month, but items of postage, printing, legal, etc., 
often cover supplies and work for more than one month, and sometimes several months. 


Received on Assessment No. 279 to 
Received on Assessment No. 280 to 
Received on Assessment No. 281 to 
Received on Assessment No. 282 to 


June 20 
June 20 
June 20 
June 20 


- >24.34550 

10.978 50 

3.224 00 

3,089.00 

WM P. DANIELS. Secretary 


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oo 



Humt. 

Brother E. E. Naan, of Division No. 265. 
died at Winfield, Kan., on the 1st inst. The 
CAatntie Blade, of the 5th, gives the following 
account of his death: 

“It appears Mr. Nunn ate dinner at home 
last Sunday, and when he stepped out of his 
house he jocularly said to his wife. ‘Well, 
good bye if I don't see you any more.’ How 
awful it is to know that this was to be the last 
look, the last earthly word and token of love 
to those he loved so well. In the evening, one 
hundred and one miles to the south of us, 
Gene Nunn, as he was familiarly called, stood 
alongside his train at the beautiful little city 
of Winfield, he reached up to a seal on the 
side of his car to examine it when he fell over 
onto the platform a corpse. E. E. Nunn was 
a careful, shrewd man in all his dealings, an 
indulgent husband, a kind parent and a good 
neighbor, a member of the O R C., the K. of P. 
and the A. O. U.W., a popular man on the road 
and a true friend. His death is to be regretted 
by all. The funeral services were held yester- 
day morning under the charge of Captain 
Hedrich of the K. P Lodge, and the body in- 
tered in Elmwood cemetery. The sympathies 
of the entire community go out to the stricken 
family in their affliction.’’ 

03 rmt. 

Milwaukee Division No. 46 mourns the death 
of Bio. S. M. Green, who departed this life on 
the 28th of last April. Deceased was a worthy 
member of the Order, a kind and loving father 
and an upright and respected citizen. At a 
subsequent meeting cf his Division resolutions 
were adopted expressing the sorrow of the 
members and their sympathy with the be- 
reaved family. 

hereon. 

The members of Huron Division No rji, at 
their recent regular meeting, extended to Bro. 
John Iverson their sympathy in the great sor- 
row that had come to him through the death 
of his beloved wife, assuring him that they 
mourned with him the loss of one whose 
womanly graces had endeared her to all with 
whom she had come in contact. 

At a regular meeting of Marion Division 268. 
held March 1 x . 1894, resolutions were passed 
expressing the sorrow of its members at the 
death of Mrs. John Nichols, mother cf our es- 
teemed Brother, J. R. Nichols, and their deep 
sympathy with the afflicted family. 


^PUkitteou. 

On the night of June nth Brother Truman 
Wilkinson, of Division No. 4, met with injur- 
ies from which he died at 3 p. m. the follow- 
ing day. Brother Wilkinson was in the employ 
of the E. J. & E. R. R., and on the night in 
question, when about fourteen miles from 
Waukegan, 111 ., his train parted and ran to- 
gether. In the train was a tank of naptha 0 
which was wrecked, and in examining it the 
oil was ignited causing the tank to explode. 
The burning oil caught Brother Wilkinson’s 
clotnes and when he undertook to extinguish 
the flames by rolling in the grass he only made 
a bad matter worse, as the oil which had 
flooded the ground then ignited, burning his 
clothing completely from his body before help 
could be given. Trainmaster McMannus sent 
a special from Waukegan at once with doctors 
but the injuries were found to be too serious 
for human aid to avail. Mrs. Wilkinson was 
also given a special by the same kind official 
and was with her husband when he died, on 
the way to Joliet the next day The funeral 
was held in Keithburg. and was largely at- 
tended. both by the members of the Order 
and the K. of P., deceased having been an 
honored member of these organizations. The 
other railroad orders and the fire department 
were present in full force, making the funeral 
the largest ever seen in that city. To the sor- 
row stricken wife and children the members 
of Division 367 extend their sincere sympathy. 
They also wish to thank the members of Di- 
vision 364; General Manager Acksrt, Purchas- 
ing Agent Dugan and Trainmaster McMan- 
nus, of the E. J. & E.; and Superintendent 
Voorhes and Trainmaster Ketwin.of the Iowa 
Central, for the kindly and brotherly aid they 
gave, and their thoughtful efforts to lighten 
the sorrow of the family and friends. Resolu- 
tions of condolence were also passed by 
Divisions 4 and 364 at subsequent meetings. 
Brother Wilkinson was a member of the 
Benefit Department and left his family in 
good circumstances. 

<?TUtc»n. 

During the regular meeting of Milw-aukee 
Division No. 46, held March 18 last, resolu- 
tions were adopted condoling with Brother 
W. G. Tilton in the death of his kind and lov- 
ing wife. The life of deceased was filled with 
acts of kindness and thoughtfulness for the 
good of others, and many besides the im- 
mediate circle of family and friends will 
long hold her memory in loving remem- 
brance. 


k 


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The Railway Conductor 


VOL* XI. 


CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, AUG., 1894. NO. 8. 



CONTRIBUTED. 


A LOST BRIDE. 


BY PRANK A. MYERS. 


They were to be married in Evansville at the 
St. George Hotel, on the 13th of April. .Only a 
few close friends were to witness the interesting 
ceremony. All the arrangements had been made. 

The appointed day arrived. The fair young 
bride-elect was to come to Evansville from her 
home in Terre Haute. But she failed to appear. 
And here the romance begins. 

There was family opposition to her marriage. 
The troubles began on the very day she was to 
take the morning train to join her intended and 
assume the solemn obligations of a united- life 
with him. 

It is necessary to relate here that Fuller Lin- 
den, the wofully disappointedjgroom, was a rail- 
road conductor, and one of the best that ever 
"slung a punch." He was a gentleman and a 
handsome fellow — almost an Apollo Belvedere. 
Noble in bearing, kind of heart, agreeable in 
temper, generous in sentiment, firm in the right; 
he was a king, so to speak, among his * jolly- 
hearted associates. 

But be was going to marry the* daughter of a 
proud merchant prince in Terre Haute. Her 
brothers could not bear the idea of her marriage 
with a "common railroad conductor.” As they 
viewed it, her alliance with him was far below 
her high station in life. Like most "men <of 
means" they regarded such a union as a lowering 


of their family pride, a degredation of their 
proud patronymic, a trailing in the dust of their 
exalted social honor. 

The beautiful Belle Willis, however, looked at 
this very important matter differently. To her 
Fuller Linden was a grand American king. He 
went forth valiantly to the battles of life, shirk- 
ing nothing however onerous, and with a strong 
hand and a sturdy will was doing his duty in 
helping to bear the burdens of the brown old 
world. In no sense was he shrinking from the 
work that lay plainly before him. Somebody 
must labor and do what is to do, and Fuller had 
stepped promptly forward into the vanguard to 
stand the brunt and the shock of the toil of 
life. His part should be bravely done by bis own 
hands, and not left to increase the hardships of 
others. He was a hero in the every day walks of 
life, a strong and needful man, and a useful citi- 
zen. And Belle was, in very truth, doing a proud 
thing in breaking out of the cult formed by 
money and marrying an Ajax in the thickest dust 
of commercial life. She was true enough to de- 
spise the trammels of crotchety social distinc- 
tions. 

Now, in the first place, allow it to be said that 
these two high-minded, character-admiring young 
people loved with a fondness that no shock could 
sunder. It was a sweet and perfect love, divinely 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


388 


right, and profane social customs had no legal or 
moral right to interfere. All moneyed differences 
between people are artificial, not nature made. 
God knows the workings of the hearts; be knows 
no differences where love is pure and holy. All 
true love is right in his eyes. Therefore, let 
meddlers tremble how they balk the workings of 
the heart, directed by God's finger, lec by God's 
laws. 

The train that was to bear Fuller Linden's no- 
ble, brave yonng bride-elect into Evansville 
arrived about nine o'clock a. m. While at the 
union station awaiting the coming of the long-de- 
sired train, a telegram was placed in his hands. 
It was from a friend at Terre Haute. Leaning 
against a column of the spacious shedding he read 
the astonishing news: 

"Miss Belle Willis has been abducted by her 
big brother Louis, and carried to St. Louis. She 
cannot mett you this morning." 

With a blanched cheek, but without a word, he 
handed the paralyzing message to his intimate 
friend, Bert Major. After Bert had read it he 
looked up at Fuller to see what effect it bad upon 
him. Both disappointment and chagrin were ap- 
parent. But he had not shifted his position. He 
was breathing hardly. His lips were compressed 
tightly. A hatred lighted his flashing eyes like a 
gleam of fire. Bert awaited for him to speak. 

"Don’t that beat you!" he at length exclaimed 
in a deep, hoarse voice. 

"The shame of it, after all the arrangements 
and the publicity it has had," said Bert, burning 
to his finger nails for his friend. 

After a long silence, during which Fuller never 
moved or looked at Bert, he said, with a deci- 
siveness characteristic of the young man: 

"I'll find her and marry her in spite of all the 
demons of the bottomless pit." 

Then the two friends walked away together, 
without waiting for the arrival of the train. 

"I'll tell you, Bert,” said Fuller, in the closest 
confidence, as they walked down Main street, 
"this all comes because I am a poor man and a 
common laborer." 

"That’s it, exactly. The Willises are proud 
people, and they think you beneath them " 

"I'll show them." There was a blazing fire in 
this. "I know it is not the girl's fault. She is 
not a party to this She loves me. and this thing 
only puts off the wedding day. If I am a laborer 
and they are haughty dealers in stufls, I am as 
good and as proud as they are.” 

"No. I don’t think it *s the girl's fault at all.’’ 

"I know it isn't. We ll go back, declare the 
thing off for the time, and I’ll find her — see if I 
don’t— if she's anywhere on top of sod.” 


"That’s all that can be done now," observed 
Bert, referring to the postponement of the ton- 
nage ceremony. | 

"I swear by all things, good and bad. *Ld ! 
here registt r my oath before you, that 111 find 
Belle, or I’ll die trying. ” There was the mat 
intense feeling in this utterance. He felt the 
shame of the fiasco most deeply, but be wu 
peculiarly strong in the emergency. While it 
cut him to the soul’s quick yet he was resolute to 
take up the subject of bis lost bride and fityl her, 
even if it took years. To this one thing be was 
now going to devote his life, and plans began to 
crowd thickly into his mind. 

The lines in his face were stern and hard, and 
the knit brow manifested the workings of the soul 
within. Like one who has seen the last sweet 
thing he loved on earth swept away into the 
abysm of eternal darkness, like one who has had 
his fondest hopes and dreams crushed by tbe 
nether millstone of exacting toil, like one who has 
been clubbed into imensibility by the non-appre- 
ciations and falseness ot others, he turned from 
Bert Major at the corner without another wore 
and was soon lost in the ever- mingling, moving 
varying line of wriggling humanity pouring j 
along. He was like one dead to everthing bet 1 
one omnipotent, desperate, burning purpose. If I 
the great broad earth, now dead to him, held | 
Belle anywhere, he would find her. Find her be 
must, or die in the endeavor. Tbe one mockmg 
cry of his soul was: 

"Belle! Belle! Belle! Belle!” 

This one word, like a scream upon the solemn 
stillness of a midnight forest, broke over hissoni 
like a terrifying wail of agony, and would not be 
translated into more garish words. He had 00 
use for words; his heart was already splitting with 
this one magic word "Belle. w He saw nothing 1 
heard nothing, knew nothing but Belle lost. He 
had been mocked, scorned, torn, and his being 
was like the roaring, wailing, screaming, sweep- 
ing elements in a terrifying cyclone that swept 
away fences, trees, crops, bouses, barns, render- 
ing the earth ooe vast theatre of devastation. No 
pity, no concern was shown him. What were bis 
feelings, his honor, his sense of propriety to 
them? What did they care for his disappoint- 
ment, or the sting of the wagging tongue of tbe 
Mrs. Harrises? What was he but a common 
laboring man. whom they were not bound to re- 
spect? Ah, God, is there a heaven, is there * 
hell, where all things will be meted out according 
to tbe level and square of eternal justice 1 

With all tbe speed that the mighty train could 
bear him forward he flew to St Louis resolved 
to search that Mound City for his lost bride. 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 389 


if she were within the boundaries of that strag- 
gling agglomeration of houses he would find her 
and rescue her. He would turn the city over, 
much as Archimedes would the world with a 
lever, but he would find her. It was almost im- 
possible for him to believe that anyone could be 
so heartless and cruel as to rob him of her who 
loved him with an angelic faith, and to pain her 
heart as with the thrust of a red iron. 

When he dropped off tjpe train at the union de- 
pot and glanced around at the utter blackness of 
walls and streets he knew not which way to go 
first in the prosecution of his purpose, He was 
like one 

"Who treads alone 
$2me banquet hall deserted, 

Whose lights are fled. 

Whose garlands dead. 

Ana all but he departed/' 

Where was she? How would he find her? 
Was she there at all? 

He stood long like one in a dream, like one with- 
out a purpose; and some strangers looked at him 
curiously and wondered. One middle-aged lady 
even came up to him with ithe sympathetic inquiry 
whether he did not know which way to go. Then 
he recollected himself and with a begging apology 
told the kind hearted creature that he was not an 
entire stranger there but he was simply looking 
for a friend Lifting his bat he bowed to her 
and m^ved on. 

Then he went to the office of the Globe Demo- 
crat and left an "ad.” that asked for information 
about Miss Belle Willis. The same "ad." was 
left at the office of the Republic and paid for. 
Next he proceeded to police headquarters and 
told his story, only a little modified. The only 
modification in the case was that Belle was his 
sister instead of his betrothed, as Abraham of old 
declared concerning his wife to King Abimelech. 

With the help of the press and the rogue-takers 
be began a systematic search for the lost one. 
Day after day he tramped and hunted for her, 
and night after night he continued bis hopeless 
task, and each day ended without any clue what- 
ever. Her place of concealment could not be 
found. She had been swallowed up like a ship 
that went down in mid -ocean and left no mark to 
indicate the spot where it disappeared forever 
from view. She was lost! 

Neither the papers nor the detectives brought 
him any tidings. For ten long weary days he 
bunted, np and down the streets, inquiring here 
and there, in the heart of the city and in the less 
compact suburbs, but no breath of her he sought 
came up out of the mighty solitude. In vain, 


Weary and sore and sad he retraced his footsteps 
at last to his hotel. Disappointed and distressed 
he stretched his tired limbs upon his couch, and 
as often and often before turned the desperate 
problem over in his distracted soul. Not to be 
found! Lost to him forever! Swept as it were 
from the face of earth! Gone! 

Tossing and rolling he slept not. Would to 
God he knew her destiny! Would to God he 
knew her feelings! Where, oh where was she. 
Like a cooling inspiration he quoted: 

‘ 'And neither the angels in heaven above 
Nor the demons down under the sea, 

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul 
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee." 

They might be parted in body but not in soul. 
She was hi? by all the laws 9 f Jqve and right, and 
that fact the Willises could not Fefute, though 
they took her unwilling body and securely con- 
cealed hef from him. She was his, his by her 
own Consent, his by the laws of nature, bis by 
the sanction of heaven, and bis she would alwayi 
be. If they had robbed him of everything good 
on earth, they could not take away his golden 
memories of this sweet, innocent girl. 

The irregular, moaning winds without were in 
unison with his sad, sick heart; the pulsing noise 
of the wind shaken windows of his room beat 
upon his soul like muffled drums at a funeral; the 
darkness in which he was enveloped was like the 
forbidding blackness of the revolting grave — he 
was not himself, he was not at peace. O, to have 
lost the most precious object on earth, the end 
and aim of his life! What was there in life now 
for him? 

He slept a little. 

After daylight he arose, mechanically swal- 
lowed a bite of breakfast, and leaving the search 
to be continued by the detectives, returned home. 
Sad and heavy he felt the jerk of the train as he 
started back on his way to Evansville. The last 
of earth had fled, the gong of time bad sounded, 
life's pleasures were all blotted out by one foul 
crime. 

As he flew along he looked out upon the broad 
fields greening under the soft influence of the re- 
turning spring sun, saw the woods shaking their 
budding spires in the golden light, beheld the 
farm houses and the fences that marked out the 
fields, observed the farmers busy in the open air 
preparing for the spring crops, noted the cattle 
and other farm animals moving or grazing quietly 
in the bright sunshine, remarked the approach of 
gay springtime on every hand; but what were all 
these things to him now, him who bad lost his 
hope, his love, his all. him who had lost his 
Eurydice. 


’all in vain ! 


It may have beep unseotimentally wicked, 

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390 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


he wished the train would run off the track and 
he alone of all on board would perish. Once 
when the conductor, whom he knew well, passed 
by, he spoke: 

“Say, Jim, is this Hawthorn's celestial train to 
heaven?" 

After looking at Fuller a moment in stupid 
wonderment to note what he meant, and seeing 
no sign of humor in his bard, beclouded face, 
Jim answered with a sudden thought : 

“No, Fuller, this is Artemus Ward’s typical 
southern train that he was afraid the cows would 
come in behind and eat him up for green grass." 

And Jim moved on and Fuller wondered what 
he meant. 

That very evening, Bert Major, learning that 
Fuller had returned, sought him out and found 
him at his home on Eighth street, tired, despond* 
ent and limp in mind as a wilted flower. 

“No, Bert, I did not find a single clue to Belle," 
said Fuller in answer to Bert’s anxious inquiry. 
Without invitation, but none the less welcome, 
Bert sat down near Fuller, who was lying ex- 
hausted and sapless upon a couch. The evening 
shadows deepened in the room. 

“What will you do now?” asked Bert, not a lit- 
tle concerned for Fuller’s listless, imaginative 
mental state. There was a wild stare in his 
friend’s eyes. 

“I don’t know yet — haven’t decided." 

“Well, I have some news, which I dug up with- 
out a spade or pick,” said Bert seriously. 

vWhat?" half shrieked Fuller, turning his face 
suddenly from the unsuggestive wall. 

“Well, while in Terre Haute I heard the truth. 
Her big brother Lewis did kidnap her away. She 
was at the depot just ready to take the train down 
here, when Lewis appeared on the scene like an 
absolute slave overseer and actually caught her 
and carried her to a cab and hurried to the other 
depot, where he forced her into the car and went 
with her to St. Louis. That is the last anyone 
knows of them. 

“The vile villain!" hissed Fuller, grinding his 
teeth. 

“Yes; 1 learned, too, that Lewis was the main 
stem of all the opposition to you. The whole 
family, for that matter, opposes your marriage, 
but the big, double-fisted Lewis leads them all. 
It is certain that Lewis has sworn to kill you on 
sight. Three persons that heard him say it told 
me." 

“No he won’t, "said Fuller without the least con- 
cern; “he’s too big a coward. I don’t care for 
his big, blowing words. All bluff— nothing else 
in the wide world. He would not kill a flea ’ 


“Do you think you'll find her?" 

“Find her!" starting up like one shocked by a 
sudden danger; “find her!" repeating the excla- 
mation; “of course I will," and he stared at Bert 
reprovingly. 

“I think, Fuller, it would be a good scheme to 
steer clear of her big brother for awhile, till the 
thing blows over a little, yon know. If you 
should have trouble with him, it would injure 
your cause; and if ydli should get hurt it would 
deprive Belle of a needed friend — see?" 

“I see. But don’t trouble yourself, Ben, 
about me. I shall not hunt him up to pick a 
quarrel, but if we meet I shall be six to his half 
a dozen, mark my words for it." 

Fuller arose and paced the floor like one is a 
most wretched and trying state of mind. 

“I don’t think they know you, Fuller,” ai 
length Bert broke the monotonous footfalls on the 
carpet. 

“Why?" 

“Or they — they would not treat you so.’’ 

“Ob:" as if he regarded that na reason at all 

“As to that," said Bert, “I think they thuu 
you are not good enough to be one of their family 
because — because you are a laboring man. But. 
as l said, they do not know you 

“I'm seeking the girl now, not favors," re* 
plied Fuller, not curtly but sorrowfully. 

It is not necessary to repeat the rest of their 
conversation here, for it was largely only a vari- 
ation of the words that have already been set 
down hereinbefore. 

A few days later the disappointed lover received 
a dispatch, asking him to be at the L & N. depot 
that afternoon. The thing did not look right to 
Fuller, and he told Bert about it; he also agreed 
that it had a suspicious character. 

“It is signed all right. Dave Hogan is your 
friend, and if Dave sent this it is all right. "noted 
Bert with great emphasis. “Bnt if it means 
mischief, it can be beaten, easily. 

“Suppose it has been sent by her big brother 
Lewis?" 

“If it is from him, he has laid a trap to catch 
you and kill you, that is all." 

“Think so?" asked Fuller looking queerly at 
Bert. 

“Yes." 

“Why?" 

“Oh. well, don’t you think so?" 

“Yes. I guess I do.” after hesitating some. K 
deep, hard frown mantled bis fine face. 

“Now. I d go there with a captain of police or 
the chiet of the detectives, and while yoa remain 
back the officer can probe the matter to the hot* 
tom." Bert believed this would work peifectk 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


39i 


And in fact, there coaid be no reasonable objec* 
tion raised to this. "You see," continued Bert, 
"that if it is Lewis the stolen sister may be with 
him, and she may be rescued." 

"By heavens, you are right," cried Fuller, new 
life animating his whole body and expression. 
"We may find out something anyway. At all 
events this mysterious telegram will be ex- 
plained." 


"Now you're shouting," exclaimed Bert. 
"And I'll be there with you, to help you out in 
case of trouble." 

"All right, Bert. Shake." And the two 
chums clasped bands with an emphasis singular 
to tried and true friends. 

"Go prepared," continued Bert as they parted 
at the street corner. 


TO BB CONTINUED. 


MRS. M’CARTHY’S CLOTHESLINE. 


BY H. N. ADAIR. 


The last shirt was hung and Mrs. McCarthy 
pinned it with a wooden clothespin. As she sur- 
veyed the long line of snowy garments fluttering 
in the breeze, a deep satisfaction filled her honest 
Irish heart. Her neighbor across the road had 
not yet begun to hang up her wash. But, verily, 
"pride goes before a fall," for scarcely had Mrs. 
McCarthy picked up the empty clothes basket 
and turned towards the house, when snap! went 
the faithless line, and down went the result of her 
morning’s work. Now, the soil of that country 
was red clay, and as Mrs. McCarthy, with her 
hands on her hips, surveyed the wreck, she ut- 
tered a few words. But if the blessing she ex- 
pressed were a left handed one, it was couched in 
good Irish, and, under the circumstances, might 
well be pardoned. 

Then she lifted up her voice: 

"Mike! Tim! Here, ye spalpeens!" 

Two freckled, red-haired urchins of ten and 
twelve answered to the call. The mother went 
into the house and shook out two dimes from the 
little red tin bank on a corner shelf. 

"Run to Mr. Crane’s, quick, now, and bring 
md a clothesline. And if ye’re not back forninst 
I wash out these shirts, it's more than a taste of 
the stick ye’ll get when I lay hands on ye!" 

The boys started off with a whoop, and the 
recoltection of the threat gave swiftness to their 
feet, until, after their purchase was made, they 
decided to return home by a different road. The 
distance was greater, but it had the advantage of 
shady pleasantness, with the added attraction of 
being nearer ths railroad. • 

The boys' father was a "section boss.” and the 
youngsters took an immense interest in the road. 
Probably the superintendent himself had a less 
keen appreciation of the dignity of his position, 
than had Mike and Tim McCarthy of their con- 
nection with the road. 

"Aint it 'most time for number 16, Tim?" asked 


the younger lad, as they gained the top of a hill 
that overlooked the track. Tim cast a critical 
glance at the sky; then noted the shadows at bis 
feet. 

"Ef she's on time," he answered, impressively, 

' ‘she'll come flyin' round that curve in about fif- 
teen minutes." 

"Let's wait and see her go by," suggested Mike, 
stretching himself on the short grass, and fanning 
himself vigorously with his battered straw hat. 

"O. K.," responded Tim, oblivious of his 
mother’s ire and the hickory stick. 

The hill where the boys were rose high above 
the track, and overhung it somewhat, as its steep 
side bad been cut away in building the road. The 
level top sloped very gradually back to the higher 
country behind it, but eastward and westward it 
fell away sharply to a deep ravine on either side. 
A fringe of stunted bushes grew at the edge of 
the precipice, and behind them a dense growth of 
trees made a bower of shady coolness. The boys 
lay still a few minutes; then Mike opened his 
mouth to speak. 

"Whisht!" came warningly from Tim, before a 
word had passed his brother’s lips. Mike’s ears 
were on the alert ii^tantly, and neither boy 
moved, though only Tim knew for what they 
were listening. 

Voices came up to them from below the hill. 

"It's a sure job we’ve made of it," said one, and 
the answer came in a surly tone: 

"Sure as death. They’ll be sorry they ever 
took an honest man’s livin' away from him. I 
swore I’d be even with Dan Fuller, and if that 
little arrangement there on the culvert don’t lay 
him out under his engine, my name’s not Jim 
Long." 

Tim and Mike looked into each other’s faces, 
their honest Irish eyes ablaze with indignant hor- 
ror. To both boys had flashed the recollection of 
the story their father had told, of the drunken 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


fireman who bad vowed to get even with the en- 
gineer, who had at last reported him, and so 
caused his discharge. 

And Dan Fuller, their hero, “the best engineer 
on the road,” in the boys’ opinion, was in dire 
peril. 

“Don't make a sound, Mike," whispered Tim, 
“I'm going to stop 'Sixteen.'" 

Mike nodded silently. As Tim made his way 
down the western slope, the younger lad, cau- 
tiously and silently as an Indian, wormed himself 
to the edge of the hill, where, himself unseen, hd 
could, by peering through the bushes, see the 
track for some distance in either direction. He 
could see nothing of the two men they had heard 
talking Probably they were beneath him, hid- 
den by the overhanging wall of rock. Mike's 
gaze sought the culvert, a short distance to the 
left. 

What had the two wretches done there? 

Keen-eyed as a hawk, the boy scanned the 
track almost inch by inch along the point of dan- 
ger. At the farther end of the culvert be fancied 
he could see something wedged against one rail, 
and projecting slightly above it. 

Suddenly he heard a sharp, angry cry from 
Tim, and then threatening words from the two 
conspirators. 

"You little Irish devil! What are you up to? 
We 11 teach you to spy around!" 

"Lemme go!" roared Tim "I ain't a spyin’. 
What is there to spy about?" 

"Nothin’ at all," said one of the men, hastily. 
"Only, where are you goin', in such a hurry?" 

"Home," answered Tim. "And I've got to get 
there in a hurry, or my mother’ll beat me. She 
told me to hurry back." 

Mike could not see the speakers, but he knew, 
from the sound of their voices, that they were on 
the western slope of the hill, hidden by the un- 
dergrowth. 

"Which way do you li^e, sonny?" 

There was an ugly undertone of savagery be- 
neath the assumed mildness of the question. 

"Down the track," answered Tim, with alac- 
rity, a sudden hope uprising within him that the 
men’s suspicions might be disarmed by his frank- 
ness. But the grip on his arm was only tight- 
ened, and the cruel, drawling voice went on. 

"You mustn't go that way now, bub. The 
train's a cornin’, an’ you might get run over 

With a howl of rage. Tim tried to wrench him- 
self free, but only made his case worse. With an 
oath, the man exclaimed: 

"We’ll just tie you to this tree till you learn 
not to meddle. Here. Joe, hold his arms around 
it, so till I tie his wrists together. You an me 

Digil 


must light out o’ this. Hold your noise, you limb 

o’ Satan, before I cut your d d Irish throat 

Poor little Mike, crouched amid the bushes on 
the brow of the hill, had listened with growing 
terror to the colloquy below. Now his heart 
seemed to stand still with fear. Would they 
really cut Tim’s throat? Men that would wreck 
a train would not mind killing a little boy, thought 
poor Mike. But there was a hero's heart beneath 
that faded calico shirt, and the quick Irish wits 
were at work devising a plan to save the endan- 
gered train. 

“I can't do anything for Tim by myself," he 
thought, "but maybe it won’t be too late if I can 
stop 'Sixteen.' Maybe the bad men will runaway 
when they hear her coming. If I had time I d 
say a 'Hail Mary,' but sure the Blessed Virgin 
will know I wanted to. If she’ll just take careo 
Tim, I’ll get Mr. Carroll to stop the train." 

Mike's fingers had been as busy as his thoughts, 
and by this lime he had knotted one end of the 
clothesline firmly around a stout young oak and 
dropped the other end over the edge of the hill 
He nodded with satisfaction as he saw that it was 
long enough to reach the ground below. 

Grasping the rope firmly with both hands, acd 
bracing himself by giving it a twist around one 
bare foot, and pressing against it with the other 
he swung himself clear, and slowly, yet as quick- 
ly as he dared, let himself down. There came in 
to his mind a vague remembrance of something 
that a good priest had taught him once, but he 
could not recall it clearly. 

"Wish I could say it now," he thought, as he 
cautiously lowered himself, " ’twas somethin 
’bout St. Michael an’ all the angels. Father 
Connor told it to me cause I was born on St 
Michael's day. But it’s Tim they ought to look 
after now. I hope they will." 

Mike was small for his age, and slight, active 
and wiry as a cat, and the descent was accom- 
plished in safety. Then he bounded away like a 
deer, towards the station, half a mile eastward 
“ 'Sixteen* is late, sure." he thought, as be ran 
his best, "she’d 'a been along by now if she was 
on time I hope she's azv/ul late." 

Rod after rod was passed by the flying bare, 
brown feet, and Mike’s heart was thumping like a 
hammer against his ribs. But he kept bravely 
on. never slackening his speed, while over and 
over in his brain he seemed to hear the good 
priest s half forgotten words, and his feet kept 
time to the swift measure 

"St. Michael and all angels." 

Somehow- be did not feel so frightened about 
Tim now. aDd bent all his energy towards reach* 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


iog the station and sending a warning to the im- 
periled train. 

Mr. Carroll was busy, writing up his way bills, 
when Mike burst into the office like a small whirl- 
wind, and gasped: 

“Stop ‘Sixteen’! The culvert!” 

He had no breath for another word. 

The agent knew ,the McCarthy boys, and felt 
sure that there was a real and urgent need that 
the train should be stopped. Wasting no time in 
questioning the boy, he turned instantly to the 
key, and Mike felt easier as he beard the sharp 
click, click of the instrument. The sound was 
totally unintelligible to him, but he believed that 
the little key had absolute control over the trains. 

"C. and £., Number 16. Danger at first cul- 
vert on Section 12.” 

This was the message the agent sent to the next 
telegraph station; but his face grew pale as the 
answer came clicking back : 

"Number 16 just passed.” 

It was too late to give the warning by wire. 
Was there time to flag the doomed train? Car- 
roll seized a red flag and rushed out of the office. 
At first be ran so swiftly that Mike was left far 
behind. But Carroll was rather stout, and un- 
used to running, and before long the thin, wiry 
Irish lad began to gain. He had taken a breath- 
ing spell, and besides, was buoyed up by the tre- 
mendous excitement. Fifty yards from the cul- 
vert he was at the agent's side. Carroll was 
breathing heavily and running unsteadily. 

And hark! The whistle! And beyond the 
trees, the smoke! 

A word of despair broke from Carroll's lips, 
and he almost stood still, his arms dropped weari- 

iy 

"I can't make it!” he gasped, hopelessly. 

"/can,” cried Mike, snatching the flag from 
the nerveless hand*, "you come on, and don't let 
the men stop me.” 


393 

Only half comprehending the vague clue in the 
boy's words, yet with full belief in him, Carroll 
followed the little fellow, as quickly as he could, 
but Mike far outstripped him, and passed the cul- 
vert just as the train swept into full view around 
the curve beyond. 

Waving the red flag from side to side, Mike ran 
to meet it. The shrill whistle sounded like sweet- 
est music in his ears as it gave the call for brakes; 
and the long freight train came slowly to a stand- 
still. 

The engineer was leaning out of the cab win- 
dow, and called out: 

"What’s wrong, Mike?” 

"Jim Long has fixed something on the culvert 
to ditch your engine.” 

The conductor came running forward, and to 
him Mike repeated what he had said to the en- 
gineer. 

Then, as the excitement that had buoyed him 
him up began to subside, he trembled, and when 
Fuller shook hands with him and* said: 

"I’ll be proud to have you for my fireman some 
day,” Mike, to the engineer’s amazement, began 
to cry vigorously, and it was some minutes before 
he could sob out his story of how Tim had started 
to warn the train and had been stopped by the 
men who had planned the wreck. 

But fears for Tim's safety were soon quelled, 
for. guided by his howls of distress, they present- 
ly found him and released him from his bonds 
The two villains had made their escape as soon 
as they had tied Tim. 

"Phwat are ye howlin' about, Mike?” said the 
elder brother, "they didn't hurt me, and 'Sixteen' 
is all right, thanks to you.” 

But Mike still wailed : 

"The clothesline! Sure, marm'll bate the life 
out o’ us!” 


THE MYSTERIOUS FOREST. 


A SOCIAL ALLEGORY. 


BY H. P. PEEBLES 


CHAPTER XIII. 

After the above revelations of the inner or soul 
history of Socialist the reader may appreciate 
why the experience of Christian had so profound- 
ly impressed him. His mind wasjlike a plowed 
fietd, the sod was upturned and the ground pre- 
pared to receive the seeds of any religious doc- 
trine. 

He bad known Christian for years, as a man of 


intelligence and ability, of irreproachable life 
and morals, free from any traces of bigotry or 
fanaticism and earnest and sincere in bis search 
of truth. 

And this man, after a life examination, accepted 
as divine the words of Christ, but worshipped the 
God that Christ bad revealed, not the man that 
Christian tradition proclaimed a God. It cer- 
tainly was a new. and original way to judge of 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 



394 

Christianity, taking the words of Christ by them- bis system bad fallen a prey to the poisonous 
selves — yet why was it not the true way? He exhalations of the decaying vegetable mould that 
would follow the example of bis friend, borrow formed the soil in the dark forest. None but the 

his manuscript and study it carefully, and strongest could have long resisted the heavy 

His soliloquy was suddenly interrupted. He miasmatic vapors that hung like earth clouds 
felt a hand on his shoulder and heard the anxious under the impenetrable roof, that the life-giving 
voice of Christain exclaim, “Come quickly, I rays of the sun never reached to absorb, 
fear our companion is very ill.” The two friends looked inquiringly at each 

A few hurried steps through the tall weeds and other. Weak and sick as he was, the light oi 
underbrush brought them to the side of Philosoph- reason still shown from his eyes, and his words 
ic. He was tossing restlessly on his blanket, bis feat- were not the vaporings of fever, 
ures were contracted, his nose and chin seemed Christian looked earnestly in the eyes of the 
sharp and peaked, the face had a purple hue, and sick man, and leaned over him with an air oi 
the muscles of the mouth twitched convulsively, kindly sympathy; yet there was an nndiscribable 
as he attempted to greet them with his usual ring of dignity in his words as he said slowly aud 
smile of welcome; but fell back, uttering faintly, impressively: 

“please, water.” “You are reasoning from a false and unnatural 

When Christian held a cup of water to his lips basis. If you found either my friend or myself 
he eyed it with wistful avidity, but waved it aside sick and suffering in the forest would you turn 
and motioned for a spoon, and would not drink away and leave us to perish?” A faint smik 
from the cup. Socialist smiled involuntarily at played on the lips of the sick man, a light cane 
this instance of moderation and self-control that into his eyes that proved he had caught the far- 
recalled the time when he fed him on breed reaching effect of the question. He hesitated 
crumbs. and shook his head. Christian raised his band 

The two friends were really alarmed at the ap* saying, “I insist on the direct answer, yes or no 
pearance of the sick man; but while they bathed He waited for the answer, and when the word “no 
his head and face in the cooling water, arranged was , whispered, stopped the explanation that 
his blankets, made him a pillow from their own, trembled on the lips of the other by saying, “Let 
and chafed his feet and hands, they assured him the matter end here. Would you think of us 
(as a well man instinctively does one that is ill) less than men? Would you have us forget the 
that he looked better already and would soon be Golden Rule? Would you imagine that we would 
we M do less than you would do?” 

Several times he endeavored to speak, as if he Philosophic said no more. Apparently the 
had something on his mind that worried him. reasoning of Christian had settled the matter; for 
But the effort seemed to cause him pain, and his he sank back on the pillow, and the anxious, 
voice would fall to a confused murmur. worried look faded from his face. 

The two friends vainly endeavored to soothe Several hours passed, and he lay quietly with 
his increasing agitation, but their well-meant closed eyes. He never spoke, but received the 
efforts only aggravated his condition. A look of attentions of the two friends with a smile of grat- 
strong resolve showed the strong mental effort he itude. . 

made to conquer his physical weakness, as he It was near the middle of the day when bis 

beckoned them nearer to his side and whispered, features suddenly relaxed, the skin lost its purple 

rather than spoke, “I must speak now; the de- hue and glazed appearance, and he was bathed in 

lirium of fever may conquer. I have been weak a profuse perspiration. He opened his eyes and 
and cowardly, and was selfish enough to remain smiled faintly, as he declared he was much bet- 
here, knowing that I might become a charge on ter. 

your kindness. Physicians have warned me chat Much relieved, Socialist whispered to bis 
a trip in the forest beyond the beaten paths friend, “The fever has gone, and when this weak 
would prove fatal. You must promise that you ness passes off he will be well.” 
will not allow my condition to interfere with your But Christian shook his head. He was better 
explorations. Leave me and go on with your informtd as to the sickness and its cause than bis 

work. You — have — lost — time — and ” The companion, and gravely replied: “This is bat 

voice had gradually failed, and, although the lips the natural exercabation of the disease. Tbe 
still moved, no sound reached the ears of the fever will return, and his extreme lassitude and 
listeners. exhaustion proves that little vitality is left to 

Never of a strong or robust frame the exposure combat the increase of miasma that will laden 
of the last week had weakened his vitality, and the air of night. If we had a supply of quinine 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


there would be some hope; but we cannot remove 
him. and 1 fear recovery is simply impossible/' 

The voice of the speaker was broken as he 
turned away, his mouth quivered, and great tears 
rolled down his face, as he endeavored to hide 
his emotion by stooping down and making prepar- 
ations to light the evening fire. 

Philosophic bad been known to the others only 
a few days, but the marked unselfishness, the evi- 
dent sincerity and real goodness and the gentle 
firmness of his character bad strongly impressed 
them, and had obscured the ^peculiarities of this 
strange man. 

As bis friend had turned away, Socialist had 
hurried to his pack that had been thrown at the 
foot of the tree, and after rummaging here and 
there for a short time, rose hurriedly to hii feet 
and hastened back with a smile of exultation: 
“Here is what you want. I remembered Onetax 
said he had some common medicines with him, 
and in his hurry to leave he left his small pack- 
ages.” 

The eyes of Christian brightened as he took 
the little parcel of paper in his hand and read 
the words “Quin Sulph.” 

“Thank God! thank God!" he fervently ejacu- 
lated, “this is a thousand times more precious 
than diamonds," as he tore off the cover and re- 
vealed a flaky white powder. 

He divided the whole into six equal powders, 
mixed one of these with a little water in a spoon. 
His voice rang out with old time heartiness, and 
his face was wreathed with triumphant smiles. 
"Rejoice; here is the remedy that will drive the 
malaria like a summer cloud before the wind. 
Quick; open your mouth; every minute of delay 
is a minute lost." 

He suddenly and abruptly stopped. Philo- 
sophic was lying perfectly still, his arms were 
folded on his breast, his eyes were fixed and 
staring as at something far off, while his lips 
moved as though he was repeating a regular 
formula. His whole attitude resembled one either 
in deep meditation, or perhaps in prayer. He 
paid no attention to the enthusiastic greeting, and 
the other stood silently waiting, until he turned, 
and with his courteous smile, said: "I ask your 
pardon, but I was in the midst of treatment, and 
could not b^eak off immediately to explain my 
apparent rudeness." 

“In the midst of treatment!" exclaimed Christ- 
ian. "What do you mean?" 

The sick man bad exhausted himself in his 
former effort, and his bead sank back on the pil- 
low. as he waited to gather strength before 
answering. 


395 


Socialist, who had followed the other to the 
side of the sick man, shared the surprise of his 
friend, and tapped his head significantly with his 
finger while he pointed at the sick man. Christ- 
ian shook his head negatively. Although pale and 
contracted the face of the sufferer expressed full 
intelligence with no sign of excitement or de- 
lirium. 


Philosophic beckoned them nearer, and having 
slowly swallowed a mouthful of water, spoke 
clearly, although but little louder than a whisper, 
in his usual pedantic style: 

“1 am a firm believer in mental science, or, as 
it is called, mind cure. It is the only scientific 
treatment for the imaginary bodily condition that 
we call disease. I have never taken drugs during 
adult life and never will. I had hoped to explain 
the theory to you and have you treat me, as self 
treatment is not as efficacious as that received 
from another; but my weakness — has — pre- 
vented " 


The voice of the speaker had gradually become 
weaker and indistinct, and a hoarse murmur suc- 
ceeded. His lips still moved, but no sound came 
to the ears of the listeners. He was entirely ex- 
hausted, bis face twitched, and his breath became 
hard and labored. 

The two looked at each other inquiringly. He 
was not delirious, it was not the perversity of 
sickness. What should they do? The day was 
slowly fading, the air was perceptibly cooler, 
the grey mist was assuming a brownish tinge. 
Night was close at hand — night freighted with the 
breath of death. Every moment was precious, 
and hours had been already wasted. Without 
the antidote another attack was inevitable, and 
in his weak condition another attack meant death. 
It might be well to humor the fancies of a sick 
man to a certain point. But should such fancies 
interfere when life and death hung trembling in 
the balance, and a breath might turn the scale? 
They knew that be was amenable to reason, but 
there was no time to argue the case, he was too 
weak to reason, too ill to judge; and there was no 
time to discuss the merits of treatment. It 
might, even now, be too late to check the prog- 
ress of the disease, and every moment added to 
this uncertainty. Christian stooped and held 
the spoon before him gently and in the soothing 
tone that one would use to a refractory child, 
“Please take this, one swallow and it is all over, 
then we will argue the case." 


Philosophic turned away with a grimace of dis- 
gust from the spoon, and his deep sunk eyes fair- 
ly glowed with indignation as he said, with a 
distinct pause between each word that rang with 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


396 

a metallic clearness: " 1 — have — said — enough. 
Do — you — take — me — for — a —puling — child ? 

Socialist wrung his hands in perplexity. He 
felt that he knew the strange character better 
than his friend. He remembered the terrible re- 
morse and agony of self reproach that had over- 
whelmed him at the bare memory of having used 
physical force to drag his brother away from an 
ignominious death, and he felt that the man be- 
fore them would prefer certain death to a viola- 
tion of his principles. 

Christian involuntarily drew back from the 
withering. contempt that shown from the face of 
the sick man, but the feeling was but momen- 
tary. He looked pityingly at the stern counte- 
nance of the other, then closed his eyes for an 
instant, and his lips moved as if in silent prayer 
for help from that divine source that he believed 
reigned in omnipotence over the. affairs of men. 
He beckoned Socialist aside, and then, later, fol- 
lowed him through the woods beyond the ear 
shot of the sick man, who followed their motions 
with his eyes, but spoke no word. 


As soon as they believed they were beyond the 
hearing of the other, Christian turned, and laid 
his hand on the shoulder of his companion. His 
bearing was solemn and determined, and there 
was a peculiar dignity, even majesty in his air 
that awed the other. 

"We must do our full duty, a human life is in 
our hands, and we must use all God-given mesas 
to preserve it. We must make him take the 
remedy;" and he added with increasing solemnity 
that thrilled his hearer, "If we allowed him to 1 
die without taking it, the balance of my own life ! 
would be made miserable by the knowledge that 1 
there was a soul waiting on the shore of time that y 
I must blush to meet. " 1 

He bowed his head and Socialist uttered the ! 
word, amen! while his hand ctasped that of hit 
companion's in a grasp of silent sympathy. 

Without another word they retraced their steps 
Socialist gave a quick exclamation of surprise 
The blankets were empty. The sick man bid 
disappeared. 


TO BB CONTINUED. j 

j 

PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF RAILROADS. ; 


BY W. P. 

The present terrible condition of affairs will 
not be altojether an evil if it awakens railway 
employes to the importance of finding permanent 
relief for the industrial difficulties surrounding 
them, and directs their attention towards the only 
practical and logical solution of the railway prob- 
lem — government ownership. Aside from such 
'Considerations as this, which are alone sufficient 
to place the question of public ownership beyond 
dispute, there are many other reasons why the 
people should own the railroads The railroads 
are essentially public agents; they do the busi 
ness of the public, and it is indisputable that the 
public business can only be satisfactorily admin- 
istered by public functionaries; men who are 
answerable to the public alone for the proper 
performance of their duties, and not to private 
parties. The Interstate Commerce Commission- 
ers in their sixth annual report, thus set forth 
the public character of the railroad business. 
‘The railroad is justly regarded as a public facil- 
ity which every person may enjoy at pleasure, a 
common right to which all are admitted and from 
which none can be excluded. * * * The rail- 
road exists by virtue of authority proceeding 
tfroai the state, and thus differs in its essential 
nature from every form of private enterprise. 


BORLAND. 

The carrier is invested with extraordinary powen 1 
which are delegated by the sovereign, and thereby • 
performs a governmental function. * * # So { 
far from being a private possession, it differs | 
from evei y species of property and is in no sense ! 
a commodity. Its office is peculiar, for it is 
essentially public. The railroad, therefore, can 
rightfully do nothing which the state itself might 
not do if it performed this public service through 
its own agents ins'ead of delegating it to corpora- 
tions which it has created." 

That the railroads do perform governmental 
functions is clear. They perform public busi- 
ness, and in the carrying on of that business they 
are necessarily endowed with powers which right- 
fully belong only to the government. They are 
endowed with the taxing power which is the 
supreme attribute to sovereignty; they tas the 
public for the carrying on of the public business 
If this taxing power was used in the interests of 
the public there could be no considerable com- 
plaint on that score; but the trouble is tbit it is 
not used iu the interests of the public, bat in the 
interests of private parties who use this delegated 
power for their own enrichment at the expense of 
the public Here appears the peculiar phase of 
the question that the necessities of the case hart 


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THE RAILWAY 

permitted the railroads to exercise a power which 
the government of the United States is constitu- 
tionally debarred from exercising itself. By fail- 
ure to assume this manifestly gove n mental func- 
tion, the government permits the railroads to do 
something which the constitution expressly pro 
hibits it from doing. The constitution declares 
that "all duties, imposts, and excises shall be 
uniform throughout the United States," and that 
"no preference shall be given by any regulation 
of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state 
over those of another." It was because of dis- 
criminations for the benefit of favored shippers 
or localities in plain defiance of the spirit of con- 
stitutional right, whereby competition was shut 
out and a portion of the people enabled to profit 
at the expense of the whole, that the inter- 
state commerce law was enacted. This 
law was expressly aimed at discriminations 
of all sorts, but it is well known that the 
law is almost a dead letter; it only forces 
the discriminations to be carried on with some 
approach to secrecy, but it does not prevent 
them from being carried on all the same. Presi- 
dent Stickney says that "if all who have offended 
against the law were convicted there would not 
be jails enough in the United States to hold 
them." The decision of the court in the Coun- 
selman case practically declared the interstate 
commerce law worthless for the purpose of pro- 
tecting the people against discriminations 
Counsel man secured a rebate on corn which he 
was shipping into Chicago from western states, 
that gave him practical control of the market. 
Being summoned to appear before the commis- 
sion to give evidence against the roads which had 
given him the rebates, Counsel man refused to 
testify on the ground that he was a stockholder in 
the roads interested, and, therefore, his evidence 
might tend to criminate himself. The court sus- 
tained him in this plea, and thus it happens that 
discriminations may be practiced with impunity 
by merely taking the precaution to turn over to a 
favored shipper a few shares of railroad stock. 
Private parties, too, who are largely interested in 
railroads, are also largely interested in other 
businesses tributary to the railroads or 
dependent upon them. It is perfectly natural 
that the railroads should be run in the interests 
of these parties who are thus both owners and 
users of railroads; and wherever their private 
interest is opposed to the public interest the pub- 
lic interest must suffer. It is this mixing up of 
diverse interests that forms the backbone of the 
coal combine, and kindred organizations that 
prey upon the necessities of the people. 

Government control, as attempted through the in- 


CONDUCTOR. 39 f 

ter- state commerce commission, is useless, because 
it is an illogical solution. Control, to be effective, 
must be accompanied by ownership; when the 
owners of the railroads are compelled to permit 
them to be controlled by the public agents, in the 
interests of the public and in opposition to their 
own interests, their ownership is a mere fiction. 
Effective control i$ the essence of ownership; 
when control is not effective ownership ceases;, 
the owner of property who is denied the privilege 
of controlling his own property is, for all practi- 
cal purposes, no longer an owner. Thus, by the 
very nature of ownership, when the government, 
assumes the right to control railroad property it 
denies the right of private parties to own such 
property, and to carry the assumption of control 
to its legitimate conclusion the government must 
assume also the ownership of railroads. The 
logic of the situation is just this: If the opera^ 
tion of railroads is a private business to be car- 
ried on for private gain, the government has no 
right to interfere in the matter at all, and the 
attempt at government control is a manifest im- 
pertinence; an unwarranted interference with 
private rights entirely outside the legitimate 
sphere of government. If, on the other hand, 
the operation of railroads is a public business to 
be carried on for public purposes, and this is 
unquestionably the correct view, then private 
parties have no business to be running them; 
they are as much out of their legitimate sphere 
in the one case as the government would be in 
the other. If history teaches any one thing with 
certainty, that thing is that governmental func- 
tions cannot be safely delegated to private par- 
ties. One of the principal sources of the cor- 
ruption, and oppression of the people, that marks 
the history of the decline of the Roman Empire, 
was the farming of the revenue, or the confer- 
ring of governmental powers of taxation on pri- 
vate persons or companies of persons. Thi& 
method of collecting revenue through private 
agents who are actuated by their own selfish in- 
terests alone has produced such terrible evils 
wherever it has been tried that it is now almost 
universally condemned. Yet, we note survivals 
of the pernicious principle in our own country, 
or, rather, particular developments of analogous 
principles. 

Our protective system is in essence noth- 
ing more than the conferring on private par- 
ties the power to tax the public for private gain; 
and the power of taxation which is conferred on 
the railroads is particularly to be condemned, 
because they tax the public for carrying on an 
essentially public business and the whole of the 
revenue goes into private pockets. It is this 


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398 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


illogical attitude of the government that renders 
its attempts at effective control so ludicrously 
inefficient. The public wants the best possible 
service at the minimum of cost. The owners of 
the railroads want the largest dividends possible 
for the minimum service and outlay. The public 
appoints a commission to secure the one, the 
owners of the railroads appoint ’ managers to 
secure the other. Evidently there is antagonism 
and conflict of interests from the start. The 
managers are appointed and paid by the owners, 
and it is certain that they are going to manage 
the railroads in the interests of the owners, who 
pay them their salaries. They would be fools if 
they attempted to do otherwise. Then the gov- 
ernment attempts to exercise such control over 
these managers as to compel them to manage the 
properties directly contrary to their own interests 
and the interests of those from whom they re- 
ceive their salaries. Contempt and evasion of 
government control is sure to follow; the govern- 
ment attempts to enforce its authority and use- 
less litigation is the result; the cost of such litiga- 
tion, as well as the * expenses of main- 
taining the useless commission for enforc- 
ing the principle of government control, 
is so much further expense that the pub- 
lic has to pay on account of the railroads. We 
have the result, then, that the public must pay 
the big salaries of the railway managers, the cost 
of maintaining the commission to watch the man- 
agers, the expense of the litigation necessary to 
enforce the law, the added cost of operation 
brought about by successful evasion of the law, 
together with the lawful profits of the railway 
business. 

Since the public must furnish all the rev- 
enue for the operation of the railroads, the 
public is interested that they shall be operated as 
economically as possible. Economy calls for 
public ownership. In the Arena for February, 
1893, Mr. C. Wood Davis, a man who is thor- 
oughly well qualified to speak on such matters, 
calculates the economies of public ownership at 
$310,000,000 a year. This allows for a sinking 
fund of $50,000,000 yearly; and since then Mr. 
Davis has made further calculations which add 
fifty millions to his former estimate, bringing the 
total immediate saving of public ownership up to 
$360,000,000 yearly. Mr. Cator, another reliable 
investigator of the railway problem, calculates 
that the government could borrow the money, 
pay cash for the roads — at their actual value — 
pay 2 per cent interest on the loan, and at once 
save $520,000 000 out of the $1,000,000,000 
yearly paid to the railroads. The economies on 
which such estimates are based are plain and tan- 

Digi 


gible — such as the abolition of the numerous ex- 
pensive administrative officers with their cottly 
staffs which would come about by the consolida- 
tion of the railway business under a single mao- 1 
agement, the numerous traffic associations, the I 
army of commercial agents and lawyers, the many 
fast freight lines, competing depots and costly 
uptown offices, the immense sums expended for 
advertising, eta, — but there are other economies, 
not directly reducible to a money basis, which 
the public would enjoy, and which are of itn- j 

mense importance in any estimate of the public ] 

welfare. These are economy in time, resulting ! 

from simple uniform tariffs and a better dispatch j 

of business, better service from better treated 1 

and better paid employes, greater safety from j 

uniform equipment and the latest improved sg- I 

naling and operating devices, fewer wrecks with 
their consequent losses of life and property, ab 
sence of the indirect losses occasioned by strikes 
and lockouts, etc. Public ownership would put 
an end to gambling in railway stocks, one of the 
most corrupting influences in the nation About 
six-tenths of all the stock exchange gambling in the 
country is done with railway stocks; qnd Presi- 
dent Stickney says that private railway compa- 
nies and stock exchanges ‘‘constitute the most 
perfect machinery for the purpose of legalized \ 
robbery that the human intellect is canable of ■ 
devising." j 

We might go on enumerating, almost indefi- \ 
nitely, the many advantages of public own- f. 
ership from the standpoint of the public at large, j 
but the benefits of public ownership from the ] 
standpoint of the employes is the point to be ' 
dwelt upon now. Government ownership would 
increase wages and shorten the hours of labor 
It would also bring about security of wages; in 
the sense that employes would be relieved from 
the fear of having their wages cut down on every 
occasion of a decrease in the volume of business. 
The government pays better wages than any pri- 
vate corporation, and government employes are 
required to work but eight hours a day. Mail 
carriers get from $600 to $1,000 a year, according 
to length of service, and they work bnt eight j 
hours a day. Brakemen and conductors, all em- 
ployes in the train service, frequently work six- 
teen hoars a day; and the great majority of 
employes in train service do not average more 
than $500 a year. In fact the average par of 
railway employes is considerably less than $5002 
year, including all the highly paid officers in the 
estimate; large classes of them make less than 
$300 a year. The present depression in business 
has thrown thousands of employes ont of a jab 
thus cutting off their wages entirely, while others 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


399 


have had their wages reduced to such a point that 
it is a hard matter for them to live; and on ac- 
count of reductions in the force one man is often 
compelled to do the work of two or three. But 
here we may note that the law of supply and de- 
mand which is supposed to govern wages with an 
iron hand is totally inoperative with respect to 
government employes. They pursue the even 
tenor of their ways undisturbed by the prevailing 
business depression. Their wages are not re- 
duced; their hours of labor are not increased; 
none of them are discharged on account of the 
depression, notwithstanding that there are count- 
less numbers of unemployed who would be only 
too glad to enter the government service at less 
wages than is being paid to present employes. 
All this because government business is run for the 
pnblic benefit, and not for private profit. The post- 
office is not run with a view of profit to the gov- 
ernment, but with a view to furnish the public 
with the best possible service at the least cost. 
There is, in fact, always a balance on the wrong 
side of the ledger in the post office department. 
That is to say, the cost of runring the business 
exceeds the revenue received from it. And it 
may be well to remark that the deficiency in 
postal revenues is at present wholly due to the 
large sums paid the railroads for carrying the 
mails; and it would disappear entirely if the gov- 
ernment owned the railroads. The government 
pays to the railroads nearly $25,000,000 annually 
for transporting the mails, or more than is paid 
to the railroads by all the express companies 
combined. 

The immediate effect of government own- 
ership on railway employes, then, would be 
to increase their wages, lessen their hours ot 
labor, and afford them greater security for their 
wages. The government has no watered stock 
that demands interest payments; it does not seek 
to make dividends at the expense of wages. The 
government's attitude with respect to wages is set 
forth by Judge Caldwell, in the following sen- 
tence, which railway employes ought to learn by 
heart: "The wages of the men must not be re- 
duced below a reasonable and just compensation 
for their services. They must be paid fair wages, 
though no dividends are paid on the stock and no 
interest paid on the bonds. It is a part of the 
public history of the country, of which the court 
will take judicial notice, that for the first $36,- 
000,000 of stock issued this company received 
less than two cents on the dollar, and the profit 
of construction, represented by outstanding 
bonds, was $43,929,328.34.” The employes 
would gain in the factor of safety. Under pri- 
vate ownership of railroads, the percentage of 


employes killed and injured from purely avoid- 
able causes steadily increases. Improvements 
tending to render railway operation as safe as 
possible to employes are neglected because they 
would tend to reduce profits, and they are only 
undertaken when the clamor of the public be- 
comes so loud th at railway owners dare no longer 
neglect them, and then only in a half-hearted 
and perfunctory manner. Public ownership 
would change all that. Improvements would 
then be the order of the day, and railway opera- 
tion would be speedily rendered as safe an em- 
ployment as human ingenuity could make it. 
This, because it would be to the public interest 
to have it so, and the matter of railway dividends 
would not stand in the way of the desired result. 

Government ownership would relieve employes 
from the necessity of keeping up expensive or- 
ganizations for the purpose of protecting their 
wages and making contracts, often unsatisfactory, 
with their employers. When government em- 
ployes have a grievance it goes before the proper 
committee in congress, and it forthwith becomes 
public business. There is no striking to enforce 
the demands, no lordly general manager or third 
vice president to treat the grievance committee 
with contempt, nor does any member of the 
grievance committee need to fear the loss of his 
job for making himself conspicuously active in 
presenting the grievance to the country. The 
purpose of the present organizations, outside of 
their purely fraternal and insurance features, 
which may be regarded as side issues, is to secure 
just and reasonable conditions of employment 
for their members — fair wages, reasonable hours, 
and the highest degree of safety consistent with 
the nature of the railway business. There is no 
way in which these objects may be attained with 
greater ease and certainty than by placing the 
railroads in the hands of the government; and 
the several railway organizations can do their 
members no better service, consistent with their 
avowed ends, than by agitating the question, and 
throwing their strength on the side of that large 
section of the public tfarat demands public owner- 
ship of the railways. Every demand of organized 
railway labor might thus be realized, quietly, peace- 
fully, without costly strikes, without bloodshed 
and enmity, and without any fear of loss of em- 
ployment for those who are active in the cause of 
labor. 

It is sometimes urged that government own- 
ership would breed favoritism in the service, 
that men would ba appointed to important rail- 
way positions solely as a reward for political serv- 
ice to one or the other dominant parties, and 
not for their knowledge of the railway business. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Can any person imagine a possible state of politi- 
cal favoritism in connection with the railroads 
that would be worse than the favoritism that now 
exists under private ownership? To secure an 
important and high salaried railway position it is 
now sufficient to marry the niece or daughter of a 
mighty railway president, or be the son or nephew 
of one of the principal stockholders or managing 
directors; actual knowledge of the requirements 
of railway operation counts for very little The 
dudes and nincompoops who are born in the pur- 
ple get the high salaried positions, while their 
subordinates do the work connected with them. 
There is no good reason to suppose that favorit 
ism in the service would be increased by govern- 
ment ownership; in fact, there is good reason to 
suppose that it would be enormously decreased. 
iVhen the railroads are run in the interests of 
the public, those responsible for their operation, 
Vising under the public eye, will not dare to jeop- 
ardize their positions by entrusting the functions 
of operations to incompetents. The public de- 
mands competency in its employes, above all 
things, in such matters as touch the daily life of 
the people as closely as does the railway business; 
and the public will secure competency in prefer- 
ence to any other attribute in its employes. The 
inefficiency which we commonly attribute to gov- 
ernmental arrangement is mostly in those depart- 
ments which do not come directly under the pub- 
lic eye, in connection with functions that very 
little concern public convenience and safety. 
Whether our warships are well or poorly built is 
a matter which concerns very little the comfort 
and convenience of the people. Such matters ;s 
that the people are not interested in closely, and 
they are content to let them go with such knowl- 
edge of thei/ operation as they glean from the 
newspapers. But let the mails go astray, let the 
postman fail in properly performing his duties, 
and there is at once an outcry from the public 
that makes itself f ^lt. No incompetency is toler- 
ated there, and no sort of favoritism is able to 
permanently protect incompetency. The post- 
office department is a model of efficiency that 
many private businesses might well pattern after, 
because it comes close to the every day life of the 
people, and so it could not fail to be with the 
railroads. The really competent men would then 
be in demand, because they would be able to 
give the public efficient and satisfactory service. 

Again, we are told that government ownership 
will lead to political corruption. If it is possible 
for the railroads to become more of a corrupting 
influence in politics than they are at present, 
God help this poor country! It is a matter of 
common notoriety that the railroads now own 


many of our state legislatures body and soul 
Practical politicians all over the United Stitts 
recognize the utter hopelessness of contending 
with the railway power No prudent roan will 
run for office in any of our states if he has good 
reason to believe that the railway power is againn 
him The elder Vanderbilt boasted openly that 
he spent $60,000 in a short time at Albany to 
secure favorable railway legislation, and that h* 
secured it. It is openly asserted, and not denied. | 
that the Pennsylvania railroad carries the legisla 
lure of Pennsylvania in its vest pocket. Even 
one knows that the Pacific railways control the 
destinies of the great state of California with an 1 
iron band. Hon. Thomas V. Cator estimate! 
that $30,000,000 are yearly spent by the railways 
in corrupting legislation. In a speech in the 
United States senate. Senator Bsck said: "It is 
impossible to have an honest legislature, state or 
federal, so long as representatives are sent who 
owe their election to or are personally interested 
in great moneyed corporations or monopolies 
No matter whether they call themselves demo 
crats or republicans, they are not the represent! 
tives of the people; they are simply the agents or 
attorneys of those who seek their own aggrandize 
ment by taxing the masses.” And he was right 
But the political despotism that men fear from 
government ownership of the railroads is of a 
different nature: it is that the patronage of the 
party in power would be so immensely increased 
as to enable it to perpetuate iis rule regardless of 
the people’s wishes. In Australia there is no 
complaints of abuse of political patronage oc 
account of government ownership. There the 
tenure of office of employes is placed under con- 
trol of a non-partisan board containing repre- 
sentatives of all the leading political parties, and 
the same plan could be adopted here. Moreover, 
we have all the machinery io existence that is 
competent to overcome any evils of that charac- 
ter, in our civil service law; all that u needed is 
to perfect it and more thoroughly apply it. If 
the civil service were entirely separated from pol 
itics and placed on a business basis, the patron 
age capable of abuse by any political party would 
be reduced to nothing. The public ownership 
of railroads will in itself be a powerful influence 
for reforming the civil service and placing it on a 
non partisan basis. There is no way to compel 
the best men to give proper attention to civil serv- 
ice reform so surely as to place vast business 
interests under governmental ownership, and the 
power of the vast army of railway employes 
would then be enlisted on the side of the reform, 
because their interests would be directly affected 
Whatever reform that has yet been accomphshrd 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


4oi 


io the civil service has been brought about by the 
necessity for efficient administration of the postal 
service, and when the vast railroad service was 
added to the duties of the government such an 
impetus would be given to civil service reform as 
to make it an accomplished fact. Railroad em- 
ployes would not consent to place their positions 
in jeopardy to the whims of any political party; 
they would demand security of employment dur- 
ing good behavior; and they would get it through 
effective civil service regulations. There is no 
measure which would so directly tend to reform 
the civil service as would the public ownership of 


the railways. When the railroads are owned by 
the government, employes will be sure of good 
wages, short hours, safety for their lives as far as 
the nature of their occupation will permit safety, 
and they will be sure that as long as they prop- 
erly perform their duties to the public no private 
individual will be invested with power sufficient 
to deprive them of their situations and send them 
tramping over the country in search of a job. 
They may also be sure that they will not be sub- 
jected to the necessity of submitting to arbitrary 
reductions in their wages to maintain dividends 
on watered stock upon every decrease in the vol- 
ume of railway business. 


CAPITAL AND INTEREST. 


BY W. H. STUART. 


Dr. Bohm Bawerk, in his scholarly work, "Cap- 
ital and Interest," defines "capital*' as the part of 
wealth devoted to productive purposes, from 
which the owner expects to derive an income 
''without risk and personal exertion." This in- 
come or return for the use of capital is termed 
"interest," and Bohm-Bawerk posits the problem 
which he discusses as "that of interest proper 
obtainable by the owner of capital without risk 
and without personal effort," or, as he again 
terms it: "The phenomenon of ao income flowing 
constantly from all kinds of capital without per- 
sonal exertion of the owner.” He cites as a 
familiar example of how "interest proper" is ex- 
tracted, the Limited Liability Company, where 
the part taken by the shareholders consists in 
furnishing the capital and receiving the dividends. 
The balance sheet of such a company will show 
an insurance and depreciation fund, and an 
equalization fund, to distribute losses that may 
occur, over a series of years. Not until those 
various funds — including the salary and current 
expense fund — are provided for, will dividends, 
i. e , interest, emerge. 

It must be carefully noted that "interest," 
which, in the shape of "dividends." the share- 
holders receive, is something entirely separate 
and distinct from the original capital, and is not 
accounted for by insurance against risks, or wages 
of superintendence, but is a return to capital 
"without personal exertion." This is interest 
proper, or surplus- value. Interest for the use of 
money is a secondary and derivative form, and is 
designated by economists as "loan" or "contract" 
interest. Not until interest proper, or surplus 
value has been extracted from labor, can loan, 
interest or rent of land be paid. In other words, 


the cost of subsistence of the actual producer o- 
wealth. This cost of subsistence is termed 
"wages." Therefore, rent, interest and profits 
represent mere robbery of labor, a tribute that 
the owners of land and capital are enabled to levy 
by virtue of possession. 

In regard to the justness of interest, political 
economists are divided. On the one hand are the 
orthodox bourgeois economists, who defend in- 
terest as the "wages" of capital. The capitalist, 
or owner of wealth, devotes part of his wealth to 
productive purposes, and interest is the reward 
of his "abstinence." But, admitting that the 
owner of the wealth was also its original producer, 
a very rare case, that does not justify interest for 
its use for eternity. If the small boy "abstains** 
from eating his cake to-day, he will have the pleas- 
ure of eating it to morrow, he does not expect to 
see his cake grow into two as the result of his 
"abstinence." This, however, is what the capi- 
talist expects as the reward of his "abstinence." 
For instance, an employer "abstains" from pay- 
ing his employes anything above starvation wages, 
charges extortionate rates for the product of his 
enterprise, which enables him to "water" the 
stock of his company, and thereby accumulates 
forty or fifty millions as the reward of his ‘ 'ab- 
stinence." Now, it is quite apparent that one 
man never earned this immense sum of money. 
It represents the robbery of his employes, and 
public extortion for the use of his property. But 
suppose he had earned every cent of it by his own 
personal labor, why should his s descendants be 
enabled to live for the next thousand or ten 
thousand years without any further "personal 
exertion?" Why should a hundred succeeding 
generations be robbed of the major portion of 


turploa value represents all wealth over and above 


what they produce for the purpose of maintaining 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


402 


in idleness a useless class of parasites? Labor 
and capital should be friends, we are told; that 
the interests of labor and capital are identical; 
that capital is an indispensable aid in production. 
This *s all true Capital is a valuable auxiliary 
in production, but it is not at all necessary that 
this capital should be in the possession of a small 
and unnecessary body of capitalist s, it should 
rather remain in the possession of the workers 
who originally produced it, by which means they 
will be enabled to * ‘abstain" from supporting an 
idle class for eternity. This is what socialism 
proposes to do. It proposes to substitute a sys- 
tem of public capital for private capital; a sys- 
tem of fraternal co-operation, for our present sys- 
tem of private capital, brutal competition and 
consequent wage-slavery. Capital, we are in- 
formed by Mr. George, is ' wealth used in the 
production of more wealth." This definition is 
not only insufficient, it is also misleading. All 
capital is wealth, but all wealth is not capital. 
The term, “capital," implies a social relation. 
Wealth is not capital only when the wealth so 
used is for the purpose of “producing an income 
without personal exertion." For instance, a 
house occupied by the owner is wealth, but is not 
capital, but, when used or rented for the purpose 
of deriving an income or profit, it is then capital. 
A machine used for increasing the product of the 
worker is wealth, but not capital; when used, 
however, for the purpose of extracting surplus- 
value, i. e., for deriving an income without per- 
sonal exertion, from the labors of others, it is 
capital. A plow in the hands of the farmer do- 
ing his own work is not capital, but in the hands 
of his hired laborer, for the purpose of producing 
the owner a profit, is transmitted into capital. 
Therefore, capital everywhere represents merely 
accumulated unpaid labor. It represents, as be- 
fore stated, the product of labor over and above 
the cost of subsistence and reproduction of the 
actual producer. 

The terms, “capital" and “capitalist," pertain 
exclusively to the capitalistic system of produc- 
tion. This system presupposes commodities pro- 
duced, not for the personal use of the producer, 
but for exchange. Under the feudal system there 
was no room for the capitalist, production was for 
personal use, only the surplus was exchanged, 
and then usually directly with the producer of 
other commodities. There was no way in which 
capital could be invested for the purpose of pro- 
ducing its owner "an income without personal 
exertion." It will be seen, therefore, that the 
capitalist, as such, no more produces capital than 
the landowner produces the land, both interest on 
capital, and rent of land represent an income de- 


rived without personal exertion, and an income 
derived without personal exertions, i e.. (or 
which the beneficiary gives no equivalent in re- 
turn, is robbery. Therefore, socialists de- 
nounce all interest, rent and profits as robbery 
of labor pure and simple. A singular example of 
the limitation of the single tax intellect is the 
clearness with which they discern the injustice d 
rent of land, as the mere robbery of labor, the 
taking of something without giving an equivalent j 
in exchange, while they are entirely oblivious to j 
the equally patent fact that interest on capital is { 
condemned on the very same ground. True, 
some single taxers, like Dr. McGlynn, denounce 
“interest," and Hamlin Garland, in a receot 
Arena article, speaks of interest as merely “rent 
in another form." But it is evident that by “in- 
terest ’ tney both mean return for the use of 
money, i. e. , loan or contract interest, which it, 
as • I have before stated, only a secondary and 
derivative form of interest, which might be abol 
ished without affecting interest proper. 

Natural interest or surplus- value is, therefore 
the excess that accrues to capital beyond its re 
placement and the market price of labor. Adam 
Smith, the father of modern political economy 
first definitely stated that labor was the source of 
all value, and the only producer of wealth Thu 
theory of value was more firmly established by 
Ricardo. Upon this base succeeding economists 
Sismodi, Rodbertus, Lasalle, Marx, Engals, J. S 
Mills, Proudhon, and others, have developed the 
exploitation theory of interest. The starting 
point of this theory is. that wealth, economically 
considered, is the product of labor alone. The 
laborers, therefore, have a just claim to the whole 
product or its value. But, under our capitalist 
system of production, the laborer only receives 2 
part of the product as “wages," the remainder 
going as rent of land and interest on capital. 
Rent and interest owe their existence to the fact 
that, under our minute subdivision of labor, labor 
is enabled to produce a surplus; that the indis- 
pensable condition to labor — land and capital- 
are now private property, which enables its own- 
ers to buy labor as a commodity. Under such 
conditions, competition among workers for “work" 
will inevitably force labor down to the subsistence 
point. Therefore, the cost of the production of 
wealth is merely the cost of the subsistence of the 
laborer, according to the standard of living of tbe | 
time and country. 

Thus all rent, whether of land or capital, is ike 
result of tbe private ownership of the means and 
instruments of production, and represents accu- 
mulated unpaid Ip’ hich, under tbe 'tn* 

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THE RAILWAY 

law of wages, ".increases with the productivity of 
labor. 

J. S. Mills stated, in his Political Economy , 
that all the inventions of labor-saving machinery 
had not lightened the toil of any human being. 
He, of course, meant of anyone who produces his 
own subsistence, for, as Marx points out, ma- 
chinery has no doubt added to the number of 
well-to-do idlers, parasites and drones who sub- 
sist on the labors of others. 

To abolish this system of exploitation, we must 
change the conditions that make it inevitable. 
There is only one solution to the problem, we 
must abolish private ownership of the means of 
production — land and capital, and substitute 
therefor collective ownership. In a word, we 
must nationalize all industry, adopt a system of 
fraternal co-operation; an industrial system that 
will be in the interest of all the people. In short, 
the co operative commonwealth. 

* # * 

In a previous number of Thr Conductor Mr. 
Borland cited the improved condition of New 
Zealand as an evidence of the success of the sin- 
gle tax. His confreres everywhere chant in the 
same strain It is the stock argument of every 
single tax writer and speaker. It is the trump 
card of Louis F. Post, in his lectures throughout 
the country. And yet, only by the most brazen 
effrontery and unlimited gall can the refortns in- 
stituted recently in New Zealand and its improved 
economic condition be claimed as the result of the 
partial adoption of the single tax. 

Let the reader remember that the single tax 
theory is, that all revenue should be derived from 
a tax on land values, that every user of land, 
large or small, should pay to the community as 
rent its economic value, that all taxes on personal 
property or incomes, or on anything, in fact, ex- 
cept land, is robbery of labor. Now, what are 
the economic reforms that have been instituted in 
New Zealand? Instead of a single tax. New 
Zealand has five general and a variety of local 
taxes. All land property under $2,500 is exempt 
from state taxation entirely, and as a result, in 
1891 only 12,557, out of a total of 91,501 land 
owners, paid any land tax, i. e., only one land own- 
er out of eight paid a land tax. Would it not be 
more logical to claim that the prosperity of the 
colony is due to the fact that seven-eighths of the 
land owners have been totally exempt from all 
land taxes? There is also an absentee land tax. 
This is anti single tax, as single taxers claim 
there should be no limit placed on the amount of 
land any one person controlled, provided he paid 
the economic rent thereon. Yet the absentee tax 
is especially directed against the holders of idle 


CONDUCTOR. 403 

land. There is also a tax on incomes in excess cf 
$1,500 per annum. This, from the single tax 
standpoint, is robbery of labor, an-a much more 
than offsets the advantage of taxing one- eighth 
of the land owners. The taxation of the unearned 
increment of land exclusively, is a single tax 
measure. The taxation of the unearned incre- 
ment of land and capital is directly in the line of 
socialism, and was advocated in the celebrated 
“manifesto" of Karl Marx and F. Engals, issued 
in 1848. thirty years before “Progress and Pover- 
ty" appeared. There is also a graduated land tax; 
this also is anti single tax. No wonder the land 
laws are so popular in the colony when seven- 
eighths of the land owners are exempt. Yet, Mr. 
Connolly is careful to say : “But I question the 
wisdom of such a step (introducing the single tax), 
as I believe, froiH my knowledge of the country 
farmers, they would resist to the bitter end — if, 
indeed, they did not rise in open revolt — for they 
look upon the single tax with horror and regard 
its introduction as little less than spoliation. " 
And he adds: “Strange to say * * * I have 
not yet met a farmer in this country — and I have 
taken some pains to ascertain their views on the 
subject — who is a believer in the single tax 
theory." 

Among other reforms is an act making the pro- 
moters and directors who issu« a false prospectus 
for any firm or corporation, directly responsible 
to the shareholders for any loss sustained. This 
measure has effectually stopped the formation of 
bogus and worthless institutions which had hith- 
erto flourished at the expense of the people. 

An employer’s liability act affords the most 
complete protection to workmen, both as to 
wages and as to responsibility by employers in 
regard to injury to workmen. There are also 
very strict regulations under the factories act, 
limiting hours of labor of women and children, 
entirely prohibiting work in factories by persons 
under 16 years of age, and not even then if the 
person is physically unfit. There are five annual 
compulsory holidays, and every Saturday after- 
noon from 1 o'clock, with full pay. 

There is a government life insurance depart- 
ment, and also government savings bank, which 
yields a handsome yearly profit, and which, added 
to the revenue derived from the government rail- 
roads, telephone and telegranh lines, goes far to- 
wards ft rnishing the state revenue. 

The public works are conducted on the co- 
operative principle. When a railroad or high- 
way of any kind is to be constructed, a govern- 
ment engineer makes a survey and estimates the 
cost. Upon the basis of this estimate the work 
is given, in small sections, to groups of men, who 
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404 THE RAIL WA Y COND UCTOR. 


each receive an equal portion of the money 
earned. This is decidedly socialistic, as it alien- 
ates the capitalistic contractor, by which means 
the men are enabled to pocket, in increased 
wages, the profits that formerly went to the con 
tractor under the competitive system. Mr. Con- 
nolly says: “The co-operative system his given 
great satisfaction, and has, to a large extent, 
solved the problem of the unemployed in the col- 
ony. 

There is also a government labor bureau, where 
free information is furnished all applicants for 
labor or for laborers, and free transportation, if 
necessary. 

Mr. Connolly says: “Notwithstanding the de- 
cidedly paternal and, in many respects, socialistic 
tendency of legislation in New Zealand, some of 


which is naturally repugnant to those vbo, like 
myself, have not been accustomed to ‘state so- 
cialism,' yet the fact remains that it all appears 
to blend harmoniously with the sentiments and 
requirements of the people. It is the best evi- 
dence that can be adduced upon a closer ac- 
quaintance with its practical working here is 
New Zealand that it is not the 'bogy' it is gen- 
erally believed to be." 

In view of those various reforms, all of a social- 
istic tendency, only one of which can, by as} 
stretch of the imagination, be claimed as in the 
line of the single tax theory, I ask the candid 
reader if it is not the most brazen effrontery ta 
single taxers to take credit for the improved con- 
dition of New Zealand as due to the adoption, or 
partial adoption, of the single tax? 


AN INTEREST-ING STORY. 

BY R. M. WBBSTBR. 

Written for The Railway Conductor. 


“Well, Jim; I have had enough of the road. 
I have been on the rails, boy and man, for twenty 
years. I am pretty near forty now. I have lived 
in a rented bouse ever since I was married, some 
fifteen years ago, agd have moved about fifteen 
times, I reckon. I have made up my mind to 
buy a small fruit farm in the nicest place in Cali* 
fornia, and settle down." 

Thus spake Andrew Jackson Floyd, the genial 
and popular conductor, to his friend, James 
Blythe, who ran the engine that pulled Floyd's 
train. 

“Andy," remarked Jim, “have you saved 
money enough to buy a farm?" . 

“I believe I have, Jim; though I confess to 
you, I never should have saved enough if it had 
not been for Julia, who is one of the best women 
God ever made. You see, right away after we 
were married, she said to me, 'Andy, yon are 
getting seventy- five dollars a month; now we 
must live on forty-five of that, and save thirty.’ 
And, sure enough, when pay day came, she asked 
for the thirty dollars every time, and put it in 
some bank. And if the forty*five dollars ran 
short I would say, 'you have some in the bank;' 
she would reply, 'that is our home, Andy; you 
would not eat up or wear out our home.' And 
she would just make the forty- five dollars last. I 
used to smoke then, and when I saw her going 
without things that I knew she wanted, aod re- 
membered that I was spending money for 
tobacco or cigars every week, I felt mean, and I 
gave that np. I let on I was just smoking as 


usual. I'd have the old pipe around, or the stub 
of an old cigar, and she thought I was buying the 
stuff. But I calculated that it had cost me about 
five dollars a month for cigars and tobacco. So 
having saved it for two months. 1 gave her a ten 
dollar bill one day, and said, 'there, Julia, there i 
ten dollars worth of our home which I haven’t 
burned up this two months. I have quit tobacco, 
sure! You ought to have seen her, Jim. I tell 
you that one minute was worth more to me than 
all the pleasure I had ever seen in smoke. 

And after a bit she said, 'Did it cost you five 
dollars a month, Andy, for smoking?' I ac 
knowledged the fact. Then she said, 'So now 
we have five dollars a month more for our borne.’ 
O, pshaw, said I, you use that to get what you 
like for yourself. 'All right, she said, so I will; 
and there’s nothing I’d like so much as a home 
of our own. We shall save thirty-five dollars a 
month now, instead of thirty.’ And that's what 
we did." 

' Good for her!" replied Jim. I suppose you 
have — let me see, $35 a month for fifteen years, 
that is $420 a year, ten times that is $4,200 and 
five times that is $2,100, all told, $6,300. Andy, 
you don't mean to say you have all that io the 
bank?" 

“No, not quite. You see we have the kids. 
And when they came there was a little extra cost 
You know you can't have a real good thing with- 
out its costing somebody something. And when 
an extra $10 would go Jule would say there 
goes part of the home' — a front door probably, ce 


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THE- RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


405 


a window. And 'when our Tom had the measles 
and jule was scared and we had the doctor, and 
several extras, we did not save anything that 
month, she said, ‘there, that has taken a carpet 
off the parlor floor.' But we have over $5,000.” 

"Have you kept it in the bank all the time?" 

"Not in one bank. Julia is too smart for that. 
She has it in half a dozen. Yes, we lost $300 by 
one bank But we have enough loaned, at 6 per 
cent, to more than make that good. Interest is a 
wonderful thing ” 

"Yes, it is easier than working yourself. It is 
the finest plan that was ever invented for making 
other people work for you. If I now had put all 
the money at interest, that I have paid on our 
bouse and lot, instead of going in debt for the 
place and paying interest all the time, I should 
have had enough by this time to have bought a 
much better place and to have paid cash down. 
As it is, I still owe $500 and the interest on it is 
$40 besides. And it is not worth $5,000 by a 
good deal. So you have beat »ue, Andy, and I 
have had the biggest wages too. never less than 
$ioo since you and I ran together. But they do 
say that we are in the growing part of town, and, 
may be, our place will be worth more than your 
pile some day Then I have never saved on 
smoke like you have. And $60 a year for fifteen 
years would more than pay my debt, wouldn’t it? 
By George, it would pay it and buy a carriage for 
the family and a piano for Lucy. I guess l am a 
selfish cuss. I have been all-fired saving, too. ” 
********* 

A year later Julia and Andy are sitting on the 
porch on a lonely evening. "Well, Andy, here 
we all are in our own home. It seems too good 
to be true. And it is just a perfect poem isn’t it? 
Just think of it; ten acres, a most convenient and 
charming little house, a perfect gem of a lawn 
and a flower garden, a variety of fruit for our 
own use, a comfortable place for the two horses 
and the cow and the bens, and 1,000 orange trees, 
growing better every year, and yielding a good 
income now. And we are close to as beautiful a 
little city as can be found, in the best climate on 
earth, with good school, church, and all the other 
good things at hand. It was worth saving for, all 
these years, wasn't it, Andy? And you are at 
borne now, all the time.” 

"Isn’t it a dream?” asked Andy. "I can hardly 
believe it to be reality. But there is one fact 
that makes it real, we have not paid for it yet.” 

"Oh I but of course we can,” said Julia. 

"Never fear. Everyone says it is cheap at 
$10,000. We have only $5,000 to pay. and five 
years to pay it in. and the interest at 8 per cent 


for it*will be worth $20,000. Everybody says the 
trees are not half what they should be.” 
********* 

Three years later, James Blythe, having a lay 
off and a pass, goes to California and visits his 
old friends. He does not tell them he is coming. 
He means to surprise them. He drops in upon 
them just as Andy is putting out the team after a 
day's cultivating, and Julia is bringing in some 
fresh oranges for the table. 

"Why, Jim! you dear old fellow; I am dread- 
ful glad to see you. And it will just make 
Andy young again.” 

"Why! he hasn't been getting old out here in 
California, has be? I declare this is the finest 
country in the world. And believe yours is the 
finest town in the state. And, it seems to me, 
yours is about the finest place in the town, for a 
real home. You ought to renew your youth, 
like the eagles. Though I must say that you — 
but here comes Andy.” 

"Why, Jim Blythe! I’d rather see you than 
George Washington. And you are looking ex- 
actly like yourself, I tell you, you are more than 
welcome.” 

"And I am more than glad to be welcomed in 
this fashion. But you are raising some grey 
hairs as well as oranges. ” 

And Julia said, "I know what you were going 
to say to me. Jim. You were going to say that 
I looked older. I am older you know. And, be- 
sides, not everything that looks well is pure 
gold.” 

"No, but an orange is an oriuge. a nice home 
is a nice home, bright skies are bright and balmy 
breezes are balmy and sweet and fragrant flowers 
are sweet and fragrant. I can't be deceived, 
surely, in these things. And you ought to s*ay 
young in such a country as this?” 

"Perhaps we might, for a good while," said 
Andy, "if it were not for debts and interest, and 
scale bugs, and weeds, and frosts, and high 
winds, and bad markets, and the devil to reckon 
with generally." 

"Why, Andy! How you talk! I thought you 
were in paradise here. I was in hopes of getting 
a small chunk of it too.” 

"The truth is. Jim — stranger than fiction— that 
one may be in paradise and in hell, too, at the 
same time — right here.” 

"You don’t mean that Julia ha? gone back on 
you?" 

"Julia? Not much! She is the chief part ot 
the paradise. She and the children are the 
angels. As for the place, you can see that we 
can have all the paradise that men are willing to 


is only $400. And by the time we have it paid work for. " 


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406 

"Then, what's the matter?" , • 

"Now," said Julia, "you shall not talk about 
our trouble till after supper. We have plenty to 
eat yet. and we are going to enjoy it." 

Julia was as*good as her word. She held them 
during the meal to pleasant memories of old 
times and to talk of the good and lovely things 
about them. But afier supper was done, and 
they were all rtady for it, Julia said: "Now, 
Andy, tell Jim our story." 

"You tell it, Jule." said her husband; "you 
don't get so blue over it as I do." 

"Well," shejbegan, "the year before we bought 
this place it yielded 2,000 boxes of oranges, an 
average of two boxes to each of the thousand 
trees. They sold for $1.50 a box, or $3,000 for 
the crop. The entire expense for the year was 
put at $1,000. So there was a clear income of 
$2,000. That, you know, is equal to ten per cent 
on $20,000. So, when it was offered us for 
$10,000, we felt it would be a perfectly safe thing 
to buy it and go in debt for $5,000. The owner 
was willing to take a mortgage at 8 per cent for 
five years, we to pay $1,000 a year, and all ac- 
crued interest." 

"I don't see anything the matter with that," 
said Jim. "That surely looked easy, safe and 
certain." 

"Well," continued Julia, let me give you the 
items for three years from our book. I have it 
here to a cent. But I must tell you that we have 
to contend with several pests — called scale bugs. 
There is the black scale and the red scale and the 
San Jose scale and the Cottony Cushion scale. 
A lady bug has been imported from Australia 
that has destroyed for us the cottony scale. But 
we have to kill the others by spraying the trees 
thoroughly with chemicals, or by putting a tent 
over the tree and creating a poisonous gas inside 
of it, by means of sulphuric acid and cyanide of 
potassium. Then, once in two or three years 
we have a high wind that blows the fruit all off. 
Then, after the trees are well grown and begio to 
bear well we have to feed the soil with proper 
fertilizers in order to have nice fruit and plenty 
of it. And still, if the market were always as 
good as it was the year before we bought, we 
should do very well. But here are the facts. 
First, for ’90 and ’91 the total expense (never 
mind the items) was $875. not counting Andy’s 
woik. There was irrigating, fighting scale bugs, 
expense of team, taxes, repairs, some tools, 
housekeeping, clothing, medicine, and $400 in 
terest. 

The total income was only $700. A most un- 
common wind bad taken off the better part of 


the crop and injured the rest. We bad to bof* 
row money to pay up the interest. 

The next year, the expenses — Andy had to buy 
$200 worth of fertilizer — were $1x05. And we 
had 3.500 boxes of oranges and only got $873 for 
them. We were short again $300 on the interest. 
We couldn't borrow and had to get it com- 
pounded. 

But more remains; last year we had a frost, 
the like of which had never been seen here, that 
damaged the crop so that most of it was unsale- 
able and we ran behind nearly $800. We owe 
now, after three years of hard work, and hope 
deferred that makes Andy's heart sick, a thousand 
dollars more than we did. Instead of getting 
out of debt in three years we are much deeper in, 
and we can just feel the interest draw night and 
day." 

"But how was it," asked }im, "that you got so 
little for your great crop a year ago?" 

"There were more oranges than could be sold 
for a good price, and the buyers offered so little 
that we shipped them ourselves and they were 
sold on commission. And the freight, commis- 
sioners, and other expenses ate up everything." 

"But." said Julia, we may have 4.000 boxes 
next year and sell them for $1.50 a box." 

"And we may," said Andy, "lose the place en- 
tirely and all our savings." 

"And that fear," said Jim. "is what makes it 
possible, while living in paradise, to have quite a 
taste of the other place " 

"Exactly; you see." said Julia, "that we shall 
never say die; that we shall never lose the good 
of what we have by grieving over what we have 
not." 

"Say you never will, Jule." suggested Andy; 
"as for me, I am a poor stick." 

"No; you are not. You are such a man that 
if all men were like you, there would be hardly 
any trouble in the world. You see. Jim. it's the 
interest on the mortgage. It makes that bit of 
paper worse than a mustard plaster over half of 
Andy's body. He can just/W 7 the thing burn 
and pull It never stops one minute." 

"It does seem pretty tough," said Jim "But 
really I have been thinkiog that to feel interest 
draw night and day was quite a pleasant sensa- 
tion. Only it makes a cifference whether it 
draws money to you or away from you." 

"That's it. Jim," said Julia; and I have con- 
cluded that interest means getting something (of 
nothing, and that it is a bad thing. It will cer- 
tainly eat up our savings and turn us ont of our 
home in time unless we have a turn of fortune." 

"Well, you are about to have a turn of for- 
tune. Now let me tell you. My place was in a 


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THE RAILWAY 

growing part of the town. Two years ago it 
fairly boomed. My place had cost me about 
$4,000. We had kept it well and it looked first 
rate. And when property went up so tremend- 
ously, and our place was wanted by a dozen dif- 
ferent people, and one offered me $9,000 for it — 
all cash — I said to wife, 'see here, Rosie! let us 
sell and go out to Andy and Jule.’ She was more 
than willing. Now, look! I want to wait a few 
months before I settle down, and I want you to 
take $6,000 and pay off your mortgage and stop 
the interest, and give me a note without interest 
for one year, until we see if your 4,000 boxes at 
$1.50 a box come true." 

"Jim; you are an angel," cried Julia. 

"Of course I am,” said the engineer. "Didn't 
you and I and Rosie sing 'I want to be an angel,' 
when we went to Sunday School? I see that you 
have got there; and Rosie’s been an angel for a 
long while. It is time I was arriving." 

As for Andy, he stood up and held out his hand 


CONDUCTOR. 407 

to his old friend, but could say nothing. There 
seemed to be a lump in his throat. 

Seeing this, the tears came fast into Julia's 
eyes, but she gathered herself up and said; 
"Jim; I am glad now that our crops and markets 
failed. Had they been up to our hopes we should 
indeed have had plenty of money, but we should 
be poor, indeed, compared with the riches we 
now have in the conscious possession of such 
friendship's yours." 

"And Rosie and I," said Jim, "will be a thous- 
and times happier in helping you so to feel than 
we could be in gathering interest by the car 
load " 

A year later. Jim has bought a place for 
$3,000, which, owing to the depression in prices, 
is very nearly equal in all respects to Andy's. 
The last year, though not up to Julia's "maybe," 
was a very good one. They are all near together 
and out of debt. And although Andy offers, Jim 
declares be will have no interest while the world 
stands. 


OUR NEW YORK LETTER. 


News of all other kinds has been completely 
overshadowed by the great news of the day — the 
railroad strike — which, before these lines can 
appear in print, will probably have been a thing 
of the past, if indeed it is not in reality over and 
done with already; and so completely has this 
news engrossed all interest that there would be 
little left to say in this column were this one sub- 
ject left out — as it might perhaps well be, on the 
reason ible supposition that it will be so much 
better dealt with in other departments of the 
paper. For the writer of these lines, too, it is a 
peculiarly difficult subject to treat from any 
broad standpoint, because in New York occupa- 
tions are so specialized that the experience of 
each of us is limited in a very great degree to our 
own particular environment; and the writer’s en- 
vironment is that of the down town commercial 
class, who can hardly be expected to discuss very 
intelligently an event of this sort. 

It is somewhat disheartening, indeed, to see the 
blind prejudice with which these people approach 
the questions involved. They are never in the 
van, it is true, in matters relating to public 
affairs, and their ideas as to politics, for instance, 
are for the most part wholly innocent of the 
principles involved in political contests, and 
wholly limited to the personal character of can- 
didates, the rule of action which nearly all pre- 
fer. and the most liberal practice, being to "vote 
for the best man," except in the few instances 


where what is proudly maintained as a sturdy 
allegiance to party leads them to rally around a 
particular ticket, for no special reason except 
that in some way they happen to have allied 
themselves with the party which it represents. 
But there surely has been enough in the way of 
education through the labor troubles which have 
been steadily growing so much more numerous 
and so much more severe, during the past twenty 
years to have set them to thinking of the causes 
which produce them; and of this, unfortunately, 
there is little or no indication. There is to-day the 
same instinctive readiness among them that was 
apparent in 1877, bitterly oppose the strikers, 
not at all on the merits of the case, but simply 
on lines of sympathy with the employers. There 
is the same disposition to magnify the feature of 
disorder and lawlessness which unhappily accom- 
panies most strikes, and to clamor for the ex- 
ercise of authority to put down not only disorder, 
but to break the strike as well. Whether it is 
the employes of the Pennsylvania Railroad at 
Pittsburg, or of the Reading at Buffalo, or the 
Illinois Central at Chicago, and whatever may be 
the grounds of the dispute, the moderation or ex- 
cess of the leaders, the attitude is the same. 

Nor do they pretend to go into basic causes or 
to study why it is that thousands of men deliber- 
ately undergo temporary privation with the 
chance staring them in the face of permanent 
loss of employment; much less do they reach the 


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408 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


point of admiring the fidelity of men who can 
thus hang together in a common cause, whether 
or not it is a mistaken one. Only a bitter feeling 
of animosity is aroused, such as is continually 
driving our people apart. Yet these are the men 
for whom very largely our metropolitan papers 
at least, are edited; not so much because they 
form the bulk of newspaper readers, as because 
through them, chiefly, comes the patronage of ad- 
vertisements, on which newspapers live; and for 
this reason, their influence is out of proportion 
to their numbers. Many of them are linked by 
personal friendship or relationship to the circles 
of "plutocrats,’' who the world over are taking 
the place of what used to be known as "aristoc- 
racy;” and others live in a somewhat similar 
atmosphere, or are striving to with fair hope of 
success, so that their sympathies are on this 
score easily accounted for; but for nearly all the 
class described, the conditions of life are really 
just as strained and the struggle for existence as 
really difficult, as for the Pullman employes 
themselves. But perhaps because the great prizes 
of life dangle such a little way out of their 
reach, they stoutly maintain that the world s 
oyster is just as easy to open as it ever was, and 
vigorously deny that such a thing exists as for a 
man to fairly have to fight for the chance to make 
a living. 

Public opinion of this sort here has been unan- 
imously opposed to the strike, and eager to en- 
dorse all efforts of national, state or local author- 
ity, not only to suppress violence, but to break 
down the struggle against the railroads. There 
have been several useful object lessons in it 
which have been lost sight of; such as the 
readiness with which the interstate commerce 
law has been twisted into a fresh weapon for the 
conspirators which it was intended to control, 
displaying the futility of trying to secure freedom 
through tbe medium of restrictive legislation. 
The danger to society and themselves in such 
outbreaks, has been felt rather than seen by this 
class of critic?, and it is to be feared has in no 
way started a train of thought in their minds 
looking to a cure of the conditions which pro- 
duce them. They still conceive only of meeting 
illegal violence by legalized violence, and as they 
progress from dependence on the policeman’s 
baton to the militiaman's bayonet and then still 
on to the regqUr soldier’s gatling gun, for pre- 
venting social disease, they seem to forget that 
they have so ofeen welcomed the apparent over- 
throw of the strikers by this sort of abandonment 
of republican traditions — at Pittsburgh and Bal- 
timore, at Buffalo and Homestead and Coeur d' 
Alene, at Cleveland and Chicago; only to find 


the uprising more formidable than tbe one which 
had gone before. It is not a very hopeful kind of 
public sentiment, but it only confirms the re- 
peated evidence that we cannot rely for genuine 
and thoughtful reform upon people who, how- 
ever intelligent, have their time and minds too 
fully occupied with other interests and diversions 
to allow their directing their intelligence to pub- 
lic affairs. 

Curiously enough, this same class of men in 
New York, who rally so instinctively on the side 
of wealth and special privileges, have to a very 
large extent espoused the cause of the income 
tax, which i? so clearly an attempt to mulct the 
rich, no matter how their riches may be acquired; 
though so almost certain to fall with any weight 
only on the moderately well-to do. It would be 
a great mistake to sqppose this merely because 
the big income tax meeting at Cooper Institute 
last month was a pronounced success; for New 
York has grown so large that i* is a weak cause, 
indeed, which cannot fill Cooper Union with an 
enthusiastic audience, and the real significance 
of these gatherings is now lost. But negative 
evidence on this point is present in the decided 
failure to get up an opposing meeting, which 
gives income tax advocates a very strong ground 
to claim that, so far as New York City is con- 
cerned, their cause is not a sectional one. What- 
ever else may be said of New York, however, it 
is not sectional. There is a good deal of cock- 
neyism here, that fills the place taken by pro- 
vincialism in smaller towns; but the nativity of 
our residents is so scattered that in a broader 
sense than any other American city. New York 
belongs to the whole country. It is astonishing, 
indeed, how rarely one meets in New York any- 
one who was born here. Not only have we a 
great mass of foreigners, but of our purely 
American citizens, ninety-nine of a hundred 
seem to have come from somewhere else and to 
have retained much of their old associations and 
ideas. A very funny argument, by the way, was 
recently used in favor of the income tax by its 
leading advocate among the metropolitan papers 
which denounced our rich men for evading the 
personal property tax, and declared that as a 
remedy for this, their incomes should be assessed. 
Of course, it would be even easier to evade an 
income tax than the other, and by precisely the 
same methods, wherever the income was large 
enough to make it worth while; but to this the 
paper was utterly oblivious. • 

Incomes that are made by direct abstraction 
from the public pocket don’t seem to be subject 
to any uniform law of public sentiment. Take 
tbe case of our puissant senators, for instance. 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


There is a great deal of shocked conscience man- 
ifested over the speculation in sugar trust certifi- 
cates; and yet how large a section of the country 
deems it perfectly just and proper that legis- 
lators should direct all their energies to securing 
or maintaining laws that will give themselves or 
those of their constituents who contribute most 
largely to the campaign fund, some special ad- 
vantage? And where is the difference? Or look 
at the enormous premiums for extra speed that 
have been awarded to constructors of some of 
the new war vessels. It has been said in defense 
of these that they really represent the profit 
earned, the contract price being figured at actual 
cost. In other words, that the Minneapolis, for 
instance, cost in round figures, $2,200,000, and 
the contractors made an extra $414,000 profit 
under the guise of a premium for speed; quite a 
tidy percentage, by the way, even for a protected 
industry But the boats are all designed by 
engineers under salary from the government, and 
presumably the designs are marked out to accom- 


409 

plish a given speed. The ordinary business 
man or corporation would ask for bids from the 
people who have nothing to do but carry out the 
designs, solely on their merits; and the bids 
would naturally be calculated on the principle 
of allowing for the lowest margin of profit at 
which competition would enter the field, after 
carrying out the mechanical work according to 
specifications. Something still lies in chance in 
building a steamboat, just as no two locomotives 
will run exactly alike; but the largest factor in 
the question is the skill of the designer, for which 
the government pays by salary. Yet, where the 
private shipowner would get the benefit of what- 
ever does lie in chance, the favored shipbuilder 
of the national toy that we call a war vessel, is 
given all of it, and is also donated the benefit of 
the skilled labor performed by the nation’s sal- 
aried employes, by having the contract based on 
a rate of speed which is known to be below that 
for which the vessel is designed. This is a mad 
world, ray merry gentlemen. 

Edw. J. Shriver. 


MIXED-UP MORAL. PERCEPTIONS. 


BY IOSB GROS. 


Civilization is marching on; but. where to? 
Civilization has always been marching, sometimes 
apparently upwards sometimes apparently down 
wards; but always through forests and swamps, 
always through selfishness and self conceit, the 
two mental demons of humanity, as poverty and 
disease are the two physical demons of the race 
Of course, the latter two would not exist without 
the former ones We have a great deal of patience 
with selfishness and self-conceit when connected 
with poverty and a hard life, as it has been and is 
yet the lot of at least ninety per cent of the race, 
even here, in our grand nation; but feel deeply 
provoked when those two great wrong elements 
are found among people with education and at 
least somevhat normal conditions. That that 
should happen in the midst of tho ( e periods when 
nations appear to be calm, even if surrounded 
with the usual evils of all times, that is bad enough, 
but not quite as revolting as when deep feelings of 
popular discontent prevail, and when all indicates 
that a crisis is approaching. The most fatal sign, 
in such a case, is the thoughtlessness of those 
who should be thoughtful because having time to 
think, and having had the opportunity of acquir- 
ing the habit of thoughtfulness. 

When young chaps, we revelled in the descrip- 
tions, so vivid and deep, relating to the indiffer- 
ence of the French nobility in the five or ten years 


which preceded the French revolution. You can 
notice the same indifference to-day among our 
American aristocracy, among their priests and 
their ministers, and their followers, with that 
large pretorian guard of all aristocracies, the mid- 
dle classes, and all extra pious people. 

Yes. the people whom we call the best, and by 
rights should be the best, have, with few excep- 
tions, a complete lack of sympathy for the work- 
ing masses at the bottom of the industrial fabric, 
or on the slopes towards the bottom. We may 
illustrate that by referring to a recent sermon de- 
livered to a congregation composed of the aristo- 
cratic element, with wealth, and that pinched 
middle class, with the aristocratic tendency, 
which clings to the wealthy as the man who is 
drowning clings to any plank that may be floating 
around. We did not hear the sermon, but we 
know the impressions it produced, and we know 
the minister in question from head to foot. He 
spoke of the evils of the day; but did he suggest 
any remedy besides those sentimentalities with 
which we seem to have intensified the selfishness 
of humanity by wholesale, as long as it is legal- 
ized by enactments from legislative halls? Not a 
bit of it. It was that old natural perversity of the 
people that brought all our calamities. Our 
teachings to them were all right. And that is 
just the infatuation which permeates most of the 


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410 

people who consider themselves highly educated, since they are constantly at war or dispfeasej * 
One of our funny notions is as follows: Until with the corporations that that excellent govern* 
we have raised the lowest of the low on a level ment of ours has created! 


with ourselves, we cannot claim to be an atom 
better than the lowest of the low. As long as we 
stick to that funny notion, we feel that we are not 
in great danger of playing the pharisee. 

We feel that our responsibilities increase in 
proportion to our knowledge and our healthy sur- 
roundings, and one of the traits that we most ad- 
mire, in that historical Christ of ours, is the fact 
that, while be only had words of love and mercy 
for the poor and the oppressed, he had but harsh 
threats for the wrcng and self-righteous pharisees, 
for those who said amen to all the human enact- 
ments of the day, for those who always said: It 
is the other fellows who are wrong. 

Let us give another *illustration in human in- 
fatuation, with the upper layers, the aristocracy 
of our nation, trying hard to imitate the low and 
degraded French aristocracy of over 100 years 
ago. 

It was on July 4th, 1894, that a U. S. general 
arrived in Chicago with a body of U. S. soldiers. 
The situation was abnormal, a disgrace to organ- 
ized society, even to a society organized on prin- 
ciples of banditism, as ours is, like the rest, of 
course. The situation invited thought, and not 
platitudes. Well, the general in question, as tele- 
graphed to the New York papers, expressed him- 
self as follows: "Ours is the best government for 
the poor and the rich, the best government that 
men are likely to have, anyhow.” And that is the 
usual impression of most of our wise and good 
people. It is what we all have been taught year 
in and year out for over a century of human dis- 
asters under that government of ours. 

It looks to us, plain reformers, who are neither 
soldiers nor ministers, to us who work for a social 
status in which men shall need neither ministers 
nor soldiers because in peace with the Father in 
heaven; it looks to us as if a government which 
was, at least, not very bad, would anyhow evolve 
some peaceful understanding between employers 
and employes, and not the constant, bitter war- 
fare that for over twenty years has been more in- 
tense, among us, than at any other time in his- 
tory, if we only except the agrarian troubles of 
heathen Rome. That the best government men 
are likely to have should give the principal ave 
nues of the nation, the railroads, to a group of 
pirates who have not even talent enough to live 
in peace with their employes, without whom the 
blood of the nation, her wealth, shall not be able 
to circulate through our national arteries! Or, 
if you like it best, a government so dreadfully 
good that the working masses cannot appreciate, 


We often feel inclined to think that perbxp> 
the greatest drawback of our nation istbalinfate 
ation of ours in relation to our political institu- 
tions, when, in spite of some good points, they 1 
really constitute the worst political straight Jacket 
ever had by any nation with some fumes cf politi- 
cal freedom. We may give our reasons in intor? 
articles for that apparently rash assertion of oorx 
Even if we are mistaken, it may have to be con- 
fessed that nothing petrifies the mind more easilj 
than fanaticism for any set of forms, religious 
political or industrial. 

The essence of things lies not in forms, but hi 
forces, physical or mental, on clear perceptions 
of well defined duties to God and to humanitv 
on specific processes presided by altruistic aspira- 
tions. in which the ego, the self, should take a 
rather secondary position, under the conception 
that the ego can only rise in proportion as hu- 
manity rises. And that is ju9t the conception that 
you seldom can detect among those important 
people who are always glad and anxious to accrue 
the other fellow, the plain people, the oppressed 
of being the cause of our many evils, as we have 
illustrated in the specimens above described. 

Now, let us apply the preceding lectote to ever, 
one of us, modern reformers, to us who agTeeat j 
least in one item. We agree in asserting that our 
present social status is rotten from the core totbe 
crust, from center to circumference and must, 
sooner or later, give way to a new one Don't 
you know that agreement, on such a point, is a 
great deal? And we even agree 00 the greatest 
desideratum for a new social status. We agree 
in giving to the working masses the whole product 
of their labor. We don’t agree in the means by \ 
which that should be accomplished. The single 
taxer says: Socialize land valors. The social- 
ists say: Socialize all production and comment 

The latter, in their zeal for their own caust 
often resort to the most mixed-up economic per- 
ceptions, as we have shown in some of our pre- 
vious articles, although the task is far from pleas 
ant. We shall be forced to now and then keep 
on along that line, if our friends insist upon con- 
fusing the minds of our readers with that mixture 
of truth and error which, applied to all lines of 
thought, is at the root of all human calamities, 
religious, political and industrial. 

Just as all civilizations have so far failed be- 
cause of mixed-up moral perceptions on the part 
of those who have constituted themselves as the 
leaders of all healthy thoughts, so any reform 
movement shall fail which does not rest on dear 
economic perceptions; on strict ethical lines of 
conduct; on the maximum freedom to every indi- 
vidual; on the utmost simplification of all govern 
mental machinery; on the absence of all straigbf- 
jackets, physical or mental; on the el im mat ion of 
all personal hate or dislike. We have nothing to 
do with individuals. Our readers don't care any- 
thing ft r any Mr. So and So, however high or to* 

We deal, or should deal, in principles and schools 
of thought. Let us try to educate Let ns try 
to be logical and precise. That alone shall fivt 
us the joy of — duties performed 


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Oar readers who write to any of the firms advertising in these columns are requested to mention 

Thb Railway Conductor. 

B. £ CLARK and WM. P. DANIELS, Managers. E. E. CLARK, Editor-in-Chief. 

W. N. GATES, Advertising Manager, 99 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, O. 


"INDIVIDUAL ACTION " AND " SYMPATHY ” 


Whenever the industrial world, as represented 
by railway employes, is disturb'd by an unreason- 
able. unauthorized and illegal strike, we find 
certain ones who have not the moral courage to 
live up to the laws of the organization to which 
they belong and their obligation to be governed 
by those laws, but who, at the same time, desire 
to retain their membership and whatever of good 
may accrue therefrom. In order to maintain 
such paradoxical position, and in order to find ex- 
cuse for dodging the issue, they go b-hind the 
plea that they are acting “as individuals.” What 
does that mean? It can mean nothing except that 
the obligation taken is regarded as a garment, 
which is to be put on and taken oil to suit the 
whim of the wearer or the climate in which he 
may be. 

The objects sought to be obtained through or- 
ganization are to accomplish, through the united 
efforts of the whole, those things which can not 
be accomplished by the individuals, acting each 
for himself. The very idea and purpose of or- 
ganization, therefore, pronounces emphatically 
against the idea of individual action. Every man 
who becomes a member of one of these organiza- 
tions does so voluntarily, and he thereby sub- 
scribes to the laws governing the organization 
and gives an actual pledge to the organization 
and a moral pledge to all outside of it (including 
his employers) that, so long as he remains a mem- 
ber, he will be governed in his actions by those 
laws. The laws are printed, and anyone who de- 
sires can see them. Any other policy would car- 
ry on its face an admission that the organization 
was disposed to deceive, if such action promised 
any temporary advantage, and it would justifiably 
be looked upon with more or less suspicion. 

If a man accepts citizenship in our land, he 
thereby agrees to uphold its government and con- 


form to its laws. A native born citizen is amena- 
ble to every law. Every legal citizen has a voice 
in making those laws; they are the will of the 
majority and, as the supremacy of the will of a 
majority cheerfully complied with by the minori- 
ty is the foundation stone of a republican form of 
government, anyooe who is not willing to so com- 
ply had better seek residence under some other 
form of government. A good labor organization 
is also based upon the idea of the supremacy of 
the will of a lawfully constituted majority. Every 
member has a voice in choosing the one who will 
represent him in the law making conventions of 
the organization or on the committee who appear 
before his employers, authorized by the laws of 
the organization to make agreements as to rates 
of pay and conditions of employment under 
which he shall work. If he is dissatisfied with 
the terms agreed upon he can quit the service or 
leave the organization, or both. 

Reputation for honesty and fair dealing is as 
essential and valuable to the welfare of a labor 
organization as to any individual, firm or corpora- 
tion. The only way an organization can estab- 
lish such a reputation is by adhering closely to 
the policy adopted and by demonstrating that the 
vast majority of its members are loyal to the or- 
ganization and its laArs; that the organization it- 
self is strong enough to sustain its laws and to 
carry out the agreements it has made, and that it 
has the power and moral courage to discipline 
those who violate its laws and repudiate its agree- 
ments. 

Employers meet the committees representing 
the organizations and make agreements with them 
because they believe they can depend upon the 
organization to see to it that the terms of the 
agreement are lived up to by the employes The 
organizations secure concessions that could not be. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


412 

secured by the individuals, and there is neither 
honesty nor fairness in saying (in effect), as mem- 
bers of the organization we will accept all tbd 
benefits that are reaped, but, “as individuals," 
we will refuse to be bound by our agreement ex- 
cept as it pleases us to do so. 

If the men, “as individuals," were to refuse to. 
work, without notice or complaint, and were sup- 
ported by their fellows in so doing, the time 
would soon arrive when the organizations would 
exert an influence which could be designated by 
a cipher, for if the business is stopped it can make 
no great difference to the company whether the 
men are acting “as individuals" or otherwise. 

The organizations exert a very beneficial effect 
on the morals of the men, and they undertake to 
prevent unworthy and improper persons from 
gaining admission. On that account employers 
assume that the organizations are composed of 
trustworthy men, and the higher the standard of 
membership, the stronger the confidence. 

An organization can not afford to allow any 
doubt to exist in the mind of anyone, in its ranks 
or out, as to its position and its policy. An or- 
ganization without a policy is a ship without a 
rudder, a leaf in a storm, a life without an aim. 
A policy once adopted and which has proven a 
wise one to follow, should be strictly adhered to 
by all, and it should be advertised and recom- 
mended to the people at large through the uni- 
versal consistency with which it is followed by 
the members and administered by the officers. 
“Individual action" is generally prompted by a 
desire to act in “sympathy" with someone. It is 
not always quite clear who that someone is, nor is 
it of en consi* tent that sympathy, in the form 
asked, should be extended It is high time that 
the question of whether or not actions are to be 
governed by sympathy or by law and business- 
like conduct, is dee ded by every organization and 
every individual member thereof. If sympathy is 
to rule, the logical conclusion will be that every 
man in the service, responsible or irresponsible, 
drunk or sober, will have it in his power to de- 
clare a strike at will. “Sympathy" will prevent 
any other from performing his duties, and “sym- 
pathy" would lead the others to refuse to work 
with the one who might be secured to take his 
place. If that state of affairs is to exist, there is 
absolutely no excuse for the further existence of 
organizations among the employes for their laws 
and influence would amount to nothing. If, on 
the other hand, law and business like dealings are 
to govern, that fact should be indelibly impressed 
upon the mind of everyone who is in any way in- 
terested, and no disposition to ignore or evade 
this policy should be toierated. 


The worst influences possible to imagine bav* 
been at work among railway employes for months 
Every effort to belittle or bring into contempt thr- 
old organizations has been put forth. All the ills 
which members of them felt, as well as the gen- 
eral depression in business, has been laid at their 
doors. Urgent invitations, painted in glowing 
colors and extended in pyrotechnical displays of 
oratory, have been extended to them to join the 
new move and put their faith in the new dispa 
sation, which promised to cure all the ills which 
flesh is heir to and to “twist the tail" of the 
“common enemy." The rockets have gone up 
the sticks are coming down. Bitter lessons have 
been, a e being and are to be learned Expen 
ence is a dear but thorough teacher, still out of it 
all good may be brought if all exercise a genuine 
desire to profit by the experience and to guard 
carefully in the future against the mistakes of the 
past. 

Warning notes were sounded by the watchmen, 
but in many instances they were unheeded. The 
members of these organizati ns have placed them 
selves in one of three general divisions The first 
is composed of those who have remained stead- 
fast and true to their order and its laws, as well 
as the agreements made for them with their em- 
ployers. For these no fair minded person will 
have aught but praise, and we are very glad that 
in this class are ranged the vast majority of our 
members. The second division includes those 
who chose to quit, in a manly way and in good 
faith, rather than to work under existing condi- 
tions. We have always claimed that a man had a 
right to quit, and for those we have no severe 
criticism. A man who quits, of course, has no 
valid claim for reinstatement and can not invoke 
the aid of his order to regain the position volun- 
tarily surrendered. The third division include* 
those who, regardless or forgetful of their obli 
gations, cast prudence to the wind and joined the 
move. So far as it has not already been done, 
the law of the organizations, framed for this ex- 
press purpose, should be applied to these literally 
and without fear or favor. 

Employers, as well as employes, should inter- 
est themselves in Establishing perfect confidence 
as between the two; advantage of technicalities 
should not be taken by either. Fair and consid- 
erate treatment should be appreciated and repaid 
with faithful service. Faithful and loyal seme- 
should be rewarded and encouragement offered 
to men to furnish such service. If there is ancc- 
ganization representing a class of employes wb:»- 
policy is right, opportunity should not be allowed 
to pass to help demonstrate that the policy is not 
only right, but is productive of the best resnlti 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


There has never been any question in our mind 
as t j where the large majority of the members 
of our Order would stand or as to our 
ability to come through the storm without any 
serious damage. It is somewhat natural to enjoy 
saying, **I told you so,” and we take some pleas- 
ure in repeating a few lines from editorial on 
page 309 of The Railway Conductor for June: 


“The policy advocated by the new organization 
has been tried before, the same arguments and 
accusations have been used and made and the best 
efforts of a majority, at least, of the same men 
have before been pu k forth in an earnest effort to 
destroy some or all of the old organizations. The 
degree of success which crowned their efforts is a 
matter of history, and 'history repeats itself.' ” 


NEED FOR RESTRICTED IMMIGRATION. 


The present would appear to be an unusually 
good time for the consideration of the immigra- 
tion question in all its phases. For the first time 
in many years, if not in all our history, the tide 
has been turned, the number of those returning to 
their homes in the old world far exceeding those 
who are seeking to make homes in the new. If 
present conditions were to remain the question 
would be greatly simplified as there would then be 
nothing left but to shut out the paupers and 
criminals constantly deported by other countries. 
The return of prosperity, however, will bring a 
revival of the old condition? unless some prevent 
ive measures are adopted, and for that the present 
seems to present a golden opportunity. There can 
be no question but our generous offer of an asy 
lum to the oppressed of all nations has brought to 
our shores many would-be citizens who are not 
only undesirable but are positively a menace to 
our institutions. This class includes not only 
the pauper and criminal elements mentioned but 
many bard working, well meaning men who are 
incapable of understanding or appreciating repub- 
lican institutions and can never become citizens, 
in the best meaniog of the term. Their hatred of 
all government, which may have been natural 
enough under the oppressions of their native 
lands, is turned against the country of their adop- 
tion and see ns to grow in bitterness with the in- 
crease of freedom here given them. With these 
limitations they readily become the tools of de- 
signing men and are easily led into open rebellion 
against the law and the greatest infringement of 
the rights of others. The records of the recent 
railroad and coal mine troubles show the worst of 
the outrages to have been committed by foreign- 
ers and many times by men who had not been in 
this country long enough to learn a word of the 
language. We have no word of sympathy to 
waste upon the men who are responsible for the 
presence of these ignorant and misguided foreign- 
ers in large bodies throughout the land, many of 
them have already paid a heavy penalty for their 
selfish and unpatriotic action, but the general 
good requires the adoption of measures looking 


toward a prevention of such outrages in the fu- 
ture and especially toward preventing an increase 
of the danger by adding to the number of these 
unwelcome visitors. It may not be wise to cut 
off all immigration but it should be sj surrounded 
by safeguards that none but those who have the 
making of good citizens may gain entrance and 
then no faster than they are able to assimilate 
with our people. No man should be allowed the 
privileges of citizenship who is not willing to first 
prepare for an intelligent understanding of its re- 
sponsibilities by learning the language and the 
fundamental principles upon which it is based. 
We have been too generous in these matters 
heretofore, until we have made our country no't 
only the refuge of the oppressed, but the ren- 
dezvous for that class of men who are only able to 
appreciate freedom through the opportunities it 
offers them to prey upon others. 

This reform would mean more to the native or 
naturalized workingman than be is usually will- 
ing to admit. It has been demonstrated time and 
again that this country now has an abundance of 
labor to carry on every enterprise that may be un- 
dertaken within its limits and the natural increase 
may be safely depended upon to meet every 
emergency of the future. Already the members 
of every trade or calling are seeking to curtail 
their numbers by closing their doors to appren- 
tices and trying in every way to induce the taking 
up of other callings. Even with these precau- 
tions there is still a vast army of men unable to 
find employment and every worker introduced 
from without but adds one to its membership. 
These outsiders not only lessen the chances for 
employment but they introduce a new standard of 
living and of wages, thus doing the native workman 
a double injury. It would seem then that a just 
and decent regard for self should lead the Ameri- 
can to demand protection for himself and family 
against this uncalled for competition which is do- 
ing so much toward making his life burdensome 
and precarious. 

There is still another point from which to view 
this question but it is one of national expediency 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


-414 

only. If this government is ever to take the 
place among the nations of the earth its purpose 
and phenomenal growth would indicate and for 
which its founders hoped it will be when it is 
supported by an united and hqmogeneous people. 
It must then know no north nor south, no east nor 
west, and all of the rival nationalities now play 
ing such an extravagant part in its general polity 
must be merged into one universal Americanism. 
Our people must be given time to evolve a dis- 
tinct nationality. Nature is a most potent won* 


der worker and she will accomplish this miracle 
if only opportunity is given her, but even she 
can not go far on the way if this constant influx 
of differing characters and mental endowments 
from a<l portions of the world is to be continued. 
We owe it to ourselves and to our children to 
check this flood of alien blood and start upon the 
growing of an American nationality which will 
combine all the best of the races here represent- 
ed and that best developed under conditions 
which cannot but produce a free people, capable 
of appreciating and preserving that freedom. 


THE S. 

The Switchmen's Mutual Aid Association, after 
passing through all the varied fortunes of the 
average labor organization; after having pros* 
pered in good times and under good management; 
after having suffered its share from mismanage- 
ment; after having accomplished a world of good 
for the switchmen; after having made a good deal 
of history, has been obliged to dissolve. It 
has been forced to the wall as a result of the de- 
falcation of Graqd Secretary and Treasurer Wm. 
A. Simsrott, and the evil influences exerted over 
their membership by the A. R. U. 

There can be no question but that the methods 
of doing business in their offices was lax or it 
never would have been possible for Simsrott to 
misappropriate (32,000. But there is no use in 
crying over the milk that has been spilled. The 
supreme question in this connection now is, do 
the switchmen need and desire an organization of 
their own? Do they need an organization which 
will be of switchmen, for switchmen, and gov- 
erned by switchmen? The A. R. U. says not. 
The Conductor says yes. An organization of 
and for switchmen, governed by healthy and 
proper laws, presided over by an honest and fear- 
less executive, who will administer the laws with* 


M. A. A. 

out fear or favor and who has the courage of bis 
convictions can be made a fountain of perpetual 
good to the switchmen. It will elevate the stand- 
ard of the men, improve their conditions, furnish 
mutual benefit and protection and will accomplish 
more good for the switchmen than can possibly 
be accomplished by any other means. 

We learn that there is on foot a plan to form 
local unions of switchmen in various places with 
the hope that there may eventually grow there- 
from a national or international organization. 
We are glad to see this, and hope the plan may 
succeed beyond any expectation. Miles W. Bar- 
rett, who was chosen as Grand Master of the S. 
M. A. A., at their last convention, has, during 
his short term of office, shown that he has execu- 
tive ability and moral courage, and that he was 
well calculated to make a success of his administra- 
tion. It is to be regretted that he was obliged to 
assume command of a scuttled and sinking ship. 
It is to be hoped that he will lend his assistance 
to the new move, and that his influence will be 
far-reaching. The switchmen will do well to 
listen to him. The good the S. M. A. A. has 
done will live after it. Its mistakes will not have 
been un mixed with good if they prove a heeded 
warning for the future. 


HELP EACH OTHER. 


An ironclad consolidation of the various labor 
organizations of this or any other country has 
been proven an impossibility, and all who have 
hopes for its attainment may rest assured that 
naught but disappointment awaits them. The 
interests to be considered are by far too diverse, 
and, in many cases conflicting, for them to be 
brought into one general union with the same 
governing head. It stands to reason that the in- 
terests of any one class can be best looked after 
'by men who are not only thoroughly conversant 


with every detail of their affairs but are able to 
give up their whole time to the one subject. 
With each class looking after its own affairs as a 
class then there can be no fault found with a gen- 
eral congress in which each shall be represented 
and which shall have jurisdiction over such mat- 
ters only as are of general import The plan 
presented at the St. Louis meeting was practically 
this, and it will doubtless result in much good to 
all the organizations connected with it. To ex- 
pect more than this is to build upon the sand and 
nothing but ruin and wreck can fallow. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


There are many ways, however, in which the 
various organizations can be of great assistance 
to each other and no one of them should be 
allowed to pass unimproved. Without any actual 
and binding agreement they can stand by each 
other and give assistance in a thousand ways that 
would be mutually helpful. For instance, the 
men in the railroad service could hardly be called 
upon to strike in behalf of their brethren in the 
trades or mechanic arts, but they could easily en- 
dorse their labels and make that endorsement 
mean something. When the men in a certain 
trade declare any firm or corporation to be in 
harmony with its employes and to be doing the 
right thing by them under all circumstances, then 
the railroad men can add their sanction by 
quietly buying the goods sent out by that institu- 
tion, thereby making a market that would of 
itself be a sufficient reward. On the other hand the 
same sort of help could bi extended to the rail- 


4«5 

road men though, perhaps, not in the same de- 
gree. While it might be difficult to reach the 
companies as readily as the manufacturers, yet 
they could be made to feel that it was not good 
business policy to mistreat their men in any way. 

It must not be forgotten that any such policy 
as this would carry penalties with it and all must 
be willing to bear them for the common good. 
Railroad men must be willing to pay enough for 
their goods to make sure that the men producing 
them are receiving fair wages, and all others must 
be ready to follow the same policy. If they 
should allow the first offer of cheap prices to 
divert th *m from their purpose then all the good 
that might result from the course outlined would 
be lost, and it had better not be undertaken at 
the first If, however, all would abide patiently 
by such a course all would profit by it in the end 
and one of the greatest problems facing the 
labor interests of the country would be solved. 


THE TAWNEY ARBITRATION BILL. 


The recent turmoil in the labor world and its 
deplorable results have forced upon the people of 
this country the imperative need for some peace- 
ful means of settling the differences constantly 
arising between employer and employe. Arbitra- 
tion appears to be accepted as the most promising 
solution of the problem, and many of the bright- 
est minds of the nation have been searching for a 
plan by which this principle could be applied with 
absolute fairness to all interests and results of 
practical value be assured. The discussion early 
developed the fact that the present law on that 
subject was practically worthless, since the 
commission appointed by the president is no bet- 
ter than an investigating committee, with no pow- 
er to biing in a finding nor to enforce one if 
brought. Several members of congress at once 
turned their attention to the question with the re- 
sult that a number of bills have been presented 
lookiog to the establishment of an arbitration 
board that shall be fairly constituted and have 
the power to enforce its decisions. The question 
involves such a diversity of interests, with so 
many rights to be guarded, that the failure of 
these measures to meet all requirements can hard- 
ly be wondered at; in fact, it will doubtless re- 
quire some years of practical experimentation be- 
fore any law can be made reasonably satisfactory 
to all parties. Of the bills mentioned the most 
comprehensive and perhaps the best considered 
is that offered by Congressman Tawney, of Min- 
nesota. Its length precludes the possibility of re- 
producing it entire, but the following synopsis 
may suffice to give our readers its salient points: 


In case of trouble arising between any railway com- 
pany, engaged in Inter-State Commerce, and its employes 
regarding employment or wages, whereby traffic is 
stopped or impeded, either party may petition any U. S. 
Circuit Coart having jurisdiction, for a settlement of the 
differences. If the parties do not settle and neither pe- 
titions, and the company fails or is prevented from oper- 
ating its trains, then it is made the duty of any U. S. At- 
torney having jurisdiction to present a petition and to 
prosecute the same in the name of the government. When 
satisfied that there is need for action the court will re- 

a uire defendants to answer said petition within three 
ays after date of service. If both parties consent, the 
court shall give the case a full and fair hearing and deter- 
mine the case upon the evidence. If wages are involved 
the court shall establish a reasonable and equitable rate. 
The decree shall be in force and take effect as of the date 
of filing the petition. 

If the parties do not consent to the determination of 
their cause by the court, then the court shall, upon the 
application of either party or of the district attorney, fix 
a time and place for the appointment of a board of arbi- 
tration, consisting of five members: one selected by the 
employes or their authorized representatives, one by the 
company and the others by the court, one of the last three 
to be a person learned in law and familiar with U. S. 
court practice. Neither of the arbiters appointed by the 
court shall be an officer, member or stockholder or em- 
ploye of any railway company. Either party may object 
to an appointment, but the final decision rests with the 
court. The board shall have power to secure whatever 
evidence it may decide to be necessary for a just deter- 
mination, both parties may compel the attendance of 
witnesses and the hearings will be governed by the rules 
and practice of the court as near as may be. The de- 
cision shall consist of specific findings of facts, con- 
clusions and decisions of the board on the merits of the 
controversy, to be filed promptly with the clerk of the cir- 
cuit court. If a wage rate was involved, a reasonable and 
equitable rate must be found on the evidence. When the 
award is made it must be binding upon all parties, and 
takes effect from the date of filing the petition, unless 
either party appeals to the circuit court within the three 
days following, upon one or more of the following 
grounds: 

The award was procured by corruption, fraud or other 
undue means. 

The board exceeded its powers or so imperfectly exe- 
cuted them that a mutual, final and definite award was 
not made. 

Errors of law materially affecting the merits of the con- 
troversy and the substantial rights of the parties. 

The court may. in its discretion, direct a rehearing in 
whole or in part by the board, or it may modify or cor- 
rect the award so as to affect the intent thereof and to 
promote the ends of justice between the parties. If 


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4 i 6 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR \ 


neither party appeals, the award shall be final and have 
the effect of a decree of the circuit court. Ten tx more 
of such employes may make and present such petition on 
behalf of all or any particular class of the employes of 
the company, and in case the petition is made in behalf 
of the company or the district attorney, personal service 
upon any five of the employes interested shall be deemed 
sufficient. This act shall not be construed to interfere 
with the contract rights of the company or its men; nor 
shall it prevent the men from quitting the company’s 
service at any proper time or place, nor shall it im;>air the 
right of the company to discharge any of its employes and 
hire others in tbeir places at such rate of wages as it may 
be able to agree upon with such new employes, providing 
the men are not discharged for participating in such con- 
troversy. 

It is the purpose of this act to give to the circuit courts 
of the United States, sitting in chancery within their vari- 
ous jurisdictions, the same anihority over railway com- 
panies and their employes, as such courts now have over 
soch companies and their employes as are in the hands of 
the courts and their receivers. 

Should ahy company fail or refuse to comply with the 
decree of the court or the finding of the board, thus caus- 
ing its employes to qnit in numbers sufficient to impede 
traffic, such company shall be liable to any t-hipper whose 
freight shall be damaged or delayed. directlj or indirect- 
ly, or to any passenger who may be delayed, in treble the 
amount of damages sustained; and for every day or frac- 
tion of a day the mail, troops or property of the United 
States may be delayed from the same cause, the company 
■ball forfeit to the United States Si.oco for every tram so 
delayed; and it shall be the duty of every district attorney 
having knowledge of such forfeiture within his district to 
prosecute the samr; and no officer, agent or court of the 
United States shall have power to remit such penalty. 

After the decree of the court or the finding of the boar i 
of arbitration shall have been accepted and complied with 
by any railroad company, it shall be unlawful tor two or 
more employes or any other persons to conspire to bring 
about a strike because of any matur settled in the contro- 
versy, or for the employes to strike to increase the rate of 
wages fixed by such finding, so long as there is no sub 
stantial change in the conditions surrounding them Un- 
der the same conditions it shall be unlawful for the em- 
ployes of one company to strike for the purpose of injur- 
ing another company, person or corporation or for the 
purpose of aiding the employes of another company, per- 
son or corporation who may be on a strike. Any person 
violating tnese provisions shall be guilty of a misdemean- 
or, and upon conviction in any United States court, shall 
be punished by a fine not exceeding $200, or by imprison- 
ment not exceeding six months, or both. Any person not 
in the employ of such railway company who shall in any 
manner counsel, aid or abet a strike of its employes after 
their differences have been submilted and settled and the 
finding accepted by the company, as is contemplated bv 
this act. shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, to be punished, 
upon conviction, by a fine not exceeding S5C0, or by im- 
prisonment not exceeding one year, or by both. 

There is much in the plan here ontlined that 
will meet with ready sanction from the true 
friends of labor, but there are also a number of 
points that should t>e thoroughly discussed before 
they are allowed to become part of the law of the 
land. The first great difficulty in any measure of 
arbitration backed by force is in compelling 
obedience to the findings of the board and at the 
same time saving the men from that involuntary 
servitude against which the constitution warrants 
them. The plan of allowing those men to quit 
who are not willing to abide by the result ©f the 
arbitration, but at the same time restraining them 
from interfering with those who are satisfied, has 
been suggested as settling this difficulty. This 
right, however, they already possess and it could 
not be taken from them. In most instances it 
would doubtless furnish sufficient protection, but 
under it a hardship might be worked, and the bill 


can hardly be regarded as perfect until it ofien 
some measure of more complete protection. 

We admit the force of the argument that one 
man can be more easily ” influenced" or “insah- 
ed" than can three, hot think that objection 
would also rest against giving to the court the 
power of appointing three oat of the five mem- 
bers of the board This would give the courts 
constant majority which might at any time nullify 
an agreement between the representatives of the 
company and its employes and would give ground 
for the accusation of undue influence It would 
give much better satisfaction if the men were 
allowed to select two members, the company two 
and these four the fifth, leaving to the court the 
appointment of the fifth if the others were unable 
to agree within a reasonable time. If. however, 
the plan presented in the bill is to be adopted 
then the least that could be done in justice would 
be to give each party a reasonable number of 
peremptory challenger, thereby placing a checi 
upon the extraordinary powers of the court and 
leading to the appointment of none but satisfac- 
tory arbiters. 

The same objection would rest against the 
power granted the court to revise and modifiy the 
findings of a board. If the courtis to have the 
right to change any finding at its discretion, why 
go through the formality of appointing an unnec- 
essary board? It would be better for all concern- 
ed to leave the decision with that tribunal m the 
first place and thus avoid unnecessary expense 
and delay. The very essence and purpose of the 
bill requires the thorough independence of the 
board and unless its findings should come clearly 
within some of the points noted as grounds for 
appeal they should stand without question from 
the court. Where there is any room for doubt 
the ten or more men who take it upon themselves 
to represent their fellows by petition should be 
required to show, beyond question, that they 
actually represent a majority of the men for 
whom they claim to be acting. The provision 
making service upon any five of the men sufficient 
also opens the door to sharp practices. It should 
be guarded by requiring service upon men who 
are known to be representative through tbeir of* 
ficial positions, on committee or otherwise. 

Perhaps the strongest objections would De made 
tq the provision that the act shall not be construed 
to impair the right of any company to discharge 
any of its men and to hire others m their places 
at any rate of wages it may be able to agree upca 
with such new men. Under this provision, is 
case a rate of wages should be fixed higher than a 
company was willing to pay, it conld trump op 


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excuses for discharging those who were not will- 
ing to accept less than the established rate, and- 
fill their places with those who would *ake what- 
ever was offered. There could be but little hope 
for labor in the proposed bill if this loophole 
should be left unguarded. 

These are some of the objections to the bill as 
presented, but Mr. Tawney will not be sa< isfied 
with the first draft and will doubtless remove many 
or all of them before it comes up for passage. 
There can be no question but arbitration is the 
proper method for the settlement of labor contro- 
versies if a plan can be found that will preserve 
the rights of all inviolate and secure the selection 
of a firm and impartial board. The true end of 
arbitration can never be reached, however, if war 
is first declared and arbitration not thought of un- 
til force has failed. It would seem that some 
means should be provided for leading contestants 
to seek the peaceful mode of settlement before 


4*7 

going to the lengths of an open rupture. One of 
the strongest arguments in favor of the peace 
method is to be found in the protection it is sup- 
gosed to give the rights of the general public, but 
it is difficult to see any value in such protection 
if contestants are allowed to come to blows and 
traffic to be stopped before the law is brought in- 
to operation. If arbitration is made the first step, 
both parties being required to leave matters as 
they were at the commencement of the trouble 
until a decision can be rendered, then the law 
may prevent much of the evil that now results 
from hasty and inconsiderate action. No body 
of workingmen can afford to strike in support of 
a cause that would not stand the test of impartial 
arbitrament and the great body of them would be 
the first to repudiate such a cause. Let them be 
thoroughly assured of a fair hearing before an 
impartial tribunal, able and willing to enforce its 
deprees without fear or favor, and the day of the 
strike and the boycott will have passed forever. 


TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH. 


There are still a goodly number of the railway 
managers in this country, some of them ranking 
well up among the able men of their class, who 
cling to the old and mistaken policy of keeping 
the details of every wreck from the public, so far 
as is possible. In a recent issue the Salt Lake 
Herald gives the following well considered com- 
ment upon this point: 

It is a sad commentary upon the intelligence and per- 
spicuity of mind generally accredited to railway officials, 
that so many of the higher authorities incline to measures 
prolific of harm to the interests of the property they are 
paid munificent salaries for guarding In no way is this 
more clearly manifested than in the mantle of secrecy 
they throw about accidents when occurring on their re- 
spective lines. 

Railroad wrecks are a matter of public concern, and 
the facts attendant should be freely given by those who 
have full knowledge of them. Tnere are to-day many 
railway officers in the country who have taken precisely 
this view, and they have issued a standing order to the 
eftect that in the event of a wreck upon their lines, em- 
ployes in possession of the details shall unreservedly 
give them to the press. Such information need not al- 
ways come through an official, as nearly every operator on 
the line is good and sufficient authority. It would be far 
better for all concerned usually that the news should come 
direct from the company rather than from persons who 
oft-times have little or no hesitancy in drawing upon a 
highly wrought imagination in order to fill In between the 
things they really know. * * * 

It would seem to be for the best interests of the railroad 
companies that the true particulars of accidents, distur- 
bances, and all matters of public concern that occur on 
their lines, should be given by their own officers, than 
that distorted and highly exaggerated accounts should 
appear in print, rendered so through the inability of re- 
porters to obtain authorised statements and the necessity 


of gaining information from such sources as are availa- 
ble. No respectable paper wants to misrepresent the 
railroads in any way. Give them the facts and the fictions 
will not appear. 

The thoughts advanced in this article are, in 
the main. true. Experience has taught most of 
the progressive managers that it is much better 
in the long run to tell the exact truth about a 
wreck than to leave the story to the never failing 
imaginations of the reporters. This does not 
mean, however, that the employes generally 
should be allowed to dole out such partial and 
imperfect accounts as they have been able to 
gather from hearsay or as may happen to suit 
their ideas as to the best thing to be said under 
the circumstances. The story should be told 
by some one in authority who is thoroughly 
conversant with the facts. It should be a plain, 
straightforward history of the accident, giving 
all the essential details, and should be in writing 
so that there can be no excuse for its being 
garbled after leaving the writer's hands. If this 
policy should be generally adopted the reading 
public would soon come to have perfect faith in 
the accounts thus published, and many blood- 
curdling tales, with but little foundation in fact, 
would be suppressed before seeing the light. 


S 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


COMMENT. 


There is something ridiculous in the enthusi- 
asm displayed by the Christian endeavorites at 
their Cleveland convention, over the resolution 
to make extraordinary exertions to enlist the 
sympathy and aid of the people of the United 
States in the missionary cause. What a grand 
work such an organization as this might do in 
the field of social reform in this country! And 
in what better way could the endeavorers show 
their devotion to the cause of true Christianity 
than by devoting some of their surplus energy to 
missionary work right here at home? The en- 
deavorers met at a time when the whole country 
was convulsed, and suffering acutely from the 
symptoms of widespread social disease, yet the 
actual conditions surrounding them seemed to 
have very little effect on the deliberations of the 
convention; and the delegates seemed only bent 
on enlisting aid in support of missions for christ- 
ianizing people abroad. There is such a wide 
field for enlisting the aid of everybody in reliev- 
ing the misery and discord right here at home 
that it seems a pity the endeavorites should want 
any of it directed to the condition of affairs in 
other countries. The christianizing of America 
is a much more important work for Americans to 
engage in just now than is the work of christian- 
izing the J^ws, or the establishment of missions 
in foreign countries. 

# * * 

Another ridiculous matter is the solutions 
which are presented, by those who lay claim to 
be thinkers, for the problems involved in the sit- 
ution growing out of the Pullman boycott. 
Editor Medill, of the Chicago Tribune , for in- 
stance, professes a great horror for socialism; 
and then he goes on to advocate as pretty a 
scheme of state socialism as could well be imag- 
ined. He. in fact, indorses Bismarck's entire 
scheme of state supervision of industry, and then 
calmly informs the American people that they 
must choose between that and state sociali m! 
When the reputed wise men of our country are 
so far unable to express clear ideas on such sub- 
jects as this it is time the ignoramuses took a 
hand in the matter. After outlining his scheme 
of state insurance, Mr. Medill says: “When 
Bismarck first introduced this scheme in the 
German Empire there was some grumbling, but 
since then the people have discovered its great 
value and benefit. Now it could not be re- 
pealed." An elaborate investigation of Bis- 
marck’s state insurance scheme was eBtered into 
a short time ago under the direction of the 
United States labor bureau, and the results of 


that investigation were presented in a highly «• 
teresting report, but recently issued by our Cos 
missioner of Labor. After an exhaustive exit 
ination of the facts connected with the schei* 
some general conclusions are presented in tin 
report, as follows: 

“Certain confident claims that were made tn 
the early leaders in this legislation are not oalj 
not fulfilled, but there is scarcely a sign thauhet 
will be. 

1. In the sense that Bismarck used the word 
there is little likelihood that the laborers will t* 
made contented by the laws. 

2. The hope that certain classes of the ia 
sured would the more readily go into the countiy 
from the city, or stay away from the city, 
their money would go farther in the countn 
shows no hints of being fulfilled. 

3. That the social democracy has been the 
least harmed or checked in its propaganda vr. 
few would claim. 

4. Whatever may be true in the future as 1 
result of these laws, the charity burden has tv. 
been lightened in any way corresponding to tV 
belief of many advocates of the insurance. 

5. As to the belief entertained by many (tv 
the laborer would be led through the influence 
of these forced contributions to learn the hata 
of saving, it is quite certain that no such resah 
could as yet be brought forward. 

6. That a better feeling has in consequent 
been brought about between employer and cd 
ployed is upon the whole questionable, alt hoc e: 
this (under many circumstances where the grou^f 
are not too large) is affirmed to be true." 

These conclusions are presented as the rescl*- J 
of an investigation of ten rears experience with 
the laws, and Medill wants us to adopt the ven 
same laws as a solution of the whole labor ques 
tion on railways! And the ridiculous aspect of 
the affair is that we are asked to adopt them is 1 
a safeguard against the introduction of state 
socialism There is a depth of ignorance dis 
played here that one would hardly expect to find 
in the editor of a great metropolitan newspaper 
We are not yet ready for Bismarckistn in thi- 
country, and it is much to be hoped that thr 
time will never come when we will be. 

* » * 


The inconsistent attitude of those who assume 
to speak by authority concerning the labor sitna- 
tion is something truly appalling They damn 
socialism with a heavy oath and then torn right 
around and advocate the very worst sort of social- 
ism that can h* : raagineJ, tb ^socialism that r- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


gards men as so many mere puppets in the hands 
of the state, as a relief for our industrial evils. 
The Railway Age , for instance, that fearless 
exponent of the doctrine of national liberty for 
the masses, that hater of all forms of oppression 
and tyranny, that despiser of socialism(!) en- 
dorses Medill's scheme, and almost slops over in 
its admiration of this plan that is going to save 
the country from socialism. There is only pne 
fault the Age has to find with the scheme. Me- 
dill proposes to set apart two per cent of the 
employe's wages and one per cent of the gross 
earnings of the railways for the establishment of 
a pension fund. The Age thinks that "this 
would be an unnecessarily heavy burden upon 
the railways." Of course it would. It would be 
equivalent to a one per cent general increase of 
wages, and the railways could never stand that. 
“Evidently," says the Age, “the suggested basis 
of contribution is much too high, even supposing 
the principle correct.” What miserable trim- 
ming, what disgusting sycophancy is here. They 
want peace. They want it so bad that # they are 
willing to plunge the country into all the horrors 
of state socialism in order to secure it, and yet 
they are so miserably mean and small that they 
object to paying one per cent for it. Out upon 
such patriots! But they need not fear; the peo- 
ple will run their own railroads in the near 
future, and the present owners may keep their 
one per cent in their own pockets. 

# * # 

Again, they cry for arbitration, without having 
the faintest conception of what the theory of 


419 

arbitration involves. They are like drowning 
men who catch at straws in the effort to keep 
their heads above water. The status of the arbi- 
tration question is tersely and accurately stated 
in the current issue of the Twentieth Century , 
(July 19), as follows: “Compulsory arbitration 
is not possible without socialism, but most of the 
capitalistic press is too ignorant to know this 
and seems disposed to support a demand for com- 
pulsory arbitration. Let us help the movement, 
and before we know it socialism will be here. 
Capitalists know it and will resist. There is 
something* excruciatingly funny in this attitude 
of those who cry out against socialism, plunging 
deeper and deeper into socialism every move they 
make without being able to perceive where they 
are going. The hand of fate seems to be against 
them. They have yet to learn that they can’t 
eat their cake and have it too; they must either 
let go of their privileges or they will be forced 
into socialism in spite of themselves. And it 
looks as though the Twentieth Century wap play- 
ing with fire in advocating arbitration. For the 
democratic socialism it is the exponent of, noth- 
ing could be more incongruous than a scheme of 
compulsory government arbitration; and for the 
scheme to once get a foothold would be to en- 
trench state socialism so strongly as to require a 
terrible effort to get rid of it. There is nothing 
which will permanently settle the labor question 
but freedom for the laborer and the entire elimi- 
nation of privilege; and that is nst to be arrived 
at through any scheme of state socialism. 

B. 


BORROWED OPINION. 


The great railroad strike has been productive 
in the establishment of a number of valuable 
precedents on the part of the president, the attor- 
ney general, and the courts of the United States, 
which have practically enacted into a law all the 
provisions of the Caldwell anti-train robbing bill. 
In other words, the U. S. government will now 
be morally bound in the future, unless it chooses 
to repudiate the precedents which it has itself 
established, to hunt down and punish all train 
banditti as interrupters of inter-state commerce 
and the United States mails. — Express Gazette . 

The Chicago Tribune speaks of Mr. Debs as 
the Gashford of the riot. Gashford was the sec- 
retary to Lord Gordon, of No-papery riot fame, 
who cunningly incited rioters to violence. Mr. 
Debs is no Gashford, but what about Howard? 
When the inside history of the boycott is known 
U will be found that this Howard is the cunning 
trickster and open demagogue who for personal 
gain and vulgar vanity has led Debs and the rail- 
road men to defeat and ruin and that he has been 


engaged in secret conspiracies that they would 
have revolted against. Debs will retire in the 
sorrow and despair — that his naturally tine and 
sensitive nature will feel — while Howard, incapa- 
ble of any feeling or shame will strut as usual, 
with Tommy Morgan, Swift, Sovereign and Pome- 
roy. — Terre Haute Express. 


The result of this strike will do no good to or- 
ganized labor, and in this respect one object of 
the A. R. U. has been fulfilled. In the place of 
its advertised mission of peace there has been an 
active crusade against all organizations, a tirade 
of abuse and an attempt to destroy them, while 
the idea advocated by themselves has been 
boomed to the fullest by its officers. If the men 
who now control the destinies of this A. R. U. 
movement had displayed one- half the enterprise 
and vigor in the work of honest organization 
while they were members of the different broth- 
hoods and orders they have shown in the work of 
disintegration since they left them, there would 
have been no strike and the other organizations 
would have many years ago been working more 

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


420 

effectively together. — Railroad Trainmen' s 
Journal 

The great blessing to be drawn from this severe 
esson of labor economics is that such an organ- 
ization as the American Railway Union is nbt 
only without benefit, but that it is sure jo work 
inestimable harm to the true interests of labor. 
No organization or association banded together 
for warfare only can be successful in this day of 
universal enlightenment. Therr* must be a fun- 
damental and underlying principle of brotherly 
love and fraternal unity, that principle which has 
held together for centuries those grand secret or- 
ders which are so mysterious to the uninitiated, 
but who live on with increasing prosperity, 
founded as they are upon friendship, benevolence 
and truth. The railroad brotherhoods are to day 
the strongest of any labor orders They have 
withstood adversity, they have passed through or- 
deals most trying, and they stand to-day stronger 
than ever because of their benevolence. 

Eugene V. Debs cutgrew the shell in which he 
was batched, leaving the fostering care of the 
motherly school which had educated him, he 
thought to build for himself a castle, and safe 
therein, to rise to a point of political prominence 
in which his own personal future would be as- 
sured. The material with which he built was 
faulty. The castle of cardboard has crumbled 
beneath the shot of conflict. He is to day a wan- 
derer in the desert, known only by the pinnacle 
from which he fell. 

The unsuccessful issue of this strike has been a 
blessing to the labor world. Had it been success- 
ful, there is no telling to what extent the already 
weakened industry of this country would have 
been paralyzed by similar movements. The plan 
was faulty to its foundations. Sympathetic 
strikes are but a bludgeon in the hands of the un- 
skilled warrior and can never be successful. — 
Railroad Employe . 

It is interesting to note the strong reaction that 
has been loading the emigrant ships with strange 
companies of people who have failed to gain an 
industrial footing in America and are returning to 
central and eastern Europe. It would be good 
policy to aid this turn of the tide by every legiti- 
mate means. Fortunately the east-bound emi- 
grant rates this season are extremely low. We 
have been compelled to support hundreds of 
thousands of these people by charity during the 
past winter, and the cheapest as well as the wisest 
form of expenditure in their behalf would be to 
buy their return tickets and send them back where 
they belong. This temporary reversal of the cur- 
rent of migration affords the natural and safe op- 
portunity for Congress to enact a law severely re- 
stricting immigration for a period of years. It 
would be the most popular law ever placed on 
our statute books since the foundation of the 
American Republic. It could be enacted just 
now with a minimum of hardship to any interest. 
When the times improve and the European popu- 
lation surplus begins once more to seek less 
crowded quarters, the sign of "No More Vacant 
Seats!’’ on the door of our American omnibus 
would simply give Australia, South Africa and 
South America the better chance to advertise 


their comparative emptiness and their gresj re- 
sources and attractions All the most deplore 
and most dangerous features of the recent lr 
troubles, whether those of the bituminous % 
strikes or those of the riots accompanying 
rail . ay strikes, were clearly due to the fact c. 
vast over-supply of recently imported and not > 
assimilated working population from the ze 
English speaking c out tries of oemrat and eav- 
Europe The restriction of immigration ,1 
have been accomplished ten years ago It »• 1 
longer a delicate question open to argument, z, 
an imperative duty demanding prompt action - 
Review of Reviews. 


Abraham Lincoln said in bis message to or 
gress December, 1S61: "Capital could not fca - 
existed if labor had not first existed Capita! , 
only the product of labor. Labor is the supen * ( 
of capital and deserves by far the higher ccc:.. 
eration.” 

Thirty- three years ago our martyr presw 
expressed the above opinion, having, no dou :> . 
an abiding faith in the intelligence and fairs t 
of American labor. He did not mean that UY:: t 
was deserving of the higher consideration wh- 
it resorts to pistols, clubs and firebrand to redr-r * 
its grievances. 

There is no justification for violence and * 
excuse for trampling law in the dust. Labor \ 
won many victories over avarice and setfishr.- 
duriDg the past thirty-three years, and won \kz 
by "pegging away" in a conservative manr.r 
Nothing is to be gained by hasty action. Li'v 
must educate itself and consolidate itself in tri 1 
regiments and march slowly but steadily on war 
gathering to itself by force of example tho.‘e^Ho 
willingly sell their labor for a pittance. Ory>: 
ized labor must teach the masses that in un 1 
there is strength and impress upon invested c* r r 
tal the necessity for harmonious relations Ir 
mutual benefit. • 

Every gun that is fired, every stone that • 
thrown, every firebrand that is waved is a bo r 
erang which returns to strike labor a deadly bio* 
The condition of labor at the present time i? 0 
prosperous, but violence, or even rebellion, a: 
not bring prosperity to its door. If the laws 
wrong, change them. If the law makers are cr- 
rupt, relegate them to the rear. Labor ha? -1 
mighty weapon, the ballot. Has it used it or L 
it sold it on election day for a mess of pottage c 
a balloon filled with promises? A rebellion in- 
augurated against laws made by representative 
chosen by the people cannot succeed. The peo- 
ple have not been true to themselves and will cu- 
be true to each other. 

Abraham Lincoln did not mean that labor wxs 
superior to capital as the mule is superior u 
strength and power to the gnat; nor did he meej 
it "deserves by far the higher consideration ' be- 
cause it could create riots and disturb the finas- 
cial and commercial centers of the country. Hr 
meant that labor makes capital and is deserving 
of high consideration because the existence 
capital depends on labor. 

It is wise to bear in mind that if labor destrcu 
existing capital it must wait patiently until n re- 
creates it before it can expect to enjoy much of u 
Railroad Telegrapher . 


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Huntington, Ind. 

C ircor Railway Conductor : 

Perhaps the readers of The Conductor would 
.ik* to hear from us. as it has been s&me time 
'.nee they have had that pleasure, if you feel 
imposed to call it such. • 

We are not as prosperous at present as we 
*ould like to be, partially on account of the ex* 
'eme heat, and then we have lost quite a few of 
r members, as far as their attending our meet- 
ogs is concerned, as they have removed to other 
)i*ces 

There are quite a few ladies in our midst that 
I know would be good members of our Order, 
they have not yet availed themselves of the 
importunity to join us. We would like to see 
yrtry one of them send for applications to be 
tilled out; we would be only too glad to welcome 
tern into our Division. 

I have taken this upon myself to contribute to 
Ift:? Conductor, because I think it is encour- 
aging to all Divisions to hear from each other, 
bat am at a loss to say why you have not heard 
burn us before. Our Division has given several 
'ceptions to the O R C. in this place, which 
lave proved a success in every way, especially in 
caking the acquaintance of strangers 
I think if it had not been for the slack busi- 
our number would have been increased ere 
iwis We have all felt this to a certain extent 
and are a little backward in asking anyone to 
join us. • 

1 will hope to see something more soon from 
Erie Division No. 16. 


St. Albans, Vt. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Vermont Division, No. 53, L. A. to O. R. C., 
was organized and publicly installed in O. R. C. 
Hall, St Albans, Vt., June 18, 1894, by Grand 
Deputy President, Mrs. R. H. Kline, of Sunbury, 
Pa assisted by Grand Junior Sister Mrs. J. B. 
Van Dyke, of Wilkes Barre, Pa. The following 
were elected ^and publicly installed; 


President, Mrs. J. A. Sturtevant; Vice-President 
Mrs. L. E. Kent; Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. 
C. E. Rhodes; Senior Sister, Mrs. N. Stewart; 
Junior Sister, Mrs. O. C. Frazier; Guard, Mrs. 
Joseph Young; Chairman of Executive Commit- 
tee, Mrs. George Bannister; Correspondent, Mrs. 
G. H. Peck. 

It was decided to have a banquet for the occa- 
sion, and we were much pleased to see so many 
of our Brother conductors present, and greatly 
missed those whose duties made it impossible to 
join us at that time. 

After installation we were pleasantly enter- 
tained by interesting remarks from a number of 
the Brothers. I am pleased to note that so many 
of the O. R. C , including others that were not 
present, favor our Auxiliary, and surely if all 
work for the good of the Order, there should be 
no divided interests. 

A true Vermonter will always prove loyal to 
the old Green Mountain State, so we of Vermont 
Division should ever prove loyal to the banner 
which floats over us and heralds our common 
need 

We have twenty charter members already and 
more expected to join us. We meet every second 
and fourth Wednesdays in each month in O. R. 
C. Hall, at 2:30 p. m. 

Yours in T. F,, 

Mrs. G. H. Peck. 


Atlanta, Ga. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Since my last letter Golden Rod Division has 
taken in several new members and continues to 
prosper, and we have the good news that a Divis- 
ion will soon be formed at Augusta. Ga. On 
May 23d Atlanta Division 180, O. R. C., gave 
their eighth annual picnic at Indian Springs. Ga. , 
and was ably assisted by the Ladies’ Auxiliary. 
We left Atlanta at 8:00 a. m., over the E. T. V. 
& G . with its fine rock- ballast track, with a big 
freight engine, No. 363, and Engineer T. G. Rus- 
sel pulling eleven coaches full of people, and 
made a quick run to Flovilla, where we 


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422 


transferred to the I. S. & F. Dummy Line, and 
under the good management of Mr. M. A. Lind* 
say, the trip to the Springs was quickly made. 
Indian Springs is a celebrated health resort, its 
health-giving waters being highly valued by the 
Indian tribes for its wonderful cures of diseases 
of the kidneys, indigestion and malarial and liver 
troubles, and now the civilized whites come from 
all over the south to drink its waters and pass a 
pleasant summer. The beautiful groves and the 
rippling til very creeks trickling over the quaint 
shaped rocks and the old dilapidated mill race 
make a pretty picture and delight the eye of all 
lovers of the beautiful. The Wigwam Hotel and 
several other smaller, but good hotels, furnish all 
the comforts any one could desire. There was 
good music and dancing in the large, airy ball 
room of the Wigwam, and every one enjoyed 
themselves. There was also a bowling alley and 
other amusements for all. We arrived in Atlanta 
that night at 8 :00 o’clock, and the only regret ex- 
pressed by anyone was that the day was so short. 
The picnic was a decided success financially, as 
we cleared $384 10, and divided it equally be- 
tween the two Divisions, which gives us a nice 
sum in our treasury. 

Since the great Chicago strike has shut off the 
sale of southern fruits in the north we are getting 
melons, pineapples and other fruits at almost 
nothing, and the railroad men are not making 
any money on account of the fruit shipments 
being stopped, that being their best business at 
this season of the year. 

On June the 28th, Atlanta Division 180, O. R. 
C., gave a social entertainment at the hall of the 
R. R Branch of the Y. M. C. A., and the con- 
ductors and their wives hid a most pleasant time. 
The programme was well carried out and con- 
sisted of addresses by the Past Chiefs of the 
Division, and music and recitations, and then an 
abundance of lemonade, ice cream and cake was 
served, and all enjoyed themselves. During the 
evening Sister Walraven, our secretary, made an 
impressive talk and surprised the O. R. C. by pre- 
senting them, on behalf of Golden Rod Division, 
with a Simplex Duplicator, in token of our appre- 
ciation of the H*ndness shown us by the Order 
Bro. Humphries. C. C. of 180, replied in a feeling 
manner, assuring us of the heartfelt thanks of 
the Order, and that the present could not possi- 
bly have been anything that would be of more 
service to the Division. Every day we bear ex- 
pressions from conductors and their wives of the 
good the Auxiliary has done in getting conduc- 
tor’s wives closer together in their social relations, 
and acquainted * with each other, and we believe 


that our future is very bright and we will accom- 
plish much good. 

Our city is enjoying a season of good opera 
now. and as usual they have good houses, and a 
good company that deserves the patronage. We 
will promise all the Sisters who come to Atlanta 
next summer to the Grand Division to have good 
operas both night and matinees. We want to see 
more of the Sisters write for Thk Conductor. 

Yours in T F.. 

Mrs M. ]. Land. 


Esthbrvillr, Iowa. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Okobojit Division, No. 52, L. A. to O. R. C., 
may not have a large membership but it makes 
up in jnterest and enthusiasm whatever may be 
lacking in numbers. We have not been organized 
a great while, but are already beginning to feel 
the benefits of the new work and its associations 
and grow firmer in our support of it every day. 
At present we meet on the last Tuesday of each 
month only, but as soon as the weather becomes 
cooler the meeting days will be placed doser 
together. 

One of our first ventures in the way of enter- 
tainment was a social given at the home of Mrs. 
A. E. Bradley on the evening of July 7th. Icy 
cream and other refreshments were served and 
all present pronounced it a decided success. 
Financially we did nicely, considering tbe fact 
that the evening was unusually cool. We feel a 
deep interest in all our Sister Divisions and wish 
them all unbroken prosperity. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs A. E. Bradlky. 


Salida. Col, 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Having been chosen correspondent for our 
Auxiliary, I will try and tell you something of 
our doings. We were organized on the 19th of 
June, and have called ourselves Cdlurabine Divis- 
ion No. 54, in honor of our state flower. We 
started out with nineteen members, and the fol- 
lowing officers were elected: 

Mrs. Peacock, President; Mrs. Troupe Rives, 
Vice President; Mrs. T. F. Roberts, Senior Sis- r 
ter; Mrs, T. H. Perkins, Junior Sister, and Mrs. 
J. Burgess, guard. 

Sisiers J. S Kessick, Clark and Sadd. of Den- 
ver, also Mrs. Dalton, of Pueblo, came up and' 
put us through the work. All of the sisters are 
taking a lively interest, and I know we all enjoy 
our meeting days. Altbqpgh tbe O. R C. ha* 
been organized in our little city for ten years. 


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THE RAILWAY 

there has not been an auxiliary here before, 
therefore, they will go along in single harness no 
longer, for we intend to stay right with them 
hereafter. After the closing of our initiation a 
reception was given to the visiting ladies, which 
was very much enjoyed by all present. 

The husbands of the ladies oi our Order pre- 
sented us with about $30, which was a great help 
towards filling our treasury. 

Our Auxiliary meets the first and third Thurs- 
day in each month, at 3 o'clock. We shall al- 
ways be glad to have visiting sisters with us. 

Yours in T. F. , 

Mrs. Frank Gilmore. 


Bellevue, Ohio. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

It being some time since anything has appeared 
in behalf of Autumn Leaf Division No. 12, I will 
make a feeble attempt to do »the Sisters justice. 
We were all most sorrowfully impressed with our 
loss by death of our beloved Sister, Allie Nye, 
as it does not seem at all like the same Division 
without her sweet smile. We are still small in 
number, we miss each familiar face. But, ‘-in 
the midst of life we are in death," and can but 
hope it may please Him who rules to spare all 
our dear Sisters here and elsewhere. 

We are slowly prospering, having at one of our 
recent meetings taken in three new members, 
over which we were very much pleased. The 
officers have all been very faithful and deserve 
great praise. 

On April 23d, 1894, the ladies gave a banquet 
and ball, and all reported having a very good 
time. It helped to swell our treasury by sixty 
dollars, which we did not regret. 

We are now making preparations to buy a nice 
organ, so we can adopt the new floor work, or at 
least make the old seem new with music. 

If any of the sisters pass through our little 
town, we hope they will give us a call and prom- 
ise them a cordial welcome, one and all. 
Our Grand President has promised to visit us in 
the near future, which would greatly please us. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs F C F. 


Sunbury, Pa. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Perhaps you can spare me space for an account 
of the fourth annual banquet given by the ladies 
of Eastern Star Division, No. 8, L. A. to O. R. 
C., in honor of the conductors. Snyder's Hall 
was the scene of the gathering, and it was well 


CONDUCTOR. 423 

filled with the parties most in interest. Our 
president, Mrs. W. H. Shaffer, presided, and did 
it most acceptably. After an organ solo by Mrs. 
Weaver, Mrs. Shaffer welcomed the guests of the 
evening in a brief but highly appropriate speech. 
In closing, she said women had been accused of 
being unable to keep a secret, and one of the pur- 
poses of this gathering was to prove this accusa- 
tion untrue. She then ordered the committee 
having the goat in charge to retire and make the 
necessary preparations for its production. They 
soon reappeared bearing a handsome, highly pol- 
ished antique oak altar, which Mrs. Shaffer pre- 
sented to the O. R. C. in a neat little speech 
Bro Brubaker responded on behalf of the Broth- 
ers, assui ing us that the gift was highly appreci- 
ated by them and would be given place among 
their most cherished treasures The key was 
then given to the custodian, who opened the door 
of the altar and found a box of excellent cigars 
for which E. M Me Alpine returned the thanks of 
the Brothers. Next, one of the ladies proposed 
the toast "Let’s eat," and it also received a gen- 
erous respDnse. After the banquet the gentlemen 
enjoyed a smoke. It was an enjoyable occasion 
and will long be held in pleasant memory by all 
present. 

The members of Eastern Star Division wish to 
extend their sincere sympathy to Sister J. H. 
Blain in the death of her little daughter. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. J. H. Ellbnbergbr. 


Topeka, Kansas. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

No doubt some one of the Sisters would be 
pleased to hear from us again. Our Division is now 
over a year old and we celebrated the event with a 
tea given at one of our Sister's on June 13th, last. 
We hope on our next anniversary to celebrate it 
with a public affair. All the ladies and children 
of the trainmen and a few of the gentlemen met 
at one of the parks in the city, recently, with 
baskets full of good things to have a picnic. The 
children seemed to enjoy it and I am sure the rest 
of us did. If you want to get acquainted, just go 
to a picnic. We reorganized our sewing society 
at our last meeting and are going to see if we 
can’t help someone that is in need, this winter. 
We expect there will be a great many, the times 
are so very hard for men who are out of employ- 
ment and their families. 

Yours in T. F., 

E. E. F. 


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Kansas City. 


£ ail or fiaiizuay Conductor : 

At sea without compass, sail or rudder. That 
is just the condition in which some members of 
our Order find themselves to-day, with a few 
threads fluttering from an otherwise bare pole, 
wheie only a few short days ago was the proud em- 
blem bearing the mysterious sign “A. R. U.,” 
which was the standard of an order that was 
brought into existence to destroy all other labor 
orders I am surprised to see that any members 
of the O. R. C. were so easily entrapped ioto a 
scheme to destroy the old ship which has borne 
the old flag so proudly over the tempestuous seas 
of the past, even when so bitterly assailed by her 
bitterest foe who is now second in command of 
the A. R. U. When he was first in command of the 
B. R. C. he suffered inglorious defeat at the 
hands of the O. R. C., who afterwards took its 
members into its confiding arms only to find that 
they were largely composed of men of a restless, 
discontented disposition, who were unwilling to 
submit to the majority rule. If you will closely 
look into the matter you will discover that a large 
majority of the O. R. C. members who did go 
out in the Debs and Howard strike, were former 
members of the B. R. C., Howard s old order. 
This I fully expected, and was not surprised 
when it came. I was, however, surprised to 
learn that some others were weak enough to be 
led into so uncalled for and ill advised a strike as 
the one that the whole country has been afflicted 
with; no reason no grievance, no violation of 
contract, no misrule on the part of our officers to 
resent. What, then, had we to strike for? Noth- 
ing but to simply satisfy the greedy ambition and 
revenge of two men. This must be so, since 
they have shifted it from one caute to another 
until their own membership are at a loss to-day 
for a reason why they struck. First it was a 
Pullman strike, then a strike between capital and 
labor; last, but not least, a strike to compel the 
managements to take back into their employ the 
very men who were the direct means of bringing 
about all the trouble, a thing they themselves 


would not do were they placed in the positions of 
the managers. I would like to have some one point 
out to me the connection the Pullman shop men 
have with an engineer, a fireman, a brakeman. a 
switchman or a conductor. Is it because they 
build the cars that the latter handle upon the 
several railroads? If so, then you are just u 
much interested in the man who digs the coal 
that fills the cars and fires your engines, or in 
the man who plows and plan s the edrn which 
furnishes the major portion of the business of 
our western railroads, that gives us all work; in 
fac». I can scarcely see any chance for us to do 
any thing but strike, if we are to go out on a sympa- 
thetic strike every time trouble occurs, and there 
is scarcely a week passes over our heads when 
you cannot find some poor dupes that are being 
deceived into a strike by an unprincipled lot of 
agitators, w hose only interest in them is a desire 
to further personal ends. It has always been my 
opinion that the agitator was a far greater enemy 
to labor than the capitalist, and this. I believe, 
can be readily proven by following the history of 
the late unpleasantness. Prior to that time the 
railroads were all running to their fullest ca- 
pacity, many of them running trains that were a 
dead loss during the long continued hard times 
and you will admit that that condition of things 
would have continued had not the strike betn 
ordered and a whole lot of men turned topsy 
turvy, and commenced to walk on their beads, 
and consequently lost their situations. Now, 
what does the agitator pay you for your new situ- 
ation, the one you accepted at his hands when 
you voluntarily gave up your position on the rail- 
road? Does he pay you from a hundred to a 
hundred and fifty dollars per month? No; wbat 
then? Sympathy? Yes Can you live on sym- 
pathy; can you clothe yourself with it ? No. 
What is it good for. then? Simply to sorrow for 
a friend. Better far for your friend that you re- 
main in your position, then you could render 
him valuable service in money as well as sympa- 
thy, which is much better to one in a starving 
condition. Nine out of ten strikes would aot 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


occur if the agitators were driven from the field. 
None of them can be a success without a justifi 
able cause, which will carry with it public sym- 
pathy, and this cannot be done by afflicting the 
public in such a manner as they have been 
afflicted in the late strike. We are all capitalists 
in this country; our capital is our labor, and if 
properly invested brings an average good interest, 
payable monthly from fifty to one hundred and 
fifty dollars per month. If we take it out of 
business it ceases to be an yarning medium, and 
the original capital wastes away; just so with a 
mao of millions. What wou'd labor be worth in 
this country or any other if it were not for capi- 
tal? Let common sense and good judgment be 
our dictator. Let us not be led by men who, if 
we will sit down and calmly thing for a few mo* 
ments, we must conclude have no interest in us 
other than their own selfish interest. Let us 
stick by the old ship, and be not afraid that the 
defeat of an organization founded as the A. R. U. 
wu, .can in any way bring disaster to an organi- 
zation that has at all times proven its loyalty to 
its principles, and I am satisfied that when we 
meet in Atlanta, Ga., in our next G. D., our 
grand old banner will be cleaner and its stars 
shine brighter than they have ever shone before. 

W. Welsh. 

Emporia, Kansas, 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Seniority appears to be the all absorbing topic 
of the time, and perhaps you will give me space 
for a few words regarding it. I am, always have 
been and always will be firmly opposed to senior - 
ity. and it seems to me the time is ripe for a 
determined stand against it It must ever be a 
curse and a stumbling block to men of merit, 
though those who do not care to work for ad- 
vancement may find in it a friend. All honest 
men will readily admit that ability and zeal in 
the service furnish the only true standard, and 
most of them. I am confident, are willing to be 
measured by that standard. Of course, a large 
number of good men have been misled by the 
specious arguments advanced in favor of senior- 
ity, but I believe they are beginning to open their 
eyes to their error and soon will all be found on 
the right side. Seniority injures the experienced 
brakeman as much as it does the conductor. No 
conductor who gives that ability and interest to 
the service necessary to make him a valuable 
man is going to keep the deserving brakeman 
down. Both should unite in doing everything in 
their power to discourage the hiring of inexperi- 
enced men and thus cut off the constant additions 
to the already large army of unemployed railroad 


425 

men in this country. The quicker seniority is 
throttled the better it will be for every depart- 
ment of the railway service. 

Yours in P. F., 

J. F. Wilson. 

Lincoln, Neb. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

On the 1 8th of July, last, the members of 
Claude Champion Division No. 227 attended the 
second annual picnic of Division 246. given in 
Dillon’s Grove, at Tecumseh, Neb., one of the 
finest picnic grounds in the state. Through the 
courtesy of Gen. Supt. T. E. Calvert and Supt. 
E. B. Bignell, we were given a special train from 
Lincoln. It was composed of four coaches drawn 
by engine 33, in charge of Engineer H. E. Moore 
and Fireman C. Nelson, while Conductor P. J. 
Cunningham, of the Irish Mail, looked after the 
comfort of the passengers. Mayor W. R. Bar- 
ton, city, Clerk S. R Scott, assisted by the other 
officials of the city, members of the council and 
prominent citizens, officiated as a reception com- 
mittee and did everything in their power to add 
to the pleasure of both Divisions and their 
friends The picnic grounds, Tecumseh band, 
opera house, transportation to and from the 
grounds, were all furnished free. Our train left 
at 9:55. reaching home at 11:10 p. m. with a 
crowd of enthusiastic picnicers. All were loud 
in their praises of treatment received at the 
hands of the city and railroad officials and citi- 
zens generally, and voted it the best time they 
had had for many a year. 

Yours in P. F., 

O. S. Ward. 

St. Louis, Mo. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

P. T. Barnum once said that the American peo- 
ple “liked to be humbugged," and judging from 
the dimensions of the recent strike and the real 
causes leading up to it I can but admit that bis 
assertion was true. But of all the humbugs 
posing before the American people to-day I brand 
Eugene V. Debs and George W. Howard the 
greatest. While they are posing as the friends 
of labor and labor organizations a glance at the 
history of labor organizations will convince the 
most skepical observer of events that they are 
wolves in sheep's clothing — in short, the would-be 
assassins of all legitimate railway labor organiza- 
tions. The American Railway Union was formed 
for the express purpose of crushing the life out of 
these organizations and incidentally as a money- 
making scheme for its promoters. At a meeting 
held in this city about seven months ago Eugene 


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426 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


V. Debs made the statement from the stage that 
he would devote the rest of his life if necessary 
to the breaking up of every legitimate railway 
organization in existence. Howard never missed 
a chance to make the same boast, with a big /. 
The question will naturally present itself to the 
reader, "Why this animosity on the part of these 
two men against these organizations of railway 
men?" The answer is simple. They were un- 
able to use the old organizations to further per- 
sonal ends. Howard (never true to it) was ex- 
pelled by the O. R. C. for violation of his obliga- 
tion and has — while claiming membership in it — 
done all he could to injure it. His connection 
with the B. of R. C. and the very shady closing 
up of the affairs of that organization are well 
known. Unsatisfied, soaring ambition, personal 
spite, greed and treachery, allied with natural 
disposition to stir up strife and make mischief on 
part of Debs, Howard and Rogers led them to 
put their heads together and as a result the Amer- 
ican Railway Union was sprung upon the Ameri- 
can people who, as we said in the beginning, 
"like to be humbugged." Their organizers were 
instructed in the methods of sowing the chaff 
calculated to catch the unwary. They were in- 
structed how to approach the members of organi- 
zations and solicit them to become supporters of 
the illegitimate child foisted upon the great 
family of railway wage workers. 

They were instructed to impress upon the mind 
of the would-be victim the fact that one of the 
beauties of The American Railway Union was 
that they did not ask or want him to withdraw 
from his class organization, but to retain his 
membership by all means — but "join us; it is 
cheap; one dollar admission and one dollar a 
year dues, and we will give you ninety days to 
pay the dollar." This is the kind of chaff which 
caught the birds on which these vultures feed. 
Having by such representations and false prom- 
ises of financial assistance in case of trouble, ob- 
tained a sufficient following to feel secure in their 
po.itioo, they began to look around for an oppor- 
tunity to strike the final blow — their master stroke 
— which would fulfill their public avowal of pur- 
pose, and at the same time gratify their highest 
ambition by disrupting the legitimate railway 
organizations which had declined to be further 
polluted by them. 

What means did they adopt to do this? Know- 
ing that through being well organized, the em- 
ployes on all important lines had, through their 
different committees, secured contracts which 
were advantageous to themselves and satisfactory 
to their employers, and that no dissatisfaction 
existed among the railroad men, they went out- 


side of railway circles entirely and took up the 
grievances of a lot of unfortunate carpenters, 
mechanics, etc., who blindly trusted them, and 
sent forth their order to strike. 

Strike, though your children are crying for bread; 
Strike, though you know not how they will be fed; 
Strike, though all industries paralyzed be; 

Strike for Howard and strike for me. 

Dbbs. 

Having done this, the object of their solicitude 
in keeping the ranks of Jhe different organizations 
unbroken up to this time becomes apparent. The# 
strike at Pullman is on — the boycott declared. 
It is then that the members of these organizations 
are called upon to declare themselves as loyal to 
their class organization, which has done so much 
for them mentally, morally and financially in the 
past few years, or to support this alien organiza- 
tion into which they have been buncoed. What 
is the consequence? A great many having faith 
in the promises of these humbugs obey their 
orders blindly, never stopping to think of wife 
and children depending on their daily labor fft 
bread; never giving a thought to the self-evident 
fact that a promise of support as a reward for 
their treachery to their legitimate class organiza- 
tion cannot be fulfilled. Finally, to sum up the 
American Railway Union, what have we? We 
have a heterogeneous mass of humanity; an or- 
ganization with no foundation but tbe false prom- 
ises of the leaders and agitators, with no excuse 
for existence, and no resources except the gulli- 
bility of the working classes and the afore-men- 
tioned fondness of the American people for hum- 
bugs of all kinds. 

I do not wish to be understood as fighting for 
the corporations; such is not my purpose. They 
are better able to fight their battles than I For 
the men at Pullman I have the deepest sympa- 
thy. Their cause is just, and had they been un- 
molested by these arch conspirators and made a 
fight on the merits of their case they would have 
received the unanimous support of all laboring 
classes and the public at large. My fight is 
solely against this anarchistic monster which has 
risen in our midst and is stretching out its death - 
dealing arms in every direction, destroying every- 
thing before it; sacrificing life and* property, and 
even threatening the life of the greatest nation on 
earth, and all this is done to carry out the pri- 
vate ends and aims of two or three individuals 
by accomplishing tbe annihilation of all legiti- 
gitimate railway labor organizations But smart 
as they are they have overreached themselves at 
last. By soliciting and accepting the aid of the 
different trade and labor unions they have as- 
sumed an obligation which they can never cancel- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Their watch word, "The injury of one is the con- 
cern of all," must now apply to every class of 
labor affected by the recent order of Grand Mas- 
ter Workman Sovereign, and hereafter, whether 
it be the grievance of a carpenter, blacksmith, 
waiter, street sweeper or any other tradesman, 
the American Railway Union must, if it act hon 
orably with these men, cause the same scenes to 
be enacted as have blotted the fair page of our 
nation's history for the past fortnight. But there 
are none so rash as to presume that Messrs. Debs 
and Howard intend to fulfill the obligations they 
have taken, and the public at large must readily 
see that if this fight is won by the American 
Railway Union with their unreasonable demands 
and anarchistic methods that the peaceful opera- 
tion of our great arteries of commerce will be 
only a thing of the past. 

Ed. E. Williams. 


Knoxville, Tenn. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Please allow me to "run around" the Brother 
who writes from Division 139, in order that I 
may express my opinion and show my interest in 
the future of our Order. This Brother deserves 
much credit for the interest he has always taken 
in the affairs of the Order, as well as Division 
139, of which he is a member. Our Division has 
been, heretofore, a little extravagant in its contri- 
butions for this and that charitable purpose. We 
have reformed considerably in this connection in 
order to equalize receipts and expenditures, 
though we yet remember the "Home for Aged 
and Disabled Railroad Employes." 

The ten per cent reduction on the E.T.V & G., 
together with a general falling off of business to 
about fifty per cent has made it hard, even for 
members who yet have regular runs, to Day dues 
and assessments, besides the individual contribu- 
tions which are expected of everybody. I sup- 
pose the situation is equally annoying throughout 
the whole country, as the hard times have greatly 
increased the number of sick, disabled and other- 
wise suffering humanity, and of the maintenance 
of this class the railroed man is expected to bear 
bis part. 

The result is that bis wife gets but little spend 
ing money after his month’s wages have gone 
through this trying process of distribution. 

Brother Pomeroy's letter interested me very 
much, but it seems to me that it would be well to 
be careful in making reference to religious socie- 
ties as compared with the A. R. U. *Ve can’t 
expect public sympathy in our behalf, unless we 
are understood to be in touch with the moral and 
religions improvement of the public at large, as 


42 T 

well as of our own Order membership. Per- 
haps if we properly understood Brother P's 
meaning in this connection we would not be so 
quick to criticise; though we must admit that if 
not clearly understood such expressions from 
members — who have the influence of which many 
of our writers can boast — is calculated to dis- 
courage a Brother who depends upon religious 
association for mo al strength. Brother Mox, 
how lonely you must have felt at the special serv- 
ices of Dr. Stewart's church. From the time 
you describe your feelings in connection with the 
attendance till you signed your name I followed 
you up closely in each line with ray deepest sym- 
pathy. 

Great will be the life of a member who advo- 
cates a higher standard of morals in our Order. 
In many instances we turn our back on church 
people who seek to help us, and while they spare 
no pains to afford us real eojoyment we repay 
them with derision. 

When we are convinced of the fact that busi- 
ness integrity is in a measure sustained by real 
moral worth, we will have then attained that 
force of character which is intended to be con- 
veyed through the teachings of the Holy Bible — 
the foundation of all fraternal connections. 

" The fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of 
men." 

I hope I'll not be termed a "world reformer,” 
but as a sincere member am interested in the wel- 
fare of O. R. C. 

Yours in P. F., 

"Extra,” Div. 139. 


Colorado Springs, Col. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

"The sympathy of a sympathetic strike never 
extends to the general public.” 

How true this is, and it does seem as though 
the past experience of some of the older members 
of the O R. C. would have the effect of forever 
imprinting the above trite saying indelibly upon 
the raiod of every Brother. There is no doubting 
the fact that the Order, as an Order, has passed 
safely and triumphantly through a very trying 
period in its history in the position it assumed 
during the recent strike, and it is certainly en- 
titled to great credit for the confidence displayed 
by its members in its laws, and executive, in de- 
claring "Hands off.” In the minds of many of 
us the strike was unwarranted and ordered by an 
illegitimate organization. The term, illegitimate, 
is applied for the reason that the A. R. U., as 
originally established, had, apparently, no other 
purpose in view than the demoralization and dis- 
integration of the old orders, which have been in' 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


42 8 

the past, and are to day, the most successful in 
maintaining right and justice between employer 
and employe. 

Sympathetic strikes never have, and never can 
be, successful, from the very fact as above quoted. 
We all know the conditions and surroundings of 
employes of railroads are different in their wants 
and necessities in the many localities, altitudes 
and climates, which cur far reaching Order cov- 
ers, reaching from Canada to Mexico inclusive, 
thus showing that our own requirements are 
many and various. 

Now, it does seem that, when we have taken 
care of our own interests within a scope as above, 
we have done well, and should be satisfied with- 
out trying to shoulder the burden of all classes of 
labor, of which the A. R. U. was composed. I 
say "was,” for it is very apparent that the pro- 
miscuous gathering, under that name, is ‘ 'busted. ” 
And, Brothers, why should it not be? The very 
bone and sinew of their institution was to be re- 
cruited from the ranks of the old organizations, 
many of whom had received benefits not to be 
forgotten, and formed friendships ever to be 
cherished in the organizations they have held 
membership in for years. Was it to be expected 
that these men would throw down their old and 
tried weapons for those untried? No! and they 
didn’t, for it don't require much of a philosopher 
to know that one cannot safely carry water on 
two shoulders at once. 

We are indebted to our old orders for our so- 
cial and financial condition, which, we must all 
admit, is superior to that of the years past, and 
can we ever expect to gaia anything by sacrificing 
old ties and allowing ourselves to be drawn into 
a combination such as the A. R. U ? 

The error into which such a combination is 
liable to fall — as the past has shown — under men 
who are not entirely wise, or American, in their 
methods, is a dictatorial assumption of power 
over the railroad corporations, which certainly 
have some rights, as organized capital, that even 
organized labor is bound to respect. 

The danger, when two great interests are 
brought into a prolonged conflict with each other, 
is that not only the employer and employe are 
put to great loss; an irresponsible public are 
made to suffer, consequently the sympathy of the 
public subsides, and when that occurs, virtually 
all is lost. This can hardly be denied, as it is a 
well known fact that, in the end, public opinion 
decides all great questions. 

In the minds of some it has the appearance 
that the leaders of the A. R. U. have been more 
largely concerned in the effort to exploit them- 
selves than to do justice and right. And those 


who have the interest of organized labor really at 
heart can not be too earnest in condemning their 
course of action. The American people are be- 
coming too enlightened to allow such an alien and 
barbarous weapon as the "boycott” to win at the 
cost of life and the institutions of good govern- 
ment. 

If the principle is sustained that the railroads 
have no voice in the management of their ownaf- 
fairs, then the rights of franchise are at once sac- 
rificed and all is chaos; while, on the contrary, 
should law and order prevail in all our undertak- 
ings, and our discussions be conducted in reason 
and with common sense, then our orders will 
flourish and accomplish the good intended they 
should. 

The idea of intimidation of capital and the ter- 
rorizing of the country at large, in defiance of the 
government, must be abandoned, else we can 
never expect to gain the end for which we are 
striving. There is but one course to pursue, 
which is the pathway of patriotic duty, from 
which comes all good citizenship and good gov- 
ernment. And I wish to state here, there can be 
no one more desirous of securing the highest pay 
possible for our labor than I, and I have worked 
hard to that end, but we mu t act with reason 
and in a business like way, for, unless capital can 
operate at a profit, it will not operate at all. and 
directly capital discontinues to invest and develop 
in any given channel, just so soon are the wheels 
of commerce in that channel stopped.. Then what 
follows? Labor is stopped. 

In conclusion, 1 wish to say to the members of 
the Order of Railway Conductors who remained 
staunch and true to* their Brothers and the prin- 
ciples of our Order, believing its executive, aided 
by the best constitution and by-laws of any organ- 
ization of labor in the world, are fully able to 
protect our rights as held in the contracts with 
the various lailroad companies, to those 1 say, 
well done, be true and keep steadfast. 

Yours truly in P. F., 

S. P. Madeira. 


Macon, Georgia 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

As nothing has appeared in the columns of 
The Conductor from Division 123 for some time, 
and some of the Brothers are wondering what has 
become of their correspondent, I have decided 
that it is time to make an effort in that direction, 
though I fear it will be a very poor one 1 am, 
at present, in a position where there is little 
chance of gathering news that will be of inter- 
est. Division 123 is in very good condition hav- 
ing had several additions of late, both by in* 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


429 


iliation and transfer. We have had very good 
attendance at our meetings and much interest is 
manifested by the most of the Brothers. At our 
annual picnic in June we added a small amount 
to our treasury, laid by a few dollars for emer- 
gent use, and all who attended had an enjoyable 
day. We claim the largest crowd and best con- 
ducted outing of the season. The most of our 
Brothers are at work and apparently satisfied. 
We have two Brothers who have been laid up on 
account of sickness for some time, and am sorry 
to have to chronicle the death of three Brothers 
so far this year. Brother E. H. Smith, who died 
in Atlanta, Ga., May 14th, with disease of a 
lingering nature; Brother J. A. Rhodes died at 
Ft. Valley, July 6th, after a short spell of fever 
— Brother Rhodes was the very picture of health 
and in the prime of life; Brother J. F. Nelson 
was shot in the back Sunday, July 226, by a 
negro passenger on the Brunswick & Western R. 
R. while in the discharge of his duties. 

The Order is very well represented at this 
place, in the way of officials, on the C. of Ga. 
Brother C. L. Bruner being trainmaster of the 
Main Stem division; Brother J. H. Hall train- 
master of the south-west division, and Brother 
T. K. Hunsaker general yard master. All of 
them are efficient men and highly respected by 
all the Brothers. 

I cannot agree with Brother S., of Topeka, in 
regard to seniority. It is the worst curse the 
conductors have ever had to contend with. 

If this shows up all right I may be tempted to 
try again. 

Yours in P. F., 

W. C. Davis. 


Columbia, Pa. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

It may, perhaps, interest the Brothers general- 
ly to know that Division 331 is still in the land of 
the living. Our membership keeps up well and 
there is no falling off in the solicitude felt by 
them for the general good of the Order. Of late 
our attention has been forcibly directed toward 
our insurance laws, especially toward the provis- 
ions governing the payment of disability claims, 
and upon that question I have a few words to ray. 
We have a brother who was so unfortunate as to 
be stricken by paralysis February 26 last, paralyz- 
ing his left side and rendering him completely 
helpless. He has been a member of the Benefit 
Department since 1886, but now that he is help- 
less, if I understand the law aright, he cannot 
draw a cent. He must pay all of the assessments 
as they come due, but that is impossible as he is 
earning nothing. The end will be that he will 


be obliged to forfeit his insurance and lose every 
cent he has paid in, without deriving a particle of 
benefit therefrom or being in any way to blame. 
It is a rank injustice and one our Order should 
not permit. What do we pay our money for if it 
is not to meet just such claims as this. I hope 
that the Grand Division, when it meets at Atlan- 
ta, will wipe this law from our statutes and make 
provision for meeting this class of cases. Let us 
hear the sentiments of some of the Brothers upon 
the question of paying benefits in case of paralysis. 

Yours in P. F. , 

"Growler.” 


Kansas City, Mo. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

A recent issue of The Railroad Register con- 
tains a plea from "Simplex” for the B. of L. E. , 
B. of L. F., B. of R. T., S. M. A. A., O. R. T. 
and O. R. C. to come to the aid of two men in a 
struggle to the death with the railroads; a strug- 
gle without a cause; a struggle that has brought 
disaster and death in its path, and has paralyzed 
the commercial and industrial interests of this 
country to a greater extent than any panic we 
have had in forty years. For what purpose is 
this assistance asked? To give back to the em- 
ployes of Pullman the pay they originally were 
getting? No; that was only a pretext to start a 
war to the death against all other railroad labor 
organizations. The bitter hatred of the leaders 
of the A. R. U. towards the others is what cre- 
ated the desire to destroy them, and to accom- 
plish this thousands of good, honest railroad la- 
borers have been duped to the extent of losing 
their positions, entailing untold suffering upon 
themselves, as well as upon their innocent wives 
■and children. They tell us this strike, if lost, 
will be the end of liberty, will be the end of all of 
our orders. I believe this will be the best thing that 
ever happened for our orders. The conservative 
actions of the heads of all the old orders has 
clearly demonstrated the fact that they were not 
men who could be led from the path of duty by 
every labor agitator who might happen to come 
along. 

The clear and concise words of advice of Arthur 
to the Engineers, of Sargent to the Firemen, of 
Wilkinson to the Brakemen, of Barrett to the 
Switchmen, of Powell to the Telegraphers, and of 
Brother Clark to the Conductors, gave evidence of 
their ability to take care of our orders and of the 
confidence they had in the large majority of their 
members. They tell us if we allow this struggle 
to spend its life's blood, our grievances will begin; 
they don't say what would become of us all if the 
A. R. U. are victorious in "the struggle for its 
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430 the railway conductor. 


life," as "Simplex" puts it. They don't tell us 
that the A. R. U. has already threatened to turn 
all of our charters to the wall, a threat they have 
clearly demonstrated they are unable to carry out. 
What few members the O. R. C. (and I have no 
doubt this will apply to all the others) has lost 
will not be an injury, but I believe, in many ways, 
will purify and strengthen the Order. It will rid 
us of a part that we should never have taken into 
fellowship. Then, again. '‘Simplex" says, "Save 
your honor." How? By joining in the destruc- 
tion of property? By joining to defy law and or 
der — by obstructing the federal government in 
the discharge of its duty— by compelling helpless 
women and children to remain for hours cooped 
up in coaches with a lot of howling demons stand- 
ing around and menacing their lives— by depriv- 
ing helpless women and children of food and 
wate r — by applying the torch to the property of 
innocent people? This is not the way good 
American citizens “save their honor" They 
don’t burn bridges and saw off timbers in order 
to precipitate a train load of humanity into a river 
and then shoot into the cars as they are toppling 
over to still further carry out their hellish pur- 
pose. 

Then, he says, you can terminate this struggle 
by a single word, clearly showing the weakness 
of their order and demonstrating the fact that the 
managers of railroads would respect the chiefs of 
our several orders when they won't listen to this 
big mushroom concern that calls itself a railroad 
organization and takes in stevedores, coal miners, 
teamsters, farmers and all and everything that 
presents itself and has the required amount to 
pay for initiation. 

All hail to our chiefs! They are worthy our 
greatest respect, and they will have it. Our or- 
ders will come out of this great useless struggle 
without a blemish; purified and strengthened; 
with honor and a far better possibility of settling 
all grievances than they ever had before, and will 
live long after the leaders of this, the most disas- 
trous strike this country has ever seen, are for- 
gotten by all except those whom they have ruined. 
While we have the deepest sympathy for many 
who have been drawn into this trouble by the 
promises of the agitators, we feel that they ought 
to have had reason and to have listened to both 
sides of the question before going out and thus 
bring disaster upon themselves as well as upon 
those who had confidence in their good judgment. 
The lesson taught by this strike will cost many 
lives and millions of dollars, and still there are 
thousands who will, at the first call from a leader, 
jump over the fence and sacrifice all, forgetting the 
many failures of the past that have been wrought by 


following the lead of men of whom they knew but 
very little. Let us be satisfied with a member- 
ship in one labor organization, then we know just 
where we are and cannot antagonize an order, as 
well as ourselves. W. Welsh. 


Indianapolis. Ind. 
Editor Raihuay Conductor : 

I have carefully read the letter in the June 
Conductor of my good brother and friend, W 
Welsh, of Kansas City Division No. 55, and fully 
agree with him that it is not necessary to have as 
many grand officers as we have at the present 
time and have had for some years. Many mem- 
bers find it difficult, in these times, to pay their 
local dues and assessments for insurance, and the 
assessments for our grievance committee work, 
and also protective fund assessment, which by 
the way, was not made this year through the good 
judgment of our Grand Chief Conductor. 

Make the Grand Division dues one dollar per 
member per year, and let every member of the 
Order that wishes any benefit from the Order at- 
tend his Division meetings, that he may be there- 
by able to receive the benefits that be is entitled 
to from the same. 

I fully agree with Brother Welsh, in the Le- 
high Valley strike, in regard to our Order payicr 
non-union men I would like to know what right 
those who do not belong to our Order have to ex- 
pect pay from our protective fund. Should the; 
desire these benefits, why don’t they become iden- 
tified with us by joining our ranks, taking our ob- 
ligations, paying the initiation fee and dues, as 
well as our protective fund dues, for the protec- 
tion of themselves and their families, and until 
they do this, let us assist only those that give us 
their assistance, regardless of what any Grand 
officer may or may not have promised. Let us 
follow the law strictly, as has been placed upon 
our statutes by a legally constituted majority of 
the Grand Division. 

I am one of those unfortunate permanent mem- 
bers that Brother Welsh desires to have side- 
tracked. I desire to take issue with him on this 
point, not because of the fact of being a perrw* 
nent member, but from the fact that my Division 
has complied with the strict letter of the law bj 
sending me to four consecutive sessions of the 
Grand Division with the view to securing one of 
the highest honors that a subordinate Division 
can. 

Is it not a fact that a majority of these perma- 
nent members have stood by the Order and for 
the Order for these many years and in all its dirk 
days, and now do you desire, from the fact of 
their being permanent members and not in actns 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


service* to side-track all of them? May not our 
good Brother, being unfortunate some of these 
days, be placed on the retired list, and, in the 
event this should happen, being one of these per- 
manent members, and with the others fired from 
t be Order after years of service, how would be 
like to take his medicine? 

The writer does not agree that these permanent 
members do not have the same interest in the 
welfare of the Order as those that are in active 
service. I believe, in a large number of cases, 
they take more interest in attending Division 
meetings and Grand Divisions and are as 
fully, if not better, posted in the welfare of their 
Brothers and the Order as any that are in active 
service. The writer has not missed a regular nor 
a special meeting of his Division for the last six 
years, except when he was in attendance at the 
session of the Grand Division as a regular elected 
delegate, and while there assisting every moment 
of the session in the work of the Grand Division. 

How many of your active members can pro- 
duce a record like this, and many others of the 
permanent member class? 

Surely Brother Welsh is not desirous of kick- 
ing these old wheel horses out after their many 
years of faithful service in assisting to build our 
glorious Order up to its present standard and as- 
sisted in winning these laurels. Personally, I 
say. no. ,sic a thousand times no. My motto, 
“Once a conductor, always a conductor; once a 
permanent member, always a permauent mem- 
ber. 0 so long as I am in good standing in my 
Division. 

I love my Division and the Order. I enjoy the 
general prosperity of each . I shudder, however, 
at the thought that the time will ever come when 
this law, so wisely put upon our statute books 
years ago, will be obliterated. This class of our 
membership are passing away fast enough as it 
is Let us encourage them and receive their wise 
counsels, and let the law remain as it is. 

Come let us reason together. Be true to our 
Grand officers and our Order. 

Yours truly in P. F., 

Harry M. Mounts. 

Topeka, Kansas. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Since Division 179 has no regular correspond- 
ent. it probably devolves upon me to report to 
the Order at large that we are stifl in the ring, 
and but little disfigured. In fact, our Division is 
in a flourishing condition, having a membership 
of sixty-three and an average attendance upon 
our meetings of twenty. The general grievance 


committee of the A T. & S. F. system has been 
in session here and tbe members attended our 
meeting in a body yesterday They were as fine 
looking a body of men as one would wish to see 
and were given a cordial welcome, yon may be 
sure. We will send yon their photo's as they ap- 
peared when last seen yesterday. By the way. 
we have a degree team in 179 of which we are 
not a little proud. All who have seen them work 
say they are the best in the country. Tbe follow- 
ing Brothers make up the team: D. I. Forbeck, 
captain; Elmer E. Hay, C. C.; J. H. Griffith, A. 
C. C.; D. N Mjers, S. C.; D. F. Shafer. J C. 
As we have nothing for them to do at the 
present time, these gentlemen will be glad to visit 
any neighboring Division having need for their 
services, and you may be sure they will exemplify 
tbe work in good shape. 

Yours in P. F., 

J. H. Dodd. 

In Sacred Memory. 

The following tribute is offered in memory of 
the beloved sons of Conductor and Mrs. James 
Budd, who were drowned while bathing in the 
Mississippi river at Burlington, Iowa. 

Before we know it the shadows come, 

And the light sinks down in the cold, cold sea; 

A blight has fallen upon a home — 

Two blossoms from a fragrant tree. 

Our hopes, and visions, and rainbows bright, 

Are hidden behind a blackened cloud, 

The day is swallowed up in night — 

And the heart strings torn and bowed. 

Patient and loving throughout the years 
The parents had guided these two dear crowns, 
And who could number the bitter tears 
They shed as the sua went down. 

As the sun went down on that fatal day, 

The mother waiting her boys to come; 

Ah! who could but weep at tbe sad, sad news 
□ That was borne that night to their home. 

Their darling boys, — loved all tha more 
For being so young in years. 

Called from health to enter death’s door — 

So much more bitter the tears. 

Home with them was a paradise, 

Their futures so bright and fair, 

And the light that shone from their loving eyes 
Made their star of evening there. 

To the parents and friends on earth alone, 

Whose fondest hopes and love are crushed 
With as deep a sorrow as ever was known, 

All the sweet home music bushed, 

May God, who tempers the wind and wave, 

Bring to your hearts His peace and calm. 

They sleep a sweet sleep iu the silent grave, ^ 
They rest by the sheltering palm. F 

Clara B. Rouse, f 
Grand Rapids, Mif 


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<MOOgl( 






Mutual Life Insurance in the Courts, i. As- 

sessment Certificates — Misrepresentations. 

The Supreme Court of Missouri has decided 
that under section 5849 of its statute for 1889, 
which provides that no misrepresentation made 
in obtaining a life insurance policy shall render 
it void unless the misrepresentations contribute 
to the contingency on which the policy becomes 
due, hence will not apply to policies on the as- 
sessment plan, where such statute provides that 
a company doing business under the provisions of 
the general insurance law unless it is so declared 
in the statute. Also, where such life insurance 
certificate empowers the association s board of 
directors to levy assessments by ipecial notice, 
such power is within the meaning of Art. 3, 
Chap. Sg, relating to insurance on the assessment 
plan, though it further provides for certain fixed 
premiums. 

Hanford vs. Mass. Ben. Assn. y Mo. S. C., 
May 14, 1894. 

Note. To the question, how long since you 
wer§ under the care of a physician, was answered 
by appellant, “not for many years." It was 
proven that he was in the hospital at least three 
times during the year previous to his making ap- 
plication. The court holds that the association 
is not liable on account of such misrepresenta- 
tion. 

Mutual Benefit and Accident Insurance— Cause 

of Death — Evidence. 

1. In an action appealed to the Indiana Su- 
preme Court on an accident and benefit policy 
providing that the benefits should not extend to 
death caused by bodily infirmity or disease, and 
it appeared that the insured member suddenly 
fell, striking his head, there being no evidence of 
any external cause for the fall, and the uncontra 
dieted testimony of the experts who conducted 
the post mortem showed that the heart and brain 
were generally diseased and this caused the fall 
and death, held, that an affirmative instruction 
for defendant was properly given. 

2. The fact that persons meeting the insured 
member observed nothing in his appearance to 


indicate ill health raises no conflict as to the «x^ 
istence of the disease testified to by the experu 
Neither does the fact that his widow was put t( 
expense in obtaining proof of the insured s dent! 
estop the association from avoidirg the payment 
where it does not request the proofs and informed 
plaintiff that it would contest the payment. 
Judgment for defendant affirmed. 

Sharp vs. Commercial Travelers' Mut. Act 
Assn, of Indiana, Ind, S. C.. April 25. 1894 


Insolvent Corporation — Appointment of a AV *1 
ceiver for Assessment Association — Attach I 
rnent of Company' s Bunds . 

1. The Massachusetts Supreme Court b 

that where funds of a corporation were attach 
by plaintiffs, who had a claim, and subsequent 
a bill for a receiver was filed, and a receiver ap 
pointed, and the funds were paid over to the 1 
ceiver. by order of court, without prejudice 
the rights of attaching parties, the claims 
plaintiffs for sick benefits, if allowable 10 
proved, should be preferred, to the extent of tl m 
property attached. > d 

2. The appointment of a receiver of a cotjp ur 

ration organized to insure lives on the assessn 
plan, is not a bar to suits brought against it 1 
the bill for his appointment was filed nor dojA v — 1 
suits abate by the appointment. tf' 

Page , et. al. t vs. Supreme Lodge K. aplass* 
of Protection , Mass. S. J. C., May 18, lSwhat 
Note. Plaintiffs became members am anche 
such became sick and disabled, and enti ece i vc 
receive sick benefits. Their claims were- 
by the subordinate branch and certified ancl r 
grand body. The supreme body neglected tribute 
fused to pay the claims, although it had s less of 
funds to do so Thereupon, the plaintifi , hold 
to pay further assessments until their claii 
adjusted. This not being done claimants 5 ° c *atii 
suit and attached the associations fa* 1 fund 
bank, and the court holds such attachntti acc 
to the extent of their claims. 

Vs to 

Action on Certificate — Certificate of /^luive 
Physician's Testimony — Waiver of /Vri 4 by \ 
The Supreme Court of New York d<cuieA on - 

Digitized by 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


i That in an action 
lysiciaa's certificate of 


of a life certificate, a 

the cause Jf death, 

fered in evidence by plaintiff, does / not bind 

aintifi as an admission of all the faJl ts re cited 

erein, bat is an admission only of th A ^ e 

j w cause of 

alb stated. 

i. That testimony of the physici; 
ed member as to what he 
fore the policy was issued is 
x. Sec. 834. which prohibits 
tify as to communications mad< 
tients, properly excluded, wl 
tes that the information on 
:e§sary to enable him to treat 
That by offering in evident 
cause of death given by a 
ired. plaintiff does not the* 
rrisions of the code forbidding 
ify as to information 


in of the in* 
[ted him for 
fer Code Civ 
physician to 
to him by bis 
the physician 
t subject was 
[be insured, 
a certificate of 
thysician of the 
•eby waive the 
a physician to 
in the cause of 


’laintiff's judgment 
K/ Benefit Assn., N. Y. 


lessiooal employment, 
rmcd 

kdmond vs. Industry 
1 , May 8, 1894. 

fatf Payment in - 

rad Ibat (be r»prejf h ‘ s ° ase "“refused on the 

ttioed in the app« aen . ,a " ons of a S 8 and health 
m fnr ,hat ..=«■* lca,Ion were untrue, and the 

tendinV W° D was void - The evidence 
'Ta, "oundji? show a breach of the war- 
1 member the P roofs °* death of the 

mificateow which proof consisted of a veri- 
r thiucs. tYm Physician containing, among 
- - opinion of the cause of death, 

f of which he died, and contain* 
tement that during a certain month 
for the insured for a disease known 
uli " But the court rules this out 

! of it' being privileged communica- 
rinadxnissible under the code unless 
d there being no evidence of waiver, 
>urt committed no error in its finding 
ent for plaintiff. 


435 

Graham, et. at., vs. Mutual Aid Society, 
Mass S J. C., May 18, 1894. 

Rote The decree rendered on the receiver's 
report in this case, and appealed from, is modified' 
to mean that the receiver has power and should 
collect and receive property of the corporation 
found outside the commonwealth, as well as with- 
in it, and the holders of certificates residing in 
other states as. well as this should present and* 
prove their claims before the receiver, who is 
authorized to hear and pass upon the claims, and 
where not presented before a certain time namedl 
should be forever barred. 

Train Service— Statutory Penalty— Declaration 

— Demurrer. 

In an action against, a railroad company to re- 
cover a statutory penalty for failure of an en- 
gineer or train-servants to sound the whistle be- 
fore crossing a highway, held \ that a declaration 
which does not state in what direction the train- 
was going, the time of day when it crossed the 
highway, and the character of the tram, whether 
freight or passenger, is bad, when met by a special 
demurrer. Judgment reversed. 

Ohio <Sr» M. Ry. Co. vs. People, ex rel, Van- 
Gildet, Ills. S. C. f April 2, 1894. 

Employe and Master— Assumption of Risk. 

In an action for personal injuries, on appeal it 
is 

Held. 1, That one cannot sue a railroad as an 
employe and recover as a passenger. 

2. A superintendent of construction and civil 
enginier, in requesting a bridge superintendent 
to go, in the course of his employment, to a point 
on a line in course of construction, and not open 
to the public, is not, in behalf of the company, 
inviting him to ride as a passenger on a construc- 
tion train. Hence, the judgment in favor of 
plaintiff is reversed. 

Evansville, etc., R. R. Co. vs. Barnes , Ind. 
S. C., May 28, 1894. 


v — Mutual Benefit Society — Distribu- 
Assets. 

assachusetts Supreme Court holds: 
hat when a mutual benefit association, 
anches in several states, becomes insolvent 
teceiver is appointed in Massachusetts, the 
and reserve funds should be proportional- 
Vtributed among the certificate holders 
[less of their residence, to which end cer- 
holders who have attached property of 
^ociation will be excluded from any share 
funds unless they release such attach 
or account for the property in their posses- 
ses to who are members and entitled to a 
[itive share in the fund, should be deter- 
by the constitution and by-laws of the 
on. 


Liability for Acts of Company— Wrongful 

Ejectment. ’ " 

1. A conductor is not such a public officer 
that the company will be free from liability for 
his wrongful ejection of a passenger under a mis- 
taken idea that the latter was about to violate the 
rules of the company. 

2. On trial of actiog against such company by 

a passenger for assault and wrongful ejectment } 

by its conductor, an instruction that passengers v 

must obey all needful rules for the regulation of \ 

their cars or trains, and that smoking or the use 
of obscene or abusive language would justify his 
ejtction, is equivalent to one that plaintiff must 
show that he was riding peacefully and quietly. 

3. On such trial for such wrongful ejection, it 
is competent to show that the assault was con- 
tinued when plaintiff tried to re-enter the car 
immediately after being ejected. Plaintiff's 
judgment affirmed. 

D T , etc , Ry. Co. vs. Reed, Colo. C.of App. 

April 9, 180^ 1 

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In the Review of Reviews for August, Dr. among the many * — 

Albert Shaw gives an effective description of teresting stories wF no conflict as to the ed 
"Toronto as a Municipal Object Lej son. " The sporting readers * testified to by the expert** 
Canadtan municipality, it seems, has much to partment is strong 4 tbat his widow was pnt * 
teach our leading cities of the "States ’ in some ^ , proof of the insured’s deat^ 

departments of city government. The street 
railway franchises and regulation of the telephone 
monopoly are points of comparison which are 
especially suggestive. The article is elaborately 
illustrated. 


The future of l.f rom avQjdir g the payment 
considerably comp est the proofs and informs! 
bishness of both^id contest the paymeatJ 

Anglo Saxon race S* a ffirmed. 
to an acute observer^ Travelers' Mut. aJ( 
above him, the America? C., April 25. 1894 
beneath him. Newport 

of a ^ 

I 


the unusual advantage of 


There is much food for thought in B. O. Flow- 

er’s paper, "Then Dawned a Light in the East,” s ^ are both species, 

in the August Arena. Its spirit will especially the un,, ' ;,,a, 

kindle the larger* social hope of the young men 

and women in whose hands rests the future. It cumveDtin g each of them — / 
is a striking and instructive contrast of civiliza- Scrtb * er ' s Magazine. 

tion in Rome in the Augustan era. in Athens and Messrs Allen =,„d c t, . u 
m Palestine with the civilization of the western Am ! ? Sachll eben. 

world of to-day. I, shows how history repeats a Z d Th T ^ 

itself with a vengeance-hut the author believes ? h ° 7 H " u SaW many S,ranf;e 
in spite of all, that humanity is rising ’ £ Doraads of th « Asian steppes. 

8 ,he,r journey through Turkestan in 

The leading features in the August number of °* Centur y- ,he X sa y T 

* *i*ola* a re "The Admiral and the Mid- ideas of Vm Pe °?“ ° btaintd h 

sbipmite," a humorous story of boy nature by 'h rnm Zf Americans. We s 

Mary Murdoch Mason; "American Bicyclers at station'd ° celebr “<es in th 

Mont St. Michel." by Edward H. Elwell, Ir the of Th aD . d tbe n,ost numerous 

serials by Miss Molly Elliott Sewell and Howard were to'ldVad H ‘ S phonoRra 

Py le , both of them exciting stories of adventure; Pishpek but th ^ “ S appear 

"G Wbillikens," by James Barnes, an account what u was ,he . Da, ‘ VeS dld -em to 


hoMd 


Court 


of the clever capture of a big trout- * The Bears b Why ’ the > r said * we have 

of North America," by W T Hornaday. with noT ' h''" T" * ha ' " Dr Tanne 
particular reference to the fierce grizzly an d count'' °n ° f fame in this far- 

"How Meta Saved the Mill." by Elizabeth th™ h T® b ‘ S ^ *u America, a. sir) 
Worthington Fiske. * ' 7 be "’ h ° U * Dot '° luDta ry fea, was be.ng p er fo 

ere A Kirghiz messenger who had bee 

Lovers of sport and healthful exercise .ill find Z 1 st inTe ^owTnd' 31115 d " r '' np W 

much to interest them in OuOn# f or August. ' “ 


- l» j remained for t vv 

East, West. North and South comrib^Thefc crazed "by huZ' m 7 ? ‘° Und »* 
share of pleasant reading. Gypsy camping, elk have to 'eat, he replied “ 
hunting, grouse shooting, coon hunting, muskal- foolishK s- F ' 
longe fishing, mountain climbing, cycling, and a he uas dead tw 

valuable history of the New York Yacht Clnb are Dr. Tanner of Turlell'™ ^ 


what he 

“Everything - 

and in 
Wa S Cell It? cl 


I 


Digitized by ^.ooQie 





Any one knowing the present whereabouts of 
one Sid Shelmidine, last heard of in Arkansas 
City, will please address P. O. Box 70, Missouri 
Valley, Iowa. 

V 

The many friends of J. H. Redmon will learn 
with pleasure of his being appointed supsrin- 
tendent in charge of transportation for the Iowa 
Central, with headquarters at Marshalltown in 
this state. 

V 

Bro. Charles A. Davidson, of Division 14, is a 
candidate for the office of sheriff in his home 
county. He is well qualified for the place and 
his many friends will hope that success may 
crown his ambition. 

* * 

* 

Bro. J. F. Kennedy, of 227, was so unfortunate 
as to have his car robbed on the morning of July 
22d, last, losing, with other valuable papers, di- 
vision card l«o. 3528. Any Brother finding the 
same will kindly take it up and return it to this 
office 

* * 

* 

After being postponed because of the strike the 
annual convention of the Railway Agent's Asso- 
ciation was opened in Boston on the 12th of the 
present month. The attendance is reported as 
being large and profitable sessions are promised. 

* * 

* 

Bro. Phil. K Landis, of Division 280, has un- 
dertaken the organization of an investment com- 
pany known as the Landis Investment Company. 
The object is to transact a general investment 
business in the state of Colorado. Letters of 
inquiry addressed to Bro. Landis at Buena Vista, 
Colorado, will receive prompt attention. 

* * 

*■ * 

Gs account of the actions on part of a large 
majority of the members of Divisions 118, 207 
and 296 in connection with the late labor troubles, 
these Divisions have been closed. Any members 
who are free from charge of violation of law or 


obligation can secure Grand Division transfer 
cards by applying to the Grand Secretary. The 
interests of the loyal members will not be allowed 
to suffer on account of the acts of the disloyal. 

4t * 

* 

We have on our desk a smill volume which is 
a new work on Air Brake system, entitled "Dis- 
eases of the Air Brake System.” The work is by 
Paul Synnestredt and the subject is treated in a 
plain and intelligent m inner. Its many illustra- 
tions will reveal much to the student of the Air 
Brake. The work can be had of the W. F. Hall 
Printing Co , 21 to 25 Plymouth Place, Chicago, 
111 . Price one dollar. 

New division cards for 1894 have been issued 
to all members reported as entitled to same and 
the genuine cards of the original ’94 issue have been 
called in. All members are warned against 
recognizing the old card. The only ones out are 
in the hands of those who have violated the laws 
of the Order and are not entitled to exchange; 
those who have been too negligent to keep their 
Division secretary advised as to their whereabouts, 
or they are counterfeits Recognize none but the 
dark blue, new card. 

* * 

* 

Bro. Frank Wise, of 157. has concluded to 
leave the railroad work, and will be hereafter 
found at New Britain, Conn., where he has be- 
come the proprietor of Hotel Russwin. This is 
a first-class house and Bro. Wise will soon make 
it one of the most popular in that state. The 
change in business will bring no diminution of 
his interest in railroad men and affairs and "the 
boys" will always be sure of a warm welcome 
and the best there is in the house. May com- 
plete success attend him in the new venture. 

* * 

* 

A number of interesting communications for 
both the Ladies and the Fraternal departments 
have been omitted recently because of their bear- 
ing no signature. Our correspondents must re- 


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4 36 7 HE RAIL WA Y CONDUCTOR. 


member to sign their letters if they wish them to 
be published. The name need not appear if the 
writer prefers to remain unknown, but we must 
know who our correspondents are in order to pre 
vent being imposed upon. This rule will be 
strictly enforced without further notice. 

# 

* • 

Brothers who fail to receive their Conductors 
promptly should make it a point to ask their p3st- 
masters for paper mail. In a great many in* 
stances where complaint is made we fiad, upon 
investigating, that the magazines have been held 
by the postmasters awaiting claimants. First, be 
sure your magazines have not been received by 
the local office, then notify us, giving name and 
address in full with number of your Division, 
and it will be attended to at once. 

V 

The following telegram from the Vice Presi- 
dent of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 
Railway Company fully explains itself and 
authoritatively contradicts the many rumors that 
have been afloat relative to the contemplated 
policy of this company: 

Chicago, July 31, 1894. 
“E. E. Clark, Cedar Rapids, Iowa: 

Your letter of yesterday. There is absolutely no truth 
that the receivers of these properties contemplate annull- 
ing contracts with their employes. The statements have 
been sent broadcast over the country, inspired, certainly, 
by malicious parties. We will most assuredly live up to 
our contracts with our men. 

Signed, 

D. B. Robinson.” 

v 

On account of participation in the late strike 
of part of their members the charters of Divisions 
n8, 207 and 296 have been arrested. Several 
officers of Divisions have been removed from of- 
fice by the G. C. C. on account of their personal 
action. Prominent among these are J. F. Mc- 
Vean, C. C. of 14, J. E. Gallivan, Secretary of 
87, and J. T. Oldham, Secretary of 6. Every 
reasonable effort is being made to punish the real 
offenders against our laws. It is desired that no 
really guilty man shall escape, and that no inno 
cent man shall be made to suffer. 

« * 

« 

“Proceedings of Judge Caldwell's court in the 
wage matter of the employes of the Union Pacific 
Railway" is the title of a book of nearly 800 pages 
recently published by order of Judge Caldwell, of 
the U. S. Circuit Court. It is an unabridged 
compendium of the wage question, which Judge 
Caldwell passed upon in his now famous case, 
containing the complete schedules, both old and 
new, with comparisons as to the cost of labor on 
various railroads. It will be found of special in- 
terest to all members, and can be obtained of the 


Omaha Printing Company. Omaha. Neb., postage 
prepaid, at the following rates: Paper covers, 
$1.00; cloth covers. $2.00. 

* # 

•» 

We are advised by the loyal members of Di* 
vision 107 that L. D. Cook, S. and T. of that 
division has not only thrown his obligation to the 
winds and joined the A. R. U. in their late strike 
but has absconded with whatever he had (that he 
could use) of the Division's property. Not con- 
tent with posing as a traitor to all trusts reposed 
in him he vindictively (and for reasons only 
known to himse’f) destroyed all the books and 
records of the Division. We gladly renounce all 
claim to him in favor of the A. R. U., and if we 
are unfortunate enough to have any more like 
him will gladly turn them over also. 

v 

Brother P. H. Morrissey, First Vice Grand 
Master of the B. of R. T. , and his estimable wife 
have been called upon to suffer a grievous afflic- 
tion in the death of Charles Francis, their only 
child. He was an unusually bright and promising 
boy around whom was centered all the hopes of 
his parents, and only those who have suffered in 
the same way can appreciate the weight of the 
blow to them. Our entire Order will unite with 
The Conductor in extending to these sorrowing 
parents their deepest sympathy. The funeral was 
held from their home in Galesburg, 111 . , on Wed- 
nesday, Aug. 1, and was largely attended, the 
floral offerings being especially beautiful an ap- 
propriate, bearing mute testimonial to some meas- 
ure of the sorrow felt at the going out of this 
bright young life and of the heart sympathy ex- 
tended to those upon whom the burden of grief 
rested most heavily. 

V 

A circular, signed Switchmen's Mutual Aid 
Association, bearing cut of Wm. A. Simsrott, 
late Grand Secretary and Treasurer of that orga- 
nization, and setting forth the following facts, 
is being circulated: Mr. Simsrott was expected 
at the late convention at Evansville and 
his failure to put in an appearance was 
the first intimation that anything was wrong. 
A special committee from the convention reported 
on June 19 that there was a shortage of $25 340.45. 
The Board of Directors now report a shortage of 
$32,527 29. Mr. Simsrott reappeared in Chicago as 
mysteriously as he disappeared, but made no effort 
to explain his actions. The shortage is from the 
funds collected with which to pay insurance 
claims. This blow has forced the S. M. A. A. to 
dissolve and the disabled members and the widows 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


and orphans of deceased members are grievously 
wronged by this faithless one who had sworn to 
protect them. 

As it suggested in another column nothing but 
very lax and careless methods of doing business 
could have made this possible. 


The Fitchburg Railroad has perfected arrange- 
ments by which all their passenger trains to and 
from Boston will arrive in and depart from the 
new Union Passenger Station in Causeway street, 
where they connect directly with the Boston and 
Maine System A writer for the Boston Courier 
vividly describes a trip over the famous "Hoosac 
Tunnel Route." Among other things he says. 

Suddenly we bounded into one of the most famous tun- 
nels in the world. Like glow-worms the electric lights 
shone on the walls of either side of the tunnel, flashing 
by and looking like a string of golden beads. The engine 
works heavily over the first half of the tunnel, for it is 
up grade for nearly two and one-half miles, until the cen- 
tre is reached, then the track descends at the same grade 
to the western portal. 

We are now at the very centre of the tunnel, and can 
see all about us, the walls loom up clearly on either side; 
there is no daylight, to be sure, but the electric lights 
shine with a brilliant radiancy. 

In the centre, the air shaft extends from the roof of the 
tunnel to the top of the mountain, twelve hundred feet 
above, for ventilation. 

The bed of the tunnel slopes from the centre towards 
either end for the purpose of draining it of all moisture 
that collects at that tremendous distance under the moun- 
tain range. 

The Hoosac Tunnel is nearly five miles long, and a 
passenger train occupies about ten minutes passing 
through it. 

Emerging from the western portal it requires a moment 
for onr eyes to become accustomed to the change, for we 
are now spinning along in the sunshine, past the green 
fields and the woods. 

We look back from the rear car up at that mighty, 
barrier, the tallest peaks of which seem to pierce the sky, 
and far down we see a hole, surrounded by an arch of 
atone, which, as we leave it, dwindles to a tiny spot. 

v 

By reference to their receipts for assessment 
284 members of the Benefit Department will see 
that all approved claims had been paid on its 
date of issue. The Department is paying all 
these claims promptly and if any unnecessary de- 
lay occurs it is occasioned before the claim is 
properly filed in this office. A brief reference to 
a few of the more recent cases will show how 
prompt their settlement has been when rightly 
presented. The claim of J. H. Gavin was filed 
Jane xi. approved June 21, and paid June 30, 
only 19 days from the date of filing. F. M. Bar- 
ney's claim was filed June 13, approved June 21 
and paid June 30, a delay of only 17 days. The 
H H. Hayes claim was filed June 27, approved 
July 9 and paid July 20, only 23 days delay. F. 
A Brown's claim was filed July 6, approved July 
t7 and paid July 20, only 14 days intervening. 
The claim of T. Wilkinson was filed July 2, ap- 
proved July 17 and paid July 20, leaving but 18 


days, while that of G. W. Dedman was filed July 
3, approved July 17 and paid July 20, or one day 
less of delay. When it is remembered that the 
papers in each one of these cases have to pass 
through the hands of the members of the Insur- 
ance Committee residing respectively at Milwau- 
kee, Wis. , Atlanta, Ga., and Parsons, Kas. , it 
will be seen that barely time enough is taken to 
have them properly verified and the necessary 
records made and that the taking of any less time 
would* prevent keeping strict guard upon the in- 
terests of the Order. 

* * 

* 

The August Midland presents still more read- 
ing matter and still more variety! Its pages are 
lengthened and widened and two columns take 
the place of the single column. Profuse illustra- 
tions adorn the pages, including portraits of new 
Midland contributors (a regular feature now). 
The new gunboat Ericsson, built at Dubuque, is 
pictured and described. Col. Keatly vividly 
pictures life in Alaska. Hon. Ben. Clayton tells 
of the non -par isan national farmers' organiza- 
tion of which he is president. Mrs. Cady tells a 
romantic story of old mission life in California. 
Talks about new books, editorial, etc. These 
comprise some of The Midland's heat-dispelling, 
August attractions. 

« * 

* 

McClures Magazine for Augu it supplies a 
companion piece to Mr. Hamlin Garland s strik- 
ing description of life in the steel mills at Home- 
stead, published in the June number, in a no less 
striking description of life in the depths of a coal 
mine, by Stephen Crane; and the strong points in 
Mr. Crane's description are emphasized, as were 
the strong points in Mr. Garland's, by a remark- 
able series of pictures. A paper of personal 
recollections, by S. H. M. Byers, does for Gen- 
eral Sherman what the notable series of papers 
published in the May number did for General 
Grant, making manifest in all his strength and 
gracionsness of character the actual man. As a 
member of Sherman's staff, and bis intimate 
friend for twenty-five years, Mr. Byers enjoyed 
rare opportunities for studying his subject, and 
his paper shows that he appreciated and made 
the most of them. A notable series of portraits 
of Sherman accompany the article. The num- 
ber also contains two thrilling stones from real 
life; a war story, "The Bravest Deed of the 
War," by T. J. Mackey, and a railroad story, 
"The Death Run," by Cy Warmao, the railroad 
engineer who’ wrote the "Flyer" article for the 
January McClure's . 


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44 8 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OF AMERICA. 


MUTUAL BENEFIT DEPARTMENT. 


ccaar kapids, Iowa, Aug. i; Expires Sept. 30, 1894. 

Assessment No. 284 is for death of G. B. Finley, July 9, 1894. 


BENEFITS PAID FROM JUNE 21 TO JULY 20. 


Ben. 

No. 

AMT. 

FOR 

OF 

CAUSE. 

Cert No. 

Series. 

DIV 

709 

$2,000 

Death 

J. H. Gavin 

Heart Disease 

2143 

B 

117 

710 

3.000 

Death 

F. M. Barney 

Consumption 

1399 

C 

119 

711 

1,000 

Death 

H. H. Hayes 

Accident 

4022 

A 

230 

712 

1,000 

Death 

T. A Cosgrove 

Consumption 

730 

A 

322 

713 

3.000 

Dis. 

D. W. Hart 

Loss of Leg 

4413 

C 

300 

714 

3,000 

Death 

J. A. Brown 

Rupture 

2593 

C 

161 

715 

1,000 

Death 

T. Wilkinson 

Burned 

1085 

A 

4 - 

716 

2,000 

Death 

G W. Dedman 

Accident 

1573 

B 

224 


ALL APPROVED CLAIMS ARE PAID. 


NUMBER OF MEMBERS ASSESSED. 

Series A, 5,012; Series B, 2,744; Series C, 4,818; Series D, 365; Series E, 89 Amount of as- 
sessment No. 284. $26,859; Total number of members 13.085. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 


Received on Mortuary Assessments to June 30, 1894 $1,632,629. 

Received on Expense Assessments to June 30, 1894, 25,995 

Received on Applications, etc., to June 30, 1894 27,490. 


$1,686,114.79 

Total amount of benefits paid to June 30, 1894 $1,624,804 oe 

Total amount of expenses paid to June 30, 1894. 61.088.18 

Insurance cash on hand June 30, 1894 222.61 


EXPENSES PAID DURING JUNE. 


$1,686, 114.79 


Incidental, $1.30; Fees returned, $12.00; Stationery and Printing, $80.00; Legal, $33.33; Sal- 
aries, $372 50; Postage, $240.00; Assessments returned, $5.00; Salary Medical Director, $60.00. 
Total, $804.13. 

The above amounts were paid out during the month, but items of postage, printing, legal, etc., 
often cover supplies and work for more than one month, and sometimes several months. 


Received on Assessment No. 280 to July 20 $24,301 00 

Received on Assessment No. 281 to July 20 10,353.50 

Received on Assessment No. 282 to July 20 10,232 00 

Received on Assessment No. 283 to July 20 2,384.00 


WM P. DANIELS, Secretary. 


Digitized by LiOOQie 


$ § 




Bro. Sidney F. Deyoe, a valued member of 
Division No. 225, died at Owego, N. Y., July 
14th, after a sickness of two months. He was 
sixty-three years of age and had run on the 
Eiie Railway as a freight conductor since 1871. 
being one of its best known and most highly 
regarded employes The funeral was held at 
Hornellsville, N. Y , under the direction of 
the Masonic fraternity, the O R. C., B. of L. 
E. and B of R. T. attending in a body. Bro. 
Deyoe was unmarried, but was tenderly cared 
for by a brother and sister, who came from 
their distant homes for this purpose. Resolu- 
tions of respect, and expressing the loss to the 
Division, were adopted at a recent meeting. 

^oeenbargtr. 

For the third time within fifteen months 
death has invaded the ranks of Blue Grass 
Division No. 322. On July 28th Bro. W. T. 
Rosenbarger, a charter member of the Divis- 
ion, and one of the oldest and most popular 
conductors of the Cincinnati division of the 
Chesapeake A Ohio Railway, passed away, 
leaving a wife, son and daughter to mourn his 
I06S. Bro. Rosenbarger was injured in jump- 
ing for his life February 3d, 1893. Although 
able to work part of the time since, it was no 
doubt due to the injuries received at that time 
that his life was cut short. He was laid to 
rest in beautiful Spring Grove, Cincinnati, the 
Odd Fellows having charge of the funeral. 
The C. & O. and C. H. & D. kindly tendered a 
special train for the occasion. 

Bro. G. R. Oyster, of Harvey Division No. 
95, died at his residence, in McCook. July 3, 
from injuries received in a wreck at Holdredge, 
Neb., two days before. Deceased was an ex- 
emplary member of the Order, a good citizen, 
a loving and indulgent husband and father. 
He leaves a wife and six children to mourn 
his loss, and to them will go out the deepest 
sympathy of the Order. Ero. Oyster was high- 
ly respected and fully trusted by his employ- 
ers, and was extremely popular among his fel- 
low railroad men. The funeral was held at 
the Congregational church and was attended 
by the members of his Division in a body, also 
by the A. O. U. W., of which he was a mem- 
ber. 


l&oee, 

Bro. C. C. Ross, of New Haven Division No. 
317, was recently called upon to mourn the 
death of his little daughter, whose bright face 
and winning ways had blessed his home for 
but one short year. The grief over this loss 
was made doubly poignant by the death of a 
brother-in-law and his two children about the 
same time. The sympathy of all the Order 
will go out to Bro. Ross and his family in their 
great sorrow. 

Bro. John H. Larash, of Division 79, died at 
Grayville, 111 ., July 21, aged forty-eight years. 
Deceased had been in ill-health for some 
years, but appeared to be unusually well the 
day before his death. He took his train to 
Evansville on that day and was returning to 
his home in Peoria the following morning 
when he was stricken down by heart failure 
and died at Grayville. The funeral was held 
from the home on the 24th and was attended 
by a large concourse of sorrowing friends. 
Bro. Larash was a true and loyal member of 
the Order, an upright citizen and a devoted 
and loving husband and father. The sincere 
sympathy of all will be extended to the sorrow 
stricken wife and children. 


SIPafrftivortlT. 

At a meeting of Eagle Grove Division No. 
164, held fuly 22 last, resolutions were adopted 
expressing the sympathy of the members with 
Bro. O. T. Wadsworth in the death of his be- 
loved wife Mrs. Wadsworth was a native of 
Middleborough, Mass., and was married to 
Bro. Wadsworth at Dunlap, Iowa, September 
1, 1869. Two sons are left to share in the sor- 
row of her loss. 

Bro. J. A. Houseworth of Atlanta Division No. 
180, died at Columbia on the 30th of last May. 
He was afflicted with that dread disease, con- 
sumption, and had been ill for some time be- 
fore his death. Bro. Houseworth was a loyal 
member of the Order and his death leaves a 
vacancy that it will be difficult to fill. Appro- 
priate resolutions were passed by his Division 
at a recent meeting. 


Digitized by 


Google 



OBITUARY. 


jt title. 

At a recent meeting of Detroit Division No. 
44, L. A. to O. R. C., a letter of condolence 
was read expressing the sox row and regret of 
the members at the loss that had come to Sis- 
ter A. Little in the death of her brother. 

Since April 28, 1894, the members of Autumn 
Leaf Division No. 12, L. A. to O. R. C., have 
been mourning the death of their beloved Sis- 
ter, Mrs. Allie Nye, who was called from them 
after a long and painful illness. She was a 
charter member of the Division and the first 
to answer the roll call on high. Her loss is 
deeply felt and Bro. Nye has the sincere sym- 
pathy of all. Resolutions were adopted by 
the Division and 3em to the afflicted husband 
and mother of the deceased Sister. 

Detroit Division No. 44, L. A. to O. R. C., has 
been made to feel the sorrows that go hand in 
hand with sickness and death. Sister Smith 
has not only been compelled to part with an 
invalid father, who had been her constant 
care, after a lingering illness of four months, 
but also her only child, a frail and delicate lit- 
tle girl of six years, of diphtheria, only four 
hours elapsing between their deaths. The la- 
dies remembered this bereaved sister by send- 
ing two floral emblems as tokens of their sym- 
pathy. 

£srullii>au. 

On July 12 last Mrs. J. H. Sullivan, wife of 
the Chief Conductor of Division 142, was 
called to her final reward from their home in 
Rawlins, Wyo.. aged only 28 years. Some 
four years before Mrs. Sullivan sustained what 
was thought to be a slight injury of the knee 
while skating. It grew steadily worse, how- 
ever, in spite of all the best medical skill 
could do, until amputation was finally decided 
upon as the last resort. Previous suffering 
had left her too weak to rally from the opera- 
tion and she passed quietly into the other 
world fiom the arms of her grief-stricken and 


almost insane husband. This grief was shared 
by a host of friends, to whom Mrs. Sullivan 
had been endeared by her many graces of 
mind and person and the sympathy extended 
the bereaved husband was all the keener for 
this sense of personal loss. 

Ifttmtn. 

Bro. James Munn, of Division 225, was in* 
stantly killed in a wreck near Owego, N. Y., 
on July 9th. The accident occurred when 
Brother Munn was backing up for the rear 
end of his train. Either the distance was 
miscalculated or the brakes failed to work, 
and a wreck resulted, in which be was caught 
and killed. The funeral was held from the 
First M. E. church at Hornellsville, and was 
largely attended, the O. R. C„ I. O. O. F., B. 
of L. E., B. of L. F., B. of R. T. and G. A. R. 
being present in a body Bro. Munn served 
with credit in the First New York cavalry 
during the war and at the time of bis death 
was one of the oldest and most highly es- 
teemed employes of the N. Y., L. E. & W. R. 

R. He passed away honored as a brave sol- 
dier, a good citizen and a valued friend and 
Brother. A wife and three children survive 
him, and to them the Division and the Order 
generally extend their deepest sympathy. 

farnaljan. 

At a meeting of Division No. 77, held June 
28 last, resolutions were adopted expressing 
the grief of the members at the death of Mrs. 

S. E. Carnahan, and their sympathy with her 
bereaved husband, their Brother. 

detrohiue. 

Bro. W. E. Hawkins, of Division 256, died 
at Palestine, Texas, May 22 last, of consump- 
tion. Deceased was a loyal member of our 
Order, a true friend and a devoted husband 
and father. His many manly qualities won 
him steadfast friends wherever known, and he 
will be greatly missed. Tbe sympathy of all 
will be extended to the sorrowing wife and 
daughter. 



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Fhe Railway Conductor 


VOL. XL CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, SEPT., 1894. NO. 9. 



CONTRIBUTED. 


A LOST BRIDE. 


BY FRANK A. MYBRS. 


A little before the time of the arrival of the 
train from St. Louis, Fuller repaired to the depot, 
accompanied by Bert and a captain of police. 
They were all armed. They did not know what 
might happen. The captain had been informed 
of the nature of the case and had read the strange 
telegram. To him, of course, the thing savored 
of a desperate plot of some kind or other, and he 
advised both men not to appear to view while the 
train was at the depot. 

While the train was at the depot the two friends 
were secreted in the ticket office. The captain 
strolled along the coaches, glancing in at the 
windows. But he saw nothing that attracted his 
special attention. He boarded the coach he 
thought most likely to contain the one at the bot- 
tom of the plot, and leisurely sauntered down the 
single aisle, looking on either hand at the occu- 
pants. Nowhere did he observe any one that 
would "fill the bill," as he remarked afterward. 
Then he left the coach and stood looking care- 
lessly about. 

Just as the train was starting a brisk looking 
gentleman in a linen duster, standing on the lower 
step of the car, leaned out and as he passed by 
thrust a note into the captain s hands, saying: 

"Hand that to Fuller Linden." 

There was a sharp, proud look on the hand- 
some fellow's face, but he was a stranger to the 
captain. However, he bad no doubt but it was 
Lewis Willis. Though he had never seen the 
chap before, he was sure he would recognize him 
should they ever meet again. 


The train was gone. 

The three men read the note, which read as 
follows: 

"Belle is with me, and as she consents to go 
home with me, I will not kill you to-day. But 
beware. Lewis Willis." 

Fuller recognized the writing as that of the one 
whose name was signed to the document. It was 
hastily scrawled, and had evidently been written 
witn a pencil while the train was waiting at the 
depot. 

How much this note explained ! It was a plot 
to kill Fuller Linden, had he met him there. No 
doubt the precautionary measures taken saved 
his life. The murderer in purpose could easily 
have shot him dead on the platform from the car 
window. The appearance of the officer no doubt 
had a changing effect on Lewis's deep-laid de- 
sign. 

And, too, the mysterious message was not sent 
by Dave Hogan. That, also, was cleared up. 

Desperate as the affair was it brought relief to 
Fuller. In a sense it revealed to him the where- 
abouts of Belle, and that made him glad and 
lifted him upon the heights into the sunlight. He 
would have her yet or die. 

"That was a close call, Fuller," said the cap- 
tain. "That man is a villain in disguise." 

"The disguise of riches and good clothes," 
added Bert. 

"Perhaps also of social position," remarked 
the captain. 

"I don’t care what he is," said Fuller, with a 


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452 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


laugh; the first since the terrible message inform- 
ing him of Belle's abduction. 

“It may be a little severe to talk about your 
brotber-to-be-inlaw," said the captain, with a 
smile. 

After they had separated from the captain, 
Fuller remarked to bis friend: 

“I don't care — she loves me dearly, and 1 know 
she would marry me immediately could she get 
away from her irate big brother." 

“Of course she would," assented Bert. 

“But I can’t understand why she did not send 
me word where to find her. She might have 
known I would have rescued her." This was 
merely a wonder, not a doubt. 

“Likely she was watched too close." 

“That’s it. She couldn’t." 

“No doubt of it in the world." 

“I’m proud she is not like her brother." 

“If she were she would not be worth the can- 
dle." 

Without revealing his plans for the future, 
Fuller parted from Bert, and at once he set about 
to capture the girl and save her from her friends, 
who were her enemies. 

No doubt, he reasoned to himself, just as any 
one would have done under similar circumstances 
and in a similar condition of mind, she is closely 
watched and will have to be gotten away from 
them by trick and perhaps force. 

“I am sure as I live," he mused to himself, as 
he slowly paced along with his eyes no further 
ahead of him than his shoe* tips, “sure as I live 
she did not go away and disappoint and shame 
me in this public way by her own free will. No, 
sir; not Belle. She could not deceive if she 
wanted to. She is not built that way — it is not 
in her — and she wouldn’t do it for all the earth, 
not for all the earth. I'm sure she is no party to 
all this. I wouldn't believe it — I can’t believe it. 
I know she is not, for something in here, that 
can't lie," laying his hand on his breast over his 
heart, “tells me so. I know she loves me and 
would send me word and tell me all, if she was 
not forbid by force. God, what fools to try to 
keep true hearts apart. I tell you, sirs, what 
God hath joined together, not man or man's 
laws, let no man put asunder. There can be no 
laws to regulate the hearts of men and women, 
hence they are directly joined or sundered by 
God himself. I believe this, and if Belle loves 
me in spite of all persecutions and troubles, we 
will marry yet and laugh at locksmiths and scorn 
family turnkeys. 9be would send me word now, 
send me a great long letter, pouring out all her 
woes — for she has no other sympathetic friend to 
on fide in — if she could, if she were not re- 


strained and ‘ compelled to remain silent. She 
can’t get a letter through the lines to me. If l 
am a laboring man and not a trader in cheap, 
shoddy goods, she nevertheless loves me truly. 
All this comes because I am not a merchant or 
something that will make me her equal according 
to their arbitrary and cursed and false social 
classification. I am proud I am a laboring man, 
for by that same token I am far above a belittle* 
ing, lying, petty trader. God, what a fall of 
man to become a falsifying trader. In this day 
of sharp, accursed competition the biggest liar 
is the most successful business man — the one that 
can praise his goods most and humbug the people 
the slickest — and the one who makes the most 
money. Hence, a trader’s success is at once an 
evidence of his character and what kind of a 
man he is. But all traders or merchants are not 
liars, I am glad to say. And 1 am as good— 1 
feel it and know it — as the best man living, for 
God makes all men with the same tools and out 
of the same mixture of mud. All these dis- 
tinctions of men into classes are not of God, 
they are all man-made, and therefore false In 
the Declaration of American Independence we 
read that all men are free and equal. Equal, 
that is it. How broad. Belle and I are equal. 
And we’ll marry yet as sure as fate, and our 
mariage will be recorded by God himself " 

Thus he thought as he slowly paced along the 
street with his head down. 

It was a more difficult matter to solve, as to 
how he could approach Belle at her home with- 
out the notice and consequent opposition of her 
family. Besides, if he were known, it would 
only precipitate useless trouble on his hands and 
accomplish nothing. The best successes are 
fought by the mind, not the body — by well de- 
vised plans, not by the uncertainties of luck. 
He wanted no trouble with the family ; be wanted 
the girl. And still, he conld not perform a 
humiliating act in his effort to obtain the friend 
and companion of his heart— it would shame her 
and accuse himself. 

The moon had just settled in the west out of 
sight in cloudless majesty, and the silvery stars 
studded the firmament like glittering spangles. 
The night was soft and still, and the city of Terre 
Haute lay hushed and dreaming the conscience- 
less dreams of innocence and self respect. The 
home of Belle Willis lay in the center of a night- 
dark plat of earth like a black block of mournful 
solitude, still as the deep recesses of a far-off 
forest. It was after midnight, and the self-dis- 
tressed people of that home lay wrapped ia pro- 
found slumber like dreamless sleepers. It was 
an opportune moment for a burglar. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


A man, old and decrepit looking, crept softly 
into the yard and with much caution stole along 
into the blackness beneath the trees and shrubs, 
paused and hurriedly peered about as if fearful 
lest some one might surprise him and defeat his 
purpose. Again being satisfied that all was well 
and that no one was near to molest, he proceeded 
with soft tread to a point under an upper window 
that was half enwrapped in beautiful, flowering, 
sweet-scented climbing vines. They intensified 
the darkness of the window. They were as a 
nightly guard over a sacred treasure within. 

When beneath the window and half concealed 
by the friendly vine-leaves the old-looking man 
glanced suspiciously around to make sure that no 
one had discovered him. A quick eye was 
turned upward to the window. There was not a 
sound, not a breath, not a motion of life visible 
anywhere. The intensity of the situation was 
such that he could plainly bear and feel the quick 
motion of bis pulsing heart. He must not be 
foiled, for so much depended upon the project he 
was endeavoring to carry out. 

With rapid eye he once more looked all around, 
and with bated breath he bent his ear to detect 
the slightest sound. Everywhere all was still as 
death, save the barking of a dog two or three 
squares away. Not a breath of wind stirred, the 
leaves resting silently and peacefully overhead, 
as though they, too, were in a dreamless sleep. 
The dark house itself seemed sleeping more pro- 
foundly and solemnly than usual. The eye of 
this man at this moment fell upon a star that was 
visible through an opening among the trees, and 
it apparently laughed with a silent, merry twinkle 
and whispered the one word to him: “Love." 
Instantly in an inspirational way he said in his 
soul: 

"O, star of hope! be thou my guide!" 

One would naturally and probably conclude 
this was not the prayer of a burglar,' or of one 
with a mean, desperate purpose. As he whis- 
pered softly this gentle petition, like a breath of 
golden summer, a sweet incense of glorious prom- 
ise diffused itself through his heart and made 
him feel that all the world was akin and that even 
happy love gleamed from the benignant face of 
heaven. 

It was but a moment that he paused to think of 
the silvery-spangled firmament, and then he drew 
bis eyes and emotions back to the dark, grass- 
upholstered yard. Everything promised well, 
and so far the very night itself seemed to aid in 
his cause. The silent air, laden with the soft 
aroma of the trees and flowers around him, whis- 
pered a God-like word of encouragement. There 
was a balmy presence in the darkness that tran- 


453 


quilized his soul and lifted it in transcendent 
flutters above the coarse confines of old, sodden 
earth. 

The window above was closed. But he was 
sure the guarded family prisoner lay sleeping — 
perhaps weeping at that very moment — in that 
room. How to reach that window without dis- 
covery was the one very practical problem in his 
mind. How should he gain it and not alarm the 
inmate and cause her to cry out in terror and 
spoil all? It was not incongruous, though humor- 
ous, for him to recollect the straw rope that let 
the notorious Baron Munchausen safely down 
from the moon and wish his luck might be as 
good. 

Taking a small pebble from bis sack-coat pocket 
he threw it up gently against the window glass. 
Bending every waking nerve of his animated 
body upward, he waited and listened for a sound. 
She might be alarmed and cry out in fear, and 
and thus spoil all; but the risk must be taken. 

There was no response from above. Again he 
tossed up a pebble against the glass, and waited 
to see the effect. Then he hurled a third a little 
more sharply, and its ringing click hustled upon 
the air among the trees and echoed back alarm- 
ingly. Such a clash was likely to arouse some- 
body, sure enough, whether the right one or not. 
Then he stood as still and motionless as a statue, 
and heard the sounds die away with gladness, as 
one who has overcome an evil temptation in his 
soul. It sounded to him like the ring of the mid- 
night clock in Dante’s Inferno, and crashed upon 
the stillness around like terrifying emotions upon 
a supersensitive nature. Would she not hear be- 
fore everybody was aroused? It was a desperate 
thing, but it must be done, and that as quickly as 
possible. 

While he listened for some sound of recogni- 
tion from above, hoping almost against hope, 
trusting with all the unskilled animation of the 
young, he detected a faint rattle of the window, 
as if some one had touched it and then drawn 
away again in mortal fear. After an interval of 
a few seconds the sounds were repeated, and then 
he knew there was design in them. Now, with 
unspeakable joy he heard the window lift, and a 
moment later the dark figure of a female head 
was cautiously put out and an observation made 
of the surroundings. The long black hair fell in 
unadorned beauty about the neck and shoulders 
of the timid figure above, as he faintly saw in the 
dim light. It was Belle. Her magic beauty and 
gentle loveliness were not entirely concealed even 
by the misty air of night. 

Observing the old-looking man below in the 
enshrouding blackness of the vines, she spoke 
boldly: 


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454 


7 HE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


“What do you want?" 

"Softly, Belle; it is your own Fuller," the old 
man answered in under tone. 

"You do not look it." 

"I have disguised myself." 

"And what— what— is it," timidly she asked. 

"Do jou doubt it is Fuller?" he inquired, see 
ing her hesitancy and want of expected earnest- 
ness and joy. 

"It seems to be his voice," she said, bending 
far out the window. He stood out a step or two 
where she could see his proud, erect form and be 
convinced. 

"It is your own love* famished Fuller, Belle. 
O, you surely must know me. Your doubt is 
pain." He lifted up both hands appealingly to- 
ward her. 

"What is it — speak— cpeak quickly?'* she said. 
"Now it is Belle. You know me. O, Belle, 
how I have longed to rescue jou from your 
prison. I’ve com£ for you. Quick, quick, and 
we will fly— fly away together. Quick and softly, 
and we will soon laugh at the pains and agonies 
of the past." 

"How? What?" looking about as if she were 
devising a way down. 

"Here — quick — catch the end of this rope and 
fasten it, and then you can get down." Fuller 
was so enwrapped in this work that his voice 
arose upon the still night louder than he knew. 

Desire lent skill to Belle, and she easily caught 
the end he threw to her. She was so eager to 
get away undiscovered that her toilet was made 
in about two minutes. The rope was speedily 
fastened. Then she poised upon the windowsill 
a moment, as if debating with her fears and the 
improprieties of the step she was about to take, 
and she felt for a moment that she ought not to 
do what she was undertaking. It was an awful 
step to leave home against the wishes of all her 
family and brave the risks and dangers of run- 
ning away with her lover. But it was an awful 
thing to be opposed and resisted in her love and 
held as a prisoner by those who ought to love and 
help her. The die was cast. She bent over and 
took hold of the strong rope and pulled her body 
outside. It was a fearful thing to be suspended 
in mid-air, and a thrill of pain shot through her 
frame as she dangled on the rope. For an in- 
stant it repented her that she had taken the step 
of fate that was to prove either her golden for- 
tune or her miserable disgrace. Her tender white 
hands slipped on the coarse, rough rope and a 
terrible dread seized her. O, to fall and be 
dashed to the ground below, and if not killed 
outright, perhaps be maimed for life with broken 


bones! It was a perilous moment and an awful 
position! 

But Belle was brave. A desperate thing must 
needs be treated heroically. Here was her op- 
portunity to circumvent her parents and big 
brother aifd also achieve the one great promise 
and wish of her overtried soul. And she had 
accepted it. 

"Oah — ee — ee!" she shrieked in muffled tone, 
while the rope tarned and whirled her dangling 
body round. It was a trying moment. 

"Softly, Belle," cautioned Fuller, ready to 
catch her in the event of her falling. 

The feelings of both were wrought up to a high 
pitch. Success was about to crown their hearts' 
desire at last. No more would they be separated 
as long as the brittle thread of life held out. 
They would be happy forevermore. The trying 
difficulties of the past would only render their 
union the sweeter. The social differences that 
had overturned the day of their marriage and 
converted it into a day of grief would now all be 
smoothed out and done away with. Their elope- 
ment would demonstrate to the world not only 
their great love for each other but also prove 
their faith in their equality. It would emphasize 
the fact that Fuller Linden was equally as good 
every way as Belle Willis, despite the fact that 
he was a hated laboring man. 

"Here!— you!" said a gruff, hoarse, angry voice 
loudly in Fuller's ears at this critical instant. At 
the same time a heavy hand caught his shoulder 
and hurled him backward almost off his feet. It 
was so sudden and astounding that he did not 
grasp the situation at once. Was it Belle that 
had fallen and killed bersell? Had she groaned 
and hit him in her descent? 

"You infernal thief! I’ll rob you of life! 

Stealing a girl !" 

"Lewis Willis, you — " interposed Fuller, now 
fully understanding that his plan had bee a de- 
tected someway and its success intercepted. 

In fact, Lewis slept in the adjoining room to 
Belle's, and at the time of the attempted elope- 
ment was awake. With curses on his lips and a 
Vesuvius of anger in his eruptive heart, he ap- 
peared on the scene at the most critical time and 
put in both his physical an 1 mental objections 
with destructive emphasis; a Willis character- 
istic. 

"Get out of here quicker than lightning, if yon 
wish to preserve one bone whole in your body.’ 
interposed the big burly brother, savagely. 

"It is useless to reason with you." said Fuller, 
straightening up to his full height. He was a 
very active young man, and his mnscles were 
almost as bard as iron. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


455 


‘I'll murder you, if you don't go." He im- 
petuously plunged at Fuller as he finished his 
expression. Rage had blinded him. A tide of 
uncontrollable anger swept through his nerves 
and shook him as a storm disturbs the multiplicity 
of wires of a great city. 

“Willis, this is—," but before he could finish 
the big angry brother had seized him by the 
throat and was crowding him backward at a speed 
that threatened to carry him off his feet and 
throw him upon his back. Speech was a foolish- 
ness at that moment, and animal argument was 
needed to protect himself. It was necessary to 
act before his enemy should gain too great *n ad- 
vantage. And still he wished to be moderate and 
thoughtful for Belle’s sake. But for her he felt 
he could crush every bone in Lewis’s body A 
river of angry sensations poured through him. 
Defense was neccessary for Belle. Their cause 
was not yet wholly lost. 

Right into the show window of the big broth 
er’ssoul Fuller cast his solid fist, and it sounded 
as if a hammer had struck him. The aggressive 
chap fell back upon the ground with a bouncing 
thump. Fuller, in his excitement, sprang over 
the prostrate man and would have given him 
perhaps a dozen more blows in the face had be 
oot been aroused to consciousness by the cries of 
Belle. 

“For God’s sake, Fuller, spare him!" This 
sounded like a wailing shriek along the avenues 
of his anger-swt pt soul . 

"Belle!" he cried, in recognition. He remem- 
bered that a moment before she was suspended in 
air far up along the side of the house. 

“Come! You forget! You are again insane! 
Let us fly while we can!" 

The prostrate man groaned heavily and strug- 
gled as if he would arise. There was not a 
moment to lose. 

“Let’s hurry,” Fuller half shouted, seizing the 
willing girl by the arm with great earnestness and 
excitement. It flashed on him that all was not yet 
lost. The girl was willing still to flee with him. 
She had not become offended at the blow dealt her 
imperious turnkey brother, as he feared she might 
All his blind anger vanished instantly. 

Half pulling her aloog they emerged from the 
tree-shadowed yard to the street and were soon 
lost to view in the darkness. 

When the dazed and blinded Lewis arose, it 
was some moments before be could determine his 


surroundings. His head felt as big as a barrel. 
As soon as he could he pursued the fugitives, but 
the "birds” had escaped. 

They aroused a minister, and at that unseemly 
hour of the night were united in the holy bonds 
of matrimony. The words had been said: "What 
God hath joined together let no man put asun- 
der." It was too late, then, for family opposi- 
tion to interfere. The very thing they had so 
strenuously opposed ‘had finally become a fact. 
Opposition was therefore useless. For when 
young people will, they will, and that is all there 
is about it. 

Belle at once returned home, and braved the 
domestic storm that she knew was brewing. 
Fuller took the first train on for Evansville. No 
family opposition could affect them now as be- 
fore; of that they were confident. The laugh 
was now on their side, and they could endure 
complacently all things. The bright sun of hope 
lighted the glorious world of their promising 
future. 

When Belle reached home the storm of the 
aroused family fell upon her. Through it all she 
smiled confidently. Smiling in the half mashed 
face of her big brother Lewis, she said, a little 
ironically: 

"No use, Lewis. The gods didn’t favor you; 
that is all. You are wasting valuable breath. 
Words will not undo the inevitable. Fuller's as 
good as I am, and I am going to live with him all 
my life in spite of all. I think life will be sweeter 
with him than it is in this undesirable prison. 
Don’t you? Honest, now?" 

In three days Fuller went to claim his wife, 
and the unwise anger of the parents and all hav- 
ing subsided, they received him as their son in- 
law. 

To-day they are proud of Fuller Lioden, and 
he and his sweet young wife are living in the 
beautiful light of perfect love. 

He is still a proud laboring man, and would not 
give up this kindly privilege for all the precious 
gems of South Africa or the envious money dis- 
tinction of a Rothchilds or a Rockefeller. 

Btlle is one of the most noble young wives 
that ever took upon herself the great and responsi- 
ble duties of a loved and cherished and honored 
wife. She loves Fuller as never wife loved hus- 
band before her, and her pride in the noble man 
is such as almost amounts to reverential worship. 

They are supremely happy. 


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456 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 
THE MYSTERIOUS FOREST. 



A SOCIAL ALLEGORY 
BY H. P. PEEBLES 


CHAPTER XIV. 

The two explorers stood for a moment and 
staged at each other in blank amazement. Chris- 
tian ran to the pile of blankets that had formed 
the bed of the sick man and tossed them back ex- 
claiming, “Impossible, incredible! He could not 
have raised himself to his feet and could not 
walk.” 

The dim twilight of day bad almost disappear- 
ed, and the dark shadow of night was rapidly 
casting a pall like darkness over the scene. 

Socialist threw an armful of brush on the still 
living embers of the fire and a bright blaze soon 
threw a cheery light over the little clearing By 
the new light they saw that the cup containing 
the mixture of quinine and brandy had been 
thrown on the ground and broken. The paper 
package that had contained the remaining qui- 
nine had been torn and its contents scattered. 

“This passes patience," said Socialist. “Is it 
the petulance of a child, or," and he naused, “is 
it an heroic sacrifice to principle?" 

The author confesses his inability to answer 
the question; let the reader decide, it is his privi- 
lege. 

“He cannot be far from us," replied his com- 
panion, “he was not able to walk, and must have 
dragged himself through the brush. If it were not 
so dark we probably could follow his trail Let 
us commence the search at once. I fear we will 
only find his body, as death would seem inevit- 
able in the physical reaction following the exer- 
tion.” 

They shouted and called in vain. No answer 
came to their appeals. They heaped armful after 
armful on the fire until the ruddy blaze swept 
through the heavy foliage overhead, and the 
leaves and branches swayed to and fro as if in 
the clutches of a whirlwind while, in the intense 
silence of the forest, the humming of the flames 
sounded like the roaring of a hurricane. 

In the dark forest there was but one way to 
search for the missing man through the net work 
of vines, weeds and brush that covered the 
ground, and that was to creep through the under- 
brush on both hands and knees. In order to ex- 
amine the surroundings carefully they determined 
to start together and creep round in a circle until 
they met, when they would turn back making a 
larger circle, going back a few feet from the fire 
at every meeting. 

It was midnight and the weary, fruitless search 


had lasted six hours. At least twenty-five timet 
they had met face to face to turn and continue 
the hunt. They had felt under every bush, crept 
slowly, carefully through every little hollow or 
depression, had groped blindly around every tree, 
and at last thoroughly exhausted. Socialist leaned 
against a mighty tree, and murmured that he 
could do no more. He was indeed a pitiable ob- 
ject. and had it been day bis most intimate friend 
would not have recognized him. His clothes 
were torn and hung in shreds clotted with the 
damp, heavy mould, his hat and one of his shoes 
had been lost in the mire, his knees were bare 
and braised, and his face and hands were bleed 
ing profusely from the many scratches of thorns 
and briers. 

He shivered from the cold night air, and as the 
excitement of the search gave way to exhaustion 
the pangs of hunger forced him to remember that 
he had eaten nothing since early morning. Front 
the elevated trunk of the tree on which be rested 
he saw the red embers, from the huge fire of * 
few hours before, shine through the brush. Ht 
staggered to his feet and made directly for the 
light. For him, the search was over, he could 
do no more, and tired nature demanded food and 
rest. 

Slowly and painfully he pushed his w.iy 
through the brush, keeping his face in the direc- 
tion of the light, that was visible at times when 
he crossed a fallen tree or reached a higher ele- 
vation. With a feeling of devout thankfulness he 
finally reached the last line of bushes that de- 
fined the circle of the little clearing. He push- 
ed the last bush away, one foot was already m 
the clearing when the other caught on an ob 
struction and he fslj headlong to the ground, lo 
falling his head struck one of the raised roots of 
the immense central tree; there was a sharp pain, 
a thousand lights danced before his eyes, a dolt 
sickening jar ran through the whole body, and 
then — nothing — blankness — oblivion. 

When he came to himself his face was buried 
in the soft mould. On reaching out his baud to 
raise himself his fingers closed on an arm or leg 
that certainly was not his own. At the same in- 
stant he became conscious that he was resting on 
something, lying directly over something that felt 
strangely like a human form. He huriedly moved 
himself aside, and placed both hands on the 
breast and face; both were cold and motion] e* 
He shouted aloud for his companion and wasm- 
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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


swered by a faint halloo in the distant. It was 
the work of a moment to replenish the fire, and 
as he moved the body towards the light, the first 
glance showed him that the face was that of a 
corpse. There could be no doubt about it, Phil- 
osophic was dead, had been dead for hours, had 
died within twelve feet of his bed. Was probab- 
ly dead before the long, weary, fruitless search 
had commenced. The search had not only been 
in vain, it had been a mockery. They had toiled 
painfully through the darkness while the object 
of their search laid but a few steps from the 
light. He had crawled behind the nearest bush 
to his bed, and was hidden so openly, rested so 
near the searchers, that they had overlooked 
him. 

If over all there existed an Omnipotent In- 
telligence, an all seeing, an all knowing, an all 
prevailing power to note all the doings — and the 
cause of action — among the sons of men, bow 
countless are the records of the many fruitless 
searches that bear full comparison to this weary 
night? In their search for truth how numberless 
the thousands that have left the light, that might 
have revealed it, and plunged into the night, to 
fall and stumble while every step took them fur- 
ther in the hopeless darkness. If weary and dis- 
heartened they retraced their steps, to happily 
find the object of the search within plain view of 
the starting point, how often have they found a 
corpse? 

As Socialist sat by the body of the dead in a 
dazed condition, confused both by his fall and the 
finding of the corpse, Christian pushed his way 
through the underbrush and reached the clearing. 
His appearance equaled that of his companion, 
and as he reeled rather than walked into the lit- 
tle opening he gasped for breath, and sank ex- 
hausted on the nearest blanket. Socialist, in a 
few words, explained the findiug of the body of 
their former companion. Fortunately * change 
of clothing was in the traveling pack, and after 
casting from them the fragments that still hung 
to their limbs, they washed the blood and mire 
from their bodies, and from the effect of dry 
clothing and drinking a large amount of hot coffee 
they felt rested sufficiently to inspect the dead 
more closely, and render the duty the living owe 
the dead. 

Physically unfit to explore the mysterious for- 
est, unable to stand the miasma of its marshes, 
he had sickened and died a victim to what; prin- 
ciple or prejudice? Was he a martyr to be re- 
vered, or a fool to be pitied? The answer must 
come from the conscience of future ages. The 
so-called wise, the practical of to day would call 


457 

him visionary, a harmless crank, a foolish 
dweller among the clouds, but coming generations 
may reach the level of his principles, and revere 
his memory as the one manly character of a bar- 
barous epoch. 

Despite the many rumors to the contrary, there 
can be no question as to his death. Many honest, 
well meaning men declare that they have met 
him and conversed with him since his decease, 
but these have confounded his personality with 
that of his brother. Some even say that the 
elder brother never existed, and that Revo- 
lutionary was the sole representative of the 
family of Anarchism during this day and genera- 
tion. 

It was the morning of the third day following 
the sad events just narrated 

With bare hands, loosening the ground with 
sharpened sticks, they had scooped a shallow 
grave in the soft mould, in which they had rev- 
erently laid the mortal remains of their former 
companion. With infinite patience and labor, 
they had worked an entire day to cut and smooth, 
with pocket knives, a block of wood on which 
Christian had charred the words, “Philosophic 
Anarchism, a man born out of date, who lived 
and died centuries before his proper age." 

Now, on the morning of the third day, our 
two explorers stood with traveling packs strapped 
upon their backs ready for the return trip to the 
homes they had left but a few short weeks before. 

It was true that neither felt satisfied with the 
slight knowledge gained by their explorations; 
neither felt that the trip bad exposed all of the 
mysteries of the dark forest, or that they knew 
all of the intricacies of the net work that had en- 
trapped the patient, long suffering Giant, led him 
to his daily toil, and fastened the many chains 
tjjat bound him to the stone cell, but the stock of 
provisions was almost exhausted, and in a few 
more days actual starvation would stare them in 
the face. They were far, however, from being 
discouraged, and although forced to abandon 
their explorations for the present, had already 
discussed and planned for another exploring 
journey. They had spent much of the preceding 
night in discussing the point, whether it would be 
better to return immediately to the forest, or to 
remain a while and inform the world on what 
they had discovered, and endeavor to arouse the 
ignorant and indifferent to the cruelty and injus- 
tice of the oppressors of the suffering Giant, and 
inform them of the dangerous growth of the dark 
mysterious forest. The question was still unde- 
cided, and they finally determined to allow future 
events to guide their actions in this subject. 


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458 


As they reached the edge of the little clearing 
that had witnessed so many of the events record- 
ed in this history, and that would now be hallow- 


ed in their minds as the last resting place of a 
brother explorer, before poshing aside the bushes, 
they involuntarily paused for the last lingering 
glance of farewell. 


TO BB CONTINUED. 


INTELLECTUAL ANARCHY. 


BY TOSB GROS. 


It is doubtful if men ever passed through a his- 
torical period in which there were more problems 
demanding a speedy solution, and less minds 
with clear perceptions of how to ever patch up an 
ever crumbling civilization. Because, as a mat- 
ter of fact, civilization has always been crumbling, 
with different degrees of rapidity- When, for a 
while, it does not crumble very fast, we all are 
apt to think that conditions are pretty solid. It 
takes a dreadful turmoil to set any given number 
of minds to think. Most people hate thinking 
when not forced to by extra hard trials. Some- 
how or other our educational methods have not 
bred a taste for the development of the thinking 
habit. The reason for that may be found in the 
fact that our education has tended towards inci- 
dentals and ornamentals, but not in the direction 
of fundamentals. We think enough in connection 
with wealth making, artificial enjoyments and the 
like. And that applies to all classes from top to 
bottom, with mighty few exceptions in very lim- 
ited groups, groups that can seldom be found 
where you would expect them. 

If the above was uot correct, would we meet 
with such a dreadful opposition, when we propose 
somewhat fundamental remedies for the suppres- 
sion of our fundamental social evils? And that 
opposition comes from educated people, from two 
classes of them, principally, anyhow. We refer 
to our intellectual fossils, those who use their in- 
tellect for retrogressive tendencies, as one of the 
two classes; while the other embraces all unbal- 
anced reformers, anxious to reform too little or 
too much, both of which mean reforming in the 
wrong way. 

There is hardly any doubt that all the power- 
ful elements of modern society are on the side of 
retrogression. And that is not the worst. We 
could well stand that. But what about the iner- 
tia of the masses back of the retrogress' ve tenden- 
cies of the powerful classes? In all the states 
along the Atlantic seaboard the inertia of the 
masses is enormous, so much so that we think 
they would even stand a curtailment of the elec- 
tive franchise, in the sense of a property qualifi- 
cation. Still, perhaps we are mistaken. Be that 
as it may. we should remember that we are on 


the brim of losiog our right of free speech. Have 
not the federal courts declared that conspiracy, 
on the part of workers, tikes place if they try to 
persuade each other not to work for this or that 
corporation? If that declaration stands, then, 
where is the right of free speech among the work- 
ers of this grand nation of ours? We are waiting 
for future events to give us an answer. 

The signs of the times are ominous. What 
makes them intensely so is the wide divergence of 
thought among those who believe in the necessity 
of changed social conditions along the line of jus- 
tice and freedom to all, or at least more freedom 
and justice than we have to-day, and had yester- 
day or the day before. 

We have yet a worse sign than all the above 
ones, showing the bad effects of all our educa- 
tional processes. It is the intolerance among 
many brother reformers, whose duty should be to 
at least grant that, in so far as such a plan could 
be made to work, it would no doubt minorate 
such and such present evils to such and such an 
extent. In that we most especially refer to dis- 
cussions between socialists and single taxers. 
Some of the former are sensible enough to say 
that the single tax would no doubt correct certain 
of our present deep social evils? Others, we re- 
gret to say, are not inclined to be broad minded 
enough to yield in that point. They make a great 
mistake, and we propose to prove it, not for the 
sake of carrying conviction to those stubborn 
friends of ours, but because we think we owe it to 
our readers, who constitute our jury, in our 
economic discussion. 

Take, tor instance, that 50,000 acre patch of 
land, called a bonanza farm, which, in the July 
Conductor, is made to play such a figure in cur- 
ing a certain reformer from a dreadful disease, 
and thus making another kind of reformer out of 
him. In the magnificent description of that cure, 
our good friend forgot that, when the cure look 
place, by a certain doctor carrying his patient to 
the farm in question, that in that period of hu- 
man history the single tax had not yet been es- 
tablished. Hence the existence of the bonanza 
farm. That cure was, therefore, the product of 
the imagination on the part of the doctor and bis 


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patient. The patient was not sick at all. The 
doctor was the sick fellow. 

Now let ns see what would happen with that 
big farm if tomorrow we should be foolish enough 
to establish the single tax. To begin with, we 
would have, in that section of the country, a sin- 
gle tax assessor. We would hardly allow any 
wise socialist to assess the land for us, ignorant, 
sickly single taxers. Our assessor, a sickly chap, 
like the rest of us, would say . Here is a magnifi- 
cent farm, beautifully situated to send products 
to the best markets at very little transportation 
cost. The friend that is holding such a farm has 
not been willing, for years past, to part with any 
small parcel of his land at less than $500 psr 
acre, if at all or at any price. Besides, seldom 
any poor worker can obtain fair land, in this state 
of California, where the farm in question is lo- 
cated, at less than $300. I should, then, assess 
those 50,000 acres at not less than $400 per acre, 
and will be very generous to the wealthy owner of 
that farm, as I could, by rights, assess that land 
at $1,000, until it comes into a free market for 
small parcels, and thus I can see the real econom- 
ic rent of that patch. 

The owner of that farm would then be told: 
Before you commence operations, in this farm, 
you must pay $r, 000,000, that is five per cent on 
$20,000,000 value of your 50,000 acres at $400 
per acre. 

The owner of the farm, that rich friend of ours, 
would say: Mr. Assessor, out of my 50,000 acres 
I seldom have over 17,000 under the plow, in the 
same year, because our big farms are not manured 
every year as small farms can be, and we must 
let the ground rest on grass for at least two years 
between each grain crop. Then, I seldom raise 
over twenty bushels of wheat per acre. Call it, 
then, 340, coo bushels. Even if I could sell it at 
$x, then I would have, from my crop, but about 
one-third of my tax. 

The answer of the assessor would most likely 
be as follows: It is all your own fault. You 
ought to have seen that the single tax was com- 
ing and should have long ago offered most of your 
big farm for sale in small parcels, so that not to 
pay, for the rest you could keep, any more tax 
than the small land holders around. 

The above process would be applied to all large 
aggregations of land, agricultural, mining, rural 
or urban, because the single tax is not a question 
of mechanics. It is a question of ethics in land 
distribution, and hence in wealth distribution, 
and, therefore, in full earnings to all honest 
workers. 

Under our past and present social conditions, 
the balk of the workers have been at the mercy of 


459 


the few controlling most of the land of nations. 
That is what gives to the few the power to buy 
labor, to employ labor. But you give to the 
many, to the workers, the power to control most 
land, through the process we have specified, and 
you have then reversed all industrial conditions. 
You have then given to labor the power of saying 
to capital: Henceforth land can only be had on 
the two following simple rules: 

1st. Labor must have all that labor produces, 
as a grand totality. 

2d. Society must have, for all social needs, 
just what labor wants society to have, as the em- 
bodiment of annual land values because of all 
land under a free market. 

It follows, from the above, that instead of capi- 
tal employing labor, as heretofore, labor shall 
employ capital, as soon as the control of all land 
and all land values is given to labor through the 
single tax philosophy. Of course, the pro- 
cess indicated c mnot be grasped by the average 
socialist, in spite of all its intrinsic simplicity. 
You cainot even grasp the most self evident 
truth unless you are willing so to do. 

Now, let us see if there is. any reason for wheat 
to be down at fifty cents per bushel, or even low- 
er, since that is given to us as a conclusive proof for 
the need of socialistic conditions lest we all go to 
the dogs. 

The price of our American wheat is principally 
made in Europe, where we come into competition 
with wheat raised in India, Southern Russia, etc., 
but, do we need to compete in that line of pro- 
duction? Of course not. Under a healthy social 
status we would not export wheat any more than 
bananas. We would raise the wheat we need for 
our own home market, at the' utmost. We would 
export finished products in large quantities, and 
thus compete with the highest paid labor in 
Europe, instead of competing, as now, with the 
cheapest labor in Asia, Egypt, etc. 

An industrial organization which should raise 
the level of the working masses to the dignity of 
men, through full earnings, under free production 
and no monopoly rule, that would give to *the 
masses the power to be well fed. That would 
give our farmers the opportunity of raising fifty 
times as many vegetables and fruits of all kinds 
as we now do. Over ninety per cent of our peo- 
ple to-day cannot afford to have one-tenth of the 
vegetables, frui s, etc., they should have. They 
don't even enjoy one-fifth of the good beef that 
they are entitled to eat, in a land like ours. And 
so on, ad infinitum, in all the good things of life. 

The idea of trying to combat fundamental re- 
forms through the mere trivialities of certain 
prices to-day, or the very abnormal conditions 


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460 

which would be swept out of existence by simply 
giving to the working masses what God and Na- 
ture meant they should have — our natural re- 
sources and potentialities, the source of all 
wealth! 

It is a mere waste of time and brain force to 
keep asserting that that or this will happen to- 
morrow or in ten years from now, because it hap- 
pens to-day; unless you can prove that the men 
of to-morrow or ten years hence shall do exactly 
what they do under our present social conditions. 
That is nothing but trying to intensify the intel- 
lectual anarchy that makes all reform difficult or 
impossible. That is but doing all in men's power 


to delay progress, in s^iy line whatever. When 
socialists do that they work for the perpetuation 
of our present social evils. 

Each one of us has, of coarse, the right to en- 
tertain doubts about the finality of any reform 
movement that does not happen to strike him as 
fully fundamental. All the same, it stands to 
reason that, if the socialization of capital is at all 
possible, it can hardly take place until we have 
first socialized land values and cancelled all fran- 
chises by converting them into public functions 
Even the latter seems to frighten our present gen- 
eration. Why. then, to increase the perplexities 
of the masses with far less comprehensive and 
practical social combinations? 


CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 


BY W. P. 

Had the founders of our government been gifted 
with the power to look into the future and note 
the evils that have been brought about in these 
days by abuse of the appointing power, and the 
turning of government patronage to party ad- 
vantage without any reference to the welfare of 
the public service, had they been able to foresee 
the "spoils system” of politics, there is good rea- 
son to suppose that they would have inserted in 
the constitution some provision governing the 
civil fervice in the interests of the whole people, 
and to the detriment of political corruption and 
chicanery. But it did not occur to the founders 
of our government to regard the public business 
in any other than a business light, — the govern 
ment patronage was so limited at that time that 
it was perhaps impossible for them to imagine 
that it would shortly become a source of evil in 
politics — and, therefore, they made no special 
provisions concerning a matter for which the evi 
dent dictates of patriotism and good statesman- 
ship coaid indicate but one mode of settlement. 

The question of reform in the civil service 
arises from the fact that the federal executive has 
the power of appointing a vast number of petty 
officials to different branches of the service; and 
these officials have, in many cases, the power of 
appointing a large number of subordinates; all of 
which army of persons, thus dependent on gov- 
ernment employment for a livelihood, is capable 
of being used as an instrument for party ad- 
vantage instead of the real good of the public 
service. Such officials and their subordinates 
have properly nothing to do with politics, in the 
active party sense; they are simply the agents, 
clerks or servants of the national government in 
conducting its business; and they should be 


BORLAND. 

rteated just as the employes of private businesses 
are treated, and be selected for personal merit 
and retained for |ife or during good behavior. 
And that is the way they were treated during the 
early days; it never occurred to our first two 
presidents to exercise the appointing power on 
any other than business principles; and the pow- 
er of arbitrary removal from the public service 
they did not attempt to exercise at all. The pow- 
er of appointment to office is granted to the presi- 
dent by the constitution; the power of arbitrary 
removal was granted at a later date, in 1S20, by 
legislative enactment; and although such power 
has been used without stint, on occasions too 
numerous to mention, it has generally been re- 
garded as unauthorized by justice and good poli- 
cy, and is now condemned by public sentiment in 
the strongest terms. 

The question of the president's power of re- 
moval from office was first raised in the early 
days of President Jefferson's first administration, 
and was debated long and bitterly; and, however 
much we may admire the character of Thomas 
Jefferson, we cannot deny that he established a 
precedent which led to degeneracy in the civil 
service. The inauguration of Jefferson m 1S00 
marked the downfall of the federal party, which 
bad maintained control of the government since 
its inception, and the accession of the Republicans 
to power. The contest which preceded this vic- 
tory for the Republicans developed a great deal 
of bitterness of feeling throughout the country 
The Federalists were the party of what was 
termed by them stronger government, by which 
was meant greater centralization of power and 
less dependence on the popular will for tbeoeo* 
duct of public affairs. The Republicans, os tbs 


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other band, were in favor of the widest possible 
diffusion of pdwer and complete reliance on the 
will of the people; they looked upon all efforts at 
centralization with abhorrence. In furtherance 
of the federal policy, the federalist majority in 
congress, after the party had been repudiated at 
the polls, hurried a bill through congress against 
the protest of the republicans, creating a number 
of federal judicial circuits. The appointment of 
judges to dll these circuits was made by President 
John Adams and rushed through during the clos- 
ing hours of the session of the last federal con- 
gress. These judges were known as the ‘ mid- 
night judges," because President Adams signed 
their commissions during the very last hour of his 
official life; the ink was scarcely dry on these 
commissions when the federal regime came to an 
end. It was exceedingly distasteful to the repub- 
licans, who, with Jefferson, had gained control of 
the government by an overwhelming majority, 
that these judges, who had been created merely 
to execute the repudi ted federal policy, should 
be permitted to continue in office, and the exist- 
ence of the 4 'midnight judges" was, by Jefferson, 
simply ignored. As speedily as possible the re- 
publican majority ib congress repealed the* act 
under which the "midnight judges" received *heir 
appointments, and they were thus gotten rid of 
by legislating them out of office 

This transaction, in all its aspects, was a mere 
play for party advantage; and one party was as 
much to blame as the other; but, under the cir- 
cumstances. the republicans may be said to have 
been justified in their action. But. in casting 
about for means to reward some of his party 
friends and workers, Jefferson was induced to in- 
vade the civil service and exercise the hitherto 
unexercised power of arbitrary removal from of- 
fice. The collectorship of the port of New Haven 
was held by Elizur Goodrich, a most uncom- 
promising federalist, but an efficient officer, and 
one who gave general satisfaction to all concerned 
with the business of the port. Jefferson wanted 
Goodrich s office with which to reward Samuel 
Bishop, a distinguished republican, who had per- 
formed good service in bringing about the success 
of the party. There was no charge which could 
be brought against Goodrich sufficient to justify 
his removal from office, and, probably under 
pressure from his party advisers, Jefferson, there- 
fore, took the bull by the horns and simply ousted 
Goodrich and put Bishop in his place. This act 
provoked a storm of indignation from the federal- 
ists, many republicans also condemning Jeffer- 
son's action as a manifest usurpation of power. 
The president's right to remove from office was 
vigorously assailed, and the republicans found 


461 

themselves driven into a defense of Jefferson’s ac- 
tion, armed with a stock of arguments which were 
altogether weak. Even Jefferson himself found 
it necessary to enter the arena of debate for the 
purpose of j unifying himself before the psop ! e. 
He argued for the necessity of placing men in of- 
fice who were in sympathy with the aims of the 
administration, and he made use of a phrase that 
has become historic and come down to us in the 
form that officeholders "seldom die and never re- 
sign." He pointed out the impossibility of mak- 
ing the proper appointments unless there were 
vacancies to appoint to; and how should vacan- 
cies be secured except by removal? "For," said 
he, "those by death are few; by resignation 
none." The outcome of the matter was that Jef- 
ferson held his ground, weak and insufficient as it 
was, and Bishop held the collect rship. 

This was the starting point from which grew up 
the idea that there is something especially demo- 
cratic, and, therefore, meritorious, about "roU- 
tion in office," and government positions came to 
be regarded as plums, at which everyone octght to 
be allowed to take a bite. It was the idea of "ro- 
tation in office" that furnished the motive for the 
act of 1820, introduced by W, H. Crawford, of 
Georgii, which limits the tenure of office for 
various civil service appointees to a term of four 
years, and grants the right of removal "at the 
pleasure of the appointing power." Further legis- 
lation in 1836 fixed the tenure of office of all post- 
masters whose salaries amonnted to $1,000 a year 
and upwards at four years, and declared that they 
shall b6 4 'removable at the pleasure of the presi- 
dent." Crawford’s law excited very little discus- 
sion at the time it was passed; its importance was 
probably not fully understood; nor doe3 its im- 
portance seem to be fully understood now, as 
there seems to be little agitation for its repeal. 
Yet it must appear plain enough that there can 
be no effective reform in the civil service until all 
acts limiting the tenure of office to a definite 
period are repealed and the positions of all office- 
holders made as secure as are those of the su- 
preme court judges; they should hold their posi- 
tions for life or during good behavior. This 
seems plain enough, as the necessity for reap- 
pointment every four years leaves the chance 
wide open for the reward of the political partisans 
of the appointing power, without reference to 
their fitness for office, and it is too much to ex- 
pect that the chance will not be taken advantage 
of. 

Following the passage of Crawford's law, the 
aext presidential election which resulted in a 
change of party was that of Jackson in 1828, and 
the utility of the law was then demonstrated on a 


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462 


scale, and to an extent which caused many heart- 
burnings among the servants of the government. 
Jackson cherished the belief that the administra- 
tioa of his predecessor had been corrupt, and he 
turned men out of office with a keen zest, believ- 
ing that he could best purify the administration 
of the public business by appointing men to office 
who were his partisans. The total number of re- 
movals from office during the forty years between 
Washington's first inauguration and the inaugura 
tion of Jackson was but seventy-four, and five of 
this number had been defaulters During the 
first year of Jackson’s administration the number 
of changes made in the civil service was about 
2,000. Such was the abrupt inauguration on a 
national scale of the so called “spoils system." 
This phrase originated with W. L. Marcy, of 
New York, who. during the course of a speech in 
the senate in defense of Jackson’s policy, in 1831, 
declared that “to the victors belong the spoils." 
It has been good political doctrine ever since that 
time. Speaking on this subject in the senate, in 
1832, Daniel Webster said: 

"This principle of claiming monopoly of office by right 
of conquest, unless the public shall effectually rebuke and 
restrain it, will effectually change the character of our 

?;overnment. It elevates party above country; it tends to 
orm, it does form, we see that it has formed, a political 
combination, united by no common principles or opinions 
among its members, either upon the powers of the gov- 
ernment or the true policy of the country, but held to- 
-gether simply as an association, under the charm of a 
popular head, seeking to maintain possession of the gov- 
ernment by a vigorous exercise of its patronage, and for 
•this purpose agitating and alarming and distressing social 
life oy the exercise of a tyrannical party proscription. 
Sir, ir this course of things cannot be checked, good men 
will grow tired of the exercise of political privileges. 
They will see that such elections are but a mere selfish 
contest for office, and they will abandon the goyemment 
lo the scramble of the bold, the daring and the desper- 
ate.” 

That Webster was a true prophet, the course of 
political history in this country has sufficiently 
demonstrated. Politics has become no more than 
a mere mad scramble for office; no important is- 
sues separate the two great national parties to- 
day; it is no longer the triumph of some great 
principle of governmental polity that is brought 
about by party success, but merely the transfer- 
ence of a vast mass of government patronage 
from the control of one party to that of another. 
Political battles are now merely contests between 
the ins and the outs; the ins trying to remain ins 
and the outs striving to become ins. The poli- 
ticians have paid lip-service to civil service re- 
form for more than fifty years now; they have 
pledged themselves to the reform for the purpose 
of securing votes, and when they have secured 
them they seem to have forgotten all about their 
pledges. In the canvass of 1840 the whigs prom- 
ised to reform the civil service and the promise 
brought them many democratic votes; but after 
they had wou the election they forgot all about 


their promise, and followed the example set by 
Jackson by filling the offices id accordance with 
the “spoils system." The democrats followed in 
the same way in 1845, and from Jackson's time 
down to the present day it has been the almost 
universal custom to make a clean sweep of the 
federal offices upon each change of party. The 
“spoils system" has helped to sustain all manoer 
of abominations, from grasping monopolies and 
civic jobbery down to the very lowest class of 
political whiskey joints. The virus is omnipres- 
ent; it runs through everything, and the natural 
tendency of the evil is to grow with the growth 
of the country. 

Soon after the civil war the evils of the system 
began to attract the attention of thoughtful per- 
sons and agitation for a non-partisan administra- 
tion of the civil service began to make itself felt, 
but it was not until 1883 that congress passed a 
civil service law allowing the president to select a 
board of examiners, on whose recom men dat ion 
appointments are made- Candidates for appoint- 
ment are subjected to an easy competitive exami- 
nation, and are appointed solely with reference to 
their standing in such examination, or such is 
supposed to be the case, candidates showing the 
highest percen age of efficiency in the examina- 
tions being placed first in order for possible ap- 
pointment; there is. however, an exception to this 
rule made in favor of persons holding honorable 
discharge papers from the army or navy of the 
United States, such persons being given the 
preference in making appointments without refer- 
ence to their standing in the examinations, pro- 
viding only that their percentage of efficiency is 
high enough to entitle them to appointment at all. 
This is the ' 'merit system" of appointment to of- 
fice, as contradistinguished from, the “spoils sys- 
tem " Under the old system the two most scan- 
dalous abuses were the practices of forcing gov- 
ernment employes, under penalty of losing their 
places, to contribute a part of their wages for 
election purposes; and allowing, or even compel- 
ling, government employes to neglect their work 
in order to take an active part in political cam- 
paigns. Something has been done to correct 
these abuses; employes are no longer brazenly 
and openly assessed for political purposes, and 
government clerks are not so “perniciously act- 
ive" in political work as formerly; but the abuses 
are by no means stamped out entirely, as is indi* 
cated by the last report of the Civil Sendee Com- 
mission. 

The present law is a good one, but it isn't wide 
enough in its application. It does not throw the 
mantle of protection over a sufficient number of 
employes, and it still leaves altogether too much 


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patronage to be exercised by the horde of politi- 
cal shysters who have the people of this country 
by the throat. The service classified under the 
act of 1883 is divided into five distinct branches, 
as follows: The departmental service at Wash- 
ington; the customs service; the postal service; 
the railway mail service; and the Indian service. 
The classified departmental service embraces all 
the officers, clerks, and other employes in the 
several departments and commissions, except 
those appointed by the president, by and wi h the 
advice and consent of the senate, and those em- 
ployed merely as messengers, watchmen, work- 
men or laborers. The classified customs service 
embraces all the officers, clerks and employes in 
the several customs districts whose compensation 
is $900 per annum or over, except those who are 
appointed by the president, by and with the ad- 
vice and consent of the senate, and those who are 
employed merely as workmen or laborers. The 
classified postal service embraces all employes 
below postmaster, excepting special delivery mes- 
sengers and deputy postmasters, at all postoffices , 
to which the free, delivery system has been ap- 
plied. The classified railway mail service em- 
braces all superintendents, assistant superintend- 
ents. chief clerks, railway postal clerks, route 
agents, local agents, mail-route messengers, and 
other employes of the railway mail service. The 
classified Indian service embraces all physicians, 
superintendents, assistant superintendents, teach- 
ers and matrons. The whole number of em- 
ployes in all branches of the civil service m 1883 
was 131.860, and of this number but 13,924, pr 
about ten per cent of the whole, came under 
the classification then in force. In 1891 the 
classified embraced about 34,000 employes out of 
a total number of 183 488, or about 18 per cent of 
the whole, the classified service thus showing an 
absolute gain of about 8 per cent between the 
years 1883 and 1891. In 1893 the classification 
was extended by President Harrison so as to em- 
brace all free delivery offices, whereas the original 
classification applied only to offices having fifty 
employes or more. By this extension 548 post- 
offices, and 7,610 employes, were placed under 
the operation of the civil service law, and the to- 
tal number of classified employes in 1893, Janu- 
ary 18, was 42,928, or about 22 per cent of the 
entire service. 

This isa'very gratifying increase, but there is 
still much room for the extension of the service 
and its improvement in various ways. There is 
no reason why the classification should not be ex- 
tended so as to embrace all the lower grades of 
tbe service, no* exempt, and there is not the 
slightest reason why every postmaster and revenue 


463 

collector in the country should not be removed 
from the area of patronage. Postmasters, being 
appointed solely for political reasons, find many 
ways to defeat the intent of the civil service law 
and fill the places under their charge with their 
political partisans. Here is one method for de- 
feating the law which recently came under my 
notice. A postmaster, who had recently been 
appointed, desiring to appoint a substitute carrier, 
requested the secretary of the examining board to 
certify the eligibles who were next in order for 
appointment. Two names were given him from 
the head of the list, according to the law, but it 
happened that they were both objectionable to 
him, being members of the other party. The 
next name on tbe register was that of a political 
friend, and a man the postmaster desired to ap- 
point; but how should he manage it and not I 
break the law? It required some figuring, but it 
was accomplished. Tbe postmaster suddenly 
changed his mind about making an appointment 
and returned the certified names to the secretary 
of the examining board. Then he went to the 
objectionable applicant whose name was at tbe 
head of the list and offered him the position of 
janitor of the public building, the postmaster be- 
ing custodian of the same; providing he would 
withdraw his name from the list of eligibles. 
The janitorship was just exactly what he wanted, 
and he gladly withdrew his name and received 
the coveted position. Then the postmaster called 
for a new certification; got the name of bis friend, 
and appointed him promptly. The concluding 
part of the little drama was then worked out. 
The objectionable partisan who had received the 
appointment as janitor was promptly fired and 
a political friend of the postmaster appointed in 
his stead. When he protested he was pointed to 
the fact that the position was one which did not 
come under the classified service, and the post- 
master, in his capacity of custodian of the public 
building, was under no obligation to retain him in 
the position. Tbe disappointed candidate ap- 
pealed his case to the Civil Service Commission, 
but it is extremely doubtful about him being af- 
forded any relief. This is, no doubt, but one of 
many ways in which the partisan officials, who 
are still under the shadow of patronage, make 
their subordinates suffer for the fact of ho'ding 
political opinions different from Iheir own. There 
are many ways in which a postmaster who is so 
inclined may defeat the purpose of the civil ser- 
vice law; they should be deprived of all motive 
for defeating it by being themselves placed under 
the operation of the "merit system" of appoint- 
ment. The general public could only be tb' 
gainer. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


464 


Another way of defeating the law is illustrated 
by the action of the congressman from my district 
a short time ago The collector of a small port, 
whose salary was $900. just sufficient to bring 
him under the operation of the law, was removed 
from office in the following mainer: The con- 
gressman des red this position with whic 1 to re- 
ward one of his partisans, and, in order to ac- 
complish his purpose, he introduced an act re- 
ducing the salary of the rain he desired to re- 
move to $850 per year. He succeeded in having 
the act passed, when the mia he desired to oust 
was removed from the protection of the law, and 
it was then an easy matter for him to secure his 
discharge from the service and bestow his place 
upon the man he desired to favor. The next 
thing in order will be an act of congre s restoring 
the salary connected with this position to the 
former figure, or even a larger one, when this 
man, who received this appointment as a reward 
for petty and not wholly reputable party service, 
will be placed under the protection of the law 
and will thus be safe until some other congress- 
man covets his place and goes through similar 
gyrations in order to oust him All such opera- 
tions as this are disreputable; the public service 
is not any the gainer thereby; and it is important 
that the classified service be extended so as to 
embrace positions which may be manipulated in 
this way as soon as possible. If a $900 a year 
employe is entitled to the protection of the law, 
there is no possible reason why an employe who 
receives $800, or $600, or $500, should not be en- 
titled to the same protection. The law has suf- 
ficiently demonstrated its utility in protecting the 
employes who are included in its operation; all 
that is needed now is to extend its scope so as to 
include every employe in the government service, 
and the iniquitous “spoils system" will be a thing 
of the past. 

The importance of this subject to railway em- 
ployes lies in this: The chief argument against 
the government ownership of railroads is that it 
would be extremely dangerous to the liberties of 
the citizens of the country to have such a vast 
army of persons as is employed in the operation 
of the railroads placed in a position where it 
might be manipulated for party advantage, as by 
means of the patronage thus placed at its disposal 
a party mighr easily perpetuate itself in power 
and fasten conditions of absolute slavery upon the 
oountry. Under the “spoils system" the argu- 
ment has some considerable weight; but under 
the “merit system" of appointment it has no 
weight whatever. It is only because they owe 
their positions to a party that any body of men 
can be induced, against their honest convictions, 


to work for party success, and when the motive » 
removed the action springing from the motnt 
falls to the ground. When it is thoroughly un- 
derstood that appointments to the government 
service are to be made strictly in accordance with 
some system of merit, and that the tenure of inch 
positions is dependent only on the maintenance c' 
a certain standard of efficiency, there is no reiser 
whatever to fear the evils of political patron^? 
Under such a system, and with government o\r, 
ership in force, railway employes would beam: 
more independent in expressing their political 
opinions, and exercising their political privilege 
than they are to-day. U is indisputable that rail 
way employes are now frequently coerced it. 
voting in accordance with the dictates of tfcr : 
employers, and are made to feel that their brai 
and butter depend upon following a cert.u: 
course in politics, whether that course harizer 
izes with their honest convictions or not. Tb, 
could not happen under effective civil acme* 
regulations, and. instead of binding them to * 
party, railway employes may yet discover tb 
government ownership is the one thing needful . 
free them from party domination. 

* * * 

The purpose of the debate which has been cat 
ried on in these columns between Mr. Suan 
and myself require that I should say a few word* 
concerding the matter of his August ariiJr 
Whether or not Mr. Stuart has justified bis 
sertions concerning the single tax, by mean* t 
his technical examination of the term “capita 
must be left for the reader to decide. Whettr 
or not Henry George's definition of capital i; n 
correct one is a matter of small moment; we 
concerned here merely with a question of ta. 
concerning a definite statement. When Mr 
Stuart cited a great mass of stocks and boo' 
which are now the effective instruments of a 
ploitation and robbery of the masses, and con? 
dently told his readers that, under a single tax re- 
gime, they would continue to be exploited bv 
such instruments because they were capital, an j 
therefore, a “good thing," be made a statemer. 
which was not true, and be has detracted nothin? 
from the falsity of that statement by bringing for 
ward the opinions of Professor Bohm Bawerk ana 
Karl Marx to show that Henry George's concep 
tion of capital is erroneous. It is not my purpa? 
to enter here, into a discussion of the several coo 
ceptions of capital; whether or not capital should 
be regarded as wealth used to produce more 
wealth, or wealth used to produce income wiihom 
personal exertion, is a question that nay well t* 
placed on one side just now, for all the pnrposes 
of this debate, as it will tell us notbiag conoerx 


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THE RAILWAY 

ing the truth or falsity of the absolute statement 
made by Mr. Stuart regarding the mass of stocks 
and bonds brought into the discussion. This 
matter turns solely on a question of definition; and 
that, too, purely single tax definition. It is not 
to be decided by socialist definition, nor definition 
of the Austrian economists. Is the single tax 
definition such as to make Mr. Stuart’s assertion 
an assertion of verity? That is the question. I 
have already answered the question in the nega- 
tive. The position of the two schools regarding 
the matter introduced by Mr. Stuart is practically 
identical, but by the subtleties of definition and 
the sophistries of argument, they are made to as- 
sume widely different positions. To illustrate, we 
may roughly state the position of the two schools 
as follows: The socialists say that capital is not 
entitled to reward. The single taxers say that 
capital is entitled to reward. On the surface, nq 
two propositions can be more antagonistic; they 
seem to have nothing whatever in common. Evi- 
dently, the ground of union, if such there be, will 
be found in different conceptions of the term cap- 
ital. Now, taking the matter of this debate, and 
throwing the position of the two schools into syl- 
logistic form, we get the following: The social- 
ists say : 

Capital is entitled to no reward. 

These stocks and bonds are capital. 

Therefore, these stocks and bonds are entitled 
to no reward. 

The single taxers say: 

Capital is entitled to a reward. 

These stocks and bonds are not capital. 

Therefore, these stocks and bonds are entitled 
to no reward. 

We thus see that the conclusion is the same in 
either case, and Mr. Stuart's labored argument 
amounts to nothing when applied to the relevan- 
cies of the debate; it is what is commonly de- 
nominated as "much cry and little wool." With 
regard to the reforms in New Zealand, if Mr. 
Stuart is inclined to accept them as socialistic he 
is welcome to do so — no single taxer will kick. 
There is much in the New Zealand system that is 
inharmonious with the single tax principles, as 
there is also much that is inharmonious with so- 


CONDUCTOR. 465 

cialism, and it is not within my knowledge that 
any single taxer has ever claimed more than an 
approximate application of their principles there. 
But there is this much to be said: Single taxers 
have fully as much right to claim credit for, and 
rejoice at, the results brought about in New Zea- 
land as have the socialists, and I imagine they 
will continue to do so in spite of Mr. Stuart's 
protest. In quoting from Consul Connelly’s re- 
port, Mr. Stuart reminds me of the man who set 
out to prove the non-existence of God from the 
Bible. He took a phrase from the writings of 
Solomon, "There is no God," and the tfiing was 
done This is a favorite method of quotation 
with those persons who aim to befog instead of 
instruct. In presenting conclusions on his report,. 
Mr. Connelly says: "That there is very little dif- 
ference between the present land tax and the sin- 
gle tax as proposed by single taxers, as they are 
called here in New Zealand, is easily shown." 
He then goes on to state the points of difference, 
and makes an impartial statement of the exact 
state of the public mi^d with regard to the re- 
form, showing where sentiment is strongest both 
for and against it, and he closes his report with 
the following sentence, which states the exact 
fact: "The fact is, the present mode of taxation 
— land and income — is only one degree removed 
from the single tax." In speaking recently of the 
situation in New Zealand, the Twentieth Cen- 
tury, the organ of Mr. Stuart's own party, said: 
"Four years ago the situation in New Zealand 
seemed hopeless in the extreme. Industrial stag- 
nation was everywhere; the unemployed were 
numerous, and were flying from the colony; re- 
form ideas were talked, but seemed to have no 
power; everybody was discouraged. Suddenly 
there was a coming together and a political up- 
rising of the people. To-day labor rules the legis- 
lature and has gained the ministry of New Zea- 
land. It has gained woman's suffrage, short 
hours, an approximation to the single tax; 
(italics mine); the government is developing co- 
operative communities for the unemployed. New 
Zealand leads the world." 

I will, here, leave Mr. Stuart to extract what- 
ever comfort he may from his position. 


OUR NEW YORK LETTER. 

bly not unlike the rest of the country. 


Politics are barred from Thb Conductor by a 
not unwise rule; and yet to attempt gossiping 
about the current of events in New York City 
would be a dumb show indeed if that supreme 
political topic, the tariff question, were altogether 
avoided; since people here have been talking and betrays that tendency, and yet, after all is 
writing of but little else, in which they are proba- and done, the bill itself, while unquestionably 


It can 

hardly be said that there is much discussion, for 
everybody execrates the Gorman Bill; some be- 
cause of the tendency to which it pretends to 
a compromise, and others because it so flagr&nflu 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


466 

long way behind the popular demand, is yet a far 
longer step toward the liberation of industry than 
the most radical free traders would have dreamed 
of ten ye irs ago as a consummation so soon to be 
arrived at. The comparison of average percent- 
ages amounts to nothing either way, sines it is 
the individual features which are really effective 
in a tariff; and in this latter respect the new bill 
shows its darkest as well as its brightest side; 
some of the schedules that have been least talked 
about containing some of the worst job*. But 
free wool and free lumber were all that free trad- 
ers of ths most sanguine temperament hoped for 
up to a very recent date; and except for the 
special jobs, the bill is really almost identical 
with the Mills Bill, the banner of the vanguard 
only three short years back. 

What the bill is or may do, however, is for the 
moment less thought of than the scandalous way 
that it was forced upon a clear majority of both 
congress and the people in opposition to it; and 
on all sides one may hear indignation at Gorman 
and his kind, mingled with contempt for such old 
women as Vest and Harris, who made such a 
complete mess of things by insisting upon bring- 
ing into play their superior wisdom to revise the 
work of so much abler men than they in the Low- 
er House. Just what form the expression of this 
opinion will take in the coming elections is some- 
thing for time only to solve — whether it will re- 
sult in far greiter radicalism in the immediate 
future, or a reversal of popular sentiment as a 
result of popular disgust; but outside of the pure- 
ly political results, the good features which were 
left in the bill are subject for congratulation, as 
opening the door for a very considerable increase 
of commtrce and industry that will help along a 
revival from the depression of the past two years, 
through a widening of the field for employment to 
all. 

Newspapers generally have made a great row 
over the abuse of "Senatorial courtesy,” and 
justly so; and yet there is such a thing as journal- 
istic courtesy, which is just as ridiculous and of- 
ten just as harmful. In one of its phases it 
might better be called "journalistic discourtesy;" 
the silly rule which forbids in each metropolitan 
paper any mention by name of another paper, 
when it can possibly be avoided; and a conspicu- 
ously absurd illustration of this was given during 
the discussion of the tariff in the Senate. By way 
of holding up all tariff legislation to rebuke, the 
Press , which is the most aggressive protectionist 
organ that we have, called upon the Democratic 
county chairmen throughout the state to express 
their opinion on the Gorman abortion. The re- 
plies were positively startling, coming from men 


who have always been considered steeped in pro- 
tectionist traditions and dragged along most re- 
luctantly in the path which their party has been 
following since 1887. Almost without exception 
they denouoced the bill, not because it put 
some things on the free list, but becaase it 
did not pat enough there; not because it was an 
upsetting of trade by tinkering with established 
business conditions, but becaase it was a betrayal 
of the radical instructions voted by the people in 
1892 In reality it was an enormous boomerang 
to the Press' intention, which was clearly to 
make a display of the "conservative" sentiment 
that was supposed to exist up the state, in both 
parties; but not one of the rival papers had the 
brains to take a vantage of this fact and exploit 
it — solely because, in so doing, they would havi 
had to give prominent notice to an "esteemed 
contemporary.” 

* It is time, indeed, for the spirit of freedom in 
all things to be carefully stimulated when such a 
bill is possible as the anti-anarchist law recently 
introduced in that den of anarchists, the Senate 
which was even then chiefly occupied with defy- 
ing the will of the American people, and when 
such a disgrace to American traditions could al- 
most escape comment by the press. To say that 
one need not be an anarchist or to have the re- 
motest degree of sympathy with even the most 
peaceable form of philosophic anarchism to take 
this view, is surely a truism, yet perhaps it may 
be necessary, at a time when there is a state of 
sentiment that would permit such a bill to go un- 
checked through Congress, except for the cour- 
ageous Americanism and common sense of Con- 
gressman Jno. DeWitt Warner. We have gone a 
long way, in some respects, toward aristocratic 
and plutocratic rule, even while we have made so 
much progress toward a truer liberty; but never 
before has a proposition been brought forward to 
repress free thought and free speech that has 
been treated as this has been. There is no ques- 
tion of panic here, or mad rage at crimtnal vio- 
lence, or even silly talk that can be taken as lead- 
ing to violence, but simply a cold-blooded pro- 
posal to allow the servants of the law to exclude 
men from our shores — not for something that 
they do, but for something that they think. All 
the Hungarians and Poles and Sicilians may come 
who are daily lowering the average character of 
our citizenship, for they are useful beasts of bur- 
den to those who control the sources of wealth oa 
which their labor can be employed, but not oa 
who have different views on politics from those 
which a majority in Congress for the time being 
happen to entertain! For that is what it ammo 
to. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


All of this reversal of the progress of civiliza- 
tion is really a leaning back to the old days when 
people were beginning to learn the talue of a 
fixed arrangement of laws as a convenient means 
of establishing known relations between men, 
and jumped to the opposite conclusion that any- 
thing could be done by law; just as before that 
they facied that the king could accomplish all 
things The fallacy is a hard one to outgrow and 
it must be candidly admitted that labor unions 
are among the blindest sinners in this respect. 
Only too often, both leaders and members seem 
to fancy that if they can but get a law 
through by hook or by crook, the whole thing is 
done; and so we see the history of labor agitation 
to consist very largely of the enactment of utterly 
futile laws. An amusing phase of this is the 
attempt to get square with Pullman by taking 
away the charter of his company, in pleasing 
oblivion to the fact that this would not rob him 
of a single one of the real things through which 
he levies tribute upon his employes and the pub- 
lic. We had an equally amusing illustration of that 
once in New York; when a complete exposure of 
the most outrageous bribery was punished by the 
solemn confiscation of the Broadway street car 
line's charter. So much was deemed to have 
been granted by the state; but the franchise of 


467 

the right of-wayoame under the sacred head of 
property which, of course, had already been sold 
to "innocent" purchasers; and so the thieves got 
safely away with their swag. 

We are having one refreshing development of 
the campaign of humbug which was started by 
Parkhurst and kept up with the hope of hurting 
Tammany by an exposure of vice and police cor- 
ruption. The hollowness of this pretence is 
fairly illustrated in the praising by the World as 
the "one honest captain" of Inspector Williams, 
who a dozen years ago was the typical evil ex- 
ample and who is perfectly well known to have 
accumulated a country seat and steam yacht on 
$2,000 a year. But a crusader has arisen, Mrs. 
Sallade by name, who fights for hearth and home 
and is trying to drive out the objectionable peo- 
ple from her street, on the ground solely of their 
being a public nuisance. It holds out bright 
promise of the day when the residents of ea ;h 
block, not the landowners who may live anywhere 
else and be concerned only with the money that 
they get out of it, shall have the right to decide 
what their surroundings shall be; and when the 
law shall be really modeled on its theoretical 
principle, that the business of the state is solely 
to prevent mutual aggressions by citizens upon 
each other’s rights. 

Edw. J. Shriver. 


THE TOTAL COLLAPSE OF THE SINGLE TAX ARGUMENT. 


BY W. H. 

The single-tax theory is based on the assump- 
tion that all surplus wealth over and above the 
cost of the subsistence of labor is absorbed by 
the private landowner in the shape of "rent." 
It is therefore proposed to confiscate to the use of 
the community all rent of land, irrespective of 
'improvements, by which means, it is asserted, an 
equilibrium of opportunities will be established, 
by throwing open land and resources to all upon 
equal terms, with the assumed result that invol- 
untary poverty would be forever abolished, and 
an era of unexampled prosperity be ushered in 
such as the world has never witnessed. 

The critical reader of "Progress and Poverty" 
will notice that the theory that rent tends to ab- 
sorb all surplus wealth is assumed as a self-evi- 
dent axiom. No evidence whatever is brought 
forward in its defense. No statistics or facts are 
quoted or appealed to showing that the landowner 
is the only, or the chief exploiter of labor. It is 
one thing to assert that wealth is rapidly concen- 
trating in the hands of a small class, but it is 
another and altogether different thing to assert 


STUART. 

that "rent swallows up all the gain and more 
than the gain." 

The statistics of the industrial nations of the 
world totally discredit the assertion. During the 
decade ending 1890 it has been shown by Prof. 
Mulhall of England, and Hon. D. A. Wells of 
this country, that while wealth during that decade 
has accumulated and increased beyond any simi- 
lar period in the world’s history, yet that rent of 
land has been steadily declining, the estimate for 
England alone being one thousand millions. 
The same is true regarding Germany, and in this 
country the decrease in land values and of rent 
(except in a few localities) has been enormous, 
and must amount to hundreds of millions annu- 
ally. 

This decline of land values in this country has 
not been confined to the agricultural areas of the 
New England states — where agricultural rent has 
been almost literally wiped out — but has extended 
to the great middle and western states, with the 
prospect that as fast as the capitalist mode of 
production destroys the small farmer, horticul- 


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468 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


turalist, and manufacturer, rent will still further 
decline, and surplus value more and more be ab- 
sorbed in the shape of "interest" on capital, and 
"wages of superintendence." 

I shall devote the remainder of this paper to a 
resume of the arguments I have urged against 
the adequacy of the single- tax remedy as a solu- 
tion of the economic problem and to the defense 
— where there has been any offered — of my oppo- 
nent, Mr. Borland. 

In courtesy I should perhaps say "my oppo- 
nents," for I have been subjected to a running 
fire of comments and querulous scolding at the 
hands of Mr. Jose Gros, but it would merely be 
courtesy to include him. Mr. Gros is too super- 
ficial a writer and too poorly equipped in the 
science of political economy to be dignified as an 
opponent in a serious discussion of economics. 
Like the defenders of current theological super- 
stitions he is forced to disguise his ignorance of 
the subject and bide behind supposed "divine 
laws," the "supreme will," etc. This is an old 
theological trick to assume familiarity with the 
will and purposes of the Almighty. But in a dis- 
cussion of economics, which pertain to this world 
exclusively, it is entirely out of place. Wherever 
Mr. Gros has referred to my arguments or state- 
ments he has invariably misrepresented, distorted, 
or misconstrued them, the result on his part of a 
desire to lessen their force, or on account of his 
ignorance of the subject. Candor and* honesty, 
therefore, compel me to exclude him as an oppo- 
nent. 

I shall now review the arguments I have ad- 
vanced. 

ist. The confiscation of economic rent is 
equivalent to the confiscation of the land. Single- 
taxers admit this and defend it. 

But I have shown that rent of land and interest 
on capital both represent robbery of labor; that 
owners of land can show quite as good title to 
their possessions as can the owners of capital, 
and that to confiscate the one and leave the other 
would be partial, unjust and indefensible. To 
the large class of farmers who were forced by our 
land system to invest their capital in the purchase 
of land before they could gain access thereto, 
and to the equally large class of workers, the 
price of whose home sites represents, usually, 
years of toil, the confiscation of rent would be 
indefensible robbery, for as the competitive sys- 
tem would be retained under the single-tax 
regime, deprived of the capital invested in the 
farm and town site, they would be less able than 
ever to compete with organized capitalism in tie 
unequal and bitter struggle for a living. I have 
shown that in a country like ours of boundless 


extent and sparse population, the private owner- 
ship of oqpupied land, cannot prevent access to 
natural resources, but that it isowing to the fri 
yate monopolization of unused land; that our 
present laws, if enforced, would entirely prevent 
thife; that if all land, improved or unimproved, 
were taxed equally, it would have the effect of 
throwirg upon the market hundreds of millions 
of acres of the finest agricultural land in the 
world, and also millions of building lots, the 
present owners of which are enabled to hold 
them out of use, like the owners of agricultural 
land, by a failure to enforce present laws, being 
taxed from one-fourth to one-tenth of its value; 
that so far as free access to natural resources 
would solve the economic problem that could be 
effected by enforcing existing laws, that until we 
have done this it is a waste of time to discuss the 
partial and unjust scheme of robbery and confis- 
cation contemplated by the single-tax 

Again, the "unearned increment" which the 
single- tax is designed to confiscate, has been wide- 
ly diffused among millions who are not now land 
owners, who have invested their profits from 
land speculation in. perhaps, other forms of labor 
exploitation. Are they to go free while the pres- 
ent land owners are to be dispossessed of the 
accrued value in which former owners have been 
the chief beneficiaries? The proposition is un- 
just. When we decide to make land comraoo 
property let us return to present owners that 
value that they paid to former owners, or if we 
go into the confiscation business, let us make it 
general and without discrimination as to any form 
of wealth. 

To these arguments Mr. Borland makes abso- 
lutely no defense. He contents himself with the 
assertion that society has the right to make any 
disposition of the land that it pleases, providing 
society on the whole would be benefited. The 
truth of bis assertion is admitted, with the quali- 
fication he makes. But we will see that he. nor 
any other single-taxer, has been able to dernon- 
st ate that under existing economic conditions 
access to natural resources to the man without 
capital would be anything more than the merest 
mockery, or that it would, of itself, be even a 
step in the direction of the solution of the indus- 
trial problem. 

2d. The insecurity of tenure both of land and 
improvements that would obtain under the oper- 
ation of a tax that wonld vary so greatly with in- 
crease of population and business. 

That under a single tax regime, rent of land 
would not only equal present rent bat woaid 
greatly increase, is a proposition stated and de- 
fended by nearly every single tax writer and 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


% 

speaker. The Standard , some months before 
its suspension, declared that the adoption of the 
single- tax would cover every vacant lot in New 
York Citjr with a factory. Nearly, if not every 
editor of a single-tax paper has declared that the 
adoption of the single- tax would bring into use 
every foot of vacaat laad in their respective 
cities. Wherever any doubt is expressed as to 
the sufficiency of economic rent as a source of 
public revenue we are pointed triumphantly to 
the enormous increase in land and rental values 
in such populous centers as Chicago, Kansas City, 
Minneapolis, St Paul and others. Indeed, the 
devout George sees in the law of rent an evident 
provision of the "Divine Intelligence" by which a 
fund is created that will increase in direct ratio 
with the increase in business and population, and 
upon which society can always rely for all the 
purposes of revenue. Admitting the correctness 
of the single-tax contention, "divine laws” and 
all, I have shown that such rapid increase in 
rental values would destroy all security for per- 
manency of occupation of land and improve- 
ments; that under such conditions of insecurity 
no poor man would dare build a home in a grow- 
ing town, lest rapid increase in the rental values 
would force him every few years to move or 
abandon his improvements. It would force work- 
ing people to choose the most undesirable loca 
tions to guard against increase of rental values. 
I think that along the railroad track would be the 
favorite locations for the home* of working peo- 
ple under a single tax regime. 

The risk would discourage the building of small 
isolated homes, which would no doubt be 
replaced by huge shambling tenements erected by 
capitalists for private profit. Indeed the inse- 
curity of tenure that would prevail would dis- 
courage permanent improvements, for from the 
time the improvements were erected the land 
would virtually be up at auction to the highest 
bidder. Capitalists who needed a particular 
location for any purpose would merely offer a 
higher rent to obtain the location and thereby 
compel the poorer lessees to vacate if their busi- 
ness did not justify the payment of an increased 
rent. 

It has been urged that in such cases the new 
lessees should be compelled to payjtbe owners for 
their improvements before they could be dispos- 
sessed This, however, is a clumsy device to 
tide over a difficulty that George stupidly over- 
looked. That plan would merely put a premium 
on the erection of large shambling and ungainly 
structures, which being unsuitable, and'expensive 
to destroy, applicants would refuse to purchase, 
enabling the owners to retain possession of per- 


469 

haps choice locations, thus^retarding the growth 
of the town and materially reducing its revenues. 
This continual insecurity of possession entirely 
discredits the single-tax as a solution of the land 
question, an important, but not the most import- 
ant factor in the solution of the economic ques- 
tion, at least in oar country. 

3d The total inadequacy of economic rent as 
a fund to provide revenue for alljpublic purposes. 
I have shown that present rent is not "economic” 
rent, but "monopoly rent,” due to the monopoli- 
zation of unused land. The amount of our land 
now in use does not comprise more than ten per 
cent of the total area. The present area of our 
vacant land would support in comfort an addi- 
tional population of five hundred millions The 
adoption of the single-tax would, throw all vacant 
land on the market and reduce rental values to 
one tenth or perhaps one-twentieth of present 
rental values. This is a result of jthe adoption 
of the single- tax theory that George did not an- 
ticipate, for there is not a line in "Progress and 
Poverty” that would indicate that the author bad 
the faintest conception of the enormous reduction 
in rent that would result on the adoption of his 
theory. The single-tax assumption is, that if say 
a certain lot paid in rent now one thousand dol- 
lars per annum that amount; under a single-tax 
regime would be merely transferred without 
diminution to the state; that rent on the average 
would probably be reduced to one-tenth of for- 
mer rent, never entered the single-tax intellect. 
The failure to take into account the enormous 
difference between natural rent that would obtain 
under a system of non-monopolization of unused 
land aud our present system, makes the term 
"single tax” a misnomer and absurd, and reduces 
"Progress and Poverty” to a mere olla podrtda 
of poetry and platitudes. Take an illustration: 
Suppose that a certain town,has 5000 population, 
and contains 1000 buildings of various kinds, 
hotels, opera houses, dwellings, stores, factories, 
etc. Suppose that within a year 2000 additional 
buildings of the same various description were 
erected, without any increase, or only the normal 
increase in the population. There would there- 
fore only be one building occupied out of three; 
every one can see that under such conditions rent 
would be merely nominal and a fraction of former 
rates. Economic rent would still discriminate 
between the best and worst locations, but the 
rent of even the choicest locations would be 
enormously reduced, while for most of the build- 
ings economic rent would be'Ja vanishing point. 
Now, the same relative reduction would occur 
under the operation of a tax that would throw 
upon the market — not three* times, as in the case 


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470 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


of the buildings — but ten times more vacan t land that that reform would be effected by the enforce- 
than there is present use for, or likely to be ment of present laws, which would force the owners 
• within the next hundred years. Under such con- of millions of acres of land to abandon it, land 
ditions to talk of economic rent being sufficient held at ten dollars per acre being assessed at fifty 
for all the purposes of public revenue is arrant cents per acre, and assessed low purposely for the 
nonsense, and shows the uncritical nature of the purpose of raising a revenue, the assessors know- 
single tax intellect from Henry George down to ing full well that to assess vacant land at its full 
Jose Gros. selling price would force the owners to abandca 

To this argument my single tax opponent and it to the government, and by throwing it upon the 
1 ‘apologist" makes no adequate or direct reply in market, lower the assessed value of occupied 
rebuttal. Like his master he appears to assume land, and thus enormously reduce the revenue 
that the rent fund was evidently intended by a for public purposes As I have stated, the present 
"divine" or "natural" law to provide a fund for system of land taxation is the best that could be 
public use. r He^ informs us in his finest apolo- devised for the purpose of raising the largest pos- 
getic vein that the "law of compensations" will sible revenue from a land tax, for it permits the 
attend to it£ in good shape. That law provides monopolization of the entire continent by private 
the Esquimaux with a blanket of fat to enable owners, which enormously increases the price 
him to endure the extreme temperature of and rental value of all land, 
his habitat, and that by parity of reason- 4th. The fallacy in the assumption, that with 
ing, "the law of compensation" will see free access to land and natural opportunities the 
to it that economic rent will be forthcoming man without capital, under present economic 
in sufficient quantity! ?). ' So closely," continues conditions, could compete with organized capital, 

our "apologist," "has this system of natural com- or that the "iron law" of wages would not still 
pensations been traced that wherever crawls a remain in full force and effect, 
poisonous reptile it is said that growing near may This is the real economic argument against the 
be found the plant which is an antidote for its single tax theory. The previous arguments that 
bite." He cites this as a scientific statement of I have urged served to show the shallowness and 
fact, whereas, on the contrary, it is mere igno- absurdity of that theory, anfl were of themselves 
rant twaddle, which, only a theological or single- sufficient to discredit it, but the argument based 
tax "apologist" would be guilty of. "Nature on the inevitability of the "iron law" of wages 
leaves no want unprovided for" — more twaddle, under a competitive system of production is a 
For three solid pages our apologist squirms in complete non sequitur to the single-tax theory 
this vein. He asserts that the sufficiency of I have showed fully how impossible it is for the 
economic rent is not a vital factor in the single- small manufacturer or miner to compete with the 
tax theory, whereas, on the contrary, the whole gigantic "trust," and how inevitably agriculture 
theory is built up and buttressed on the alleged and horticulture are falling under the dominion of 
sufficiency of a tax on land. All other taxes are the capitalist, that I must not dwell on the sub- 
declared unnecessary and a wicked robbery of ject. Nothing so fully illustrates the total col- 
"labor" or "capital." "When it is admitted," lapse of the single-tax defense, as the inability of 
says Mr. Borland, "that the single- tax would put my opponent to make even an "apologetic" de- 
an end to land monopoly * * * those who fense of the assumption that free access to 
look for the triumph of principles rather than the natural resources would restore an equilibrium 
exaltation of theories ask for nothing more." of opportunities to all, and abolish involuntary 
Indeed! How modest! Compare that statement poverty, ill have in successive numbers of this 
with Georges rhetorical flourish. "What I, magazine challenged him to the proof. I have 
therefore, propose as the simple yet sovereign insisted over and over again for him to show how 
remedy, which will raise wages, increase the wages would be raised by the adoption of the 
earnings of capital, extirpate pauperism, abolish single- tax, why the employer would be able or 
poverty, give remunerative employment to who- inclined to pay more wages when the state would 
ever wishes it, afford free scope to human powers, be the landlord instead of a private owner; or. if 
lessen crime, elevate morals, taste and iotelli- the employe was dissatisfied with his wages and 
gence, purify government, and carry civilization decided to apply his labor direct to land, how be 
to yet nobler heights, is — to appropriate rent by would be able to compete with the wealthy capi- 
taxation What a grandiloquent declaration! talist class controlling the costly labor-saving 
And now apologist Borland will be satisfied if tools of production. 1 have asked him to take a 
the single-tax will only destroy land monopoly!?), mechanic, a farmer, or a laborer and show bow, 
Why, bless his heart, I have shown conclusively under a single-tax regime, they would be any 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 471 


better able than at present to compete with organ- 
ized capital. Bat my opponent cannot be tempted 
into a reply; he is dumb as an oyster. Privately, 
I have no doubt, be feels confident that the beau- 
tiful “law. of compensations" will in some myste- 
rious and im possible- to-explain manner bring 
things out all right, but he has a fear, that the 
“lawof compensations" racket may not “go" as 
an explanation of all things terrestrial and celes- 
tial. He does, indeed, ask why under a single- 
tax regime the laborer should not work for him- 
self instead of for a capitalist. But when I ask 
him to describe the modus operandi of how the 
laborers will proceed to create wealth, whether 
by mere hand labor, or if by machinery, who 
will own the machinery; whether a few as at 
present will own the machinery and charge inter- 
est as their reward for “aiding production" and 
thus continue the capitalist system of production, 
or whether the laborers will co operate and own 
the means of production in common, and thus 
institute “socialism" — the deponent saith not. 

The reader may perhaps assume that an abler 
advocate of the single- tax might answer these 
questions satisfactorily. But I assure the reader 
that these very questions have been put to Henry 
George himself by his own disciples, notably by 
the present president of our local single-tax club, 
Mr. RalDh E Hoyt, but without avail. Several 
others have tried it with the same success. The 
great George is as silent as “apologist" Borland. 
Indeed, at a meeting of our local single- tax club, 
one of the principal members of the club ad- 
mitted that single-taxers were absolute believers 
in the doctrine of Laissez Faire. He frankly 
admitted that capitalists were able to accumulate 
enormous wealth without in any way controlling 
natural opportunities, and cited the case of Geo. 
M. Pullman, but claimed that labor was a com- 
modity like all other commodities and that Pull- 
man was justified by the laws of political econ- 
omy in purchasing the commodity “labor" like 
other commodities at the lowest market price; 
said those things could not be helped; that single-* 
taxers believed in absolute free competition. 


These are the sort of “economists" who pretend 
to have a “remedy" for existing social condi- 
tions(?) 

There is one subject that apologist Borland is 
really desirous to take, and that is the socialist 
theory of value. Bro. Borland just revels in 
metaphysical disquisitions, and in petty 
and trifling wrangling on matters of mere opin- 
ion, and childish and frivolous objections which 
do not affect any fundamental principle in dis- 
pute. I decline. First, because I have else- 
where answered all his childish objections to the 
socialist theory of value, and life is too short to 
have them rehashed over again in The Conduc- 
tor with whose readers I desire to be on good 
terms, and therefore refuse to be a party to such 
an affliction on them. Second, even if Mr. Bor- 
land succeeded in impeaching the socialist theory 
of value, it would not make the slightest differ- 
ence. in the real argument in favor of co-opera- 
tion. Suppose under a socialist state we are 
forced to acknowledge the difference in the value 
of labor, and pay “rent of ability." It is evident 
that in a state' where every citizen was a man of 
culture and education, that such great inequali- 
ties as now exist in talent would be greatly lev- 
eled. Our greatest salaries are now paid for tal- 
ent in chicanery, for cunning and shrewdness in 
“getting there" by any means, no matter how 
dishonorable. Such talent under a co-operative 
system would have no value, and it might be that 
the man who was engaged in cleaning a cesspool 
would demand much higher pay per hour than a 
civil engineer engaged in the construction of an 
important public work. Thousands who know 
nothing of the socialist theory of value are intel- 
ligent believers in and advocates of co-operation. 
Cairnes, the eminent orthodox economist, op- 
posed the socialist theory of value, yet declared 
that wealth was and would concentrate into the 
bands of a diminishing number of capitalists; 
that the rich would grow richer and the poor 
poorer, and declared emphatically that the only 
possible solution was in the co-operative system of 
production and distribution. 


A FEW OLD LETTERS. 


BY R. M. WEBSTER. 


New Harmony, Ind., U. S. A., July 19, 1826. 

Dear Nan: This is a queer country. Woods, 
woods, woods. Swamps, swamps, swamps. 
Squirrels without end. Billy and I shot thirteen 
yesterday morning before breakfast. There are 
wild turkeys also, and coons and woodchucks and 
rabbits. Two months ago there were wild ducks 
by the thousand. Later there were pigeons by 


the million. We have all the game we can eat. 
If we only had a market like London for it we 
might get rich. But there is no market here for 
anything. 

And there is too much ague. And some of our 
people here have no more practical ability or 
sense, for pioneer work like ours, than a baby. 

Between you and me, I begin to believe Mr. 


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47 * 






. THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


■M** mn/lo M mistake in coming so far from 
• f l«<1 «nd established communities. What 
malarial uwamps all about, and the 
j y noM men and the want of a market 

^®N|I w« hope to produce (we have produced 
** t »»ft»-r one whole year), it seems to me 

-vr will only sink his fortune. 

• w 1 « ■ , you were here. I’m just dying to see 
'V you must not come until we are in bet- 
tor C2o<r»clitlon 

m aOr>li for your letters as they that watch for 
morninK We have a few neighbors from the 
Etogland states, and there are a few colored 
noar by Hut it is all new, a few clear- 
,n KH » f» the woods, log houses, and an endless lot 
of to be done before it will look like a civil- 

iaed country. 

I arn losing all conceit of cooperation. No; I 
w^»s-* t say that I m~an I am losing faith in co- 
operators that don't co operate and that don’t 
know how to do anything, bnt can eat as much as 

an ybody. 

More next week, from yonr devoted Sam. 

London Augost 30, 1826. 

^Ay Brave and Beloved Sam* Yonr letter of 
J Q iy 19 reached me in a litde more than five 
weeks It usually takes two months. I suppose 
i t takes all of two weeks to get a letter from New 
Harmony to New York or Philadelphia, so that 
particular letter must have crossed the ocean in 
three weeks. How the west winds most have 
blown 


Yon know how I look for your letters. You 
must write every week at least. I am very sorry 
v ou »re not getting on better ia the co-operative 
c olony. Here is a nice bit I copied from a paper 
about it We learn that Robert Dale Owen, the 
cotton spinner and philanthropist, has 
started a new venture in North America, in a 
place called Indiana. He has bought a large 
tract of land and got some people to go onto it 
and form a co operative community, in which 
evervbodv is to own everything, and all are to 
wo W and live together like 1 great family and 
[ nh.uo equally alt the income and all the blessings. 
Wo don t wish wy h irm to so good a man, but if 
*t>a»ebody else should cadi him a fool, we should 
n^»t undertake to prove the contrary. That he 
will have hi-* labor for his pains and lose his 
money ia utost likely 

t beret more lat's enough. After 

n tiling yo b ik r n.ips the writer in 

1 ho LM)vr may not be far out 

(,) yea tud 0 sent me a note the other day. 

1 ’ > < » go w n to the play, and his 

M ! 4 y Miss Nancy May I come 


and see you some evening. I have news fan 
Mr. Owen’s colony yon might like to heir. 

Yours respectfully , C.H." 

I thought I would not reply, for he annoys m< 
with his attentions whenever he has a chance 

Well, on Sunday he joined me on the wiyhomt 
from church. Aunt Jule was with me, too H< 
said: * ‘Shall I tell you what I heard from Jin 
Thorn, from New Harmony?” i said: ’‘Yes, ii 
you please.” Then he told me that Jim said yot 
had been awful sick; that you were waited npot 
by a young nurse, who had fallen in love witi 
you, and that the colony affairs had made sc 
headway; that the people don’t agree; that they 
are always having the ague, and that most ol 
them are homesick, and that New Harmony is 
nothing but old discord, and that Mr. Owen ii 
just throwing away his money. 

Now. Sam, if this is true (I don’t mean atom 
Jtbe nurse — of course, that is some of Jim’s non- 
sense — I mean about the colony), would it not be 
better for you and me to pat together whit 
money we have and buy a farm of oar 
own, far enough away from the swamps. Oi 
course, land is too dear in England — for us. But 
I do think Mr. Owen might, with all his money, 
get a place in his own country, that would bring 
an income right off. By the time New Harmony 
is profitable, it will have cost him more than a 
good large estate here. 

I don’t believe in going after a thing because 
it’s cheap, unless you are compelled to. 

You are ’ dying to see me.” / am living- to see 
you. Your own Nan. 

New Harmony, Ind., U. S. A., Oct. 30. 1826. 

My Own Nan: I have had all your letters. I 
guess. But the one dkted just two months ago 
took a terrible while to get here. I have written 
every week, and you know about how we are. 
But that piece in the paper is all right. There 
never was a better man than Robert Dale Owen. 
But he is ahead of his time. This kind of co-op- 
erative community will never work in a country 
Jike this, where you can get all the land you want 
for five shillings an acre. Men prefer to be their 
own masters, and work when they please, and as 
they please, on their own land. They would sooner 
be poor and do as they like on land all their own 
than get rich on land not wholly theirs and by 
doing what other people tell ihem. 

Owen has the right idea for unselfish and ftr- 
feet men and women. But we don’t have that 
sort in New Harmony — not to any great extent. 

Yes, your idea is good. I’ll look out for the 
right spot. 

As to the girl that fell in love with me. it wsm 
our colored cook. Of course, there is nothing in 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR'. 473 


it. But I treated her like a lady, as if she were 
just as good and worthy as I am. And, of course, 
she liked it, and told Jim I was just lovely. 

The fact is, Jim wishes she would fall in love 
with him. She is nearly white and really hand- 
some. 

Never mind C. H. I feel no fear or jealousy. 
He is a harmless fellow, and I like him all the 
better for falling in love with you. I might think 
my taste not perfect if no one else admired you 
and wanted you. I know perfectly well that you 
are to be trusted, and that nothing short of my 
own say so, direct to your face, would make you 
believe me false. You would no} even believe if 
I wrote it. You would be sure it was a forgery — 
or trick. This is why I am happy all the day, 
despite the ague, which has shaken me up a few 
times, but I am not the one to be killed by it. 

I, too, thank you for the correction — am living 
to see you. 

If I could get five acres in England for what I 
could get 500 here, I would come back; that is, 
if Owen’s New Harmony colony is a failure. 
And it will fail. And I begin to think it ought to 
fail Enterprising, thrifty and able men are not 
going to be kept down by a community of weak 
people who want other folks to take care of them 
and do all the hard work. 

But I must stop now. There are good times 
ahead for you and me. Till then I am your own 
particular personal property. Sam. 

London, December 26, 1826. 

My Faithful and Noble Sam: I have had sev 
era! letters from you, in which you speak as if 
the colony would fail. But your last, which I 
have just received — seven weeks on the way — 
assures ms that New Harmony will not realize 
Mr. Owen's ideals. 

Here is another piece from a newspaper : 1 * Rob- 
ert Dale Owens is a man of whom we could wish 
only good things. He is certainly a man of most 
humane temper. He has shown, too, the best of 
judgment and foresight in matters pertaining to 
the manufacture of cotton. And not less in re- 
gard to the relation between the employers and 
the laboring people. Beyond doubt he is the 
friend of the poor rather than of the rich and 
powerful. At the same time, he is not an enemy 
of the better classes. He, himself, is one of them. 

We are, therefore, very sorry to record what 
seems to us a most foolish piece of business on 
the part of Mr. Owen. He has gotten together a 
colony of people, in some new and malarial re- 
gion of the United States, and he is supporting 
them there till they shall become (as he expects) 
a model community, not only self-supporting, bnt 


able to extend themselves and multiply communi- 
ties through the new world. 

That he will fail is certain. What folly, thus 
to throw away a fortune;” etc. 

What do you think, Sam, is the reason that 
such a scheme as his can’t be made to work? Or 
do yon still believe that, under other circum- 
stances, it could be? 

I am going to get ready to come, Sam, next 
spring. So you must have things ready and meet 
me, and we must go right to some clergyman and 
be married, and you must have a few of your 
friends at the wedding, and then we’ll make a 
home of our very own. Surely there is plenty of 
room in the world for everyone to take care of 
himself in his own way. 

I read C. H. yonr letter. It seemed to affect 
him very much. It showed him better than any- 
thing I could say that there is no hope for him. 
I am so thankful you wrote in just that way — 
so full of faith and so kind and so free from all 
pettiness. You are a true gentle man, Sam, and 
I am yours till death do us part, and also after 
that, forevermore. Nan. 


New Harmony, Ind., U. S. A., Feb. 16, 1827. 

My Faithful Nan: You are worth as much 
more than the best estate in England as that is 
worth more than an Indiana swamp. 

I am going to tell you now why Mr Owen’s 
scheme won’t work here. The country is too 
new, wild and unhealthy. The people he has 
gathered are not fit for pioneer life. And the 
government of the colony is neither a democracy, 
nor an aristocracy, nor a monarchy — the people 
don’t rule themselves. The best among them are 
not allowed to rule (and they don’t want to), and 
there is no head to it. Owen might manage if he 
lived here. But he would have simply to treat 
the people as his workmen, and that would spoil 
his plan. 

Besides, his plan is far from perfect. It would 
not work anywhere. 

The time will come, after a good many experi- 
ments. when a plan will be perfected, and more 
than Mr. Owen’s expectations will be realized. 
And I think I see a few things that will then be 
taken as axioms. 1st. Equal ownership of all the 
means of producing wealth. 2d. Equal wages, to 
be paid by the community to each worker for a 
day’s work — the day to be shorter for hard and 
disagreeable work than for fhe easier. 3d. They 
must get rid of money. 4th. The family life 
must be held sacred, and each family must be 
free to live and manage and enjoy its own home 
and personal property in its own way 5tb^ 
Equal voice in the law making and managemetf 


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*74 


and some way of calling down unfaithful or of- 
fensive officers. 

But not even the most perfect plan will hold 
selfish and ill-tempered people together. Men 
and women must be wise and good and have the 
Christ spirit before they can make a heaven any- 
where. 

Yes, I will carry out your plan to the letter — 
clergyman and all. 

More next week. Your own undiscouraged and 
full of-great- expectations Sam. 

Of course the letters relating to that colony are 
mostly lost. But here is one more from Sam's 
collection (Sam’s and Nan's). It must have been 
from one of Nan’s old friends: 

London, Christmas, 1828. 

My Dear Nan: I wish you a merry Christmas 
and also a happy Ne^ Year. But I suppose, 
since you and Sam are married and settled down 


on that "breezy, broad and brilliant prairie" of 
which you speak, "with plenty of water and near 
the woods," and not far off from the young city 
that is ' 'bound some day to be a big one. " all 
your days are merry and happy. It is New Har- 
mony now with a — no, not with a vengeance — 
but with rare music. I envy you. But 1 am 
coming, too. 

I am sorry for Mr. Owen. What a loss and 
what a bitter disappointment! But I do feel that 
he is right at heart and in his main idea. Why 
should we not help each other? Why should 
some have everything and others have nothing^ 
Why should some be servants and others masters? 
Why should churches profess Christianity and 
never practice it? I don’t know. You may 
look — 

The rest of the letter is lost. But surely these 
old lines of sixty years ago and more are not with* 
out interest even to-day. 


My Iowa. 

Written for The Railway Conductor. 


Yes, sir; I live in Michigan — that state called 
Wolverine — 

Where lake and* river do abound in countless, 
endless stream ; 

Where hospitality and wealth shine forth on every 
hand, 

And when one eats three times a day large quan- 
tities ot sand. 

But give me back "My Iowa," my own proud 
native land 

That nestles in the bosom of the Mississipi 
grand! 

I love her very corn fields — her homes and peo- 
ple, too — 

Her trees, and birds, and flowers, and rivers pass- 
ing through; 

I love the old familiar scenes where childhood's 
happy hours 

Were whiled away in gathering the pretty wild- 
wood flowers — 

And when we chased in childish sport the but- 
terfly and bees — 

And drank from springs, then rested beneath the 
tall oak trees. 

"Have I met many changes?" Of them I cannot 
speak; 

It brings a pang into my heart, while tear drops 
stain my cheek. 

The busy, silent reaper, has garnered many 
sheaves, 

While tenderly He's gathered the tiny falling 
leaves. 

The cities on the hill side are dotted o’er with 
mounds, 

Beneath which loved ones slumber, while all the 
earth resounds 

With beautiful songs of praise for Christ, the 
Savior King, 

Who heeds the sparrow’s fall and every living 
thing. 

Of all the places I have seen, since my sweet 
coming home, 

Is that old High School on the bill, with the 
familiar dome, 


And how my memory reaches back to friends of 
other years — 

"Will you excuse me, sir?" but I can’t help the 
the flood of tears. 

I've found my school mates scattered o'er the 
states — yes everywhere, 

And some, I bear, are prosperous, and others in 
despair; 

And I have wondered to myself if they have felt 
like me, 

An exile from their Iowa, and if they' like to see 

Old Burlington, the dearest spot on earth to 
many a heart. 

And, oh, it brings a sad regret when I do have to 
part 

From such a valued, honored friend as Burling- 
ton, my home, 

Where I was born and reared, you know, and 
where I loved to roam, 

The hills and dells and wooded groves in happi* 
ness supreme. 

Oh, those were days I’ll ne'er forget — a happy 
summer dream. 

And how we loved to sit and fish on river banks 
together, 

My chum and I, and gathered nuts in frosty au- 
tumn weather. 

"The Burlington," that famous route, is very 
dear to me; 

An old and highly valued friend that I was glad to 


see. 

And, do you know it is a fact that when I took 
their train, 

I smiled and said unto myself, "Ah. this is home 
again." 

Oh, Iowa, my proud, grand friend, there's none 
on earth like you. 

I’ll fold you to my bosom and I’ll kiss your ban- 


ner true. 

And. Burlington, I’ll clasp your face unto my 
heart once more, 

Ere I travel back to Michigan along the white 
Lake Shore. Mrs Clara B. Roirsi, 

Grand Rapids. Micb. 


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Our readers who write to any of the firms advertising in these columns are requested to mention 

Thb Railway Conductor. 

E. B CLARK and WM. P. DANIELS, Managers. E. E. CLARK, Editor-In-Chief. 

W. N. GATES, Advertising Manager, 29 Enclid Avenue, Cleveland, O. 


•‘GOVERNMENTAL OWNERSHIP” A MENACE TO THE RAILROADER. 


The Commission appointed by President 
Cleveland to investigate the recent strike has 
been in session at Chicago during the past month 
and much that must be of interest to labor gener- 
ally has been developed during the hearing. Un- 
der present conditions in this country, any- 
thing that promises to ameliorate the condition of 
the working men is sure to attract attention from 
all classes, and for that reason the sessions of the 
body in question and the evidence brought before 
it have been closely followed. More concern 
would doubtless have been shown had the Com- 
mission been invested with some practical powers, 
enabling it to accomplish something beyond phil- 
osophical dissertation upon matters brought be- 
fore it, but enough was shown, despite this limi- 
tation, to demonstrate how vital were the ques- 
tions in issue in the general estimation. In the 
natural order of such events considerable time 
must elapse before the findings of the Commission 
can be definitely known, but the evidence was 
made common property and widely commented 
upon. In much of this comment these witnesses 
have been accepted without question as represent- 
atives of the labor interest and their statements 
have been quoted as expressing the best thought 
to be found upon that side of the question. In 
this way a number of gentlemen have been 
given standing beyond the measure of their abili- 
ties or labor for the cause, and their unsupported 
statements have received sanction that would 
doubtless have been withheld had the motives 
back of them been better understood. Since the 
rights and interests of railroad men have been so 
prominently presented in this way we may. per- 
haps, be pardoned for pointing out a few of the 
particulars wherein we think the men and meas- 
ures mentioned* would work to their detriment 


No ^hoagbtful man who followed the evidence 
closely can have failed to notice that all the wit' 
nesses who volunteered to represent organized 
labor before this Commission strongly favored 
the utter destruction of everything that has been 
gained by four hundred years of warfare on the 
part of the labor world. They cast aside as 
worthless the ripened thought of the best minds 
that have been enlisted in this great work, dis- 
credited all the lessons of the past, and, boldly 
proclaiming themselves the only prophets of the 
oiily true faith, proposed to reverse the order of 
nature and force every working man into the en- 
joyment of all his natural rights. by the means of 
a colossal revolution. Progress is not made in 
this way. True and lasting growth is slow and 
often burdensome, and no people have ever over- 
stepped its bounds without paying a terrible pen- 
alty. The people of these United States are not 
to be driven into reform or even into change. 
They prefer the slower but more certain method 
of investigation and experiment. Doctors disa- 
gree as to the cause of the present financial trou- 
bles. Some ascribe them to a lack of currency, 
some assert that free silver is the only panacea, 
some are equally certain that silver is at the 
foundation of every financial ill, still others would 
have us believe that free trade only can "bring 
happiness and plenty, while their opponents 
shriek whenever threat of tinkering with the 
tariff is heard. All of these special pleaders are 
heard with patience, but the people never have 
and never will accept their declarations without 
enough of preliminary experiment to bring at 
least grounds for trust that the right way has 
been found. They will not give themselves 
bound into the hands of the specialists, the men 
who have patent nostrums warranted to cure all 


rather than their benefit. 


the ills to which flesh is heir, but will be content 

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7 HE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


476 

to await the slower and sorer steps of that evolu- 
tion which is working out all the problems of hu- 
manity. In the same way they will be loth to 
follow these modern wonder workers who would 
wipe out in one comprehensive sweep all the 
achievements of the labor world since the Al- 
mighty first laid the burden on mankind and who 
are not afraid to warrant the laboring men against 
pain and disaster throngh all the future if they 
will only become their disciples. Until they have 
something better than mere promises, however 
eloquently given, the people will prefer to retain 
the good already gained rather than give up evfery- 
thmg for. a reckless anil thoughtless incursion into 
an unknown country under a disgraced and, it 
may be, interested leadership. 

No one will deny the existence of abuses in 
this country, nor the need for their being rem- 
edied, but these remedies will not be found in 
revolution nor in any form of radical action. It 
has been wisely said that "safety lies in me- 
dium courses," and this will be found to be as 
true in labor matters as in any other. Let the 
old organizations be maintained, each caring for 
its own affairs; let employer and employe meet 
as men and treat as such; let every agreement be 
kept inviolate, no matter what the temptation to 
do otherwise; let the employer be shown firmly 
but respectfully that he does not own his men 
and his men that they do not own their jobs, and 
more will have been done to establish the propA 
relations between them and to prevent a repeti- 
tion of the costly conflicts marring their relations 
in the past than could be accomplished by a 
dozen revolutions. 

A fair board of mediation or arbitration, prop- 
erly chossn and armed with sufficient authority, 
might bi made to work great good for the cause 
of labor. It shoul 1 be so constituted, however, 
as to consider not only matters referred to it, but 
should intervene between parties when trouble is 
pending and offer its services as a mediator. It 
frequently happens that both parties to a dispute 
would accept such mediation when neither would 
be wiljing to propose it through fear of ^showing 
weakness or because of feeling confident of win- 
ning. In so far as possible the work of this 
board should begin before any extreme measures 
have been taken, since much of the efficiency of 
any system of arbitration must be lost when war 
has once been declared. Under these conditions 
and with commissioners capable of commanding 
the respect and confidence of all, many strikes 
might be averted and much good might be ac- 
complished, though there would be trouble still, 
beyond the reach of any fixed system or any of 


the cure-alls of the maoy doctors who have taken 
degrees, even in the most modern school. 

These' same gentlemen who have been so gen- 
erous in their advice to the Commission have also 
been wonderfully unanimous in favoring govern- 
mental ownership of railroads as the ultimate 
desideratum, the universal panacea for all the ills 
of the railroad man. This shows but inability to 
get beyond the limits of the catch phrases of the 
day. Governmental ownership sounds well and 
it carries weight with a certain class who have 
faith in the ability of the government to effect 
the greatest reforms by simple legislative enact- 
ment, but as a measure calculated to bring about 
the betterment of the railroad men of the country 
it is hardly worthy of commendation. There 
may be points, of view from which this plan 
should be commended, but to the railroad man 
there is no measure yet proposed that contains so 
much of actual menace. Friends claim it would 
mean better pay, but there can be no ground 
save hope for that suggestion. An examination 
of the pay of postal clerks and the men in the de- 
partments at Washington reveals no reason why 
an advance should be expected by the employes 
when the roads go into the hands of the general 
government. In fact everything points to less 
rather than more pay under those conditions. 
No one believes for an instant that a general sys- 
tem would be adopted giving the same pay in all 
portions of the country. Districts would doubt- 
less be established and the pay would be uniform 
over each, but local conditions would govern in 
every instance. The same would be true of the 
hours of work. Every practical railroad mao 
knows that no system could be devised which 
would limit their hours of work absolutely and at 
the same time give efficient service to the road or 
satisfaction to the employes. There ^ar^ certain 
local conditions that must be takeo into consider- 
ation when fixing the ends of divisions, and even 
the general government would find it hardly prac- 
ticable to ignore them. Even if the divisions could 
be made absolutely uniform in length there would 
still remain the inequalities that mast always ex- 
ist through the requirements of the service. The 
men who are on way freight and have work to do 
at all the stations on th»ir division will of neces- 
sity take longer to make their run than those who 
have the through freight, and they in turn will 
be longer on the road than thise who have the 
specials and are pushed through almost on ex- 
press time. It is difficult to find here any hope 
for better conditions than are to be found under 
private ownership. 

It is probable that government ownership 
would tend to give the faithful and fortunate em- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ploye greater security in his position, but even 
here there are conditions well worth thought- 
ful consideration. Admitting that the able and 
faithful employe may feel safer under the new 
conditions, there still remains a large class of 
men who are not so fortunate as never to make 
mistakes. Under private ownership these gen- 
tlemen. when out with one company, can readily 
secure employment with another. When the 
government oiyos all the roads there will be but 
one employer and the man who is once dis- 
charged for cause will be permanently out of the 
business. The government would hardly be 
more lenient towards its employes for lapses 
from duty than private individuals, consequently 
discharges would be frequent and the number of 
those joining the ranks of the permanently re- 
tired would be enormously increased. There is 
still another factor entering into this security of 
tenure claim, and that is politics. It is claimed 
that proper civil service laws would absolutely 
prevent trouble upon this score and the argument 
advanced is certainly plausible, but what does 
practical experience teach us? The law may 
throw some protection around those already in, 
but would any one be able to get in during an ad- 
ministration save the partisans of that adminis- 
tration? No difficulty has been found in the past 
io evading the law to this extent and none will 
probably be found in the future. Under any sys- 
tem removal for cause must be sanctioned and 
when places are needed for partisans it will be 
found that the vicissitudes of railroading will 
furnish "cause" enough for a practical politician 
to change the political complexion of his entire 
force within the period ot four years and still 
keep within the letter of the law. Here again 
will be found a means for greatly increasing the 
army of those who will be compelled to seek 
other avocations and this is a danger the railroad 
moo cannot afford to disregard. 

There is still another objection to be found 


477 

to governmental ownership from the stand- 
point of the railroad man and it is as 
vital as any of the others. Under the 
new dispensation the element of competition 
would be obliterated from the railroad policy of 
the country. There would be no more rivalry in 
the securing of business and no more strife as to 
which company could make the best showing be- 
fore its patrons. All the lines would be man- 
aged in the interest of the general public, suppos- 
ably, and not for their individual gain. Under 
such conditions the long list of roads running 
from Chicago to St. Paul, for instance, would im- 
mediately dispense with the special through trains 
they now miintain at such great expense and the 
traffic would naturally go to those lines making 
the run in fourteen hours as against those requir- 
ing eighteen hours to cover the same territory. 
The shorter lines would secure the business on a 
fair basis of efficient and speedy service and the 
longer would be obliged to drop the through 
traffic and rely upon whatever belonged to them 
because of local conditions. The fast trains run- 
ning between New York and Chicago would no 
longer be necessary. No doubt the fast service 
would be maintained, but there would be no long 
list of heavy trains running at top speed with their 
coaches less than half filled, driven by the keen 
rivalry of competing lines, but simply enough to 
meet the requirements of the business, running 
over the road thought to be best adapted to the 
purpose. The same would be true of the freight 
service. All that portion of it made necessary by 
competition would be dropped at once and with it 
the men who in their various capacities are re- 
quired to maintain it. The same policy would 
render useless many of the lines in the country 
now kept alive only by means of this very com- 
petition and they would be torn up and their men 
thrown out of employment. There can be no 
question but the adoption of such a system would 
work a great hardship upon railroad employes. 


WHAT IS A SCAB ? 


The member of the human family k> whom 
this word can be properly applied is held in such 
utter contempt by self-respecting men that a sort 
of horror is felt by a great many otherwise good 
members of society and organizations for fear 
the term will be applied to them. Controlled by 
this fear and influenced by bad advice, they do 
and say things which otherwise they would not. 
They lack the moral courage to act upon what 
tbeir better judgment tells them is right for fear 
of being branded a s:ab. 


There have always been certain ones who, un- 
able to retain positions on their merits or unable 
to get a position on account of well known vicious 
habits and general usele&sness, have always been 
found ready to take the places vacated by men 
who unite in an effort to better their condition by 
retiring from service. These almost worthless 
inhabitants of the land, who are net allowed to 
associate with labor organizations or respectable 
people; whom the employer will not eonsider in 
times of peace, but who, well knowing this, allow 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


478 


themselves to be used as tools in time of war; 
who are neither respected nor self-respecting, 
were by general consent and very properly 
classed together and called scabs. 

As the idea of trades unionism, or organization 
of labor, extended and conflicts between employer 
and employed became more frequent and bitter, 
the term scab was applied to any and all of those 
who would take the place of a member of a labor 
organization who was on a strike. This applica- 
tion of the word has been generally accepted and 
{particularly in labor circles) any one who takes 
the place of a man who is out on a strike author- 
ized by a recognized labor organization is very 
properly considered and dubbed a scab. 

There seems to have sprung up withiu the past 
few weeks a disposition to take advantage of the 
lack of moral courage and fear of criticism on the 
part of men by applying the word scab in con- 
nections in which it has never before been used. 
In the past, if the employes in one class went on 
strike, the employes in other classes were not ex- 
pected to leave their employment; they were 
simply expected to refrain from taking the places 
and from performing the duties of the men cn 
strike. If they did so refrain no one thought of 
calling them scabs. Later developments forced 
the conclusion that more unity of action was es- 
sentially necessary to success among labor organ- 
izations, and the idea of federating together such 
organizations as could best and most naturally 
assist each other has rapidly grown, and among 
the best and most successful of labor organizations 
has been put into practical use. A federation as 
well as an organization, in order to be effective 
and of lasting benefit, must be governed by 
healthy, proper and strictly applied laws. Such 
a plan is in force as between the old organizations 
of railway employes. Under its provisions if 
either of them have a grievance which they are 
unable to adjust, they can, after exhausting their 
own peaceable efforts, call to their aid the repre- 
sentatives of the others, and if the cause of the 
one is considered just it is made the cause of all 
and united efforts to effect a peaceable settlement 
are put forth. If these efforts fail, as a last re- 
sort, war may be declared and the members of 
the federated organizations act in concert in 
withdrawing from the service of the offending 
company. Let us suppose that, under this plan, 
the engineers, firemen, conductors, brakemen, 
telegraphers and switchmen in the employ of a 
given system of railway, strike. Let us suppose 
that on the lines of railway which connect and 
compete with this offending system, the men are 
well paid, well used, and that the conditions 
which surround their employment are entirely 


satisfactory both to the men and the company. 
Is there either right or justice in attacking the 
company which has accorded its employes fair 
treatment and good pay and in imposing serious 
loss upon those contented employes because we 
cannot satisfactorily adjust our differences with 
their neighbors? Is there either sense or reason 
in calling the contented and well nsed employes 
scabs because they (in the absence of any griev- 
ance) continue to perform their customary and 
proper duties? 

If the vast majority of the men employed in 
any particular class or classes on any system of 
railway organize themselves and through such or- 
ganization make agreements in good faith with 
their employers, is there right or reason, justice 
or sense, in a minority of ten per cent or less of 
the employes in those same classes declaring 
themselves on strike and calling the large majority 
of the employes, who, in accord with the terms 
of their agreements and the laws of their organi- 
zations, continue in the even tenor of their way, 
performing the same duties they have been ac- 
customed to perform, scabs? Does any sane man 
believe that the employes of railways in North 
America are going to subscribe to the idea that 
any irresponsible employe can declare himself on 
strike and by calling those who continue at their 
work "scabs" tie up the system and — by the same 
course of reasoning — the whole railway world? 
Out upon such ideis The idea of minority rule 
is un American in the extreme and would be as 
unpopular as the late effort to "boycott " 

"Drowning men catch at straws," and efforts 
have recently been made to bolster up the lost 
and unrighteous cause of the A. R. U. by calling 
those men who, ignoring its appeals and refusing 
to recognize its authority, performed their own 
regular and proper duties and no others, scabs. 
These men are no more scabs than are the print- 
ers who set the type which told the stories of the 
trouble; the telegraph operators who sent and re- 
ceived the messages by which the same was di- 
rected; the cooks who cooked and the waiters 
who served the meals of the leaders in the affair, 
or any other person who, not in any way con- 
nected with the organization, went on with his 
accustomed duties or avocation. They had no 
connection with the troubles between the Pull- 
man Car Works and their employes, and it is 
only by a willful disposition to misapply the 
word or the exercise of a spirit of mean vindic- 
tiveness that the word scab can be applied to 
them. 

The old organizations expel a man for scabbing 
and they refuse admission to those who have 
been guilty of it. The A. R. U. imposes no con- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


di lions to membership and the meanest, dirtiest, 
lowest scab that ever graced or disgraced the 
earth can gain admission thereto by paying one 
dollar, and if he has not the dollar they will trust 
him for it. It is not well for people who live in 


479 

glass houses to throw stones. It will not be well 
for the men themselves if they permit this new 
version of the term to be accepted or allow it to 
influence them from the path of right and fair 
dealing through which they can secure that even- 
handed justice which they desire. 


THE QUESTION OF LICENSE AGAIN. 


The question of licensing railroad employes 
has been again brought into prominence through 
the attention given it by the national commission 
while investigating the recent strike in Chicago. 
It was there argued that granting a government 
license to the men in the employ of the railroads 
of the country would furnish a potent agent for 
the prevention of strikes in the future, as every 
man holding such license would be brought, to 
the extent of his license, at least, within the con- 
trol of the government. There is much of merit 
in the plan and that merit was fully recognized 
by one of our Grand Divisions during its sessions. 
The Grand Officers were then directed to secure, 
if possible, the passage of a license law, and they 
took up the work with great zeal. There was 
found to be a division of sentiment, however, 
among our own members upon the question. 
Some favored it, some were on the fence and not 
a few opposed it warmly. The aid of the engi- 
neers was sought, but they refused to take the 
matter up in any way for reasons best known to 
themselves. Our officers persevered with the 
work, notwithstanding these discouraging condi- 
tions. and succeeded in having bills presented in 
both the house and senate. Here a new enemy 
appeared in a number of the railroad companies. 
They fought the measure on the ground that it 
would result in the men forming a trust by keep- 
ing down the number of those bolding license in 
any particular calling. The effective organiza- 
tion of the men under these conditions, they 
asserted, would be a comparatively easy matter 
and, as the roads would be prevented by law 
from hiring any save those duly authorized, it 
would only be necessary for the employes of a 
particular class to quit and the roads would be at 
their mercy. This opposition killed both bills 
and the matter was dropped as being hopeless at 
that time. Now that it has been retfved it is to 
be hoped it may be pushed until some, at least, of 
its many excellent features are made part of our 
fixed railroad polity. 

, Logically there can be but two ways in which 
compulsory settlement of differences between the 
railroads ,and their employes can be enforced 
against the men, either by governmental owner- 
ship or by some system of license such as has 


been suggested. As is explained in another place, 
there are too many objections to governmental 
ownership from the employes' standpoint for it to 
be sanctioned by them, and conditions will have 
to be radically changed before the general public 
can afford to try so costly and doubtful an ex- 
periment. On the other hand there are many 
arguments in favor of the license system and the 
arguments advanced against it would, doubtless, 
carry much less weight than when first urged. 
The right of the government to control all rail- 
roads engaged in inter-state commerce is now too 
well settled to admit of question. If the general 
government has the right to control these great 
corporations with their millions of capital and 
wonderful traffic, the right to exercise at least 
some degree of authority over the men engaged 
in carrying on that traffic must follow or the first 
right is little better than a negation. 

It would seem to be no more than a perfectly just 
supervision for the government to declare that none 
but trustworthy and competent men should be 
employed in this work and then prescribe the 
means by which they must be selected and au- 
thorized before entering upon it. There is noth- 
ing in a license more than this, and the general 
public have a perfect right to demand so much 
as a measure of protection for their lives and 
property. On the same ground the engineers, 
pilots and sailing masters of our merchant ma- 
rine have been licensed for years, and there has 
been no question as to the justice of the action, or 
of hardship to the men who are thus brought un- 
der control. In fact, any intimation of a return 
to old time methods in this regard would bring 
such a storm about the ears of our congressmen 
as they have seldom been called upon to with- 
stand. The responsibilities placed upon railroad 
men, both as to the lives and property of the 
patrons of the roads and the lives of their fellow 
employes are incomparably greater than the 
classes mentioned are called upon to bear, and 
there would seem to be from that fact incompa- 
rably greater reasons for extending the license 
system until it included at the very least those of 
the railroad employes who hold responsible posi- 
tions. 

By such a regulation the men would be 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


480 

brought under the direction of the U. S. courts, 
or some other tribunal authorized for the pur- 
pose, and, as in the case with the marine em- 
ployes, the fear of losing their licenses would 
keep 'hem in proper discipline. In case trouble 
arose between any road and its licersed employes 
the questions involved would then go to the 
proper tribunal for settlement, when other means 
had failed, and strikes and lockouts would be not 
only useless but damaging to the offending par- 
ties. This would do away with all danger of the 
labor trust, so feared by some of the roads when 
the ques ion was up before, and would offer an 
easy and friendly method for the settlement of 
all differences that should be readily accepted by 
both parties. The question as to how far into 
the ranks of the railroaders the principle should 
be carried would of course remain. Whether all 
train men should be required to be licensed or 
whether it should te applied only to those in 
responsible positions, such as conductors, engi- 
neers and train dispatchers, could perhaps be left 
to be worked out by practical experiment. It 
will be generally conceded, however, that the 
members of the three classes named should be 
required to show evidence of fitness before as- 
suming tne duties of their positions and that a 
license system would be especially applicable to 
them. The matter of short lines doing no inter- 
state business could be safely left to the states for 
proper regulation and need not be considered in 
this connection. 

So far we have been consider ing in the 
main the advantages offered by such a sys- 
tem to the general public and the roads, and 
they certainly seem to be of sufficient weight to 
entitle the proposition to at least a respectful 
hearing. The reasons for its ready adoption by 
the men are equally obvious. Under a properly 
regulated system no capable man need fear for 
bis ability to secure a license, and it is safe to 
presume that no one will object in behalf of the 
incapables. Common justice demands that, if 
the men are compelled to have licenses, the roads 
be compelled to hire only those who have com- 


plied with the law. Under proper regulations 
the drunkard, dead beat, and incorrigibly insubor- 
dinate will be promptly deprived of their licenses, 
thus making way for better men. These provis- 
ions will speedily do away with the present condi- 
tion of affairs where there are a dozen applicants for 
each position, will make the chances for the trust- 
worthy man's securing employment much greater, 
will make the tenure of his position much more 
secure, will have a tendency to better the market 
price of his labor and will give his life calling 
much greater dignity in the eyes of the world. 
The restrictions placed upon incompetent and 
reckless men will also detract greatly from the 
dangers which always surround railroad men, and 
that reason, if no other, should cause them to 
give the plan careful study before condemning it. 
With the adoption of this reform there should go 
a complete code of rules and regulations which 
every road in the country should be compelled to 
use. A steamboat signal given on Lake Superior 
means just the same to the listener as though he 
heard it at the mouth af the Mississippi and the 
same should be true of the railroads. To be sure 
many of them have adopted the Standard Code, 
but many have not and there are a large number of 
thoroughly competent railroad men in the coun- 
try who have never worked under it. A uniform 
code would greatly simplify the service and would, 
in fact, be imperatively necessary with such a 
system in force as the one under discussion. 

In short, the argument appears to be all in 
favor of a license system. Under it the condi- 
tion of the competent man who is willing to give 
his best service and is anxious to grow to better 
things would be greatly improved, while the in- 
competent would be given renewed incentive for 
more careful preparation; the railroads would 
secure more capable men with every opportunity 
for easy and equitable adjustment of such differ- 
ences as might arise; while the public would be 
given better and safer service. There never was 
a better time in the history of this country for 
undertaking such a reform, and if all who would 
be benefit ted by its adoption will only take it up 
earnestly, it will soon be an accomplished fact. 


TO SUCCEED THE S. M.*A. A. 


The switchmen have taken up the work of pro- 
viding a successor to the defunct S. M. A. A. 
with characteristic promptness and energy, and 
all true friends of organised labor will learn with 
pleasure that success promises to crown their ef- 
forts. Hardly had the funeral obsequies over the 
old organization been celebrated when a number 
of enterprising gentlemen at Kansas City began 


to lay the foundation! for an order which should 
have all the strength with none of the weaknesses 
of the old. After forming a nucleus in the shape 
of a power&ul local body containing nearly if not 
quite all of the desirable material in that great 
railroad center, they proceeded to the work of na- 
tionalization by issuing the following call for a 
general delegate assembly to be held in »hat city 
October 22d next: 


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THE RAILWAY 

Kansas City, Mo., August 16, 1891. 
To the Switchmen of the United States and Canada, 

Greeting: 

Since the dissolution of the Switchmen's Mutual Aid 
Association, which was caused by the dishonesty of one 
of its trusted othciais, and the participation in the recent 
A. R. U. strike by a large number of ns members, we are 
placed in the unenviable position of being without a Na- 
tional Organization and hence without the protection such 
an organization affords. The leaders of other organiza- 
tions are making an appeal to the /switchmen for their 
affiliation with their orders; particularly the Knights of 
Labor are urging very strongly for our men to reorganize 
under /Wbanner. Past experience has taught us that 
affiliating and mixing with other crafts has alwavs been a 
detriment to our cause, as we have had the fighting to do, 
and have always been the losers thereby. In the recent 
A. R. U. strike, in which the switchmen engaged out of 
sympathy for an outside craft. 2,800 of our men lost their 
positions and v.'t lost an organization 

Having perfected a local organization of the switch- 
men of Kansas City, we, the undersigned officers of Kan- 
sas City Switchmen's Union, by the unanimous wish of 
the membership, take this, the initiative step, towards 
forming a National Organization of the switchmen, and 
suggest the following: 

That all cities where yardmen are employed, who ap- 
proved our plan of forming a National Organization, may 
send a representative to meet in convention here, on 
Monday, October 22, 1894, at K. of P. hall, Fourteenth 
and Penn streets. The Kansas City Union will furnish 
ample hall accommodations without expense to the dele- 
gates. Any city which cannot arrange to be represented, 
and desires to affiliate in this organization, can receive 
any information desired by corresponding with the un- 
dersigned. 

All parties who are selected to attend this meeting will 
please place themselves in communication with the un- 
dersigned as early as possible. Hoping all switchmen 


CONDUCTOR. 481 

will see the vital necessity of this move and will be rep- 
resented— and promising you every cAirtesy possible 
during jour stay in our city— we are, • 

Yours Fraternally, 

H. C. Nelson, Master. 

Dan’l Dougherty, Rec. Sec. 
Jno. Fitzgerald, Fin. Sec. 

From this call it will be seen ttfat efforts have 
been made to draw the switchmen from the ranks 
of class organization into some of the conglomer- 
ate bodies of which the A. R. U. is such a strik- 
ing example. Their experience with this sort of 
union was too recent and too disastrous, however, 
and they have wisely decided to stand by the old 
plan, the only one from which labor has ever de- 
rived anything better than disaster. In so doing 
they have followed the advice given them in the 
last Conductor and they will never regret it. 
Now if they will see that none but thoroughly 
honest and capable men are placed on guard and 
that the affairs of the new order are kept on a 
strict business basis, there can be no doubt of 
tt^ir speedily reaching a place of even greater in- 
fluence and usefulness than was ever the lot of 
their former organizations. May the most com- 
plete success attend^them. 


CUI BONO. 


President Debs, of the A. R. U., is credited 
with having said before the Strike Commission, 
that he and his associates proposed to call upon 
the officers of tbs old Brotherhoods to join them 
in resigning their official positions. The propo3i* 
lion naturally raises the question, what for? or for 
whose benefit? Is it hoped that such action will 
end in the dissolution of the organizations? Is it 
hoped that the vacancies thus created will be filled 
with men more in sympathy with the doctrine of 
the A. R. U. than are the present incumbents? Is it 
claimed that the present officers have not ex- 
pressed the will of the membership in the stand 
taken? The officers of the old Brotherhoods have 
stood steadfastly by the obligation ‘they rested 
under, and have acted in accord with the laws 
laid down by the membership for the guidance of 
officers and members alike. If the membership 
are not satisfied with the action of the officers, 
they will, within a comparatively short time, have 
an opportunity to so prooounce. The claim will 
perhaps be made that, if the officers fail to 
promptly respond to the invitation to resign, it 
will prove the charge that they were only looking 
out for their own personal interests. We predict 
that the resignations will not be forthcoming. If 


one of these officers was contemplating resigning, 
this invitation would prevent his so doing, because 
to resign (even seemingly) in response to this invi- 
tation, would be an admission that the position 
taken was wrong. It may be that either the offi- 
cers of the old Brotherhoods or of the A. R. U., 
should resign; there can be no good reason why 
both should do so. We think it safe to leave it to 
the members of each organization to speak for 
themselves on thi* subject. The A. R. U. and 
the old Brotherhoods cannot both be right, and 
after the most strenuous efforts on the part of the 
A. R. U. to disrupt the old organizations have 
failed; after the vast majority of the membership 
of the old organizations have emphatically pro- 
nounced their allegiance to their laws and poli- 
cies, and after they have by overwhelming major- 
ities, approved of the stand takea by their repre- 
sentatives, the proposition that these same repre- 
sentatives shall resigft to join the A. R. U. leaders 
in an effort to carry to a successful conclusion 
some new scheme, can only be born of sublime 
assurance or a belief that those whose resignation 
is requested, are weak enough to allow a foolish 
sentiment to influence their actions. All thinking 
persons will, in considering this proposition, ask, 
'* For whose benefit?” 


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482 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

COMMENT. 



I 


The Springer bill, which was reported to con- 
gress from the committee on labor on July 30, with 
recommendation that it be passed, represents the 
latest attempt to provide a national arbitration 
law for the settlement of labor disputes. The 
bill provides situations for three commissioners, 
at a salary of $5,000 per year each, and that m 
about all that can be said about it; so far as any 
effective measures of relief are concerned, labor- 
ing men need look for none under this bill. In 
the langaage of the committee report: " The ob- 
ject of the proposed legislation is simply to secure 
as far as possible, to every person, however hum- 
ble, a hearing upon the merits of any contro- 
versy he may have, and a summary process and 
means of securing his rights, whatever they may 
be, under the laws as they now exist." The bill 
empowers the national arbitration board to take 
notice of h wide class of cases, but it does nft 
assume to compel either party to a dispute to sub- 
mit its case to arbitration, and the existence of 
the board may be entirely ignored if both parties 
so will it; and when one party to a controversy 
has appealed to the board for relief the other 
pf rty may refuse to submit its aide of the ques- 
tion if it so wills, in which case the board is em- 
powered to go ahead and enforce the rights of 
the appealing party in law and equity. Their 
rights in law and equity , then, is all this law assumes 
to give laboring men. Can it be possible that they 
have not these rights now? Can it be possible 
that we need a national commission for the pur- 
pose of enforcing the rights of working men un- 
der the law as it exists? If such a condition 
exists, it is certainly not a pleasant one to con- 
template, and it seems quite certain that we need 
something more than a national arbitration board 
in order to change it. It has been assumed, and 
preached by our public men and our great news- 
papers, that in these controversies with employers 
of labor, working men have always exceeded 
their rights under the law; that they have claimed 
more than the law and equity of the land entitled 
them to claim. If this contention is correct, 
workingmen have not much to expect in the way 
of benefit from the operatibn of the Springer 
Arbitration law. The employes would invoke 
the aid of this board and submit their case for 
its consideration, but the employer would not do 
so; he would refuse to make answer, and let the 
case go by default. Then the relief which the 
employes could gain would be only such relief as 
he law and equity of the land accorded them. 
What would that amount to? Would it raise 
their wages? Would it reduce their rent? Would 


it compel the employer to mitigate in any way 
the conditions under which bis employes labored 1 
Not at all. For the employer would be acting in 
accordance with the law and equity of the land 
as it now exists; “i^ is so nominated in the bond H 
He might simply ignore the arbitration board, sad 
his employes might whistle for all the aid it could 
give them. 

* * * 

There is, however, another consideration which 
leads to the belief that this law may accomplish 
some good, and that is that the law will do a 
great service in calling attention to the unjut 
features of the laws as they now exist, and 
awakening public sentiment to the necessity ot 
so changing them as to give greater security to 
labor. The board is required to submit its opin- 
ion of the merits of the controversy in all cases 
which may be investigated by it, whether qo« 
tions are mutually submitted or not. Oo this 
feature of the law the committee reports: “Your 
committee are of the opinion that this power 
and duty of the board of arbitration will do 
more; towards settling controversies of this kind 
than will the coercive powers which may be re- 
sorted to under the bill. Public sentiment, when 
the right is known, will always, or in most cases, 
furnish adequate relief. As arbitration itself is a 
conciliatory method of settling controversies, 
these decisions and the opinion of the board ot 
arbitration as to the merits of the controversy 
will, in most instances, prove effectual." * * * 
1 'And should the board hold that the employes 
were right in their demands where there was no 
legal method of assuring them a remedy, and if 
a strike should be ordered under such circtun 
stances it would undoubtedly be successful, hiv- 
ing been bottomed on the decision of the board as 
to the justice of their cause." There is 00 donbt 
much to be said for this view of tbe case. When 
properly appealed to, public sentiment may be 
depended upon to stand up for and sustain the 
right; and when the merits of these industrial 
controversies were presented to the public by as 
unprejudiced body of this character, workingmen 
would stand a much better show of securing jus- 
tice for themselves than they now do. Again, 
this would be a force of considerable magnitude 
in improving the legal status of the workiogmas, 
for in those cases where the board had decided to 
their favor and there was no legal hhwm 10 en- 
force tbe decision, tbe public attention would 
thus be called to the defect in the law. and senti- 
ment would be aroused for a change in a mock 


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THE RAILWAY . CONDUCTOR. 483 


more effectual manner than can be done under 
any methods we have at present. 

# « * 

If the authority of the committee on labor 
amounts to anything, those who are working for 
a compulsory arbitration law are working in vain 
just now. In the opinion of the committee the 
Springer bill is as far as Congress may go under 
the constitution in enacting an arbitration law. 
After citing some facts regarding strikes in this 
country, the report of the committee continues: 
"It will be seen from these statements that nearly 
one hundred millions of dollars were lost during 
the years referred to, by reason of strikes and 
lockouts. These facts should admonish Congress 
of the great importance of providing arbitration 
and a peaceful settlement of such controversies to 
the extent of the powers of Congress under the 
constitution. If our government was one of un- 
limited power a bill with more efficient provis- 
ions might have been reported by your committee, 
but it is believed that the measure reported goes 
as far as Congress may go in the premises." It 
thus appears that no compulsory arbitration law 
is possible to be had under our constitution of 
government, and those who pin their faith to the 
arbitration proposition will have to be satisfied 
with .the Springer law, or some one like it, for a 
while yet. As a means of agitation, for the pur- 
pose of calling public attention to the cause of 
labor, workingmen may use such a law so as to 
confer benefits upon themselves, if they proceed 
judiciously; but as for any direct benefits from 
the operation of such a law, workingmen need 
not expect them. 

# # * 

We are sadly afflicted with the disease of con- 
stitutionalism. That constitution of ours may 
yet be the death of us as a nation. There is a 
close analogy between the physical and the social 
body in respect of that question of constitution. 
When the constitution of the physical body be- 
comes old and worn out the individual to whom 
it belongs suffers in .misery for a time and then 
' dies. When the constitution of the social body 
becomes old and worn out the society to which it 
belongs likewise suffers in misery for a time and 


then dies. But, while the individual has no power 
to alter bis constitution, while he must calmly 
accept the inevitable decrees of fate and await the 
end as philosophically as he may, the social body 
is not held down to such limitations. The social 
body may rebuild its constitution; it may renew 
its youth, grant itself a new lease of life. Yet, 
however true in theory this may be, we must pay 
some attention to the teachings of history, and 
acknowledge that the analogy has so far been car- 
ried out entire. The social body has never yet 
seen fit to take advantage of its privilege, never 
seen fit to renew its youth; the old society has so 
far always had to die before the new one could be 
born, and the old societies have always died of 
constitution failure. Why is this true? Is it in- 
evitable? Who can say? In our social body we 
are now suffering acutely from constitution fail- 
ure. Will it end in death, or shall we be able to 
reverse the verdict of history and save this society 
from dissolution? On every hand we are bound 
down by a body of constitutional theory which 
we have outgrown. An instrument which was 
created to meet the wants and aspirations of a na- 
tion of four millions of people, in a civilization of 
more than a century ago, is expected to do duty 
in these days and meet the wants and aspirations 
of these seventy millions of people, with their 
railroads, their steamboats, their telegraphs, tele- 
phones, electric lights, etc., all of which were 
totally unknown to our constitution builders. The 
question with our law makers concerning their 
work is never is this law right, is it just, will it 
suit the needs and satisfy the wants of this people, 
but simply is it constitutional? In other words, 
does it fit in with the ideas of our great great- 
grandfathers? And these old constitution build- 
ers of the last century were so much in love with 
their work that they wanted it to stand for all 
time, and surrounded it with safeguards that 
make it an almost impossible task for this people 
to change it. It can be done, and it must be 
done if the nation would live; but it seems almost 
a hopeless thing to expect ihat it -will be done, 
when it is known that the doing depends upon the 
solidarity of the producing masses. B. 


BORROWED OPINION. 

One plan of what may be called compulsory that steamboat engineers and pilots are now li- 
arbit ration, applying solely to railroad employes, censed, to pursue their avocations under federal 
that has been advocated before the labor com- laws. As the examination and licensing of steam- 
mission at Chicago by various representatives of boat employes has been found advantageous to 
organized labor, as well as independent investiga- the service and the public, why may not the same 
tors of the subject, looks to the licensing of rail- apply to railroad employes? Their duties are 
road engineers and conductors, and possibly all precisely the same in the transportation of freight 
others in the railroad service, in the same manner and passengers from one part of the country to 

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484 

another. It would follow as a result of their li- 
censing that railroad employes would be subject 
to the jurisdiction of the federal tribunals. Here 
is where effective arbitration would come into 
play, assuming that railroad corporations would 
be subject to the same authority, about which 
there is no question as to interstate railroads. In 
that case it would be within the power of the fed- 
eral courts to enforce the finding of an arbitration 
court as to employes as well as to employers. * 
# * * Such a license system as is here sug- 

gested was endorsed by labor representatives be 
fore the Wright commission. It undoubtedly 
meets with favor from the labor side. It would 
end strikes in the most important held of labor, 
so far as the general interests of the public are 
concerned. Make strikes impossible in the rail 
road service by a system of arbitration, and other 
trades would soon take up the policy and in one 
way or another find means to make it effective. — 
Pittsburg Post . 

An increasing interest in scientific matters is, 
we should think shown by the fact that the daily 
papers of New York have given the meeting in 
Brookl>n of the American Society for the Ad 
vancement of Science, more attention by great 
odds than they have ever before given any scien- 
tific or engineering meeting. To be sure, they 
have not done much in the way of reporting the 
proceedings, or presenting the discussions, but 
they have done more than usual in these re- 
spects, and have given considerable space in a 
general way to the sessions. It would not be fair, 
perhaps, to say this was due to the fact that there 
was not very much going on in politics and space 
had to be filled. It would be moie charitable, 
and probably true, to conclude that they are find- 
ing out that their readers are interested in other 
things than who is to be the next governor of this 
or the other State, or even the next mayor of New 
York City; that a good many of them are more in- 
terested in solid facts of some importance than 
they are in the latest scandal — mostly a lie. It is 
a good sign to see the daily papers giving some at- 
tention to matters of science. — American Ma- 
chinist. 

Mowbray, the English anarchist, after preach- 
ing sedition among the icum of the earth in New 
Yoik and New Jersey, returned home in the steer- 
age of the Teutonic last week. Justus Schwab 
says be intends to come back. The failure of 
Congress to pass an act to shut out such incendi 
aries, is one of its chief sins of omission. There 
is law enough now to meet the particular case of 
Mowbray, but no competent officials to enforce it. 
— Rochester , N. V. f Union and Advertiser . 


Stop the waste and the country will develop in 
wealth with greater rapidity than even the 
wondrous past has demonstrated. The leaks and 
losses and unwarranted expenses of business cat 
an awful figure in this country. One of the 
sources of gigantic leaks and losses comes from 
fire. The anfiual fire loss in the United States is 
something fearful to contemplate According to 
Edward Atkinson the burned property in the 
United States last year was actually worth over 
$150 000.000. Add to this the cost of sustaining 
insurance companies, which is about $70,000,000 
annually, and the cost of sustaining fire depart 
ments, which is fully $30 000000, and we have 
the enormous aggregate of 50. 000 000 The 
burned property amounted to about ten per cent 
of the annual enhancement of the national wealth, 
and five per cent extra was spent upon insurance 
and fire departments. This statistician, theorist 
and philosopher lays most of the blame for this 
destruction to the present system of easily com- 
bustible architecture. The sooner we apply 
common sense, then, to the problem of building, 
the sooner will these dangerous conditions be 
remedied. Tbe application of such common 
sense will result iu largely increased wealth — 
Elmira , N. Y. Telegram . 

People who are interested in labor problems, 
will not fail to pay studious attention to the oper- 
ation cf arbitration in Massachusetts. The arbi- 
tration board which was appointed in that state, 
has, during the eight years of its existence, been 
called upon to take a hand in tbe adjustment of 
many cases in dispute, and, according to a mem- 
ber who represents tbe labor element in the 
board, in not a single instance have the parties 
concerned refused to abide by the decision. Mat- 
ters of controversy are brought before the board 
by petition, either of the dissatisfied employes or 
by the employers or by some official or officials in 
the town in which tbe trouble occurs Before tbe 
board can undertake arbitration it must receive 
the joint application of both sides to the contest 
As it frequently happens that only one of tbe two 
contestants is willing to submit to arbitration, the 
board, however, is empowered to employ its func- 
tions as a conciliatory agent, investigating the 
matter at issue and endeavoring by pacific or per- 
suasive means to secure a settlement. The fact 
that the Massachusetts board has in general been 
successful in these tasks, adds great interest to its 
organization and methods of operation Appar- 
ently it comes as nearly as possible to providing a 
satisfactory substitute for ‘’compulsory arbitra- 
tion.’ ’ — Chicago Record. 


Times Lapidary. 


As joys the skillful, stern artificer 
When gems are laid within bis eager band, 

And he, surveying, thinketh diversely, 

His proud soul flaming with creative fire, 

And full of possibilities divine; 

* ‘This blood-red ruby, dancing fauns shall tread; 
Upon that sapphire stand a god; this sard 
A mystic symbol bear; that emerald 
Will I compel to sweet Diana's face, 

Yea, all to strength and beauty will I shape!” 


So I, when out of treasuries of light 

The new day spreads before me all its hours, 

Think to create on them the fairest forms. 

This fill with work, and that with fancy free, 

And this with brooding thought, this with swift 
speech, 

And this with idleness; and all for thoe 
Who art tbe soul of all, tbe life of each. 

— Anna C. Blackett in The Century far Sefitrn- 

ber. 


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To the Ladies. 

My very fiear friends, it has been a long time 
Since I have addressed you in prose or in rhyme. 
Yet, as the regrets may be all on my side, 

It hardly is needful my purpose to hide. 

In fact, I have waited in silence so long, 

I scarcely can hinder this fanciful song. 

I've read all your letters and pondered them well, 
The pleasure they’ve brought me I scarcely can tell, 
And after I’ve read them sometimes o'er and o'er, 
I turn the leaves over to see if there's more. 

Your messages speak of the practical good 
The ladies are doing, and hint that we could 
Be still more progressive, more earnest and true, 
If only our mo. to were kept in full view; 

And in this most surely we're gaining each day. 
Experience proves it the much better way. 

Last spring our Grand President gave us a call, 
Which proved a most joyful occasion to all. 

Our regular meeting day made it too late 
For her to be with us as she could not wait. 

So summoning all in a hurry one day, 

We gathered much good from her brief, hurried 
stay. 

Our Sister Division (Columbia, you know) 

Is just the right place for our ladies to go. 

We always find welcome and sisterly cheer, 

And often are favored by meeting them here. 

Last month of our number, just seven in all, 
Concluded to tender our sisters a call, 

That live in Ottumwa (some few miles away) 

We went in the morning, returned the same day. 
A most pleasant journey and visit we had. 

Such kind, cordial treatment must needs make us 
glad. 

By strangers made welcome; oh, mystical band 
That holds us as sisters throughout this broad 
land. 

Sometimes, to be sure, we meet with a wreck. 
Sometimes some huge obstacle proves but a speck. 
Quite varied our trials and pleasures as well, 

But good from it all a bright future may tell. 

Yours in T. F , Mrs. N. D. Hahn. 


Memphis, Tenn. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

It has recently been my pleasure to take a trip 
on behalf of the L. A., and it may be that the la- 
dies will find some pleasure in reading a brief ac- 
count of the experiences therein encountered. 
Friday, July 27, I left Memphis over the K C.. 
M. & B., accompanied by my son, Master Roy. 
Arriving in Birmingham we made immediate con- 
nection with the G P. for Atlanta, and who 
should I find in charge of that "Washington 
Flyer” but our handsome, accomodating and genial 
Brother Perkison, of Division No. 180. We arrived 
in Atlanta at 11:40 a. m., July 28, and were met 
at the depot by Brothers and Sisters Humphries, 
Garr, Cason and Walraven, who accompanied us 
to the Hotel Markham, where we were made com- 
fortable. Nearly all of the sisters and brothers 
called during our stay, which was until Sunday, 
July 29. At 3:40 p. m., on that day, we started 
for Harlem, Ga.. a small summer resort, where so 
many of the conductors’ families live. Arrange- 
ments had been made for us to stop over there 
Sunday night. Brother Wages was in charge of 
the train. We were made to feel at home with 
this popular conductor, and, indeed, every man, 
woman and child along the run appeared to be his 
personal friend. On down the line Brother Hol- 
lingsworth got aboard (and right here I must say 
that I was very agreeably surprised). I had been 
in correspondence with Brother Hollingsworth 
for some time in regard to an auxiliary, and my 
imagination had led me to believe that this worthy 
brother was a short, corpulent, crusty sort of a 
fellow, but not so; right the reverse. He is tall, 
away up in the six foot region, genial and an act- 
ive worker for the O. R. C. and L. A. We jour- 
neyed along to Union Point, the supper station, 
and having done justice to the inner man we re- 
sumed our journey. Arriving at Harlem at 8.55, 
we were met at the station by Brother J Victor 
Jones and wife, who took us in charge. Just 
across from the depot is where Brother Jones runs 
the Reed House, which is a side line in connection 
with his railroad business. He also successfully 


j 


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486 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


manages a large farm in connection with this sum- 
mer resort. The watermelons we sampled while 
there were the most luscious we ever tasted. Mrs. 
Jones proved to be a genial hostess, and Brother 
Jones must feel proud of his handsome and intel- 
ligent wife. The next day at 12.20 we left Harlem 
for Augusta, where a meeting was appointed to 
organize an auxiliary. I was accompanied by 
Mrs. J. Victor Jones, Brother J W. Bell and 
wife, Mrs. B. B. jones, Mrs. H. S. Drane, and 
Mrs. J. L. Oliver. In forty- five minutes we were 
landed in Augusta, where we were met by Bro- 
thers Hollingsworth. Davis and Callahan, who 
had their own private carriages in waiting. We 
were all whirled away to Odd Fellows’ Hall, 
where the balance of the fifteen ladies and some 
Brothers were waiting. Here I found a large, 
handsomely furnished room. Mrs. £. T. Miller 
had placed a lovely bouquet of roses on the altar, 
also at the President's Station. The brothers 
present were requested to remain with us a short 
while, which they did. Brothers Hollingsworth, 
Davis, Miller, Bel!, Callahan, McCord and 
Leaird all made short and encouraging speeches, 
and all expressed their willingness to give the L. 
A. their support. They then retired, and the 
work of organization was taken up. At 5 p. m. 
the ladies of Harlem were obliged to leave, so we 
adjourned until 9 30 Tuesday, a. m. The ladies 
brought their lunch, aud we remained there until 
4.30. The officers of this Division are all active 
and intelligent, and I feel confident this will be 
another successful Division for the South. I was 
given comfortable and pleasant rooms at the 
Planters’ Hotel. Sister E. T. Miller, who is 
President of the new Division, had placed a num- 
ber of bouquets in the room, and I felt that I was 
walking around in a garden of roses. I will not 
mention the officers of this Division, but will leave 
that all to Sister Bell, the Division Secretary. 
Wednesday morning, August 1, I left Augusta for 
Atlanta, where I was to slop over for a day and 
night. I was met at the depot by a number of the 
sisters of Division No. 43, and escorted to their 
handsome hall, where we drilled for the "Oh, 
Why?’’ degree. As this Division was going to 
give a reception in my honor that night, they also 
wanted to give that degree. We drilled until 5 30, 
when the sisters had the work down fine enough. 
We had Brother Wages for a candidate (just 
think, all by his lone self) it is needless to siy that 
he looked just like he came out of a band box 
when we got through with him. I accepted an in- 
vitation from Sister Rose to remain as her gusst 
during my stay in Atlanta. We came back to the 
Golden Gate Armory, where the reception was 
held. Here I met all of Division No. 43, and a good 
* 


number of the Brothers of Division No 1S0. who 
were initiated into the mysteries of the •*Oh, 
Why?". An orchestra was hidden behind a screes 
of plants, and soft music was wafted on the air, f 
heavily laden with the fragrance of the floral dec 
orations. The refreshment tables groaned under 
the weight of the good things thereon. All in all, 
it was a most pleasant evening, and shall long be 
remembered by me. I left Atlanta the next day. 
at 4.10, for Memphis, arrived o. k., and am rested 
up. How much I wish that the Ladies' Depart- 
ment would be filled to overflowing each month 
What is the matter with our Grand Officers? Let 
us hear from you With best wishes and succen 
to all the Division, I remain 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. Sam Dustan. 


Tacoma, Wash 

Editor Rail way Conductor : 

With pleasure I again write in behalf of Mt 
Tacoma Division, No. 35. Since I wrote last our 
membership has increased and there are pros- 
pects of further growth. Our meetings are well 
attended and successful, each member striving 
with the other for the advancement and good of 
the Order. The last meeting of each month is 
held at the homes of the different Sisters, where 
a very enjoyable time is spent. I wish to say to 
the many readers of The Conductor (I mean 
conductor's wives, and especially our western 
ones), why do not more organize and become en- 
listed under the same banner of True Friendship 
with us? If I may quote the words of our Grand 
President: "But we must organize to bring oat 
the very best wisdom and knowledge of the best 
women for our cause " So many ladies I have 
spoken to say: "I would like to belong to the 
Auxiliary, but I am afraid it would not be a suc- 
cess here with us." Sisters, make up your minds 
to do a thing and you will do it. The con- 
ditions of success are ability and oppor- 
tunity. We may not do and become ail that we 
desire, but God gives to all of us ability and op- 
portunities enough to enable ut to be moderately 
successful. Never be cast down by trifles If a 
spider breaks bis web twenty times, twenty times 
will he mend it again Let the wives of con- 
ductors become more acquainted. There are 
certain times when a hearty greeting, a word of 
cheer, a t.ken of sympathy, or a little friendly 
assistance, are most valuable and life-giving 
How often has the help that might have saved 
the sick and suffering arrived too late to be of any 
avail. 

Yours in T. F. , 

Mrs. W. J. Milucan 


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Charity and True Friendship. 

The following paper was read before the mem- 
bers of Western Division, No. 33, L. A. to O. R. C., 
at a recent meeting, and is published by request 
of that Division: 

In taking our motto for the key note of the few 
thoughts I shall try to give you this afternoon, I 
do not intend to try to exhaust the subject by a 
lengthy article. 

Charity; what is it? Do we not often look 
upon the word simply as meaning benevolence 
%nd liberality, or do we look farther and discover 
that charity also means love? Again, do we not 
often think charity ends when we have given of our 
money, our food or our clothing to those who are 
suffering for those things? We should remember 
that there are those who are better off from a 
worldly standpoint than we are who also need 
charity; but you say, how can we show it? Is 
there not such a thing as charity in speech, 
speak no evil of anyone; charity in thought, be* 
ware of evil thoughts; and charity in our actions 
one toward another? Let us throw the great 
mantle of charity over the sins and short- com- 
ings of those around us and remember that 
'‘now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; 
but the greatest of these is charity." 

True friendship — when we study these words, 
they have a deeper meaning than we think of 
when we first glance at them. When we speak 
of true friendship we do not mean that friendship 
that lasts only for a day, or while we simply want 
to use our so-called friend, but it is that friend- 
ship that lasts forever. We must love our 
friends, and we must sometimes tell them of our 
love and of the good they have done us; and not 
wait until we bring the flowers to adorn the coffin 
in order to show our friendship and love. How 
often the kind, loving word helps our friends more 
than we know, and how little it costs us. We 
should be unselfish in our friendship, sharing our 
joys with our friends as well as wanting them to 
share our sorrows with us. 

The railroad people, bound together by a com- 
mon tie, should be one vast army of true friends, 
sharing one another's joys and sorrows We 
should be very social one with the other. How 
much we enjoy the social call of our friends. 
Where we find true friendship existing we will 
not hear an absent friend spoken of slightingly. 
The true friend is not the flattering friend; but is 
one who in kindness and love will tell us of our 
faults and strive to help us overcome them; 
thereby helping to build up a more noble charac- 
ter. We must also remember that true friend- 
ship means that we must be patient, sympathetic, 
kind and forgiving towards one another. "And 


487 

be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiv- 
ing one another, even as God for Christ's sake 
hath forgiven you." May we ever remember 
that we have one great Friend that "sticketh 
closer than a brother." £. G. 

# Port Huron, Mich. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Having been duly elected to fill the vacancy 
caused by the resignation of our worthy corres- 
pondent, I shall do my best to keep the Order 
posted as to the doings of Michigan Division No. 
32. In the first place l would assure everyone in- 
terested that we are still alive, in spite of the 
many predictions regarding our early death, and 
that if we do die it will be only after such a strug- 
gle that all must know of it. 

It is with us here as Sister Tremblay says of 
Division No. 48. Some of the brothers appear to 
be under the impression that we do nothing but 
canvass their outside affairs, and will not let their 
wives join us, while even those whose wives do 
belong to our Division, never have recognized us 
either as • Sisters or as a Division that is both 
willing and able to help them, if they would but 
appreciate us and our ability. 

I wish I might say something to all our Sisters 
that would induce them if possible to attend every 
meeting, and each one try to think up something 
to do or say for the good of our Order. Surely 
the more we see of each other, the more interest 
we will feel, and the more good will be accom- 
plished. 

These are trying times in all railroad circles. 
Many have friends who are laid off for a time, 
and some think: "Well, I am discouraged. I 
don’t feel like getting out. Those whose friends 
are working don't sympathize with me." I think 
these are the times when we should get together, 
and when we all have a chance to both give and 
receive sympathy. There is nothing that will 
draw out our hearts to each other as trouble will, 
and often an overburdened heart is lightened by 
speaking of those burdens and receiving sympathy 
in return. 

Our President has been confined to the house 
since early spring, but we are in hopes she will 
be with us at our next meeting, and we will be 
glad to welcome her return. I see by our last pa- 
per that Sister McCarthy and family are about 
moving to Battle Creek. We are sorry to lose 
another sister from our city, and hope she will 
not forget us in her new home. 

I enjoy reading The Conductor very much, 
and I wish we might bear from every Division in 
the land. Yours in T. F., 

Mrs F. Whiteman. 

1 


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THE RAIL WAV CONDUCTOR. 


Uncanny Footsteps. 

We had moved to a strange town. The agony 
of unpacking and getting settled was over, and we 
were enjoying our first quiet evening around the 
fire, blazing so cheerily in the wide, old-fashioned 
fireplace, when we were startled by the sound of 
footsteps. 

We listened silently. There was no mistake; 
somebody was in one of the rooms. 

A thorough search failed to discover the intru 
der, or any cause for the sound, yet scarcely were 
we again seated, when there it was again, faint, 
but distinct, the slow, shuffling tread of an aged 
or infirm person, with, at short intervals, a feeble, 
exhausted cough. 

We were not given to superstitions, so trusted 
that time would solve the mystery (if mystery 
there was) and, as the sounds were not loud or 
obtrusive, we soon ceased to even notice them. 

It was the oddest house imaginable. Being the 
only one of any size in the little obscure village, 
its bigness and ugliness were obtrusively conspic- 
uous. 

It was three stories high, with great barnlike 
attic rooms under the high- peaked gables, that 
had neither cornice nor projecting eaves to relieve 
their sharp outlines, Each story was divided into 
two great rooms by a wide hall, and each room 
was lighted by four windows, one in front, one at 
the rear, and one at either side of the huge, pro- 
jecting chimneys, whose cavernous fireplaces 
were framed by tall, spindling mantels, that were 
without even a strip of moulding in the way of 
ornamental finish. The woodwork doors and 
stairs, with their square, roomy landings and 
plain banisters, were of oak, time stained and 
polished. The walls were of brick, and nearly 
two feet in thickness. 

There was a front entrance with side and fan- 
lights to the two lower floors. The first opened 
directly on the walk, the other was reached by a 
narrow, boxed, corkscrew stairway. 

It had not been occupied within the memory of 
the present generation. "Kase," said one infor- 
mant, “it's ha'nted. Folks 'at lives thar kin yere 
ol* Aran a walkin' an' a walkin' an' a coughin' jes’ 
like he used to do 'fore he died." 

And this is the legend of the old house 

Aran McPherson was one of a Scotch colony 
that emigrated to America and settled in the 
wilds of Virginia some time in the seventeenth 
century. Prudent to parsimony, not overscrupu- 
lous in the turning of a penny to his own advan- 
tage, be was not long accumulating, what was for 
his time, a fortune. Unsocial by nature, looking 
upon woman as a snare and a delusion, he lived 

t 


alone, never giving and seldom accepting enter- 
tainment. 

What induced him to build the monstrosity 
known as the McPherson house, will remain a 
mystery to the end of time. 

But “old fools are the worst fools." and Aran 
was no exception. 

Late in life he fell desperately and hopelessly 
in love with Ellis Drury, an ignorant, but very 
bright and pretty girl of the lower class, and 
young enough to be his granddaughter. 

If Ellis had any romantic dreams, she pri- 
dently put them aside and married, without any 
ado, her antiquated admirer. 

Aran pictured what his house would be. and 
fondly dreamed that he would be relieved of all 
onerous household duties when he should bring 
his young wife there, but Ellis* dreams ran m 
quite a contrary direction. 

A humdrum domestic life was not at all to her 
liking. What did folks imagine she bad married 
such an old curmudgeon for if not to spend bis 
money ard have a good time? 

There is a wide margin for doubt about the 
spending of his money, but. have a good time she 
did. if unlimited flirting, a wild chase about the 
country on giddy escapades and to low dances, 
and an utter disregard of propriety, constituted 
that much to be desired experience. 

For a while Aran bore all with exemplary pa- 
tience; but, after a time, the edge of bis infatua- 
tion grew dul), and then the trouble began. 

Finding expostulations vain, he had recourse to 
more severe measures, even to holding her a pris- 
oner on short rations for days. As well try to 
control the wind. Every attempt at coercion 
seemed to raise in her a blind fury that was akin 
to insanity, and to strengthen her determination 
to follow the dictates of her own fancy. So mat- 
ters went from bad to worse, till there was total 
estrangement, each hating the other with an al- 
most murderous hatred, 

Although Aran often applied to his wife such 
reflecting epithets as his staid Scotch torgue dare 
syllable, he never really believed her guilty of 
more than indiscretion, till, passing a chincapin 
thicket on his way home late one night, be was 
startled by hearing her voice in earnest conversa- 
tion with a strange man. 

Involuntarily he paused, and bis hair fairly rose 
on end as he listened to the revelation of her 
shame, and the confession of a guilty secret, urg- 
ing her companion to take her away before her 
husband s suspicions were aroused, and her dis- 
grace made public. 

Aran went home in a daze. Rest and sleep 
were forgotten as he sat in his cheerless room. 


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THE RAILWAY 

thinking and planning till tbe early summer dawn 
was high in the heavens. 

The next day the neighbors were surprised at 
the unusual sounds of tinkering and hammering 
in tbe McPherson house, and at the frequent 
visits of tbe village blacksmith; and, later, at the 
arrival of Mansie Burns, the worst old shrew that 
ever set a neighborhood at sixes and sevens, who 
seemed to enter in and take possession. 

After this Ellis was never seen. 

The villagers were curious, as villagers are 
wont to be. but none dared question Aran. The 
smith was a Scotchman, and as reticent as even 
Aran could wish, and one tilt with that old bel- 
dame. Mausie, usually satisfied the most inquisi- 
tive. So the months slipped by, but the mystery 
was unsolved. . 

Then one drear / November night, the soul of 
the erring woman passed into the “beyond,” and 
a poor little waif, that was never to know love of 
father or mother, kith or kin, was thrust out into 
the world. 

'Tt*s nane o' mine,” said Aran, by way of salv- 
ing his conscience. 

In a desolate field, where the wind wailed dis- 
mally through ghostly ranks of mullein stalks and 
thistles, Aran laid his hapless wife, too great a 
sinner for her dust to mingle with that of the vil- 
lage churchyard. 

And the field was shunned and left untilled. 
“For,” said the superstitious country folks, 
“nothing that was planted ever grew there 
again.” 

Some spectre of remorse must have struggled 
with Aran's hard nature, for after this he was 
never known to sleep quietly in his bed. Back 
and forth, back and forth, through the loog rooms 
he would pace, till he succumbed to exhaustion, 
then he would doze fitfully in his chair, or 
propped up on an old settee. 

Perhaps he is doomed to walk through all eter- 
nity, and the echo of his footsteps reaches us 
from the other shore. 

Josephine Brinkerhoff. 


San Bernardino, Cal, 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

You have never been afflicted with any of my 


CONDUCTOR. 489 

writings before, but my heart is too full to wait 
very long to hear what others have to say about 
our strike. I read in the San Francisco Exami- 
ner that Mr. Debs had declared the strike off, 
and it was probable that he (Debs) and his lieu- 
tenants would be candidates for political honors. 
How very easy for Mr. Debs to say he has 
learned in the late trouble that the United States 
Government does not approve of strikes, and that 
hereafter we, the working class, must right our 
wrongs by the ballot-box. (I suppose he will help 
ns all he can if we run him for some office) This 
sounds all right to people who are not affected by 
the awful calamity that has befallen us; we can 
call it by no other name. It has been like war. 
Our husbands are out of employment, are wan- 
dering over the face of the earth looking for work, 
while we, their wives, are home holding down ex- 
penses. trying to live until they can become bread 
winners again. 

Here in San Bernardino we had about thirty- 
five men with families who were ii^ the train ser- 
vice, and I could not say how many were em- 
ployed in other departments. They were good 
citizens! ask the merchants or the ministers, and 
they will tell you a better class of men would be 
hard to find. Twenty or thirty families owned 
their homes. To day our homes are for sale for 
almost anything we can get, and we are only a 
few among many. Now Mr. Debs tells us for 
consolation that strikes are not the proper thing, 
that the Government don’t approve of strikes, but 
in time all things will be righted by the ballot- 
box. t 

What it took the railroad orders fifteen years to 
get, Mr. Debs lost for us in fifteen days, and now 
he tells us: “Go back to work if you can get back, 
and everything will he fixed in time by the bal- 
lot.” In the*raeantime our homes may be taken 
away from us, and we can starve until our hus- 
bands get employment — if they ever do — but it is 
all for the best. I, for one woman, am disgusted 
and discouraged. 

Will someone with a wiser head than mine tell 
us what is the remedy; will someone who can 
see further in the future than I, tell us what the 
outcome will be? Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. A. E. F. 




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Toronto, Ont. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

At our last regular meeting it was decided to 
have an excursion, and the following brothers 
were appointed a committee: W. Coulter, C. Stu- 
art, R. A. Purdon, T. Waterhouse, Secy., C. 
Mitchell, Treas. , and C. C. Riley, Chairman, 
with full power to select a place and appoint a 
date. With their usual promptness satisfactory 
arrangements were made with the Niagara River 
Line for a tripf to Niagara Falls, including a trip 
on the electric cars of the Ni- 
agara River Railway. This lins » affords 
the only satisfactory means of seeing all points of 
interest, as it is built on the edge of the Canadian 
bank from Queenston to Chippewa, a distance of 
twelve miles. Being an old railroader, I may be 
considered authority for expressing my opinion of 
its construction; its road-bed is perfect and the 
cars are very strong and convenient, having been 
built purposely for this route. A short distance 
from the wharf we arrived at the company's 
pow^r house, which was built to supply the elec 
tricity necessary for operating the long grade up 
the mountain, which, I was told, was a mile and 
a half long and rises five feet in a hundred, the 
total height of the mountain being about three 
hundred feet. We then turned dway from the 
river and passed through the village of Qaeens- 
ton, which was one of the old portages from 
Chippewa to Qaeenston. We also passed within 
a few feet of Brocks Monument, which was 
erected in i860 by the Prince of Wales, and 
marks the spot where General Brock was killed in 
1812 The monument is one hundred and eighty- 
five feet high, standing on a base of forty feet 
square. The top is reached by a spiral stairway 
of two hundred and fifty steps. Here you hive a 
splendid view of the surrounding country, and on 
a clear day the city of Toronto is plainly distin 
guishable in the distance. Surrounding tbl mon- 
ument is a beautiful psrk, in which are the ruins 
of the forts used in 1812. Then came the world- 
renowned whirlpool and the inclined railway, 
suspension and cantilever bridges, which are 


wonderful in their construction. Arriving at N • 
agara Falls, we spent a few hours seeing sigi • 
and friends, after which we returned by thee**, 
trie railway to Qaeenston. and there boarded 
magnificent boat Chippewa, the largest steams 
ever launched on Lake Ontario. She is a hue 
new side wheeler. 31 1 feet in length, and her 
moulded beam is 36 feet, while over the guard 
amidships, she is 67 feet wide; her depth is 
feet 3 inches, her hull is of steel and put tog^hc 
in the most perfect manner; her engines art 
the walking beam type, 3,100 horse- power, nil 
75 -inch cylinders and n feet stroke; she has fii 
boilers, each 21 feet long and 10 feet 4 inches 
diameter, and everything about her is of the la“ 
est design, and the furnishings are in keeping 
with the fine work on the boat. Leaving Queers 
ton we crossed the river to Lewiston, and. aft* 
remaining a short time, started for home. First 
down the beautiful Niagara river fsr 
seven miles, then we steamed oul 

into Lake Ontario and, after a 

of thirty-five miles on this grand body of fretb 
water, we arrived in Toronto all safe. I may 
mention here that the company has three boi* * 
on this route, which were all engaged for our 
cursion, and those who did not return on the 
Chippewa, arrived on later boats, all delight- 
with their trip. Among those on board were 
]. W. Leonard, Supt. of the C. P. Ry. at To 
ronto, Ex-Conductors Brady and Devany, Cbm 
Conductor Brother Anderson, of Division No 
345, and Chief Conductor Brother Pegg, of D) 
vision No. 355, also Brothers Corcoran. Tambiyn 
Snyder, Carter, Jobbitt. of Division No. 17 in- 
cluding all the members of the committee who 
d.d everything to make the event a success m 
every way. 

Yours in P F., W J. Giur 


Fort Dodge, Iowa 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

With your kind consent I would like to sddree 
a few words to the real friends of the "Hoar 
for aged and disabled railroad men: 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 491 

My Dear Brothers: I feel that I most fr om home where their brother railway men will see to 


ay very he^rt thank yon one and all for what 
yon are doing to sustain this "Home." I have 
jast come from the bedside of the helpless men 
there. As 1 sat and talked with the inmates and 
realized how comfortably they arc situated, I said 
to myself: "How I wish every railroad man in the 
nation could look in upon them." If these men 
oad homes of their o vn and were in independent 
circumstances as far as money is concerned, they 
could not be made more comfortable than they 
are now. These poor men — four of them para- 
lyzed — three of them to such a degree that assis- 
tance must be rendered to them in taking their 
food, are now provided for in much better shape 
than they would usually be in a home of their 
onu. What would these men do if it were 
not for the "Home," I cannot see. 

Again let me express to all tbs contributors for 
the support of the "Home," ray most heartfelt 
thanks for your remembrance of a brother's 
need. To be sure, it is a very small sum each 
roe of you pays, but the great good that comes to 
these helpless men from these many littles, is ab- 
©Ititely inexpressible. I firmly believe did every 
railroad man in the land know just exactly what 
pod comes to these helpless men, as the writer 
Joes, there is not one in the tens and hun- 
dreds of thousands -who would refuse to contri 
bate his mite to the support of the "Home.” 
Brothers! Will you allow me once again to as- 
are you your money is most sacredly and eco- 
oomically used for the one purpose alone, and 
that is to make as comfortable as possible the 
unfortunate men who, from accident or exposure, 
have lost health, or by being crippled can no 
kwger do work on the rail and have no way of 
Raking a livelihood. 

Some who have had the benefits of the 
Home," have gone out from it and, poor, human 
tuture-like, have attempted to "befoul the nest 
lhat so freely gave them shelter." This is dis 
heartening and terribly discouraging to us, who 
have given so much time and toil to its budding 
op But this should not discourage us As our 
Great Leader in working for humanity has said: 

' ll they have done these things to the green tree, 
what will they not do to the dry?" He, in the 
love and compassion of His great heart, cured the 
ten men who were sick with the loathsome lep- 
rosy Still, but one only returned to thank Him 
for doing what no other one could do. So, bro- 
thers, if some are ungrateful and return abuse for 
good done to them, let us, by patient continuing 
to well doing, make these helpless men who are 
row inmates here, feel that they indeed have a 


it that their every want shall be fully met 

These are now hard times. Many a man is 
seeking a job, and we sometimes may have a fear 
that these men here will be forgotten; but then 
our faith in railroad men rebukes us. Yon will 
not forget them. As I said above, could you all 
only sp&nd even an hour at the "Home," you 
would never after have to doobt of the good it is 
doing. Most of you know me well enough to 
trust me to see for yon. and yon will take my 
word for it. As Dr. Ingalls said to me this 
morning: "If I could be assured that should mis- 
fortune come to me I should find as comfortable 
a borne in helplessness as these men now have, I 
should cast all fear to the winds " I do then 
most earnestly hope and trust that in these hard 
times no one will forget to send in his little mite, 
so that the doors of the "Home" shall still stand 
wide open for every deserving bat helpless rail- 
road man. L. S. Coffin, Prest. 

New York City, N. Y. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

New York City Division No. 54 has remained 
dormant for some time. At last we have come to 
the conclusion that it is absolutely necessary for 
the future prosperity of our Division, that we 
should be heard from. This duty has devolved 
upon your humble servant; whether I shall be a 
success remains lo be seen; possibly I may be of- 
fered a fine position on the editorial staff of some 
of the leading journals of the country, but I hope 
to be permitted to write a few more letters be- 
fore that time. 

Our Division is composed of brothers from the 
N. Y. C., West Shore, N. Y., N. H. & H., Long 
Island, N. Y. & P., Staten Island and other roads 
having New York as a terminal/ We have just 
installed Brother Alf Ellerby, who m well known 
in the Order, as Chief, and Brother J. .H. Mc- 
Lean as Asst., both filling positions made vacant 
by the resignation of Bros. A. J. Clow and E. B. 
Finley. We are steadily, increasing in member- 
ship; scarcely a meeting passes but what from 
one to three are initiated, and, by the way, we 
have four for our next meeting. We have a very 
much alive S. & T. in the person of Bro. C. F. 
Heitzman, a man who has the Order at heart at 
all times and is always ready to give both his 
time and money to further the growth of No. 54. 
Brother Morey is our poet, and has quite a cate- 
gory of copyrighted jokes. He has promised to give 
The Conductor some of them; one in particular 
is very fine, something about one of our members 
falling four stories into a soda water wagon and 


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492 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


not getting hart because it was “soft stuff," but, 
of course, I cannot tell them as they should be 
told, and our Brothers will have to content them- 
selves until next issue, by which time I expect to 
have some original manuscript. I had the pleas- 
ure of meeting many members of the Order on a 
recent trip, and want to state that the fraternal 
feeling as shown by members of our Ortfer, would 
be well for uiher Orders to copy. One thing I 
have noticed, that most of our Brothers in the 
East are not proficient in the lectures. We want 
Brother White, of No. 169, Maban, of 180, and 
Weight, of 180, to know that we are still alive, 
and would extend to all the Brothers an invitation 
to call on us when they are in New York. We 
meet the second Sunday of each month at 100 
West 24th St. Yours in P. F., 

Correspondent of No. 54. 


Kansas City, Mo. 
Editor Kailzvay Conductor : 

I see a letter in the August number of The 
'Conductor from our good Brother “Growler," (I 
wish the correspondents would sign their names 
so we might know who they are) who finds a good 
deal of fault with our insurance laws, especially 
the disability claims. Now, Brother Growler, 
what have you done towards changing the disabil- 
ity clause in our insurance laws? Have you 
brought the matter up before your Division meet- 
ings and discussed the present evils of the law? 
Have you insisted on sending a delegate to the 
Grand Division who is a member of the benefit 
department? Have you insisted that your dele- 
gate shall work to change the laws so that every 
disabled Brother shall receive his insurance upon 
it being proven that he is incapacitated for train 
service of any k^nd? If you have done this then 
have you taken into consideration the possibility 
for fraud tha\ may be practict d upon our benefit 
department; and don’t for a moment lose sight of 
the fact that there are those who will stoop to 
such a thing even in our beloved Order It has 
been done in the past, and will no doubt be done 
in the future, if not watched closely. Then, Bro 
ther Growler, did you ever hear of a kick amongst 
the Brothers when a double header comes along? 
Yes; I fancy I hear you say; “I have kicked my- 
self." Well, my good Brother, do you think of 
those poor unfortunates who are afflicted as the 
Brother you speak of is when you growl? if not I 
want to tell you that if the laws are changed to 
meet such cases, you won’t only growl but you 
will groan when you pick up your next annual 
coupon of assessments and see about every other 
one a double header. [That's what. Ed. ] What 


is the reason your Division cannot take care of 
this Brother's assessments for him ^nd upon bis 
recovery, or at his death, hold out whatever your 
Division treasury has paid out? and I am sure the 
Brother and his family will be willing for you to 
do so in order that his family may be secured 
against the total loss to them of his insurance, and 
I know he is worthy of your confidence and care 
from the fact that he has provided his family with 
insurance in case of accident or death overtaking 
him. Never let it be said that a Division of the 
Order let a worthy Brother’s insurance lapse 
when he was unable to meet his obligations from 
sickness or accident. 

Brother Growler, now is the time to take these 
things up in our several Divisions. It is only a 
few short months before we will be called upon to 
send our delegates to the Grand Division; see to 
it that your delegate is well posted as to the 
wants of the Brothers of your Division, try to 
send one who is in favor of a representation by 
the direct vote of the Divisions, and not by the 
permanent membership, which too often destroys 
the wishes of the rank and file^ of the Order, a 
vote in the Grand Division by members who have 
long since retired from actual railroad service, 
but still try to make us believe they know our 
wants as well as we who are in actual service and 
make our living by it; men,, many of them, who 
never have carried a dollar of insurance, yet vote 
on insurance and make our insurance laws. 

I am glad Division No. 231 has such a good cor- 
respondent, and hope to hear from him again 
soon. Hoping ever for the best interests of the 
O. R. C., I am Yours in P. F., 

Wm. Welch. 


Sharpsvillk. Pa. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

As the Governor of North Carolina said to the 
Governor of South Carolina (not this governor, 
but s’mothe governor) “It’s a long time between 
drinks," so it has been a long time since I wagged 
your editorial paw. Having nothing heretofore 
to say, therefore I said it. For a year past and 
gone the “sheep path" has been under a cloud. 
You know this is an iron making district, and 
when the mills and furnaces shut down, it makes 
hard sledding for the boys. The cokers have re- 
sumed, and the mills and furnaces are resuming, 
and the railroad skies are beginning to get 
brighter; in fact, there is many a rift in the 
clouds where all has been gloom. All around us 
the skies are reddening from the furnace and mill 
fires. And the boys are hustling to and fra got* 
ting “stock" to where it will do the most good. 


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THE RAILWAY 

The old men are again taking their trains, and all 
goes as merry as wedding bells, while all are feel- 
ing good over the outlook. Our old friend and 
Brother. Sam Livingston, blew in on us recently, 
and to say we were glad to “see Sam." but feebly 
expresses it. We were busy at the desk when his 
corpulent majesty loomed upon our horizon, and 
we thought from the sudden darkness, as be filled 
the doorway, that the much needed rain had come 
at last, but no; it was Sam’s corporosity shutting 
out the daylight, “only that, and nothing more.” 
Wei 1 , we were glad to see him. anyhow. Sam's 
visit to his old home was caused by the death of a 
much loved sister. We learned from him th it he 
had been working for the St. Louis Bridge & Ter- 
minal Co., and that the A. R. U had forced him 
off duty, much against his will. If Sam could 
have his way, the A. R. U. would not only be a 
thing of the past, but would be sunk so deep be- 
neath the turbid waters of the Mississippi that 
ne'er again would its hydra head be raised to 
trouble railway men. Then 

Imperial Debssy, dead and turned to clay, 
Might stop a crack to ktep the wind away. 
But windy Howda, mischief-making spud, 
Would be forgot; his name it would be mud. 

But we don’t blame Sam for his hatred. Many 
a good man is idle to-day through their cursed 
work. Many a family suffers want, that they 
might strut in their brief hour of self aggrandize- 
ment, and any punishment that may be meted out 
to them, will but feebly compensate for the dis- 
tress and the distrust they have caused. With 
the return of brighter times and of course more 
work, we hope all who were compelled to quit or 
otherwise forced from their positions, may again 
be re-employed or get situations equally as good. 
Wouldn't those long winded political harangues 
"cut off” a part of their train and side-track some 
of their politics for us? Yours in P. F., 

C. H. Peters. 


Harrisburg, Pa. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Dauphin Division No. 143 has been working on 
by-laws for the last month or so. The fact that 
our last two meetings were the principal ones 
during the progress of this work, had a tendency 
to draw full houses, so we had unusually targe at- 
tendance and very interesting sessions We are 
still taking in a new member every meeting or so, 
and are, of course, losing one now and then in the 
subordinate Division. From what I understand, 
the majority of numbers who allow themselves to 
drop out, came in prior to July 1, 1891, conse- 
quently they hang on to the insurance, which, we 


CONDUCTOR. 493 . 

must admit, is about the best insurance for the 
money that a man can get. Dauphin Division, I 
believe, has about forty of these delinquent mem- 
bers who belong to the insurance, when delin- 
quency in the subordinate Division should throw 
them out of the insurance department and debar 
them from all bsnefits of the* Order. There 
should be a speedy remedy for this. Our Grand 
Division, from tb^is standpoint, is beginning to as- 
sume the appearance of a vast insurance com- 
pany, not having the welfare of the Order in gen- 
eral at heart, but making insurance the principal 
interest. These men of whom we speak are not 
loyal to the cause, and joined the Order for sick 
and death benefits alone. They generally try to 
trump up an excuse to drop the subordinate Divi- 
sion at the first opportunity, knowing th at they 
can hold on to their insurance by keeping their 
assessments paid up. 1 hope some one can devise 
a plan to rid us of these impostors. I believe 
these people are an imposition upon all good 
members of the Order. The insurance depart- 
ment belongs to the Order in general, and not to 
the Grand Division alone, and the Grand Division 
is kept in existence by the subordinate Divisions. 

I wish someone else would have something to say 
on this most important subject.' The following is 
the prayer of some of our boys on retiring at the- 
west end of their respective Divisions: 

Now I lay me down to sleep, 

May dreams of stock-trains ’round me creep. 
And if I’m called before I wake, 

I pray the beef-train I may take. 

If nothing better on my plate, 

I pray thee give me A. L. 8, 

Which is quite as good as a slow freight. 
These favors we ask for our wipes’ sake, 

So-so. 

And Thomas is our Chief just now, 

And Scott is the Assistant, 

While William fills the Senior's chair 
And Junior Andy’s in it. 

While Secretary George is Wood, 

And Harry he is Allbright. 

For Alex. Lynn and Uncle Jake, 

We know that they are all right. 

Our Jacob tends the outer door, 

While Samuel tends the inner. 

Now it is hard for me to tell 
Which of the two’s the thinner. 

Of each one I would like to say 
A word or two if any, 

But then you know it takes too long; 

Because there are so many. 

So, kind friends who read these lines, 

Of me take this advice : 

Just come around and join with us; 

I know you’ll tbink it nice. 

Yours in F. F., Mo*. 

Digitized by Google 



THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Toprka, Kas. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

Since my last attempt as a correspondent ap- 
peared to find some favor, I will inflict another on 
yon, though there is really very little in the way 
of news to give. Nearly all of the Brothers are 
now at work, and'all are in excellent health, save 
Brother H. A. Johnson, who, when last heard 
from, was in the hospital, at Tyler, Tex. The 
members of 179 feel that they have reasons for 
being proud, first, because we have the best work- 
ing Division in the state, and second, because we 
have two of the General Grievance Committee of 
the A. T. & S. F. system. Brother C. L. Short 
is chairman and Brother R. Wilson secretary of 
that important body, 90 when any of the boys 
have a kick coming we can fix it up for them to 
the queen's taste and almost give them an order 
for a preferred run before they leave the hall. 
In addition to all these advantages we can M cbew 
the rag" harder and leave the hall in better humor 
than any let of men on earth. 

For some time past we have been thinking of 
paying Osawatomie Division, No. 137, a visit, 
but recent developments have caused us to revise 
our plan. When Brother Hay, our C. C., was 
taking his vacation this summer he visited some 
of his wife's folks in that vicinity, only four miles 
from Osawatomie. Knowing it was the regular 
meeting night for that Division, he hired a small 
boy and a mule team to make the trip through 
the dust in order to pay an official call on our 
neighbors. On arriving he found the hall dark 
and the following touching legend on the door: 
"Adjourned to attend the circus." Just think of 
it, a Division adjourning a regular meeting to 
attend a circus! I have since heard, however, 
that all the boys were in that day and carried 
water for the elephant in order to get free tickets, 
and, of course. I cannot blame them, as 1 was a 
boy once myself. When we decide to visit 137 in 
a body it will be after the circus season is over. 

Yours in P. F., 

J. H. Dodd. 

Wilkes Barre, Pa. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The spirit again moves me to say a few words 
through your valued magazine, which is read by 
all the good Brothers and their wives. Since the 
Lehigh Valley strike is a thing of the past, I will 
tell you something of the road op which I am 
now working for my little $1.75 per day. I 
started to work on the Bloomsburg Division of 
the D. L. & W. R. R. on the 19th of June. My 
job is braking on a coal train, and some of the 
Brothers who have spent five or more years on a 


first-class train can doubtless imagine how nioe it 
is to jump on a coal jimmy and have the engineer 
see how quick he can stop with a steam brake, 
and then laugh to see you trying to hold 00. 
Well, it's pretty hard, but it beats scabbing. 
There are a pretty good lot of boys on the D. L. 
& W. , and they should be so. for they have a 
good man to work for. If the railroads of this 
country bad more W. F. Halsteads to conduct 
them and fewer Voorhees, (and others whom 1 
might mention) it would be better for companies 
and employes both. Well, as I said, we have a 
lot of good fellows on our line. My old friend 
from Canada. Bro. Raynord, is a chip of the old 
block, and he gets there with 18 with the best of 
them. Bro. Ike Morrison went a little beyond 
his mark some time ago and G. B. let him down. 
Bro Bernard Law is now running on local freight 
between King* ton and Northumberland. Bro. 
Mac says this hot weather is a terror on a man 
who carries so much weight on his feet, but Bro 
Sleppy says he don't mind it now, as he is used 
to it. Bro Thos. Law sags you're all right on 12 
until Dick Carney throws his caboose on the main 
track in front of you at Avondale and then fills 
out at Dodson. Bro. Kelley (the big alderman) 
is satisfied, but thinks Bro. Culver should come 
;n behind him, as he (Culver) has no bones in his 
legs, and should not be ordered out so early in 
the morning. Mooney feels much better since he 
has lime to look around him in the mornings, but 
now he has to get home the best way he can, as 
171 is too swift for No. 8. 

I regret exceedingly to see some of our Lehigh 
Valley men dropping out of the Order. Come, 
boys, you showed yourselves to be good men 
when you had a chance; do not give up now. 
There may come a time when jrou will regret that 
you left 160, for the old Division will be a good 
friend to you if you will do the right thing. In 
this connection I would like to say a word to 
Springer Division, No. 20, L. A. to O. R. C., 
which is located in our city. I believe they 
elected a correspondent for Thb Conductor, but 
I have never seen a word from her, to the best of 
my present recollection. There are many things 
of interest happening in that Division, and we 
would all be pleased to bear how the L. A. is 
progressing. Bro. J. H. Rich, of the B. of L, 
£. , our general chairman in the late Lehigh Val- 
ley strike, is after the nomination for clerk of the 
courts in this (Luzerne) county, and tf the rail- 
road men and their friends do the right thing be 
will be elected. I would much rather 9 ee him 
run for the legislature, however, as he could do 
us much good in that capacity. Bro. Abe Reilly, 
of the B. of L. F., is looking for the republican 
nomination for representative in Ashley, and if 
he secures it his election is a pretty 9ure thing. 
With best wishes for the Order and its loyal mem- 
bers, I remain 

Yours in P. F., 

Jambs Finlby. 

Digitized by VjOOQIC 



« 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 495 


Cedartown, Ga. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

While I agree that all Brothers shoal d dwell 
together in unity, yet there is a higher and might- 
ier law that is recognized by oar Order and all 
others as well, and is handed down from the 
Great Holer of the Universe, and that is to do 
justice to all mankind, and thus fulfill the law. 
In conformity to this I mast respectfully ask 
space to reply to an article of a Brother, who 
signs himself "Div. 230," in our July magazine. 
1 do not charge that the Brother who wrote the 
piece intended to convey a wrong impression in 
writing as he did, bat must insist that he was not 
posted as to the affairs of the Chattanooga, Rome 
A Columbus Road, as he is not and has not been 
employed thereon for two years or more. While 
it is true the road is not doing the business it has 
been doing for years past, yet every man was 
kept in the service of the company that the busi- 
ness of the company could possibly warrant, and 
in the distribution of places by our trainmaster 
after the road cut loose from the Central, 
the conductors were first provided for 
and given places as nearly as they 
had them as was possible, and when there were 
no more places as conductors to be given out, 
those remaining were offered positions as flagmen 
in preference to older train hands. We are 
working under the same trainmaster we were be- 
fore the Central gave up the road, and he has 
proven to be the best we ever had This is ad- 
mitted to be a fact by all the men who have 
worked here and have had the good fortune to 
hold on through the different administrations. 
He has been in charge for 20 months, and during 
that time has never hired a single man for a con- 
ductor, nor did he bring any with him when he 
came to us. This, 1 think, speaks - for his 
treatment of the men in more glowing terms than 
I can, and also explodes the idea in my Brother's 
letter that we got a receiver from somewhere and 
a superintendent from somewhere else, and they 
together secured a trainmaster. As to the pay of 


writer there was again not posted, as our super- 
intendent is performing the duties of superin- 
tendent and traffic manager, and the trainmaster 
is also filling the office of master mechanic, while 
there was a separate officer for each of these 
places during the old administration, as the books 
of the company will show qn examination. The 
road is run economically and on business princi- 
ples, and I know whereof I speak when I say 
that every conductor employed by the company 
is thoroughly satisfied with the way things are 
being conducted, and that the best is being done 
for us that could be under the existing circum- 
stances, as the old road is bottled up at both ends 
and in the middle. 

Knowing that it is the desire of yourself, as 
well as all of our membership through the land, 
to see justice done to all parties at all times, and 
under all circumstances, I ask that you allow me 
space for this, as I feel it a duty due the officers 
of the company that things be put to you in their 
proper light, and I am sanctioned in this by all 
the Brothers engaged on this road. Should the 
facts not be as I have represented, I respectfully 
ask any Brother to correct me over his own 
signature, and if he is cognizant of the truth and 
in a position to show me that I am in error, I 
will so notify you. 

Yours in P. F., 

Member 230. 

— -• 

Dennison, Ohio. 

Editor Railway Conductor : * 

Dennison Division may have a correspondent 
regularly appointed, but, if so, nothing has been 
heard from him for some time. We have an ex- 
cellent Division here, with about fifty members 
in good standing, and one of the finest rooms in 
which to hold our meetings you could find in a 
week of travel. No new members have been 
taken in of late, but we have a candidate for the 
next meeting and expect to find in him a loyal 
Brother and a good worker. As the times grow 
better there will be more to follow him. We are 


the men, I will say that they are paid $3.00 per 
trip each way over the road, and train hands 
$1.50 per trip for each trip they run. Your corre- 
spondent overlooks the fact that several years ago 
this road had an enormous lumber business, and 
that the W. & A. and the N. C. & St. L. were 
not operated as one road out of Chattanooga, 
and that there was no alliance between the Cin- 
cinnati Southern and the E. T., V. & G , as at 
present, and that the local productions were 
more than half as mnch again along the line of 
road as at present. As to the road being run in 


fortunate in having go 3d officers for the Division, 
the following being the list as it stands to date; 
C. A. Pogue, C. C ; J. A. McGee, A. C. C. ; A. 
M. Bier, S. C.; P. W .Hick, J C.; W. C. Wil- 
liams, I. S ; P. Senft, O. S.; Wm. Reese, S. & 
T.; W. C. Williams, J. A. McGee and A. J. Pum- 
phrey, Committee. The boys on the Pan Handle 
are Going well considering the times and number 
of crews, there being forty-five between Dennison 
and Pittsburg, including pension crews and all. 
There was some talk of taking off the third man, 
but the recent trouble put an end to that. Bro- 
ther John McIntyre has recently taken to himself 
a life partner, and they both have the best wishes 
of all. May their life together be full of suu- 


the interest of the officials, I will say that the shine. 


Yours in P. F., 

Digitized by 


Buster. 

Google 



Carriers of Passengers — Neglige nee— Collision. 

Where a street car crossing a railroad track is 
run into by a team, on proof of negligence in each 
company, an injured passenger on the street car 
may sue and recover a joint judgment against the 
respective companies. L 

Doiuney v. Philadelphia etc. A\v. Co. and 
Phila . Traction Co., Penn. S. C , May 2i, 1894. 

Passenger — Station — Conductor — Liability for 

Injury. 

A railway company is liable for injuries to a 
passenger alighting at a at ition, caused by the 
unsafe character of the place at which the train 
stopped, the circumstances being such, and the 
conduct of the conductor warranting it to be safe to 
* alight. 

Falk v. X. Y. % S. & IV. Ay. Co., N. J. S. C., 
May 27, 1894. 

Injury to Passenger — Contributory Xcgligencc 

— learning of Conductor — Excursion Train. 

1. Where a passenger is thrown from the plat- 
form of an overcrowded excursion car by the 
swaying of the train in passing a curve at a rapid 
rate, the jury are justified in finding the defendant 
railway company guilty of negligence. 

2 A passenger is justified in taking passage on 
a crowded excursion train where defendant does 
not through its conductor or servants warn per- 
sons not to do so; and, even though such warning 
was given by the conductor, the injured passenger 
could not be affected by it if he did not hear it. 

Lynn v. Southern Pacific Ry. Co., Ca’if. S. 
C., June 11, 1894. 

Injury to Railroad Conductor — Employment of 

Locomotive Engineer. 

1. In an action against a railroad company for 
injuries, caused to a railway conductor by an en- 
gineer, and instruction that if the company failed 
to use ordinary care in employing the engineers, 
and that he was a careless man, and the injury 
was the direct or proximate result thereof, with 
out contributory negligence on the part of plain- 
tiff, defendant was liable; but that the jury should 


find from all the evidence what the proximate 
cause of the injury was, and fiat unless defen- 
dant was negligent in employing the engineer, 
and his carelessness contributed to the injury, de- 
fendant was not liable, does not autberize the 
jury to fird for the plaintiff if the engineer was 
careless, and employed by the company withont 
due care, though the injury may not have re- 
sulted from the engineer's negligence 

2. Where an engineer leaves bis engine in a 
perilous situation on a steep grade, in charge of 
an inexperienced fireman, who sets the engine in 
motion, so that the train runs down hill, occasion- 
ing an accident which results in an injury to the 
conductor, the act of the firemin is not, as a mat- 
ter of law, the proximite cause of the injury so 
as to relieve the company from liability on the 
ground that they were fellow servants. 

3. Where the engineer had been once dis- 
charged by the company for carelessness, and re- 
employed. and the trainmaster thereafter failed 
to report acts of negligence on his part, a request 
to charge that such failure to report was the neg- 
ligence of a fellow servant, and therefore plaintiff 
wa; not entitled to recover, was properly refused. 
Judgment for plaintiff for $7,500 affirmed. 

Mexican National Ry. Co. v. Muesettee , Tex. 
S C., May 24, 1894. 

Note. The above decision is of interest to 
train men for the reason it is a slight diversion of 
the rule of law almost universally adopted by the 
courts of the land, to wit: “That an employe 
cannot recover from his employer for injuries re- 
ceived by reason of an accident which could have 
been averted by the employe’s proper discharge 
of the duties of his employment. Nor can the 
personal representatives of such employe in such 
case, if death insue, maintain an action for dam- 
ages by reason thereof.” (See Word , ddmr,, v. 
Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co., S. C. of W. Va., 
Mch. 21, 1894.) 


Fraternal Insurance — Change of Beneficiary — 
When Not Complete. 


When the holder of a certificate in a mutual 
fraternal association applied for “change of bene- 
ficiary,” stating that the former certificate was 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


497 


thereby returned, and surrendered for the pur- 
pose of the application, and that the association 
should forward a new certificate, payable to such 
person as he might name in his will, the certifi- 
cate being issued accordingly, but no beneficiaries 
were ever designated by will or otherwise. 

Held, that no change of the beneficiary took 
place. 

Grace et al v. Northwestern Mutual Aid 
Ass’n . Wis. S. C., June 2, 1894. 

Payment of Assessment by Mail — When Com- 
plete. 

Where an insurance association authorizes 
payment of premiums by mail, the payment is 
made when the letter conlaining the remittance 
is deposited in the postoffice properly posted. 

Pumean v. National Life Association. N. 
Y. S. C.. June 7, 1894. 

Breach of Warranty — Forfeiture of Certifi- 
cate. 

1. Where the insured warrants the truth of the 
answers in the application, compliance with the 
warranty is a condition of the contract, and any 
substantial deviation from the truth is material to 
the risk, and avoids the certificate issued in evi- 
dence of membership and contract. 

2. Where the insured, in her application, war- 
ranted that she had never had rheumatism, Held , 
that the answer to this question was a material 
one, and, under the terms of the application and 
certificate, if false and untrue, render the policy 
null and void. 

O' Shannessey v. Workingwomen’s Co-op. 
Ass’n of U. S. N. Y. S. C , June 7, 1894. 

Application — Warranty — Answers Written by 

Agent — Knowledge. 

1. Where the application contained a warranty 
of the truth of all the answers to questions con- 
tained therein, and states the person taking the 
application shall be the agent of the applicant as 
to all statements and answers, Held , that a false 
statement will avoid the certificate, though made 
by the person writing the application. 

2. Where the insured warrants statements con- 
tained in the application to be true, an untrue 
statement is a breach of the warranty, and it is 
immaterial whether the insured did or did not 
know that it was untrue. 

Bernard v. United Life Ass’n. New York 
City Court, June 3, 1894. 

Note. It will be observed that this is a lower 
court decision. It is highly probable that the 
appellate court will modify this ruling. The 


weight of authority is against such a conclusion. 

By-Law — Disability — Occupation. 

Held , that under a by-law of ^fraternal society 
providing that should a member become perma- 
nently disabled from following his "usual or 
some other occupation,” he should be entitled to 
half the amount of the certificate, a member 
who is disabled from following his usual employ- 
ment is entitled to such portion of the benefit, 
though he is not disabled from following some 
other occupation. 

Neil v. Order of United Friends. N. Y. S.C., 
June 14, 1894. 

Misrepresentation in Application for Member *■ 

ship — Statutory Provision . 

1. Where Sec. 3849 of the revised statutes, 
1889, provides that no misrepresentation made in 
obtaining a life insurance policy shall render it 
void unless the misrepresentation contributes to 
the contingency on which the policy becomes 
due, does not apply to certificates on the assess- 
ment plan, under Art. 3, as that article provides 
that a company doing* business under its provis- 
ions shall not be subject to any of the provisions 
of the general insurance law unless it is so de- 
clared in that article. Hence, a life insurance 
policy empowering the company's board of direct- 
ors to levy assessments by special notice, is within 
the meaning of Rev. Stat. C. 89., Art. 4, re- 
lating to insurance on the assessment plan, though 
it further provides for certain fixed premiums. 

Hanford v. Mass. Ben. Ass’n. Mo, S. C., 
June 18, 1894. 

Carriers of Passengers — Tickets Issued by 

Connecting Lines — Refusal to Accept. 

Where defendant railway company authorized 
another company to sell ticket# for use over de- 
fendant's road, but, after this agreement had 
lasted for several years, it was revoked as to a 
certain class of tickets, though still in force as to 
others; no public notice of such revocation be- 
ing given, and plaintiff having knowledge of, and 
relying on, the arrangement, as it has existed for 
several years, bought from the other company 
one of the tickets which it was no longer author- 
ized to sell. 

Held , In an action for damages resulting from 
expulsion that the defendant company was liable 
for its refusal to accept such ticket from plaintiff, 
and for her expulsion from its train. 

Pittsburg, etc., Ry. Co. vs, Berryman , Ind. 
S. C., Feb. 24, 1894. 


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The September Midland Monthly (Des Moines) 
comes laden with good things. Elaine Goodale 
Eastman, the poet, whose career among the 
Indians is itself a romance, has an intensely in 
teresting story, "A Hasty Conclusion." Director 
Sage, of the Weather Service, answers the co- 
nundrum, "Do battles bring rain?" Mr. Me* 
Cowans "Mi* understood Man" is Professor 
Herron, of Grinnell, whom Governor Crounse 
attacked at the Nebraska Chautauqua. "Cycling 
in the Rockies" will interest all cyclists and 
would-be cyclists. "A Typical Midland Conven- 
tion" will interest all. Dozens of portraits and 
many fine views enrich the number. 

The summaries of important articles that have 
just appeared in the principal periodicals of the 
world is edited with the usual skill, and the new 
books are classified and noticed with care and in- 
telligence. The frontispiece of the number is a 
fine portrait of Li Hung Chang, the Chinese 
Prime Minister, and the number contains many 
other portraits of American and foreign celebri- 
ties. The department entitled "Current History 
in Caricature" is unusually full in this number, 
and includes a number of interesting and curious 
cartooos from European and Japanese artists, 
illustrative of the ^ar in the East. Altogether 
the Review of Reviezus is quitt maintaining its 
indispensable character. 

A new feature of the Arena , which appears in 
the September number, and one that will attract 
those who enjoy the light and airy literary essay, 
is Walter Blackburn Harte's causcrie. It is 
written in that vein of humor which reminds the 
reader of the older English writers With the 
soberest admixture of fantastic humor and seri- 
ousness, it treats of "Certain Satisfactions of 
Prejudice." The new series of papers is to be of 
a literary and social character, and will cover a 
wide range of subjects. It is to be a continua- 
tion of Harte’s "In a Corner at Dodsley’s" pa- 
pers, which used to be a feature of the New 
England Magazine. It promises to be as 


amusing, and will probably become quite popu- 
lar. 

There is more than ihe usual amount of ad- 
venture to attract the youthful readers to v 
Nicholas for September. Decatur and So men 
as told in Miss Molly Elliot Seawells serial, le*j 
the American naval forces in the memorable 
storming of Tripoli. Edwin Fiske Kimball tells 
the thrilling story he took down from the lips d 
a Nantucket life-saver of "The Wreck of the 
‘Markham,*" and the rescue of the crew. Ho* 
ard Pyle's sturdy hero meets for the first time 
the heroine who is, presumably, to play an tm 
portant part in "Jack Ballister's Fortunes 
Naturalist Hornaday describes the Walrus. C T 
Lummis has another of his Pueblo folk-lore 
stories, and Palmer Cox recounts the adventure 
of the beloved Brownies in Kentucky. There is 
a humorous story by Tudor Jenks, "Anthony 
and the Ancients," and poems by Oliver Herford 
F. Opper, Edith M. Thomas, and Mrs. Man 
Mapes Dodge. 

Millions of acres of land are lying idle in west 
ern Kansas and Nebraska, in Colorado, "Wyoming 
Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Arizona. New 
Mexico, and California, wanting only the magic 
touch of water to make them bloom into a flower 
garden and yet producing nothing but lean coyotes 
sun dogs and scenery. One million acres of land, 
worth one dollar and twenty- five cents per acre 
or one million and two hundred and fifty tbomand 
dollars, if watered, would bring eleven million 
two hundred and fifty thousand. According to 
the estimates of Maj. Powell, there are one million 
square miles of these lands which need only 
water to render them productive. Special Ag?nf 
Hinton estimates that there are seventeen tm-ian 
acres of arid land which the general government 
could aod should reclaim. If we can add seven- 
teen million acres to our cultivable domain we 
shall increase our capacity for supporting a firm- 
ing population as much as though we bad ib* 
sorbed one-third of the cultivated land of the 


Digitized by ^.oooie 



THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


United Kingdom, or one-fifth of that of France, 
or one-fourth that of Germany, or all the culti- 
vated land of Sweden, Norway and Greece put 
together. — McClure's Magazine for September. 

Frederick Wilbert Stokes, who was a member 
of the first Peary Relief Expedition, gives a new 
idea of the charms of Arctic landscapes in a pa- 
per on "Color at the Far North," which he has 
written for the September number of The Cen- 
tury . Despite the desolation, he found, from an 
artistic standpoint, a land of beauty, with seas 
and skies of surpassing loveliness. The intensity 
and brilliance of color impress the beholder as 
something supernatural. Our sojourn was from 
the middle of July, through August, and a few 
days of September— a period when the polar lati- 
tudes are teeming with animal, insect, and plant 
life. Of this brief period only am I qualified to 
speak; but from the accounts given by those who 
have passed through the long, dreaded night sea- 
ion. the phenomena occurring in the heavens are 
most beautiful. The chief peculiarity of color 
at the North, so far as my short experience tells 
me, is that there are no semitones, the general effect 
being either very black or just the opposite, in- 
tensely brilliant and rich in color. In fact, a sum 
mer’s midnight at the North has all the brilliance 
of our brightest noon, with the added intensity 
and richness of our most vivid sunset, while noon, 
when the sun is obscured by threatening masses 
of storm-clouds, is black. Indeed, it is the true 
land of "impressionism." 

At some time or other in his life almost every 
islander seems to have followed the sea, the man 
who drives your buckboard may have been more 
than once to China, and it is extremely likely 
that the farmer who brings you your green peas has 
been tossed for many a week of hours in a cragy 
dory off the deadly Banks which cost us every 
year so many lives. In nearly every home there 
is some keepsake from far away lands, some 
tribute from arctic or tropical seas, and when at 
last an old captain makes up his mind to stay 
ashore it is certain that there will be something 
about his house to show his former calling — a 
pair of huge whale ribs on either side of the front 
door, flowers growing in shells that have held the 
murmur of the Indian Ocean, and instead of a 
cock or banner a model of some sort of a boat 
perched on the barn for a weather-vane. That a 
sailor man is a handy man is true the world over, 
but the Maine man seems to have a peculiar 
knack with wood, from the lumber camp to the 
cabinet-maker's bench, and many a carpenter 
working by the day will turn out a well finished 


499 

sideboard or an odd piece of artistic furniture 
from the roughest sort of pencil sketch. They 
are good smiths, too, and tne best of their 
wrought-iron recalls the breadth and freedom of 
the early German and Italian work . — From " Bar 
Harbor," by F. Marion Crawford , in the Sep- 
tember Scribner. 

"A few days ago I met a friend bronzed and 
jolly. He had been fishiag at Raritan Bay, and 
declared 'It was Great I* So it his been up the 
Hudson, in Barnegat Bay, and in fact at nearly 
every point famous in the past for bluefish, weak- 
fish or bass. I could not help envying my friend, 
for alas, my time for such doings is net yet. To 
ease my sorrow I took a boat in the evening for 
Coney Island. Arrived there, I lingered mourn- 
fully upon the Old Iron Pier. A few men were 
moving to and fro, but I paid no attention to 
them, for my he irt was away — anywhere where 
'there's fishinV On a sudden I heard the whir 
of a reel, and a man near me began to prance 
around. That fellow was actually milling with a 
big bass — and right under my nose! Then I 
pranced 'round, too. I did not know who the 
man was, but he knew how to play a heavy fish. 
To and fro the battle waged; the man was skill- 
ful and the fish game and strong. In my hand 
was a phantom rod. but I got my 'volts' up my 
imaginary line just the same. At last the net 
was lowered and we landed him ! — I with my 
ghost tackle and the other fellow with the real 
tools. He took his big bass carefully to himself. 
I hugged my phantom captive and voyaged home 
at peace with all mankind — I'd been 'fishin',' any- 
way !" — "Rod and Gun ." — Outing for Septem- 
ber. 


At Rest. 

Shall I lie down to sleep and see no more 
The splendid affluence of earth and sky; 

The proud procession of the stars go by; 

The white moon sway the sea aud woo the shore; 
The morning lark to the far heavens soar; 

The nightingale with the soft dusk draw nigh; 
The summer roses bud, and bloom, and die; 
Will life and life’s delight for me be o’er? 

Nay! I shall be, in my low, silent home, 

Of all Earth's gracious ministries aware: 

Glad with the gladness of the risen day, 

Or gently sad with sadness of the gloam, 

Yet done with striving and foreclosed of care — 
"At rest — at rest!" — what better thing to say? 
— Louise Chandler Moulton in the September 
Century. 


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Attorney Ireland, of the San Antonio & Gulf 
Shore, recently made the statement that the 
money for the building of the road was in hand, 
that the construction force had been doubled, 
and that the entire work was under contract. 

# * * 

Ex-Governor Evans, of Denver, Colorado, is 
said to be working out the details of a railroad 
combination which will cover a large portion of 
the territory west of the Mississippi. As outlined 
by some of the daily papers the plan is to build a 
road from Julesburg in Colorado to O'Neill, Ne- 
braska, some 240 miles, thereby furnishing ready 
connection for the Great Norther^, Chicago, Mil- 
waukee & St. Paul, Illinois Central and Union 
Pacific. The combination would be truly a great 
one covering the country from the lakes to Mex- 
ico and the Pacific, but its practicability remains 
to be determined. The interests thus sought to 
be brought together are in many respects con- 
flicting, and anything more than an armed neu- 
trality is hardly to be expected of them. At any 
rate it will require something more than mere 
rumor to convince the public of the consolida- 
tion. 

# * * 

England has been a trifle slow in accepting the 
electric railroad, but promises to take the lead in 
the use of other applications of that power. An 
electric parcels van and an omnibus were recently 
given trial trips in London and proved so suc- 
cessful that both have been running regularly 
since. These practical experiments have shown 
the vehicles to be under perfect control. They 
roll along over the pavements steadily and easily, 
avoiding all obstacles with greater certainty than 
is possible with horses, and making much better 
time. The expense attached is said to be but 
little more than half that of the ordinary vehicle 
in the same class. Power is furnished by two 
storage batteries carried under the seats, and the 
motor is in a box slung between the rear wheels, 


to which it is applied. .Should further experi- 
ments sustain the promise now made electricity 
will, doubtless, soon work another revolution in 
the street traffic of large cities. 

» « • 


The Lewis engine is as unique in construction 
as it is singular in movement. A full description 
is very properly withheld pending the completion 
of the working model, which is an indispensable 
preliminary in securing a patent. But we are 
permitted to give a few of its general and more 
promising features. It is rotary in motion, its 
motor is steam, but its steam is to be created is 
transitu by electricity. For which purpose dyna 
mos of requisite capacity will be stored in the 
upper part in the rear end of the locomotive. Is 
the upper part of the front end will be carried a 
condenser. 

This will reduce the steam to water again and 
return it to the tank underneath, to be returned 
to the boilers by a pump, operated by a wind 
wheel carried in front of the engioe. This ar- 
rangement obviates the necessity of delay en route 
to replenish the boiler. Thus, if found desirable, 
it can, without stop, run continuously as long and 
as far as there are rails for it to run on. 

This anomalous machine is divested of all su- 
perfluous and • isagreeable concomitants. It will 
have no fire, no smoke, no cinders, no sparks, no 
tender or stoker. It will have no piston rod, no 
dead centre, no crank, no cylinder, no cam rods 
or cut-off. thus minimizing friction. 

Jhe driving wheels are to be ten feet in diame- 
ter, covering thirty linpal feet of rail at ea*h rev- 
olution. But its comparative superiority will be 
more readily comprehended by the statement that 
it has a leverage of two hundred and forty inches, 
while the best engines now in nse have but forty* 
six inches. . 

This enormous advantage is the direct result of 
the continuous, unremitting, linear application of 
power, which gives it not only uniform progress, 
but startling speed. Its common jogging averse 
will not be less than sixty miles an hour, while 
two hundred miles an hour will be easily witfio 
the limits of its capacity. 

It seems chimerical to talk of riding from New 
York to Chicago in five hours, but this machine 
gives promise of its realization. — Inter- Ocean 


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Brother W. J. Wright, of Division No. n6, 
would be pleased to learn the present address of 
Brothers W. E. Jones and Isaac Owen. 


The Herald is the brightest and most readable 
of the Chicago dailies, and thoroughly deserves 
its enormous circulation, which is observable on 
every band * 

V 

The 12th annual convention of the Roadmas- 
ters' Association of America was opened in Tam- 
many Hall, New York City, on the nth inst. 
There was a good attendance, and every prospect 
for a pleasant and profitable session. 

V 

Readers of this magazine can obtain the St. 
Paul Weekly Pioneer Press from now until after 
election for io cents Stamps accepted in pay 
ment. This is a great offer, and everyone should 
take advantage of it. Address Weekly Pioneer 
Press . St. Paul, Minn. 

v 

Scarcely a week passes in which The Chicago 
Herald does not "scoop" its competitors on im- 
portant news. Its Washington service is especi- 
ally good, political appointments and movements 
being frequently foretold with marvelous accu- 
racy. * 

v 

Brother Frank J. Boylan, secretary of 224, has 
been appointed yard master for the Wilmington 
& Northern at Wilmington, Del., the appoint- 
ment taking effect Sept. 1. This promotion has 
been well won, and both Bro. Boylan and the 
company are to be congratulated thereon. 


Brother C. H. Jenks has been appointed super- 
intendent of the Northern Division of the Great 
Northern, with headquarters at Grand Forks, 
N. D. Bro. Jenks was superintendent of the 
Montana Central until last January, and the abil- 
ity shown by him in the conduct of that road 
won him his present position. 


Brother O. O. Winter has been appointed 
superintendent of the Wilmar Division of the 
Great Northern, and will hereafter have his 
headquarters in Minneapolis. Bro. Winter has 
heretofore been superintendent of the Brecken- 
ridge Division of the same system, and will per- 
form the duties of both positions for the present, 
at least. 

* # 

* 

Traffic is reported as being heavier at this time 
than it was at the corresponding season last year, 
and the roads are not a little encouraged thereby. 

V 

The world's tunnels are estimated to number 
about 1,142, with a total length of 514 miles. 
There are about 1,000 railroad tunnels, 90 canal 
tunnels, 40 conduit tunnels, and 12 subaqueous 
tunnels, having an aggregate length of about 350 
miles, 70 miles, 85 miles, and 9 miles respectively. 

# * 

# 

The fourth biennial convention of the B. of L. 
E , was opened at Harrisburg, Pa., on the 10th inst. 
The attendance was the largest in the history of 
the order, and it was expected that the delibera- 
tions would be productive of much good to the 
membership. 

V 

Brother W. E. Wright, of Division No. 216, is 
anxious to learn the present address of Brother 
W. S. O'Brien, who was in Cartagena, South 
America, when last heard from. Anyone know- 
ing the desired address will confer a favor by 
communicating with Brother Wright at 116 No. 
Wapello St., Ottumwa, Iowa. 

V 

Brother H. Bridgham, of Division No. 222, 
was so unfortunate as to have his right foot run 
over while cutting off cars at Lemont, 111 ., on the 
17th of last August. Fortunately, while the iujo- 
ries received were very painful, they will not ne- 
cessitate the loss of the foot. All will join in 
hoping that Brother Bridgham may experience a 
speedy and complete recovery. 

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4 


502 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

Division card No. 6826, the new issue, bas been The Cleveland Baking Powder (bat we are ad* 


stoltn from Brother J. B. Caine, of Division No. 
363. It is reported that an expelled member of 
(be B. of R. T. bas been seen in the neighbor- 
hood with such a card, but its number could not 
be learned. All Brothers will please maintain a 
careful watch for this card, and send it in at once 
when found. 

V 

We have reliable information that one F. For- 
resting, who is seeking courtesies of various kinds 
at the hands of members, is a fraud of the worst 
kind. When last heard of he was in Texas. He 
secured by fraud an old card for ’94, bearing 
name of C. H. Loomis. The only safe way is to 
refuse to recognize anyone who presents one of 
these old cards, even though he may be well 
posted. 

%* 

On our advertising pages will be found Mar- 
burg Bros'. “Seal of North Carolina" tobacco. 
For those that must smoke, it is essential that 
they smoke the purest and best tobacco. This 
brand has been recommended to us as containing 
all the elements that enter into good, pure smok- 
ing tobacco. Its sale? are enormous, and its 
growth and increased output will vouchsafe for 
both of these statements. 

# # 

# 

The management of the “Erie" issued under 
date of August 1st, a circular “Card of Thanks" 
to their employes for their exertions during the 
late troubles, and their refusal to interrupt the 
operation of the road at the solicitation of the 
leaders of the boycott. It is pleasing to see a dis- 
position to recognize faithful service, and it is to 
be hoped that the gratitude now felt by the man- 
agement, will not be lost sight of, if at some time 
in the future those same faithful and loyal em- 
ployes stand at the bar of their judgment seeking 
justice or possibly lenieacy. 

# # 

* 

A recent Minneapolis dispatch says: “Com- 
mencing next Monday all Firemen on the Soo' 
railroad will be in the employ of the engineers of 
the road instead of the company, as has always 
been the case up to this time. The object sought 
to be obtained by this course is 10 improve the 
personnel of the firemen, to rid the service of 
any jealousies that have existed, and to make 
every engineer interested in securing the best 
possible class of men for firemen, and to make 
firemen loyal and efficient, for the reason their 
employment and promotion depend on the 
recommendation of the men for whom they are 
firing." 


vertising on our pages, is highly commended to 
us as a necessity in the household of the railroad 
man. Good bread and good pastry are vital to 
the strength and nerve of men who are taxed to 
their utmost during their laboring hours, and 
hence it behooves the housewife to supply to the 
husband and sons who are engaged in railroad 
work, such food as will create bone and sinew. 
Good cooking is the all essential, and good cook* 
ing is best produced by good material, hence the 
Cleveland Baking Powder is recommended as pro- 
ducing the surest and safest results in the culinary 
art. We take pleasure in commending to oar 
readers anything that has proved so meritorious 
when subjected to the most exacting analysis, as 
the Cleveland's Baking Powder. 


Superintendent Maguire, of the Erie, recently 
brought out an invention which practical railroad 
men believe will prove almost invaluable in yard 
work. The following description of the device is 
given by an eye witness of its work: 

The device i« a hollow iron pole, inside of which a 
wooden rod rests upon a spring. This pole is attached to 
a switching engine just back of the pilot. The present 
manner of making up trains is to pull out the car desired 
and all coupled ahead of it and make the proper switches. 
By the new system the switch engine runs upon a track 
parallel to the one upon which the train to be sorted 
stands, instead of at the head. The pole is then set 
against the side of the lower car of the train and pushed 
with sufficient force to carry it down to the single^ track 
which connects with a series of tracks, each of which is 
set apart for certain classes of merchandise. Aside from 
the saving of time, which is seventy j>eT cent, over the 
present style, the expense of handling is reduced to the 
same ratio. Another important feature is that braketnen 
have no coupling to do, only uncoupling while the train is 
at a stand-still. This has reduced the number of acci- 
dents down to zero. 


Slowly but surely the public are beginning to 
give due credit to Conductor Sullivan for the her- 
oism he displayed in saving the train load of pas- 
sengers in his charge at the time of the recent 
terrible forest fires in Minnesota. One of the 
passengers on that train gave him the following 
well earned acknowledgement in the Pioneer - 
Press : 

A mistaken impression has got abroad that Conductor 
Sullivan, of the ill-fated limited, lost his senses during the 
mad backward chase of Engineer Root *ith the cyclonic 
flames. The impression was spread by some of the pas- 
sengers on this train, that Sullivan oecame •'rattled" and 
began rushing up and down through the cars like x 
man. The fact is, Sullivan was perfectly calm and col- 
lected, and rushed up and down the cars because he M* 
many of his passengers were crazed and were about to 
leap from the windows or do something else which BHant 
certain and instantaneous destruction. These paiaenfer* 
were “rattled,’’ and Sullivan was sensible, and remaiow 
sensible until long after he had passed through tbeietnble 
ordeal. 

The poor fellow went through enough to make ten nien 
crazy. It makes me mad to hear anyone find fault with 
the crew, and if you hear any of it, please tell them for 
me that they don’t know what they’re talking about* * 
don't believe that any living men could or would bav* 
done better, and but very few could have done aa 


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THE RAILWAY 

It is reported that the New York, Susquehanna 
& Western railroad has adopted a new form of 
signal, the invention of A. C. Gordon, of Roches- 
ter. The theory of the system is not only to give 
the engineer warning of a train ahead, but to in- 
dicate to him the time that has elapsed since a 
given signal was passed. Each train sets the sig- 
nal eo as to display a red half-disc. This half- 
disc changes for half an hour gradually from red 
to while, and the relative proportions of the two 
colors displayed, show the engineer of the next 
train the time elapsed between the two trains. 

The line which separates the white from the 
red, moves like the minute band of a clock, and 
indicates by its angular position the time elapsed 
since the last train passed. After half an hour 
the half-disc is all white, and then the engineer 
knows that he is half an hour or more behind the 
preceding train. At night the signal is illumi- 
nated by the headlight of the locomotive. The 
successive signals indicate to the engineer of the 
following train whether he is gaining or losing on 
the forward train. The half-disc changes to full 
red each time a train passes. — Elmira Telegram. 

The Clover. 

Some sing of the lily and daisy and rose, 

And the pansies and pinks that the summer time 
throws 

In the green, grassy lap of the medder that lays 
Blinkin' up at the skies through the sunshiny 
days; 

But what is the lily and all of the rest 
Of the flowers to a man with a heart in his 
breast, 

That has sipped, brimmin* full of the honey and 
dew, 

Of the sweet clover blossoms his boyhood knew? 

I never set bevey on a clover field now, 

Or fool round a stable or climb in a mow, 

But my childhood comes back just as clear and 
t as plain 

A* the smell of the clover I'm sniffin’ again; 

And I wander away, in a barefooted dream, 

Where I tangled my toes in the blossoms that 
gleam 

With the dew of the dawn of the morning of 
love, 

Ere it wept o’er the graves that I’m weeping 
above. 

And so I love clover. It seems like a part 
Of the sacredest sorrow and joy of my heart; 

And whenever it blossoms, oh! there let me bow 
And thank the good Lord as I'm thankin' Him 
now, 

And pray to Him still for the strength, when I 
die, 


CONDUCTOR. 


503 


To go out in the clover and tell it good-by, 

And lovingly nestle my face in its bloom, 

While my soul slips away on a breath of perfume. 

— James Whitcomb Riley. 


A True Difference. — Traveling in a second- 
class carriage, a gentleman had a small misun- 
derstanding with a lady in reference to the open- 
ing of a window. “You don't appear to know 
the difference between second and third class," 
the lady said, cuttingly. “O, madam!" he re- 
plied, “I am an old railway traveler. 1 know all 
the class distinctions. In the first class the pas- 
sengers behave rudely to the guard; in the third 
the guards behave rudely to the passengers; in 
the second (with a bow to his fellow passenger) 
the passengers behave rudely to each other. — 
London Tit-Bits. 


The Wonders of the Sky. — The Professor (en- 
thusiastically) — Ah! Miss Nomer! astronomy is a 
grand study. Look now, for instance, at Orion; 
yonder is Mars; over there is Jupiter, and that 
beautiful blue star is Sirius. Miss Nomer (deeply 
interested) — Oh, Professor! How wonderful! 
But, tell me, how did you astronomers ever find 
out the names of all those stars? — Answers. 


A Doubt. — Minutes lengthened into hours and 
hours into days, but she came not. 

Friends told him she was faithless. But, sit- 
ting in the midst of his lonely home, he hoped. 
“She has eloped with another," they urged. 

He shook his head. 

“Perhaps " 

It was evident that he was arguing against hit 
own sad convictions. 

*' she is waiting for change somewhere." — 

Detroit Tribune . 


In Mid Ocean. 

Thou hast not here the limit of a shore; 

N 1 wing, no star, hints of a beating heart; 

No sail, or near or far, thou seest more; 

Alone, with two infinities, thou art. 

— Charlotte Fiske Bates in the September Cen- 
tury. 


Judge Whaley, of Madison, Tex., declined to 
hold a small boy who had been arrested for eat- 
ing a dinner that had been sent to a schoolmate. 
No doubt the judge thought of the safe old axiom: 
It’s a wise child that knows i 4 s own fodder.- 
Philadeiphia Ledger. 


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504 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR . 


ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OF AMERICA. 


MUTUAL BENEPIT DEPARTMENT. 


cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sept, i; Expires Nov. 30, 1894. 

Assessment No. 285 is tor death of A. B. Lawrence, Aug. 14, 1894. 
Assessment No. 286 is for Expense, date Aug. 14, 1894. 


BENEFITS PAID FROM JULY 21 TO AUG. 22, INCLUSIVE. 


Ben. 

No. 

AM’T. 

FOR 

OF 

CAUSE. 

Cert No. 

Series. 

DIV. 

717 

$3,000 

Death 

R. C. Banks 

Small Pox 

235 

C 

69 

718 

1,000 

Death 

M. C. Dunn 

Consumption 

2416 

A 

8 

719 

2,000 

Death 

John Joseph 

Shot 

851 

B 

85 

720 

1,000 

Death 

J. L. Wood 

Shot 

3435 

A 

296 

721 

2,000 

Death 

H. W. Marsh 

Accident 

326 

B 

1x2 

722 

2,000 

Death 

C. H. Haselton 

Hemorrhage 

8 

B 

XOI 

723 

3,000 

Death 

G. B. Finley 

Infl. of Bowels 

62 

C 

185 

724 

2,000 

Death 

W. B. Usher 

Cancer 

12 

B 

276 

725 

3,000 

Death 

S. B. Tullis 

Consumption 

1578 

C 

74 

726 

3,000 

Dis. 

Wm. Lomassney 

Loss of Leg 

4 XI 7 

C 

176 


ALL APPROVED CLAIMS ARE PAID. 


NUMBER OF MEMBERS ASSESSED. 

Series A, 4.908; Series B, 2,742; Series C, 4,758; Series D, 359; Series E, 87. Amount of as- 
sessment No. 285. $26,537; No. 286, $26,537; Total number of members 12.912. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 


Received on Mortuary Assessments to July 31, 1894 $1,672.1x920 

Received on Expense Assessments to July 31, 1894 25,995.00 

Received on Applications, etc., to July 31, 1894 27,684.44 


$1,725,798.64 

Total amount of benefits paid to July 31, 1894 $1,644,804.00 

Total amount of expenses paid to July 31, 1894 61.851.94 

Insurance cash on hand July 31, 1894 19, 142.70 


$1,725,798.64 

EXPENSES PAID DURING JULY. # 

Incidental, $15.44; Fees returned, $8.00; Stationery and Printing, $10.75; Legal, $210.57; Sal' 
aries, $380 00; Postage. $131.00; Assessments returned, $8.00; Total, $763.76. 

The above amounts were paid out during the month, but items of postage, printing, legal, etc., 
often cover supplies and work for more than one month, and sometimes several months. 


Received on Assessment No. 281 to Aug. 20 $34.12700 

Received on Assessment No. 282 to Aug. 20 24, 175 00 

Received on Assessment No. 283 to Aug. 20 .. 9.74400 

Received on Assessment No 284 to Aug. 20 3,308.00 


WM. P. DANIELS. Secretary 


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(Qraeocm* 

Brother W. H. Crasson, of Division No. 157, 
died suddenly at his home in Middleboro, 
Mass., July 26th, aged forty-six years and six 
months, leaving a wjdow and eight children to 
mourn the loss of an affectionate husband and 
father. He was a charter member of Division 
No. 157, and one of its most consistent mem- 
bers. He had been in the employ of the Old 
Colony Railroad and Steamship Companies 
for twenty six years, and was one of the victims 
of the terrible Wollaston disaster in 1878, re- 
ceiving injuries from which be suffered during 
the remainder of his life, although the imme- 
diate cause of hi* death is attributed to rheu- 
matism of the heart. No death has occurred 
on the road fora long time causing more heart- 
felt sorrow. A whole-souled Brother, a genial 
friend, he held the unqualified respect of all 
who ever met him. He was buried on Sunday 
July 29, Rev. Father O’Neil, a close friend of 
Erother Crasson, officiating. The pall bear- 
ers were Brothers Tower, Moriarty, Granger, 
Harrington and Washburn, of Division No. 
157. and Fitzgerald, of Division No 122. The 
floral decorations from the Order, from the 
associate conductors on the road, and from 
other friends, were many, and very beautiful. 

®retb*n>atj. 

EI Capitan Division loses another one of its £ 
members by the death of Brother Thos. Treth- 
eway. Just how his death occurred, is only a 
matter of conjecture. He was running a 
freight train on the Coast Division, and left a 
small station near Gilroy at about 4 a. m., on 
the 13th inst. The supposition is that he was 
going over the top of the train to reach the ca- 
boose, and in climbing down on the la3t car, 
fell, and his left leg caught under the wheels 
and was cut off between the knee and ankle. 

So much loss of blood before being found and 
the removal to San Francisco, proved too 
much for his strength, and he passed away at 
5 p. m., Aug. xj. The funeral was held in 
Stockton. He leaves a daughter about grown, 
and two sons aged about fourteen and eight 
years, and four brothers residing in that state. 

glortou. 

At a recent meeting of Division No. 114, res- 
olutions were passed expressing the sorrow of 


the members at the death of Wm. Norton, son 
of Brother D. Norton, aged sixteen years. 
While on a visit to his grandparents near 
Scottsdale, Pa., on August 1, he went into one 
of the neighboring coal mines, and was acci- 
dentally killed. The sympathy of the mem- 
bers is extended to his parents in their great 
loss. 

At a recent meeting of Freeport Division No. 
235, resolutions were adopted expressing the 
sorrow of the members at the death of Brother 
Charles E. Cutting, and their sympathy with 
the family thus deprived of a loving and de- 
voted husband and father. 

IPtntcv*. 

At a regular meeting of Division No. 114, 
held August 19, 1894, resolutions were adopted 
expressing the sincere sympathy of the mem- 
bers with Brother H. G. Winters in the loss of 
his beloved wife, Josie U. Winters. 

ghirea*. 

Brother Malvin Dursse, of Division No. 208, 
died at ‘the home of his brother-in-law in 
Charleston, S. C., on August 16, after a long 
and painful illness. The Nezvs and Courier 
of that city, in its issue of the 17th, paid the 
following tribute to his memory: “Captain 
Dursse was just 27 years of age, and leaves a 
wife and one child. For five years Captain 
Dursse had been a conductor on the Charles- 
ton, Sumter & Northern Railroad. He had a 
large number of friends in this city and 
throughout the State, who will sincerely regret 
to learn of his untimely death. He was a man 
who commanded the entire respect of all who 
knew him. Captain Dursse was a member of 
the Order of Railway Conductors and of the 
Knights of Pythias. His funeral will take 
place at the Citadel Square Baptist Church 
this afternoon at 3 o’clock.” 

frloitrg. 

Katie, wife of Brother A. H. Rowe, of Divi- 
sion No. 12, was laid to rest August 24 last. 
Mrs. Rowe had been afflicted with consump- 
tion for four years, and had borne all the suf- 
fering incident to that dread disease, with true 
Christian fortitude. The bereaved husband 
and family will have the sympathy of all in 
their great sorrow. 


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OBITUARY. 


<& 008 in. 

On the night of August 23rd, Brother Rich- 
ard Goggin, of Baraboo Division No. 68, was 
killed at Jefferson function while attempting 
to put some bums off his train as it was pull- 
ing out of the station. As soon as he was 
missed the train was stopped, and search 
was made for him. He was found about a 
quarter of a mile west of Jefferson Junction, 
lying beside the track in an unconscious con- 
dition, and a terrible ga&h cut on the back of 
his head. He was at once taken to Madison, 
where medical aid was summoned, but he was 
found to be beyond help, and died in about 
two hours after arrival. An inquest was held, 
but the jury did not agree as to the manner in 
which he met his death, so it was postponed 
until Monday, when a verdict of murder was 
returned. His remains were taken to Union 
Centre, his old home, and buried the Sunday 
following. Brother Goggin was an industrious 
young man of good habits and pleasant dispo- 
sition, and was well liked by all who knew 
him. He was a loyal member of our Order, 
and will be greatly missed. Baraboo Division 
No. 68 extend their greatest sympathy to the 
aged parents, brothers and sisters who are 
called upon to mourn his loss. 

GonneUtt* 

Charlotte Division No. 221 mourns the death 
of Brother J. B. Connelly, which occurred at 
Lenoir, N. C., on June 28th last. Brother 
Connelly's death was peculiarly sad. He was 
taken with typhoid fever, and passed away 
after only a few days* sickness. He was the, 
youngest member of Division No. 221, and 
was a very enthusiastic worker. He never 
married, as he had a mother and sisters de- 
pendent upon him for support, and was a 
most exemplary son. Thus has passed away 
one who was the pride, solace and support of 
an aged mother, and an honor to the Order of % 
Railway Conductors. 

3ptxu yieit. 

The members of Division No. 233 have been 
called upon to mourn the loss of a true Bro- 
ther and friend in Brother T. Van Vleit, who 
passed to his final reward on Aug. 19 last. 
Brother Van Vleit left two daughters, to whom 
will be extended the sympathy of the entire 
Order in their bereavement. 

Brother Robert E. Boylan, Chief Conductor 
of Division No. 224, and yardmaster for the 
Wilmington & Northern road, was found dead 


in bed at his home at Wilmington, Del., on 
the night of Wednesday, August 22 last. De- 
ceased had left his home on the Thursday be- 
fore for a week's vacation, but returned Sun- 
day night without informing bis friends. The 
last seen of him alive was on Monday when be 
said he was going home to get some sleep 
after his all night ride. There was no one in 
the house at the time, and the supposition is 
that death from heart disease must have fol- 
lowed speedily upon his retirement, the indi- 
cations all pointing to that conclusion when 
the body was discovered by his brother two 
days after. Brother Boylan leaves three small 
children, now donbly orphaned, as their mo- 
ther died some six months ago. In his death 
Division No. 224 and the Order lose a faithful 
and zealous member, and his children a 
loving and indulgent father. The heartfelt 
sympathy of all will go out to the bereaved 
ones in their hour of supreme sorrow. 

$Ul«on, 

Brother James F. Nelson, of Division No. 
123, was foully murdered by a drunken negro 
passenger while in charge of an excursion 
train on the Brunswick & Western road near 
Nahunta, Ga., July 22 last. According to the 
testimony of eye witnesses, before the train 
arrived at Nahunta the negroes had a row, end 
knives and pistols were drawn. There was 
great apprehension of bloodshed, when Bro- 
ther Nelson stepped into the midst of the 
rioters. He asked them to keep qniet and 
make friends. Tom Johnson, who led the row, 
replied that he would see that peace was re- 
stored immediately. During this conversation 
pistols and knives were waved in the air, and 
several shots were fired. When Brother Nel- 
son started to leave the car and enter another 
coach, Johnson shot him in the back, causing 
almost instant death. The murdered man was 
quickly surrounded by some of the most 
peaceful passengers, but their efforts were of 
no avail, as life was extinct. Johnson stopped 
the train by pulling the bell cord, and escaped 
in the confusion. His cowardly and unpro- 
voked murder created great excitement 
throughout the state, and large rewards were 
offered for his capture, but at the last account 
he was still unpunished. Brother Nelson had 
but just returned from spending a vacation 
with his family at St. Simons. He was ex- 
ceedingly popular wherever known, being an 
upright citizen, a capable official, a genial 
companion and a loyal member of the Order. 
His tragic death- was an especially heavy blow 
to his devoted wife, and to her will be extended 
the sympathy of all. 


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VOL. XI. CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, OCT., 1894. NO. 10. 



CONTRIBUTED. 


A PLEASANT JAUNT. 


BY FRANK A. MYERS. 


Mrs. Charles Bentley had just returned from a 
swing around the circle with the ticket agents and 
their wives, and she told her friends all about it. 
She is a vivacious, canty, jolly, humorous little 
body, and she told her story with many hearty 
laughs and a few comic nods and wink*. It was 
really spicy to hear her. Then she is a pretty 
brunette. Her sweet, gurgling laughter and pe- 
culiar individuality cropping out through her en- 
ergetic talk makes it impossible to transcribe her 
animated tale anything like she told it. 

Her "hubby” thinks there's nobody like Mame, 
and Mame thinks there's nohody like Charley. 
Their lives are living romances. 

“O,” she said, when enlarging on the many 
good qualities of Charley, “O, we never spoon — 
no-o-o' We don’t know how — in a crowd. Why, 
I wouldn’t swap Charley off for any other man 
that goes in tanned leather — fact!” 

And thus she glibly rattled on. And some way 
you liked to hear the sweet, lively thing. You 
couldn’t help it. 

Now Charley was a ticket agent way down in 
New Mexico, and that is how they came to go on 
a pleasure jaunt this summer around through 
Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, 
and home again. 

And this is her story: 

"You see, it was a trip by the agents and their 
wives. We were the guests of the railroads, and 
we had, O. such a splendid time — better than 
peaches and cream. Our railroad fare was all 


free, but still we spent about two hundred dollars. 
\ve couldn't afford it; but still it all went. What 
was the dif ? Charley said he did not begrudge 
it, and would not take it back if he could. No* 
body but me and Charley, you see, and we might 
as well spend it and let others have it as not. 
It’s gone now, but we had our pleasure out of it 
It’s all right. 

"We set out from home — a whole crowd of us 
— and swung around the circle, joy with us every- 
where. We left everything behind, forgot every- 
thing— wanted to — and if we didn’t have a time — 
O, my! Never will forget it the longest day I 
live. It was an unusual trip — all the agents of 
the Western Association. The railroads did the 
entertaining in royal style — furnished us sleepers 
and dining cars, but for these luxuries we had to 
pay extra, of course And wherever we went the 
mayors of the cities threw open wide the gates 
and gave us the freedom of the town — whatever 
that was. That was what they said, anyway. It 
was all right, of course, because they said it. 
These city magistrates made great speeches some- 
times to us, welcoming us to their towns, and 
treating us as specially honored guests. When- 
ever they spoke we all cheered at the proper 
time, and made the speaker feel good. That was 
right. Why not? And they made us feel we 
were 'some,' too. Taffy for two, you see. We 
gave as good as was sent. # 

"As we proceeded through the 'picturesque* 
scenery of New Mexico and Arizona, feasting our 


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508 

home-tired eyes and telling everybody to look 
here at this and there at that, to look at that 
mountain and again at the deep gorge below, to 
look at the virgin lands and at the green growing 
vegetation, to look at the humming young towns 
and at the great ranches, new persons were added 
to our number. O, it was great fun — fun alive — 
to bear some of these tenderfeet pronounce some 
of these jaw breaking Spanish names. It re- 
minded us so much of ourselves when we first 
came to New Mexico. These tenderfeet would 
look out and read the name of the station and 
then try to pronounce it. They would spell, for 
instance, A-l (al) b-u (bu) q-u-e-r-q-u-e (querk), 
Al-bu-querk, instead of Al-bu-quer-qne; or they 
would spell out painfully, B-e-r (ber) n-a (na) 1-i-l 
(lil) l-o lo) and pronounce it that way. They 
couldn't get the right twist on the tongue. And 
then we would all double up. O, my! It was so 
funny to hear them. 

4 When we got to Los Angeles the California 
contingent met us with sleepers and dining cars, 
and they bad fruits and flowers for the ladies, 
and wines and cigars for the gents — all California 
productions. And they were fine — 00m! um! It 
was so nice in them. O, California is a great 
place, a regular paradise, finer than silk. No, 
you needn't look so, I didn't touch the wine. It's 
not modest for a lady to drink in public. 

' The Californians toasted us when they joined 
ns. And don't yon think, my crowd began to 
cheer and stamp their feet and call on me for a 
speech, and they would not quit. I sat perfectly 
still for a long time, and still they called for me 
to respond. Charley said: 

*' 'I guess you'll have to try it.’ 

••‘Me!' 

“ ‘Yes, you.' 

“He smiled just like he thought I couldn't, but 
wanted to awful bad. At last I jumped up on a 
box, helped by Charley, and then there was a 
deafening roar of applause throughout the whole 
length and breadth of the depot platform. I cool- 
ly waited till it died down, and then I said my 
say in response, thanking them for their generous 
reception and cordial hospitality. I did it pretty 
well for an ‘old gal.’ Charley thought I couldn't 
speak, though be joined in the cry for a speech 
with the rest. And I speeched. When I quit 
there was a long howl from the jolly mob. After 
the mayor had welcomed us to Los Angeles, we 
went to the Santa Catalina islands. Everything 
was prepared to take us. It was such a pleasant 
trip — and so much to be seen, so new and so rare. 
If ever you go to the coast you must not forget to 
take in the Santa Catalina islands. The ocean 
ride was just splendid. 


“Then we went three hundred strong to Oak- 
land and Sacramento, and there we had a per- 
fectly lovely time — better than two kittens play- 
ing. We all felt at home wherever we went— 
there were so many of us. and all out for a time. 
And if we didn't have it. I don't know Great 
masses of people flocked out to see us. just as if 
we were wild Indians. And I expect we were a 
little wild. I've no doubt they thought so. 

“O. I can't tell you the half we saw — scenery 
to right of ns. scenery to left of us. scenery in 
front of ns, scenery behind us — bat it didn't vol- 
ley and thunder. It lay calm and serene, beguil- 
ing onr eyes and filling our hearts. There were 
the sleepy old mountains, fringing the distant, 
smoky horizon like the battlements of heaven; 
there were the lazy, green valleys, across which 
we stole, and they seemed to smile out of one 
corner of the eye at us; there were the ancient 
green pines studding the mountain-side like masses 
of human creatures in worshipful attitude; there 
were the great, brown overhanging rocks, threat- 
ening to crush us to death for our venturesome- 
ness; there were purling, babbling mountain 
streams flashing silvery rays in the glinting sun- 
light; there were beautiful wild flowers in abun- 
dance. decking the fair prospect as if they had 
been sent down from heaven on purpose to glad- 
den us; there were green smiling fields of plenty 
that grew at the magic touch of the plow, there 
were comfortable dwellings and well filled barns 
dotting the wonderful land everywhere like vari- 
ous sized specks of white light; there were bust- 
ling towns all along, significant of industry and 
thrift; there were the works of men and God so 
blended that they presented a cheering picture to 
the eye; there were gorgeous sunsets where the 
great, round, red old sun seemed to nestle down 
alone among the buttes for a solid night's sleep , 
there were glorious sunrises empurpling the far- 
away, dreamy mountains, and arousing the val- 
leys to activity, just as it has always done, as it 
did in the days of old Home; there were herds of 
grazing cattle on the grand stretch of view so far 
off that they looked no larger than ants; there 
were blue skies covering the landscape like a great 
inverted saucer and just as pretty as the over- 
drawn skies of sunny Italy and just as soft and 
poetical; there were men and women everywhere 
— had actually taken possession of the whole 
earth like roaches in a hotel or grass in the yard 

“Ha. ha, ha! and now I'm reminded of a loo- 
ny story told by Mr. Stephenson, one of oor 
‘mess,’ as we called our set. By the way, be va* 
from the east. Well, he said he had a friend 
once who was guilty of the sin of writing a poes 
(God forgive him!) One evening, Mr. Stepheo- 


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509 


son said, be and his poetical friend were walking 
along the street, when his poetical friend chanced 
to see* something, something, he didn’t recollect 
what, that reminded him of his young, fresh-bom 
poem. 

" ‘Say, Mr. S.,’ said the would-be poet, 'did 
you know I had written a very clever poem?’ 

" *No, sir; I did not.’ 

'* 'Would you like to hear me recite it?’ 

" 'Oh, yes.' What else could he say — to a 
friend. 

"Then the poet began to recite his wooings of 
the muse, and Mr. Stephenson began to walk a 
little more rapidly. As the poet continued Mr. 
S. increased his pa.e, and finally, when the vil- 
lain kept right at his ear and poured out his effu- 
sion with breath-heavy, guttural accents, in spite 
of all, Mr. S. began to run. 

" 'Excuse me, but I just remember that I for- 
got my key in the side-door, and there are thieves 
around,' said Mr. S. 

"Then he got down to a dead run, and the 
man whose 'thoughts lightly turned to poetry in 
the gentle spring-time’ pursued him and never 
ceased in the delivery of his 'pome,' as he called 
it, until Mr. S. had entered his own gate and 
closed it against him — a portcullis to bis castle. 
We all laughed ourselves hoarse at this, and the 
man whose ‘thoughts lightly turn to poetry in the 
gentle spring-time' was never forgotten through- 
out the whole trip. 

"Then, we enjoyed the balmy ozone — you know 
what that is — of Ogden and the great Salt Lake 
City that Brigham Young and his followers 
founded. Denver is a city that spreads out and 
climbs all over the rocks and hills, and, unlike 
Helena, will not be cramped and smothered in 
the Last Chance Gulch. At Denver we saw a 
man whose legs were off at the knees, and the 
poor fellow hobbled around with leather pads on 
to keep him off the ground. At Colorado Springs 
we saw a graveyard Now, there is nothing pe- 
culiar or connected between these two things, and 
would never have been thought of again, perhaps, 
if it had not been for Mr. Stephenson, the funny 
man of our mess. Said he : 

" ‘Here’s where I would live, if I were going to 
settle in the wild, woolly west.’ 

" 'Why?' I asked, in unfeigned simplicity. 

•' 'Because people die here. At Denver they 
simply wear out. Didn't we see a man worn off 
to the knees? Hookoo, I wouldn’t live in Den- 
ver if they gave me the whole town with a potato 
patch on the outside thrown in to boot.' 

"So Mr. Stephenson made fun for us all the 
way. 

"We ascended Pike’s Peak, that noted earth- 


spire, by the cog-wheel route. By a nine-miles 
route we went up a little over seven thousand, 
five hundred feet, over rock-rails by means of 
cogs under the 'en-jine,' a humpy thing that 
snorted and sneezed and steamed. With a shout 
and a hoora the lively tourists started up the in- 
cline, and we soon swept through the canon and 
past the funny shaped rocks and stones, right on 
up past Cameron’s Cone, whose tapering height 
was seen in the distance, past the pretty Minne- 
haha Falls, whose Falling waters tremble like 
living substance, and up to the solemnly senti- 
mental Half-Way house, that never cracked a 
smile in its life, where we stopped a few minutes. 
Yes, they Tin out of names in naming every stone, 
and step, and point, and open, and pine, and 
rock, and waterfall, and so they copied after 
New York and have a Hell Gate. They must 
name everything or it would not sound big 
enough to catch the eye-weary traveler, and be- 
sides, the thing seems bigger and sounds more 
important when it has been solemnly christened 
with a name. Well, Hell Gate is there and a 
verdant park called Ruxton Park, covered with 
pine and aspen and stone. Away across there 
s ands the smooth, round-headed Bald Mountain, 
and over there is the castle-like Sheep Rock, and 
here is Lion Gulch — mercy on us, what a list of 
names! Now we catch a view of 'the majestic 
and imposing proportions of historical old Pike's 
Peak, the father of Maoitou,’ the first grand, 
bursting view we had. But we do not stop, nor 
does old Pike’s Peak bow the knee before us. 
Soon we are at Timber Line, then swing by 
Windy Point and on up into the Saddle, where 
we get a superb sight of the Garden of the Gods 
far below. Finally we reach the top, the sum- 
mit. the upper terminal, the old government sig- 
nal station on the hardy old peak. Now, you 
needn't expect me to go into raptures and weary 
you with 'impressions’ and 'descriptions’ and 
sentimental nonsense and call ‘art’ to my assist- 
ance to picture to your soul, 'unaided by the 
sense of sight, the unapproachable magnificence 
and magnitude of the view that now greets the 
bewildered eye.' Goodness, I can’t tell you about 
it. It was just like a map unrolled before you 
with paints of different color on it — all around, 
right and left and front. The beautiful picture 
was bounded only by the azure blue in the ob- 
scure distance — a picture so large and grand that 
all landscape pain ings look like mere child’s play 
— mere mockery. Behind you, where the sun 
sets, innumerable snow-capped peaks kiss the 
vaulted, timid, retreating heavens in their earnest 
wooing, and remind you of the strong masculine 
love of Pygmalion. Gold, gold, gold beneath 


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them, air and infinite space above, down yonder 
‘the busy haunts of men' — God in ana through 
all. In the strong sunlight, however, the 
distant trees, and roads, and streams, and 
peaks — lose, to a certain degree, their varie- 
gated colors and individuality. But it is 
a tranquil! zing scene, with a mjstic minor note in 
it that rises above the swell and general harmony 
of the whole volume of music and crowns it all 
like a star. Blurr here, gorge there, pines yon- 
der, distance in front, snow-tips behind, color 
below, majesty supreme everywhere — that is all 
I can tell you of Pike’s Peak. And this is just a 
little cross-section out of the great panorama of 
scenery that continually passed before our eyes 
on this never-to-be-forgotten jaunt. To me it 
was like the morniegof youth; mellow, hopeful, 
pleasant, abounding, glorious— glorifying me. I 
may be allowed to say here as a solemn senti- 
ment, that old people admire the youthful morn- 
ing, and young people love the soft, mellow eve. 

"On the way to Denver — we all by this time, 
in onr close mixing together, all the time in the 
car, had got very familiar with each other — we 
bad lots of fun. Once Charley 'kindah' forgot 
and be 'hollered' across to me like this: 

" 'Pud; O, Pud.’ 

"That’s what he calls me behind closed doors 
at home for sweet, you know. 

"'Yes, Charley,' I answered. Everybody 
looked up at Charley and sm*led. They all un- 
derstood. But the mischievous Mr. Stephenson 
asked, with knit, serious brow, looking straight 
at Charley: 

" 'What do you mean by pud/' 

" I was calling Marne.’ Charley never looked 
up. He knew. 

" Well, I’m relieved,' Mr. S. said, bringing a 
manufactured light back into his face and eyes to 
verify his words; 'I was afraid you were hungry, 
and in your starving ravings were calling for some 
pudding of some sort or other.' 

With a slow, peculiar, understands gSvink, but 
as sober as a judge, Charley answered: 

" 'I was.’ 

"I wanted to go right over and kiss him for 
that, but we never kiss for public effect only — 
perform gloriously before the foot-lights and fight 
like cats and dogs in the greenhouse — hookooh — 
no. Everybody screamed and doubled up. Oom- 
m-m-m! I should say we did have jolly good 
times all along. 

"Well, we were closing in on our journey. It 
is a very original remark to say all things must 
end, pleasure and sorrow, life and day, tea and 
gingerbread. Mr. Stephenson insisted that I go 
on east with him and his wife and prolong my 


journey and visit, as I seemed to enjoy it so well. 
He said we had no children to look after or love or 
spank, and that ‘Charles’ could play the widower 
very successfully for a little while, only a little 
while, a month or two, and that I must go with 
them. Charley said I could go if 1 wanted to. 
and I could see in bis eyes that he wanted me to 
go. That decided me; I would do anything for 
him, even though l did not want to. So I said 
I'd go. Both Mr. and Mrs. Stephenson laughed, 
when I said I’d go, like a feather was tickling 
them in the throat so glad were they. I hated 
awful bad to leave Charley, and did not see hour 
I could tear myself away from him, but I re- 
solved I'd go, if I took the homesickness and 
died. 

"All things were arranged; my ticket bad been 
bought, my trunk checked, and we stood on the 
platform in the light of the fast sinking sun, 
awaiting the sleeper. 

"'Pud, I hope you’ll have a nice time,' said 
Charley. 

: ' 'And I hope you’ll have a lovely time,’ I said. 

" 'Why. Pud?’ 

"‘Cause.’ • 

" Don’t you want to go?’ he asked. 

" O, yes,’ I said quickly, just as if I were 
afraid he'd object. He thought I was like most 
of my sex who like to gad about and be on the 
go-go — go — all the time; restless as if home was 
a dismal dungeon or forbidding asylum. 

"The sleeper came up and we all hustled out to 
take our berths. 

" Right after me fc ’ said Mr. Stephenson, lead- 
ing the way through the crowd, mingling this 
way and that, like an agitated nest of ants; fol- 
low me,’ he insisted, and we followed. 

" 'These are your sections.’ said the conductor, 
as be looked at our tickets and pointed to adjoin- 
ing sections on one side of the coach. 

" All right, sir,’ said Mr. S., depositieg a grip 
on the floor — a grip that held trifles, but which 
he clung to as if life and death depended on it. 

"Then we all sat down; Charley and 1 vis-a vis 
to Mr. and Mrs. S. Charley and I were going to 
have a little smothered word together before we 
parted, just as if we were at home alone. We 
were, you know — in imagination. 

" 'I'm glad you’r going,' said Charley. It’ll be 
such a nice trip. And it'll not be so turry long.' 
I noticed the way he said the word 'very.' It 
sortah — you know what 'sortah' means — ran 
through me and left a hole. 

" N — n — n — o — o — o! Not very long,' I said, 
my face as long as a fence-rail. I tell you some 
way I felt like I'd been sent for and couldn't 


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come — that’s the way I felt. I don't know — I 
couldn't help it for the life of me. 

" 'I can get along at home very nicely, and 
you'll have such a nice trip.' It was nice in him 
to say all this, but he said 'alone' about himself, 
while I would be gay and happy Now, that was 
all be knew about it. 

“I suppose I will hive a very nice time,' I said, 
putting a deal of stress on the word 'will,' but 
Charley didn’t seem to notice it, nor pay any at- 
tention to what I was trying to tell him without 
telling him, you know. Men are so stupid — when 
they want to be — especially when you are trying 
to tell them something by spirit and not by words 
—they just won't understand. 

•‘Charley looked out the window uncon- 
cernedly, I thought. I couldn't make him out. I 
was studying his feelings then, awful hard, but I 
couldn’t read them any more than I can read 
Greek or Sanscrit— not a bit. I wanted to know 
just exactly what he thought about my going. I 
knew very well what / thought. 

“ Yes, Pud,’ he said to an imaginary creature 
outside the window, but loud enough for me to 
overhear, ‘Yes, Pud, you’ll see the East, a place 
I’ve always longed to see. and hope to, some day, 
and when you get back you can tell me all about 
it. That will be something worth hearing from 
you.’ 

•••But — but — I — I — don’t want to go,' said I, 
saying the last words very fast and very loud In 
fact I said them between my hinds and amid a 
shower of tears I broke do wn, could stand it no 
longer, and covering my face with my hands and 
throwing my head down on ray knees, I boohooed 
right out and said I didn’t want to go. I djn't 
know how Charley looked, but I can imagine I 
was desperate, and didn't care what anybody 
thought. I was going simply to please Charley, 
not myself. And when it came to the pinch, I 
couldn't go even to please him. 


“ 'Why! Pud! Pud! What! You?’ I heard 
Charley say. 

“ 'Why, what in the world?’ exclaimed Mr. 
Stephenson. 

“ ‘Poor girl, dop’t cry,' said the sentimental* 
hearted Mrs. Stephenson. 

“ ‘Too bad. to have her feel that we were forc- 
ing her to go,' said Mr. S., serious for once. 

“I raised up, great big tears chasing each other 
over my cheeks. I know I looked like a fright. 
But it was a desperate case with me. 

“ 'Charley, I’m not going, whether you want 
me or not.' 

“ Well, Pud,' he said, his eyes as big as full 
moons, 'if you don't want to go you don't have to. 
I hated to have you go. but I consented for your 
pleasure.’ 

“ ’Why didn't you say so before?’, I asked, 
amid smiles and tears. 

'• 'I didn't know how I could get along without 
you, but I was willing to do anything for you.' 

"I jumped up and kissed Charley right spang 
in the mouth. I couldn't help it. 

“We were reconciled. I found out what he 
thought at last. 

“We bid Mr and Mrs. Stephenson good-by. 
and a gladder person never lived than I when we 
got out of that hateful old sleeper. I'm glad I 
didn't go. 

“Soon after we got home we got a letter from 
Mr. Stephenson saying they got home all O. K. f 
but they were robbed of the pleasure they ex- 
pected from my company there. 

“So I kept house for Charley instead of going 
East. I tell you I am a wonderful housekeeper — 
with my mouth; that is, to hear me tell it. 

“Charley and I are happy, and nearly every 
evening we talk of our pleasant jaunt and tell of 
the funny things that happened. It was a great 
trip.” 


THE MYSTERIOUS FOREST. 

A SOCIAL ALLEGORY. 


BY H. P. 

CHAPTER XIV — CONTINUED. 

Socialist looked inquiringly at bis companion, 
and then with the air and expression of one who 
bad finally settled a vexed question, he unbuckled 
bis pack, allowed it to slip to the ground, and 
seating himself upon it beckoned his friend to sit 
beside him. The other obeyed in silence. For 
the past hour he had noticed that Socialist ap- 
peared strangely embarrassed, had been silent 


PEEBLES. 

and thoughtful, and several times had apparently 
checked himself when on the point of speaking. 

Socialist looked steadily in the face of his com- 
panion as he said. “Before leaving this place I 
have a proposal to make. From what we saw in 
the park it is evident that the Giant has but a 
slight knowledge of his own strength. He volun- 
tarily hugs to his bosom the chains of ignorance J 
and competition, not seeing in his strange bli«" " 


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ness that the chain of poverty of which he com- 
plains the most bitterly, is but a continuation of 
the same iron links; and with the first two broken 
the others would fall to pieces. Let us work to- 
gether; let us together seek the Giant and — ” 

The sentence remained incomplete, for Christ- 
ian rose hastily from his seat and grasped the 
hands of his companion, as he said with a voice 
that trembled with emotion: "The same request 
has been on my lips for hours. Yes, yes; let us 
work together. Let — " 

"This hour marks the beginning of the end, 
from this hour the dark forest will wither and de- 
cay, and from this hour the Giant may hope for 
deliverance." 

The words seemed to come from the air above 
them, and started a thousand echoes that rever- 
berated through the forest from every side. 

A second later there was a rustling among the 
leaves and branches, and a tall, upright manly 
form stood before them." True Interpretation,” 
simultaneously burst from the lips of both. 
They recognized him instinctively, although no 
resemblance could be traced between the youth- 
ful countenance that fairly shown from the 
brightness of the smile that glowed in every feat- 
ure, and the strange old, yet young face of their 
former guide. The black serge gown was gone 
and with it the air of cringing cynicism, and the 
furtive piercing glance that had irritated the re- 
cipient was exchanged fora frank and open air. 

Before they could recover from the surprise, or 
frame words of welcome or inquiry, the visitor 
grasped a hand of each and clasped them together 
as he said: "This is the hour for which I have 
waited through centuries, when sincere religious 
belief joins hands with that innate sense of jus- 
tice that demands industrial reform, a moral 
force is created that nothing human can resist, 
and no power under heaven can destroy. 

"I have watched Christians peer timidly into the 
dark recesses of the untrodden forest. I have 
seen some take a few steps from the beaten paths, 
but they soon withdrew with the words, ‘This is 
the work of the Lord, we must wait his good 
time and pleasure ’ When I appeared before 
them to ask, Why not attempt to do the work 
of the Lord?’ and offered my assistance, they 
drove me away as an emissary of Satan." 

A new light seemed to shine from the eyes 
of the speaker; not only was his face wreathed 
in smiles, but an indescribable air of happiness, 
of heartfelt joy, shone from his countenance like 
a halo of brightness. 

This hour marks the birth of CHRISTIAN 
SOCIALISM; a living spade that is in the hands 
of sincere men will shovel from the roots of 


Christianity the dead ashes of creed, dogma and 
theology that bigotry, fanaticism and ignorance 
have heaped upon them to choke the growth of 
truth. 

And from these ever living roots will spring a 
new Christianity. Not like the old, a shapeless 
decaying, trunk among whose leafless branches 
stands the priest to shoot, "This is the way to 
heaven;" but a massive shade under which men 
shall rest in peace and hail the passer with ths 
cry, "Come with us, and learn how to live." 

Reader, the writer of fiction prepares the first 
chapter and the succeeding ones for their bear- 
ings upon the last, and shapes the whole; the re- 
corder of actual events can find no proper end. 
and has no place to write the word, finis If be 
moralizes on the acts of a day, the doings of the 
next may make a farce of his logic or upset his 
legitimate conclusions. 

I need only add that the return journey was 
uneventful and devoid of incidents worthy of 
recording. 

If you be the man of intelligence and observa- 
tion, that I account you (seeing that yon have 
read these chronicles), you most certainly know 
that both Socialist and Christian are devoting j 
their lives and energies to the work before them, 
endeavoring to arouse the long suffering Giant 1 
from his strange lethargy and indifference, and 
are teaching the inhabitants of the world the 
proper and the only way to remove the dark, 
mysterious forest that casts its baneful shadow 
over all civilization. 

Socialist has become apparently ubiquitous: 
you may meet him at any street corner, see him 
at auy public assemblage, and bear the thunder 
of his eloquence from any platform. Newspa- 
per, magazine and review discuss his doings, 
occavionally with faint praise, but more frequently 
with bitter denunciation. 

Christian is sometimes heard in the pulpit, but 
almost invariably when bis discourse is finished, 
he is hurried before an ecclesiastical coart and 
tried for heresy, tound guilty and cast out of the 
inner sanctuary. Happily this never interrupts 
his labors, and be only complains of the time lost 
by others in these formal trials. 

As in a former chapter a brief account was 
given of the aftercourse of Onetax, a few words 
may satisfy the curiosity of the reader concern- 
ing another character that figured prominently in 
these pages. 

Revolutionary Anarchist returned safely frem 
his adventures in the forest with physical health 
unimpaired, and seemingly more determined 
than before the journey to destroy existing condi- 


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rioos by violence and blast, as by a lightning 
stroke, the present stage of civilization. 

On the return of Socialist he made overtures 
for a friendly alliance that they might work to- 
gether to clear away the forest and free the im- 
prisoned Giant; but being received somewhat 
coldly, his manner changed and he denounced 
Socialist most bitterly. He has even hioted that 
the two travelers were responsible for the death 
of bis brother, and claims that if all the circum- 
stances were known, the world would hold them 
guilty. Against Christian he is especially bitter, 
and finds it difficult to discover words to show 
the depths of his hatred and detestation for bis 
character. He is the modern "Titnon;" pos- 
sessing naturally a nature noble and candid, with 
an innate hatred of shams and all forms of in- 
justice: but misrepresentation and slander soured 
the mdk of human kindness in his breast. He 
denounces the individual for the sins of a false 
system, and in his anxiety for vengeance is will- 
ing to sacrifice the innocent that the guilty may 
oot escape. 

****** 

Dearly beloved reader, believe me, if you 
have had the patience to read understandingly 
these chronicles, these words are all too weak to 
express my regard for your character and my ad- 
miration for your judgmsnt. 

So great is my confidence of your honor that I 
have determined to confide in your keeping a 


weighty secret, and I straightway charge you that 
you go and tell no man. 

Know, then: I have formulated, planned, ar- 
ranged. compiled, (everything but written) a 
sequel to this most true chronicle! In it is set 
down clearly and distinctly, not only how the 
mysterious forest was fully explored, but how it 
was forever abolished: not only how the Giant 
was aroused from his strange state of ignorance 
and indifference, but how he cast aside his chains, 
tore down his stone cell, laughed his former op- 
pressors to scorn, and enjoyed in perfect peace 
the shade trees and flowers of his own planting; 
rested in heartfelt content by the murmuring 
fountains and pleasure grounds of his creation, 
while he ate with joy and gladness from the vine 
of his own cultivation. 

For on mine honor I assure you these and many 
other strange events came to pass in due and 
proper ssason. In order that you may know the 
book containing these weighty events, look on the 
title page for these words: "The Mysterious For- 
est, Explored and Destroyed.*' 

Now, reader, farewell; that the pathway of 
your life may not be through the desolate wastes 
of the dark forest, that its gloomy shadow may 
not darken your dwelling to shut out the light of 
the living truth; and that you may not wear the 
center chain of indifference and ignorance which 
binds all the iron links that afflict humanity, is 
the parting wish of the author. 


THE END. 


FALSE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC REMEDIES. 


BY W. H. 

The last census has disclosed the startling fact, 
that less than three per cent of the population of 
this country practically own and control the na- 
tion's wealth. If a vote were taken to-morrow 
as to the best means of reversing so unjust a dis- 
tribution of the national wealth, a majority of the 
votes would decide in favor of either "free trade" 
or "protection" as a solution of the problem, 
while a large vote would be cast in favor of an in- 
crease in the circulating medium to, say, $50 per 
capita, issued directly to the people without the 
intervention of national banks, and the free and 
unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. 
This, with government loans at a low rate of in- 
terest, would be urged as a complete solution of 
the economic problem. A smaller number would 
vote for "prohibition, "on the ground that poverty 
is the direct result of the use of intoxicants, and 
that the prohibition of their sale must precede 


STUART. 

any other plan for the betterment of social con- 
ditions. A still smaller number would declare 
positively that the present unjust and unequal 
distribution of wealth may be traced directly to 
the private ownership of land, by which the 
owners are enabled to absorb all the product of 
labor above a bare subsistence to the laborer; 
that were land and natural resources opened to 
all upon equal terms, by the adoption of the 
single-tax, involuntary poverty would be im- 
possible. 

I propose to consider briefly, as may be those 
various • panaceas" for our social ills, from the 
standpoint of the socialist. 

Before being able to do so intelligently, how- 
ever, we must take a rapid glance at the basis 
upon which our present industrial system rests 
We are living under what we call the * ‘competi- 
tive" or "free contract" system. Under th ; 


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5i4 

system two* classes confront each other. Under 
the control and in possession of one class, the 
capitalists, the three per cent of the population, 
are all instruments and means for the production 
of wealth; all the factories and manufacturing 
establishments filled up with costly labor displac- 
ing machinery. The railroads, the telegraph and 
telephone lines, the street railways, the gas 
works, the electric light plants, and all valuable 
urban land, besides millions of acres of agricul- 
tural land. In a word, all tfie means for the 
prcduction, exchange and distribution of wealth. 
On the other side are the great body of producers 
who have nothing but their labor power to sell, 
and whose existence depends upon their ability to 
sell it quickly lest they starve. Being divorced 
from the tools of production, they are forced to 
offer their labor as a "commodity” to the capital- 
ists. Under such conditions it is inevitable that 
competition among the workers for the privilege 
of access to the means of production, will keep 
wages down to the life line, the subsistence point, 
according to the standard of living of the time 
and country. 

This "standard of living" varies. In this 
country it requires an average wage of Si. 15 per 
day to maintain it, in England about 90 cents, in 
Germany and France something less, in Italy 
25 to 50 cents, while in India and China the 
commodity "labor” can be purchased for 10 cents 
per day. Given an abundance of labor, and 
"wages” under a system of free competition, will 
never permanently exceed the sum necessary to 
maintain this standard of living. 

Labor produces all wealth, and ' wages” is the 
least portion of the product that the laborer will 
consent to receive as his share for producing it. 
The difference between the part of the product 
represented by "wages” and the value of the en- 
tire product is absorbed by the capitalist class iu 
the shape of rent, interest and profits. Interest 
and rent is a tribute the capitalist class is enabled 
to levy solely through the possession of the means 
and instruments of production — land and capital. 
Neither the capitalist nor the land owner, as such, 
produce anything, they are mere parasites on the 
body politic. The "capital," fot the use of which 
the capitalists demand "wages” for their assist- 
ance in "production,” is itself the product of 
labor, and in the hands of the capitalists repre- 
sents merely accumulated unpaid labor. 

To test the adequacy of proposed "panaceas” 
it is important that we understand thoroughly 
what is known as the "iron law” of wages. It 
means that under a competitive system of pro- 
duction, no matter what improvements may 
take place in productive processes through the 


advancement of science, art, inventions techni- 
cal skill, intensity of labor or increased boors of 
labor, the iccrease in wealth effected by 
the minute sub-division of labor; the in- 
introduction of labor saving machinery, 
labor does not share only to a slight degree. 
Even admitting that the condition of the working 
class has improved, it is, nevertheless, true, that 
relatively to the increased product brougbi about 
by the means enumerated, a continually dimin- 
ishing portion goes to labor. But we are not 
obliged to admit that the condition of labor has 
improved; Prof. ]. E. Thorald Rogers, and there 
is no better authority, assures us in his "Work 
and Wages," that: "the 15th century was the 
golden age for ths English workiogman, meas- 
ured by his abilities to purchase the necessaries 
of life with the minimum hours of labor.” Yet 
the productive power of labor has increased 
enormously since the 15th century. The increase 
is estimated at ten fold. In this enormous in- 
crease ia productive power, labor has not shared. 
It is probable that the wealth of 5.000 citizens of 
New York City exceeds that of all Europe during 
the 15th century, the "golden age” of the Eng- 
lish workingman. The wages of labor still con- 
tinue at the minimum amount necessary to main- 
tain a bare living, and to reproduce others to 
continue the process when he is worn out and 
discarded by his capitalist masters. 

Hon. D. A. Wells, in his "Recent Economic 
Changes.” lays it down as a sell evident axiom, 
that the average price of our wheat and cottoo 
crop is governed by the price the surplus will 
bring in an overstocked market. That, for in- 
stance, if we produce 200,000.000 bushels cf 
wheat, or a half million bales of cotton beyond 
what there is sufficient demand for, the price 
the surplus product brings determines the price 
of the whole crop. What is true of wheat or 
cotton is true of all other commodities. Under 
our present industrial system, labor, that pro- 
duces all wealth, is itself a mere •commodity.” 
governed by the same laws of supply and demand 
that govern all other commodities. Therefore, 
the wages of labor is determined solely and only 
by the supply of labor, the surplus over that 
necessary for the demands of the capitalists de- 
termines — the same as surplus wheat or cotton— 
the value or "wages” of the labor crop. 

This is merely stating in other words the 'iron 
law” of wages, a law that under a capitalistic 
system of production is as inevitable as the move- 
ment of the tides. A law from which there has 
never been, nor can be, an exception while the 
competitive system is in force. The eiisteece 
and workings of this law are acknowledged by all 


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economists and may be expressed by the formula: 
"that under free competition the wages of labor 
continually tends to the minimum upon which the 
laborer will consent to reproduce.” 

Now, the introduction of labor saving ma- 
cbinery is continually displacing labor, and mak- 
ing an over supply of laborers. The tendency 
of the capitalist system of production is to main- 
tain an industrial reserve army of unemployed. 
This ‘ reserve army” of unemployed, always on 
the ragged edge of want, is a continual menace 
to the worker. It makes it impossible to organize 
to keep up wages, for when a strike takes place 
for better wages or shorter hours of employ- 
ment, the employing classes have a needy army 
at command, only too eager to take the place of 
the strikers. Under such conditions it is dollars 
against stomachs, with the odds all in favor of the 
dollars. The days of successful strikes are 
passed, organized capita 1 , with plenty to eat and 
drink, can hold out longer than organized labor 
with empty stomachs. When labor owns and 
controls the tools of production, there will be no 
capitalist class to strike against. The drone and 
the parasite, the capitalist and land owner, will 
no longer be able to live on the labors of others. 
Being no longer the exclusive owners of the 
means of production, they will be unable to ab- 
sorb all surplus wealth over the cost, maintenance 
and reproduction of the actual producers. 

With, therefore, an intelligent conception of 
the law which, under a competitive system of 
production, determines wages, let us test the 
adequacy of the proposed panaceas for our social 
and economic ills. 

First, let us take protection. It is urged by its 
advocates that a high protective tariff enables the 
American manufacturer to compete with the prod- 
ucts of other countries in which the standard of 
living and wages is lower than ours. But it is to 
be observed, that while the American manufac 
turer howls loudly for protection for his “infant 
industry” against the pauper made goods of other 
countries, he welcomes the “pauper” himself 
with open arms. For he well knows that while a 
protective tariff may enable him to pay high 
wages that he is under no compulsion to do so 
He knows that wages is governed by the supply 
of labor. He is anxious to be protected against 
the foreign capitalist and his “pauper made” 
goods, but the admission of the pauper himself is 
a distinct advantage to him. by increasing the 
supply of the “commodity” labor, and by conse 
quence. decreasing the amount he pays as wages. 

No matter how high the profits of a capitalist 
may be. he need only pay as wages enough to 
maintain the average standard of living. The 


5 1 5 

profits of the capitalists may be dissipated by ex- 
cessive compensation among themselves, but 
such competition never increases the wages of la- 
bor. As a matter of fact, however, competition 
among capitalists is fast giving way to co-opera- 
tion among themselves for the purpose of skinning 
the public. Free competition is now maintained 
only by those more gifted in muscle than brains. 

It will, of course, be understood that nominal 
wages will be higher in a protected country than 
in one in which free trade obtains. If, for in- 
stance. protective tariffs enhance the price of 
commodities 25 per cent, then wages must be 
that much higher to make its purchasing power 
the same as in a free trade country. So that we 
may conclude that protection can not in the least 
increase real wages; that is deterihined by the 
supply of labor and the standard of living. 

Free trade is advocated on the distinct ground 
that as all are consumers, the reduction in the 
price of commodities effected by a free exchange 
with other countries, would, by reducing the cost 
of living, increase wages. It is also pointed out 
that the larger number of workers are engaged in 
such labor as cannot be protected, and whose 
wages are not raised by a protective tariff; that 
the free exchange of commodities with other 
countries would not merely reduce the exhorbi- 
taat profits of the home manufacturers, but that 
the lessened cost of commodities would inure to 
the benefit of the working class, by increasing 
the purchasing power of their wages. It is also 
claimed that the free admission of raw material 
would stimulate industry; cause a demand for la- 
bor; increase the demand for commodities, and 
thereby raise wages. 

Let it be admitted that industry would be 
greatly stimulated, and that by the abolition of 
protective tariffs the cost of living was reduced 
25 per cent. Is it not evident that free immigra- 
tion would also be “stimulated” and soon restore 
the supply of labor? As the standard of living 
could be maintained for 25 per cent less than for* 
raerly, would not wages urder the “iron law” be 
reduced to correspond to the decreased cost of 
living. But even with no increase in immigration, 
the same superabundance of labor would be 
maintained by the constant displacement of labor 
effected by the continual introduction and use of 
labor-saving machinery. So we see that the 
cheapening of the cost of living by the adoption 
of free trade would merely result in a correspond- 
ing lowering of wages. Competition among 
workers would still keep wages down to the sub- 
sistence point. This is why Cobden, Bright, and 
the other free trade bagmen advocated so strenu- 
ously the abolition of the corn laws of England. 


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Si6 

They knew that cheap bread meant cheap labor, 
and cheap labor is what the capitalist class always 
strive for. 

There is one argument, however, in favor of 
free trade that workingmen should not overlook, 
viz: that the adoption of free trade would make 
direct taxation necessary, and that to raise the 
necessary revenue, government would be forced 
to impose a tax on incomes; this is a tax that, like 
the tax on land values, cannot be shifted. It 
would force the exploiters of labor, the land 
owners and the capitalists, to contribute a part 
of their illgotten wealth towards the support of a 
government upon which they are forced to rely 
in tfceir contests with their exploited wage-slaves. 

There are a large class of earnest, well mean- 
ing reformers, who trace the cause of poverty, 
to a great extent, to the use of intoxicants, and 
whose remedy is the prohibition of the manufac- 
ture and sale of liquors. They tell us that the 
American workingmen spend a billion a year on 
liquors. They exhibit imposing tables of figures 
showing the greatly improved condition that 
would be effected if the money now spent on 
liquors was expended on better homes, better liv- 
ing, education, etc. Precise estimates are fur- 
nished cf the number of homes for workingmen 
that a billion of dollars annually would provide. 
It is assumed, with the easy confidence of the 
average advocate of “panaceas," that the saving 
effected by the universal disuse of liquors would 
inure to the benefit of the workman. No as- 
sumption could be more fallacious. Let us 
suppose that by the universal disuse of liquors 
the average saving to each workman would be 
ten dollars per month. That means that the 
standard of living, as far as the necessities are 
concerned, could be maintained for ten dollars 
per month less than formerly. Is it not evident 
that with labor plentiful — and the supply would 
be enormously increased by the throwing out of 
employment of the quarter of a million now en- 
gaged in the manufacture and sale of liquors — is 
it not evident, I say, that competition would force 
wages down? It forms now a part of the stand- 
ard of living; let its disuse become universal, and 
the amount so saved would not go into the 
pockets of the workmen, but, on the contrary, 
would go to swell the surplus* values that the 
capitalists are enabled, under competitive con- 
ditions, to extract from labor. To repeat: capi- 
talists are only obliged to pay sufficient wages to 
maintain the standard of living, the disuse of 
liquors would enable the workman to maintain 
that standard on less wages, and competition 
would inevitably force wages down. 

At present the man who does not waste time or 


money on liquor can save the average expandite 
for that purpose, bat should total abstinence i> 
come universal, he would be compelled to abuit 
from some other article or articles now in 03& 
mon use, to enable him to save something lr^ 
the average wage. 

I hope, however, that none would be so fool& 
as to use this argument in favor of persisting 
the drink habit. The crime and misery caa*: 
by the use of liquor is too great to be ofist: b. 
the fact that its discontinuance would not incm- 
wages. We need sober men with clear brains l 
help solve the problems that are pressing oo os 

The theory of “saving,” by the way, is another 
rconomic fallacy. We are urged to ' 'save" 0?.: 
of our daily earnings and invest such saving 12 
some form of investment that will bring a rev* 
nue without personal exertion. As an example 
of how such saving might be effected, our ce 
nent American economist, Mr. Edward Soupbct- 
Atkinson, informs us that he has invented a ito;*? 
called the Aladdin Cooker, by which the cheap t 
kinds of meat may be made palatable and cooke: 
so cheaply that he claims that with tbe "cooker 
the cost of food may be reduced to one-half :■ 
one-third the present cost. HeSs quite out., 
patience with workingmen who refuse to avsi! 
themselves of his invention. Now, let usastsco/ 
that tbe saving effected in the cost of food wooii? 
be what he claims. The result would be that ih? 
man with. the “cooker" could subsist on coasidr 
ably less than those without them. The rein 
wpuld be, that in tbe competition for employmen' 
those provided with the “cooker" would under 
bid their less fortunate competitors; this wcail 
force all to provide themselves with the new ap- 
pliance, and as the standard of living could Ss 
maintained by a decrease in wages that woo-' 
represent the saviog that would be effected by tt< 
use of the “cooker," so would wages, when its \sm 
became universal, be forced down, and tbe 1 
vantage to the worker be lost. To the advice 
“save," it may be replied that the average wae 
of $1.15 per day leaves no room for the eierci: 
of the “saving" virtues. But if it was peem 
for all to save, and they did so, and all ••became 
capitalists," it would appear that there mi|bt t> 
some difficulty in placing their surplus earning 
in some form of investment that would return 
them an “income without personal exKUrn 
Any economy that is practiced by iudiVrduais 
may enable them to save, but wbeo the eecuonj 
becomes general and the standard of livinc to" 
ered, the saving under the fierce competitive tba: 
prevails would be lost to the workers. Shod' 
we continue the saving process, until we rearhid 
the standard of the Chinese, we would hud ihd 


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wages would always be just enough to maintain 
the continually decreasing cost of subsistence 
Besides, shallow economists of the Atkinson 
stripe fail to see that any general lowering of 
the standard of living, and of wages, merely re* 
duces the purchasing power of the consumer. 
Lower wages means the ability to purchase less 
commodities; decrease in the purchase and con- 
sumption of commodities, means lessened de- 
mand for labor; lessened demand for labor means 
idleness, bankruptcy of various industries, and 
another lowering of wages, and starvation for the 
unemployed. When our standard of living is 
reduced to that of the Chinese, four-fifths of our 
manufacturing industries, and the labor employed 
in them, will be unnecessary. As a matter of 
fact, it would be to the interest of the capitalist 


517 

class to maintain high wages, for high wages 
means increased demand and consumption, of 
commodities, while low wages means de- 
creased demand and consumption, and its 
inevitable correlatives, idleness, poverty, and star- 
vation. Bat the capitalist is under the same com- 
pulsion to '‘save" in the fierce competition with 
his active or powerful competitors. This is the 
iuevitable result of a system where production is 
carried on for profit, instead of for use. With 
every decrease in wages a corresponding decrease 
in consumption of commodities takes place; this 
means the bankruptcy of thousands of capitalists; 
only the strongest survive, % until finally the cursed 
greed for "profit" will cause the whole tottering 
system of capitalism to fall, and be buried for- 
ever. 


TO BK CONTINUED. 


THE COLLAPSE OF ALL CIVILIZATIONS. 

BY |OSB GROS. 


All nations and races .have, as a matter of 
course, their songs of glory about their own 
achievements in this or that direction; each one 
has bad periods of so called prosperity and actual 
decadence in this or that form; and not one of 
them fails to consider herself better than the rest. 
Human infatuation is proverbial under all cli- ' 
mates and skies. We don’t fancy to see our own 
objectionable traits, but are perfectly anxious to 
revel in those of men outside of our own 
frontiers It is all the result of defective social 
organizations. The exclusivism in question is 
perhaps more intensified with our American type, 
because ingrained in our political system. It 
really comes from our colonial system under 
British rule, which brought about our state petty 
jealousies and sectional dislikes. 

All that may account for our class antagonisms 
in the midst of our efforts to proclaim equality 
before the law. Just as if any such equality was 
possible as long as onr economic and political 
conditions are themselves the result of that eter- 
nal dislike between those who have and those 
who want! Conditions in the social fabric pre- 
sided by that dislike, peculiar even in the colo- 
nial period, are bound to produce all kinds and 
classes of men, from pauper to potentate/ The 
worst nations have never done worse than that, 
and the best nations have never been able to do 
much better. Hence the inevitable tendency of 
each nation growing up to a certain point, to be 
followed by a decline, in the moral sense first, 
in the physical one later on. Our moral decline 


has been constant ever since our war against the 
south. The physical decline commenced in 1873. 
We refer to discontent among the working masses, 
because of unusual growth in the wealth of 
the few, and increased hardships among the 
many As a matter of actual fact, perhaps there 
is not a nation to-day in more imminent danger of 
a war of classes than we are. 

We know that before a good doctor prescribes 
for his patient, he makes a careful diagnosis of 
the disease with which his patient may be afflict- 
ed. That is what reformers should do, and that 
is what many of them are unwilling to undertake, 
as if it was not at all necessary. 

The disease with which all civilizations have 
been afflicted has proceeded from non -adaptation 
to fundamental moral principles. In the matter 
of social growth, the basic conditions of human 
existence are no doubt as follows: Natural Re- 
sources , and Men's Natural Gifts Any obsta- 
cles that we may place between those two dis- 
tinctive, essential elements on the planet, are 
bound to produce piles of trouble among men, 
because they involve a war against the ntost tran- 
scendent laws of nature. It is from those two 
elements that all phenomena among ourselves 
come, and exhibit the very ramifications of 
social life, in all the industrial and political con- 
ditions with which we have to deal. And all such 
life has heretofore been stained with some form 
of slavery; either chattel, in barbarous or mild 
forms; or servitude, under gentle or harsh con- 
ditions; or else wage slavery, now and then toler- 


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5.8 


able, for a while, later on far more cruel, how- 
ever refined, than the chattel slavery or servitude 
of primitive historical periods. 

By whichever form they are known, under 
whichever conditions they may at the time exhibit 
themselves, all kinds of slavery are bat the inev- 
itabl* product of monopolization in natural re- 
sources, granted to the few, either through the 
crude power of the sabre, in the hinds of the 
soldier, or through the refined sword of human 
enactments, embodying human selfishness and 
sin. / 

There we have the moving bank of sand on 
which the economic afld political systems of all 
nations have been floating, with here and there a 
few waves of fictitious prosperity, to sooner or 
later end in physical and moral collapse; in 
general discontent; in social turmoils. Is not 
that human history? In the presence of that 
fact, what becomes of our socialistic scare-crow 
— the capitalistic system? What do they mean 
by that? They mean our present monopolistic 
system, the product of previous ones, only inten- 
sified by increased population and greater pro 
duction of wealth by the average worker, because 
of his greater intelligence, and hence the com- 
mand of the better tools he himself produces out 
of that eternal tool — Land ! 

The object of all socialistic language seems to 
be that of obscuring all economic truth, and per- 
plexing the very working people who alone can 
permanently establish civilization on correct 
principles. If not, why, for instance, discrin- 
inate between those two words, capital and 
wealth, in the most intricate way possible? Why 
say that wealth only becomes capital when 
used to exploit, to rob labor, since that could not 
take place if land monopoly was suppressed? 
And why say that wealth is not capital if used 
by the workers in producing more wealth for 
themselves? 

Is there not a plain, distinct difference between 
my own home, where I live, and my own shop or 
factory, where I work? The latter, with its tools, 
etc., is my active capital. The former is my 
passive capital. They both are wealth; wealth 
applied to separate functions; that of use in 
facing nfy daily needs, in one case, that of use in 
producing whit I shall need, and must be re- 
placed, in the other case. But that language 
would be easily understood by all men, and 
socialists don’t seem to fancy that. They revel 
in childish technicalities. They remind us of the 
theologians and many of the philosophers, with 
their large volumes to explain what they them- 
selves don’t seem to understand, and what could 
be made plain in a few pages of language simple 


and precise. No wonder that the progress of the 
race is so sluggish, so unsatisfactory. 

In connection with that general fact, let oor 
dear readers think of but one of the dogmatic 
assertions established by cur friendly, polite, gentle 
opponent in the September Conductor. It is there 
fo mulated, in fine, bold language, that because 
we happen to be blessed with ten times as much 
land as we need, we would become a pack of anch- 
orites, and spread ourselves through the wil- 
derness, away from <-ach other, if we only dared 
to displease our socialistic friends by taxation on 
land values, and thus deprive all landlords of 
their large revenues from monopolistic land rents 
in ibis or that form. 

The assertion above mentioned assumes that 
men would lose the common sense they have 
always exhibited, with few exceptions, in group' 
ing themselves along the bosom of choice belts of 
land, with bays, lakes, rivers, good roads, central 
valleys, close to mines and timber regions, under 
good climatic conditions, etc., etc., all for the 
purpose of accumulating wealth as easily as pos- 
sible, and obtaining the greatest advantages and 
comforts, derived from direct communication with 
centers of commerce, etc. Because it is all the 
above that makes it possible for men to satisfy their 
eternal desire of co-operation with each other, 
and hence the sociil instincts they have received 
from their own Creator for wise purposes. 

Every ooe of our readers can see that there is 
nothing sensible in the assertion of our opponent 
upon which he builds up that great fabric of bis 
own, about the insufficiency of land values for 
public needs. Mhy should men separate them* 
selves from each other, run away from smiling 
cities and towns, if you reduce their land rents 
by 40 or 50 per cent, and apply such reduced 
rents to public needs, in lieu of taxes on produc- 
tion; instead of keeping the latter, and let a pack 
of loafers collect the higher rents of to-day 1 
Why should men become crazy if you relieve 
them from the burdens that to-day make life a 
farce to all honest workers? 

In answer to some of the favorite assertions of 
our opponent, we wrote an article in Locomotive 
Lire men's Magazine for October. *93. showing 
that the land values of our railroads alone would 
meet our national taxes, under a correct civilira* 
lion, where armies and pensions wottld not be 
necessary, or very little, because of ample opp of* 
tunities for all to live in plenty. Did be refute 
that article? Not a bit of it; nor has any other 
reformer attempted the j )b. 

Each one of our articles in Tub Cohdcciok. 
since April, has endeavored to show, in concise 
language, the weak points on which the assertion* 


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of oar friend rested. Has he disproved any of 
oar data, or facts, or logical conclusions? Of 
course not. He has indulged in jokes and per- 
sonalities All that is music to our ears, because 
we are not in love with our own ego. We are 
simply in love with humanity and truth. 

We. of course, plead guilty in trying to perme- 
ate our articles with the conception of a Power 
on High , with a code of laws intended to operate 
,for the good of all men. We are sorry that that 
makes our friend unhappy, but, really, we don't 
write for him. We write for a group of men 
whom we respect highly, because they constitute 
a portion of the most solid laboring classes They 
are no doubt religious men, most of them, religi- 
ous in the best sense. Besides, we know that few 
people are attracted to reform movements that 
may tend to disconnect men from their duties to 


CONDUCTOR. 519 

their own Creator. We also feel that if all civil- 
izations have so fir failed to give peace and joy 
to men. the cause must radiate from disobedience 
to the Creator in question Hence, the need of 
connecting the reforms of the day with obedience 
to fundamental moral laws, and thus see if we 
can stop the constant Collapse of all Civiliza- 
tions. 

Some of the other most prominent fantastic 
dogmas in the September article, from our be- 
loved friend, shall have to be analyzed in a future 
article. It would take volumes, of course, to 
disprove all he asserts. Yet our dear readers are 
intelligent enough to apply to all fallacies the 
fundamental economic perceptions with which 
we try to do our share in helping those whose 
time for study is limited, because of their strug- 
gle for existence under our wrong industrial con- 
ditions. 


GOVERNMENT BY INJUNCTION. 

BY W. P. 


For more than one huodred years have been 
living under a constitution which grants to every 
citizen, however humble, the right of trial by a 
jury of his peers for any crime of which he may 
be accused One of the most important provis 
ions contained in the great charter of Angto- 
Sixon liberty, Magna Charta, wrung from the 
unwilling hand of King John by the barons as 
sembled at Runnyraede. was the right of trial by 
Jury and this, together with the right of Habeas 
Corpus, has long beeo justly regarded as the great 
safeguard of liberty. The right is fully recog- 
nized, and guaranteed in emphatic terms, in all 
our constitutions, state and national, and any 
direct attempt to deny or abridge the right would 
be justly regarded as an assault upon the very 
foundation principles of our government, an at- 
tempt to establish despotic influences not to be 
tolerated in a free government. Yet, we have 
courts of equity in our land which, lately, are 
busily engaged in making insidious attacks upon 
this right, and the American people seem to be in- 
capable of comprehending the significance of their 
action; they stand petrihed, like blocks of stone, 
while the jurisdiction of equity courts is being ex 
tended so as to deprive them of their liberties, as 
guaranteed by our constitution of government The 
pretense upon whtch courts of equity procaed to 
deprive citizens of their constitutional rights is 
that of the general public welfare, for the pro- 
tection of property and the repression or preven 
lion of social disorder, but are not our statute laws 
and ordinary court processes sufficient for that? 


BORLAND. 

If not w 3 should know it, and it should not need 
the processes of a court of equity to bring the 
matter to our view. It has come to pass in this 
couotry that our courts may drag before them 
citizens charged with no greater crime than con- 
tempt of court, and send them to prison without 
a trial by a jury of their peers. There are pris- 
oners in many judicial districts of the country at 
the present time serving terms of imprisonment 
for no greater crime than contempt, and they are 
there by summary process of the court and with- 
out jury trial. The judge of the court is the sole 
hearer of testimony as well as judge of the law. 
This situation is full of danger, and it should not 
be allowed to continue. If we have reached a 
period where the ordinary constitutional govern- 
ment must give way to government by injunction, 
then good-by to our boasted American freedom; 
our forefathers fought in vain. Mr. Charles Allen, 
of Missouri, in a paper read before the American 
Bar Association, pointed out the entire adequacy 
of the law to meet all ordinary cases of social dis- 
order, and then he asks ‘ Why, then, invoke the 
extraordinary jurisdiction of a civil court never 
designed for and in no way adapted to such cases? 
What does it mean, this sudden development of 
equity jurisdiction?’’ These are pertinent ques- 
tions; they require answers; not simply because 
•'{his sudden development of equity jurisdiction" 
is calculated to, and has thus far been used, 
merely to restrain workingmen and keep them in 
order, but because it is an assault upon the very 
foundation principles of our government, and in- 


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520 

volves the destruction of American liberty. Gov 
ernment by injunction and government by consti- 
tution cannot exist side by side; either one or the 
other must give way. and it is certain that gov- 
ernment by injunction is bound to become a most 
intolerable despotism . 

During the lecent strikes there was considera- 
ble rioting and destruction of property. This 
sort of business is criminal; our laws against it 
are explicit and ample, and our regular machinery 
of government is adequate for the enforcement of 
those laws. When rioting and destruction of 
property occur, when even intimidation or inter- 
ference with the personal liberty of another oc- 
curs, the way to do. according to our constitu- 
tions and the laws enacted under them, is to ar- 
rest the offenders, indict them, send them before 
a judge and jury for trial, and if found guilty, in- 
flict upon them the penalty prescribed by law. 
This is the method of procedure which our laws 
prescribe; it has always been deemed ample for 
the protection of both individual and social rights, 
and for more than a hundred ydars in this coun- 
try it has been thought that every man, without 
distinction of wealth or social position, was enti- 
tled to be deal' with after this fashion when ac- 
cused of crime. But as against modern working- 
men the programme has suddenly changed; work- 
ingmen are first attacked by wholesale and sweep- 
ing injunction and then tried fcr contempt of 
court. They are thus made to suffer punishment, 
under the name of contempt, for acts not recog- 
nized or condemned as crimes by either constitu- 
tion or statute laws, and they are deprived of their 
constitutional right of being tried by a jury of 
their peers. However plausible the pretext for 
this method of procedure, it constitutes an assault 
on liberty that cannot be contemplated with any 
degree of favor by those who have the future wel- 
fare of this country at heart. Let the injunction 
issued by Judge Seaman, of Milwaukee, which 
the Railway Age refers to as “very explicit and 
comprehensive,” be read, and then let it be re- 
membered that for any violation of that injunc- 
tion one might be summarily arrested and brought 
before the court and fined or imprisoned in the 
discretion of the court, without the privilege of 
submitting questions of fact or law to the judg- 
ment of a jury, the judge issuing the injunction 
being the only hearer of testimony as well as 
judge of the law, and I fancy it will be decided 
that there is a new force arisen in this country 
which needs to be curbed in some way if the 
United States is to remain the abiding place for 
liberty. 

Judge Swan, of Detroit, issued a similar sweep- 
ing injunction, and he decided that the mere pub- 


lication of the injunction in a newspaper, or the 
posting of it in a conspicuous place, constituted 
service upon all persons; and upon the strength 
of this arbitrary ruling of his own the judge im- 
posed a heavy hne upon at least one person, to 
my knowledge, who testified distinctly that he 
was in entire ignorance of the fact that any in- 
junction had been issued. No jury passed judg- 
ment on the facts brought before the court; the 
judge did all the business himself. Said Judge 
Swan in these words, or words to this effect: 
“Many people have no idea what a serious busi- 
ness it is to defy the orders of a court; I intend 
to bring it home to the minds of all persons con- 
cerned that contempt of court is a much more 
serious affair than it is commonly believed to be/' 
The theory upon which these injunctions are is- 
sued, and contempt proceeding under them un- 
dertaken, is that it is for the prevention of crimes, 
declared to be such by the statutes of the land, 
the preservation of social order, and the protec- 
tion of property. The general theory is stated by 
Judge Jenkins in his decision on the Northern Pa- 
cific cases, as follows: 

“It is the peculiar function of equity in such cases, 
where the injury would result not alone in severe private 
but in great public wrong, to restrain the commission of 
the threatened acts and not to send a party to seek un- 
certain and inadequate remedy at law. That jurisdiction 
rests upon settled and unassailable ground. It is not 
longer open to controversy that a court of equity may re- 
strain threatened trespass involving the immediate or 
ultimate destruction of property, working irreparable 
injury, and for which there would be no adequate com- 
pensation at law. It will, in extreme cases, where the 
peril is imminent and the danger great, issue mandatory 
injunctions requiring a particular service to be performed, 
or a particular direction to be given, or a particular order 
to be revoked, in prevention of a threatened trespass 
upon property or upon public rights.” 

“Punishment for contempt is not compensation for an 
injury. The pecuniary penalty for contumacy does not 
go to the owner of property injured. Such contempt Is 
deemed a public wrong, ana the fine Inures to the govern- 
ment. The injunction goes in prevention of wrong to 
property and injury to the public welfare; the fine in 
punishment of contumacy.” 

Acting upon this view of the functions of a 
court of equity Judge Jenkins issued injunctions 
against the employes of the Northern Pacific 
which a congressional committee characterized as 
a “gross abuse of the power of the court;” “sop 
ported by neither reason nor authority ” “beyond 
the jurisdictiou of the judge;” > and, therefore, 
void.” The committee also recommended that 
“in order that there may be no further excuse 
for the rendition of any such orders or decrees 
and that the courts of equity of the United States 
may not be deceived as to the extent of their 
powers in enfoicing contracts for personal serv- 
ices by legal process, we recommend the enact- 
ment of a statute which will prevent them from 
so doing.” That there is urgent need for such a 
statute is made plain by the recent action of these 
courts, the principle of equity jurisdiction having 
been pushed even further than it was by Judge 


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Jenkins. The prohibition in the injunction issued 
by Judge Seaman against "all other persons 
whomsoever/' which restrains from doing "any 
act whatever in furtherance of any conspiracy or 
combination, to restrain either of said railroad 
companies or receivers in the free and unhindered 
control and handling of interstate commerce 
over the lines of said railroads, and of transpor- 
tation of persons and freight between and among 
the states," is one that can be made operative 
against any member of a labor organization in 
time of strike, so as to turn the most innocent 
act, an entirely lawful act, into contempt of 
court. Any banding together for the simple pur- 
pose of discussion concerniag mutual interests 
might be declared to be in furtherance of conspir- 
acy or combination, and be punished as contempt 
of court. This is a dangerous power to place in 
the bands of any one man, even though be be the 
judge of a court of equity, especially, since he is 
very apt to hold opinions concerning strikes 
similar to those held by Judge Jenkins, who de- 
clared that "no strike was ever heard of that was 
or could be successful, unaccompanied by intimi- 
dation or violence." I imagine this learned judge 
is not as well posted in the history of the labor 
movement as he thinks himself to be, else he 
would not be so confident in giving utterance to 
declarations of that character; but the important 
thing to consider is that the belief expressed in 
this declaration is held, and it has its influence in 
determining contempt proceedings, and creating 
a certain bias against workingmen in the minds of 
the judges. This being true, it is evident that 
there should be some clearly defined limit estab- 
lished, beyond which the principle of government 
by injunction could not possibly be pushed. This 
"sadden development of equity jurisdiction” 
should be nipped before it comes to be too well 
established a principle to make it hard to get 
rid of. 

There is no principle, however vicious, thit 
may not acquire a certain standing, a sort of a 
vested right to exist, if allowed to continue to be 
applied for a certain length of time. And 
the tact that the principle of govern- 
ment by injunction has thus far been 
used merely against workingmen, is no 
guarantee that it may not be pushed so as to 
make it operate against those who are not identi- 
fied in any way with labor organizations, or who 
are not in sympathy with the labor movement. 
The present status of the question detracts noth- 
ing from its importance to the welfare of persons 
in all walks of life, for who can estimate its con- 
sequences or predict its end? Courts do not 
always remain the same, they are not unchange 


521 

able, and would there not be a terrible stirring 
up, a rattling of dry bones, if government by in- 
junction should chance to be applied in favor of 
labor instead of against it? There is nothing im- 
passible about that sort of ttyng. Thomas Jef- 
ferson once replaced some federalist judges by 
republican ones Suppose the principle of gov- 
ernment by injunction to be well established, and 
our courts to be struck with a contagion of im- 
partiality, what is to prevent the application of the 
principle to some of the intricate problems of social 
polity with >which statute laws and constitutional 
provisions now grapple in vain? We have laws 
on our national statute books miking it a criminal 
offense to bring together aggregations of capital 
for the purpose of bolding up prices. These 
laws have existed for several years, and, notwith- 
standing that they are, and have been, openly 
and flagrantly and notoriously violated every day 
of every year by persons well known, yet not a 
single conviction and punishment has ev£r fol- 
lowed such violations. Now, if it is true that the 
law and the old fashioned methods for enforcing 
it is not adequate for dealing with these cases, 
why not apply government by injunction? Let 
some court of equity fulminate an injunction 
against the sugar trust, for instance, that would 
sweep in Mr. Havemeyer and all his class, and 
let these gentlemen be brought into court and 
tried by summary process without jury. Why 
not? This is the way the principle is being ap- 
plied to workingmen; and I hope there are none 
who wish to commit themselves to the belief that 
we have forms of government in this country 
which are not applicable to all citizens alike. If 
government by injunction is a good thing for the 
purpose of keeping workingmen in order and 
forcing them to observe the laws, then, why is it 
not a good thing to apply to all the public thieves 
and rascals, bribe-takers and bribe givers, 
sharpers and unlawful speculators of all 
descriptions, who are bringing reproach 
upon our generation and weakness to our insti- 
tutions? These are, in the main, responsible for 
the fact of government by injunction in this 
country; they cannot object to taking some of 
their own medicine. 

It may be that our ordinary constitutional pro- 
cesses are no longer competent to meet the ques- 
tions arising under the social situation as it now 
exists. It may be that our old theories of govern- 
ment are no longer adequate to meet the wants 
and aspirations of this people; and I am inclined 
to the belief that this is largely the fact, that our 
constitution is really an unworkable instrument 
in the presence of the live social facts that are 
appealing to it for sanctions. In passing, and 


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while on the subject of the constitution, I want to 
quote a recently delivered utterance of that re- 
nowned Irish statesman and journalist, T. P. 
O'Connor: "The constitution of the Uaited 
States," said he, ''is, in my judgment, one of the 
most unjustly eulogized instruments of political 
history. The gentlemen who constructed it were 
possessed of the idea of checks and balances — 
a fatal and fallacious figure that has worked 
mighty mischief in the world — and they con- 
structed a machine which to a large extent means 
not the regulation but the paralysis of govern- 
ment. This is what reformers in America have 
begun to find out. It is nothing short of besotted 
and perilous optimism either to ignore or to extenu- 
ate the evils from which the country is suffering." 
But it by no means follows that government by 
injunction is the proper remedy for our constitu- 
tional deficiencies, nor does it follow that our 
democratic forms must be sacrificed to the neces- 
sities arising out of changed social situations and 
conditions. And it is the partial application of 
this injunction law that renders the thing intoler- 
able. It is the very strength of good laws that 
they are no respecter of persons, and if condi- 
tions are beginning to come into being where the 
courts are dealing with the workingmen with a 


form of severity which they do not apply to law 
breaking millionaires, and this is the fact, the: 
the thing is outrageous and onght to be looke 
into with a vieyr to promptly and effectually pu 
a stop to it. We cannot have one kind of la» 
for one class of citizens and another for anothe 
class. That sort of business will surely disrup 
the government, no matter what may be its form 
But, supposing even that it were possible to appK 
the principle impartially, to all citizens alike 
government by injunction would still be high!) 
objectionable; it is a principle that is antagoub 
tic to freedom; utterly destructive of the mor. 
fundamental and dearly bought rights of mac 
arbitrary and oppressive both in its application 
and in its results; aod it has no right to cm 
among a free and independent people. Its cffac 
is to deprive men of their right of trial by jun 
and one of the very reasons set forth in on: 
Declaration of Independence in justification l! 
rebellion against the government of George 111 
was "for depriving us, in many cases, of the bes 
efit of trial by jury." It is much to be hope 
that we shall succeed in strangling this xnonstr 
of government by injunction before it haa becom? 
powerful enough so as to enable it to succeed 12 
strangling us, through the destruction of our lib- 
erties. 


OUR NEW YORK LETTER. 


Rehabilitating brok ;n down railroad corpora- 
tions has become such a common performance in 
this era of bunco deals that they attract less at- 
tention than formerly, which accounts, perhaps, 
for the small amount of notice given to the an- 
nouncement that the work of organizing the 
Southern Railway Company, begun several years 
ago, had at last been completed. Yet it makes a 
very striking transformation in one of the largest 
fields of the railroad industry of our country, and 
is significant especially for the radical wiping out of 
fictitious securities which had been heaped on the 
unfortunate property with the idea that the 
golden harvest to be reaped was great enough to 
allow almost any degree of watering. Starting 
off with three or four insignificant lines, all of 
which were already staggering under their own 
liabilities but were brought under one control 
with a fine flourish of trumpets, which sounded 
the key note that a combination of weakness must 
necessarily mean strength, the opportunity was 
taken to saddle on them that diabolical contriv- 
ance, a leasing company with a big capital and 
liabilities of its own — which represented abso- 
lutely nothing. And for a while the lambs in the 
stock market took the bait famously. Exactly 


the same game had been worked in the case o', 
the New York elevated roads, but with this differ 
ence: that in the latter case there was a roo* 
valuable franchise to be exploited, and a compact 
and easily handled system in question. 

With the Richmond Terminal scheme it vu 
very different, and the original error wasperpeta 
ated and magnified by the absorption of oat 
semi-bankrupt line after another, having no uat 
ural relation to »one another for the most pan 
until a genuine bctopus had been created with 
such a number and variety of arms that a snpe: 
human brain would have been required to brio* 
order out of the chaos. That quality of brains 
scarce and so it comes to a most grievous smash 
and after a period during which it looked as if ihr 
whole ill assorted thing would necessarily drop tc 
pieces, it has been, as it were, soldered together 
again as a corporate whole and a new compact 
formed, which owns, instead of leasing, one cl 
the largest mileages in the world. The absolutely 
dropsical proportion of water has been squeezed 
out, bat the heterogeneous nature of the system 
remains, which was one of the worst causes zi its 
former downfall; and it will be an intefesticr 
problem to watch for the solution of, whether the 


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genius of management can be found to success- 
fully direct a labyrinth of roads, serving such 
diverse interests as this. For in this is involved 
one of the most serious questions as regards 
government ownership of railroads — whether, 
when we reach a point requiring such vast 
breadth as well as force of intellect, we do not 
get beyond the calibre of men as most of them 
are constituted 

This is the off season for the interest which 
centers in public affairs, being between the ad- 
journment of congress and the real opening of 
the fall campaign, and more attention is being 
devoted to the proceedings of our state constitu- 
tional convention than it had hitherto received — 
or deserved. On the whole, it has been a pretty 
poor sort of body, and one rather discouraging 
to those who insist upon political matters being 
taken oat of the hands of the politicians. Very 
few of the men who compose it were known in 
political life, even in their local « circles; but 
ranker partisanship on botji sides has never been 
developed in any assemblage of .recent years. 
They have frittered away their time over mean- 
ingless talk about unimportant things, until the 
limit within which the law contemplated that 
they should do their work has nearly expired, 
and almost nothing has been accomplished. Petti- 
fogging has been rampant, and the only serious 
purpose apparent has been the careful manner 
in which the interests of the New York Central 
have been looked after; and now that they are 
getting soberly to work on general subjects, hav- 
iog got all the pay possible for half sessions, and 
mileage, as if they had been brought up in legis- 
lative practices, the new fundamental law jwhich 
they are evolving promises to contain so many 
mischievous features as to merit its wholesale re- 
jection by the people. 

Still another unpleasant illustration of amateur 
politics is being given us in the organization of 
our new committee of seventy, in imitation of 
that which overthrew Tweed. With the exception 
of just one, labor leader, who happens to have 
obtained considerable standing among the people 
who call themselves the tax -payers, there is not 
one name on the list represen tating anything but 
the millionaires and professional men who, cast- 
ing directly and indirectly, perhaps, 20,000 
votes, insist with a singular fatuity that they 
alone are competent and by right entitled to di- 
rect the municipal affairs in which 190,000 other 
votes are supposed by our institutions to have a 
voice Not a single small shopkeener or mechan- 
ic or clerk, or even an employer of labor outside 
the aristocratic down-town circle, is called into 
this august council whose ambition is supposed 


to be the elevation of public politics to the plane 
of the real public interest, and yet these people 
wonder, when the great waves of public opinion 
sweep by, leaving them on one side, and deplore 
the condition of affairs in which, what they 
deem the best sentiment, can get no hearing. At 
the bottom, the controlling motive is the fixed 
idea that the great mass of the people are fit only 
to be led by the choice few; an idea which we 
are so far from having grown out of under re- 
publican government that it seems to be gaining 
increased acceptance by a certain set, as we de- 
velop more of the distinctions of wealth amongst 
us. 

The controversy in your pages between Messrs. 
Borland and Stuart has been so efficiently carried 
on that it seems a pity to interfere in it; but I 
cannot resist pointing out to Mr. Stuart that in 
his statement that land rents are decreasing in 
England and Germany, he has been misled by his 
authorities — who are rather poor ones, by the 
way, especially David A. Wells, an economist 
who is altogether superannuated, both by age and 
ill-health. They have gone on the tradition that 
land rents meant agricultural rents, and have al- 
most wholly ignored the far greater figures that 
in modern times attach to the soil of towns. The 
great landlords of England to-day are such men 
as the Dukes of Westminster and Bedford, who 
own blocks upon blocks in London and whose 
rent-rolls cast into the shade those that are de- 
rived from»couBtry shires. Agricultural rents in 
Great Britain have been falling since steam and 
electricity practically anchored our own and In- 
dian wheatfields in the English Channel, but 
the aggregate of all British rents, including those 
in towns, has enormously increased. The same 
is true of our own country, and to-day the soil 
of Manhattan Island alone returns to its owners 
four times the value of the entire foreign trade 
of either England or America less than two hun- 
dred years ago. And this is readily paid for the 
use of New York City land, notwithstanding that 
from the wealth produced on it has also to be 
furnished more than thirty millions for our own 
local taxation and probably almost an equal 
amount for the share which our citizens indirect- 
ly contribute to the national revenue. 

These facts ought to point out, too, the logical 
absurdity of the notion that a single* tax on 
land-values will prove inadequate for neces- 
sary public revenue. It is by no means an essen- 
tial feature in that proposal that our enormous 
revenue should be derived from it; though most 
of its advocates believe that that will be one re- 
sult, and not without reason. What they are 
after, however, is to render impossible the pre- 


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524 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


venting of men from using land as it is needed, 
and in doing this, it is impossible really, to think 
that it will reduce the tax fund below present 
limits. All taxation now comes out of the wealth 
produced from the use of land in one way or an* 
other; and that wealth can cert linly not be 
diminished when the possibilities for its creation 
are increased It is true, that with the destruc- 
tion of speculative rent, the "margin of produc- 
tion" will be raised; but inasmuch as present tax- 
at ion -comes out of actual present production, the 
difference between the best land and the poorest 
required to make up the quota necessary to meet 
the present volume of taxation, must always re- 
main, at least, as great as it is now. Men will, 
doubtless, not consent to use as poor land as they 
now often have to put up with when all land is 
thrown open to use, but the necessary corollary 
of this is that their total product will be in- 
creased. Since the competition for everything 
better than the very poorest remaining in service 
will naturally continue relatively as eager as 
ever, the resultant of that competition, calculated 
for a smaller difference, but on a total production 
larger in exact proportion as the difference is re- 
duced, must necessarily show, at least, equal 
figures of rental values. 

Senator Jones, with his demagogic statement 
about his withdrawal from the republican party, 
is a very fine illustration of one form of making 
all the people pay a few for the* use of land 
separately adapted for the production of wealth. 
Of course, the great strength of free silver coin- 
age comes from a compromise of the prejudice 
that a circulating medium must necessarily have 
an intrinsic value, with the other prejudice that 
business is stimulated by having lots of "money" 
and getting it as cheap as possible. The silver 
mine owners know very well, however, who gets 
silver cheap, and they are very far from being 
willing that the rest of the people shall get it 
from them except at the highest price; or else 
they would not insist that they should be allowed 
to dispose of it at the mint at a higher price than 
any other buyer will give, and then that all other 
citizens must be compelled to accept it as a legal 
tender. A man is entitled to all respect in advo- 
cating a given doctrine, who is not personally 
interested in it, or at least, not to a greater degree 
than other people. But when these silver sena- 
tors claim credit for serving the suffering masses 
when they are only trying to bulldoze the nation 
into making a better market for the product of 
their individual property, it is a specie of hypoc- 
risy that is specially contemptible. Even the 
sugar trust gang had the grace to work their 
blackmail under cover and did not pretend that 


they were sacrificing themselves for the public 
interest. 

Scandal in high life has of late afforded some 
rich morsels for those who are fond of that sort 
of thing, and if the progress is kept up in this 
line, which our New York millionaires have been 
making, they will soon qualify themselves for 
comparison with the most aristocratic circles 
abroad. It would really seem as if people with 
the advantages of education and opportunities 
for amusement possessed by the Vanderbilts and 
Astors, might restrain themselves within the lines 
of morality; yet, in both these families, not to 
speak of some of the smaller social fry, they 
have managed to develop divorce suits of the 
most sensational kind; with mutual recriminations, 
moreover, that are worthy of the vice-breeding 
atmosphere of a tenement house. It was too 
strong temptation to the newsmongers to be 
smothered entirely; but it is an interesting illus- 
tration of the power of wealth to see how long 
the circumstances of both these affairs have kept 
quiet, and how quickly mention of them in the 
press has been allowed to die out more recently. 
The same papers are strangely reserved in their 
comments, that are fairly gloating over the suc- 
cess of the campaign of humbug and hypocrisy 
against Breckenridge's renomination, even while 
they are practically eating their own words 
uttered in fulsome praise of Madeline Pollard’s 
injured innocence, by slurring remarks on her 
character, now that she is no longer useful as a 
tool. But then the whole purpose of the vir- 
tuous attitude against Breckenridge was to serve 
the ends of political faction and journalistic 
spite, so it is natural that it should be kept up. 
while it is found inexpedient to ventilate too 
thoroughly the affairs of the influential people 
who control millions. 

We rather pride ourselves on being broad- 
minded in New York, and were greatly amused, 
not long ago, at the news that a Texan town had 
issued a solemn edict against women wearing 
bloomers in bicycling. And as a matter of fact, 
people can usually do what they please here, so 
long as it does not injure others, without danger 
of much serious comment. But when a couple 
of women offended public opinion the other day 
by actually smoking on Broadway, official auth- 
ority hastened to the rescue to forbid the crime. 
So it would appear that even in a big city, men 
are not altogether free from prejudice; and that 
people must not suppose that civilization ha* 
gone so far as to permit them to indulge in actions 
harmless in themselves or Conventionally vulgar 
only, if they shock preconceived notions too 
greatly. Edw. J SnxivBJ 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 525 

FOURTH BIENNIAL CONVENTION OF THE B. OF L. F. 


The fourth biennial convention of the Brother- 
hood of Locomotive Firemen, was formally opened 
at Harrisburg, Pa, on September 10, last. There 
was a good attendance of able and representative 
men from all portions of the country as delegates, 
and the manner in which they disposed of the im- 
portant matters brought up for consideration, 
proved conclusively that the best interests of the 
order were safe in their hands. 

The evening of the first day was given up to a 
public reception, the Grand Opera House being 
filled to overflowing by the citizens of Harrisburg 
who gathered to assist in welcoming the city’s 
honored guests. After brief introductory remarks 
by B. F. Huber, chairman of the committee on 
arrangements, the Grand Lodge was formally wel- 
comed to the state by the Attorney General, 
speaking in behalf of Governor Pattison, and to 
the city by Mayor M. C. Eby. This was followed 
by addresses from President Sam'l Gompers, of 
the American Federation of Labor; Grand Chief 
Conductor E. E. Clark; T. V. Powderly; Deloss 
Everett, of the B. of L. E. ; E. A. Moseley, Sec- 
retary of the Inter-State Commerce Commission; 
District Attorney M. D. Detweiler, and by the 
widely and well known “Shandy Maguire.” 

The central feature of tlye programme was the 
biennia] address by Grand Master Sargent, which 
was so well worth the attention of all the friends 
of labor, that we reproduce it, the following being 
tbe complete text: 

GRAND MASTER SARGENT’S ADDRESS. 

Tbe year 1894 will be recorded on the annals of time as 
the dark days of the nineteenth ceuturv within the circle 
of wageworkers who comprise the bone and sinew of 
this great republic. Never in the history of ihis country 
have we Been coaditious tike those forced a poo the Amer- 
icau people, especially upon those who c omprise the toil- 
ers of the land and who by the sweat of the brow derive 
subsistence for their wives and children. Since July, 
1893, we have been in the midst of one of the greatest 
industrial depressions America has experienced. Thous- 
ands of laborers have been thrown out of employment. 
Commercial industries have been paralyzed. The fur- 
nace, workshop, mine and factory nave remained silent 
and the tall, grim chimneys that have heretofore sent 
forth out of their huge mouths, smoke and vapor, stand 
as a silent monument to remind us of departed prosper- 



indications of a thrifty people, has ceased, aud at the 
quiet of the fireside, upon the village street and in public 
places, ware workers have gathered to ask themselves the 
question: when the earth produces abundantly, when our 
granaries are groaning under their heiivyloadof bread 
staffs, when our mountains are tilled with the choicest 
metals, when onr treasare houses are overstocked with 
wealth by millions, why, oh, why! must our children cry 
for bread and we hardy sons of toil be unable to answer 
their cry for the want of employment for our hands? 

There Is a cause for everything, a creation of the condi- 
tions of the hour, and as wage workers have had and are 
still having bitter experiences. It behooves them to seri- 
ously contemplate trials and privations throngh which 
they passed and the ones which confront them now; and 
by anlty of action and a firm determination, endeavor to 
remove the causes of this terrible depression and again 
make our country— one of the brightest and richest of 
God's creation— to be the land of profitable indusiries 
and to bring sunshine into the homes of our families and 


a smile of contentment to rest upon him who earns his 
daily bread. 

Is It a wonder that during the past eight months there 
has been an uprising among the working people? That 
throngh the length and breadth of this nation tnere has 
been constant unrest ? That men have formed themselves 
Into little bands and setting their faces towards the seat 
of government, have tramped through sleet and snow, suf- 
fering all the hardships possible for meu to endure? No 
matter what may be said of such a movement, it is evi- 
dence of a condition of things that does not speak well 
for thiB free and enlightened nation, and the time is at 
hand when every true and loyal American, every law- 
abiding citizen, every rnler and statesman, should join 
hands and minds to free our country from such an ac- 
cursed industrial condition as she is now plnnged into; 
to open up our avenues of trade; to kindle the fires in our 
shops, set in motion spindle and loom and let onr people 
have employment, and let it be said that in America 
honest men and women need not suffer the pangs of hun- 
ger because of the want of work 

For many years the workingmen of our nation have 
been struggling to better their conditions, realizing that 
man alone can avail but little in any great movement of 
reform, but by associating himself with his fellow men, 
thereby enabling him to obtain new ideas and an ex- 
change of opinion, he is in a position to do much! 
Workingmen have formed societies, organized their 
trades, unified themselves, and by this means have in 
many ways greatly benefited each other. To day we find 
that nearly every trade has its organization. These or- 
ganizations have been of great benefit to society. Take 
the foundation of all the trades unions; they are laid 
upon good principles; the teachings are wholesome and 
will improve the mind, if properly applied, and no one 
can deny that the better a man becomes, the more en- 
lightened he is in mind, the better citizen he will be, and 
one of the principal reasons why in America you find 
such an intelligent class of wage workers is largely be- 
cause of the influence and teachings of the trades unions, 
aud to-day when we hear of the disturbances in the indus- 
trial centers and some people are prone to condemn the 
labor organizations and try to place the responsibility 
upon them for all this agitation, if you will make an in- 
vestigation you will discover that there is not a legiti- 
mate trade union to day but what is counseling modera- 
tion and appealing to their membership to bo law- 
abiding, to discountenance riots, to use tbe ballot and not 
the torch, to support Old Glory, the emblem of freedom, 
not flaunt the red flig of anarchy, and by their intelli- 
gence and their united strength at the polls place in 
power in state and nation, as rulers and counselors, men 
of the people and for the people, who will not rest day or 
night until the sun of prosperity shines npon us and we 
become a happy and contented people, with every avenue 
open for the application of onr mind and muscle. 


It is in a time like this that good counsel is needed by 
the membership of trades anions; men of conservative 
thought and prudent action. When workingmen are idle, 
time hangs heavy upoa their hands and with men of cer- 
tain temperament it is easy to excite them and to preach 
radical aud anarchistic doctrine among workingmen in a 
time like tbe present is criminal. What is needed to-day 
among wage workers is men who will turn their attention 
to the legislation that is necessary to improve their con- 
dition; to advocate the closing of our gates against the 
inroads of foreign Immigration that at present is a curse 
to us; to preach arbitration in wage disputes and keep 
in the background, to be brough* out as a last resort aud 
th n only when every other effort has failed, the weapon 
of organized labor— the strike. 

Strikes have been an advantage to organized labor. 
While the evil results are sometimes most prominent, 
they have been a powerful educator of the masses, and 
while defeat has often been recorded, vet what seemed 
defeat has afterwards proved a victory for labor. I be- 
lieve that there was never » time in the history of strikes 
but what there wms a benefit derived, and while the con- 
testants suffered and for many years the sting remained, 
yet out of ihe contest valuable lessons were learned and 
it was not a defeat of labor. But there should be judg- 


ment used by those who have the power to inaugurate 
strikes and good counsel should always be given the 
wage workers by their leaders. A man who will encour- 
age men to strike in a time when thousands of his craft 
are out of employment, when the business of the country 
is paralyzed, when men are begging for bread, and a strike 
means certain defeat for the parties who participate, dis- 
plays poor judgment and is unfit to be a counselor and 
leader of a labor organization. There is an opportune 
time for strikes, if strikes there must be. It is when 
business is good, when tbe market is drained of surplus 


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526 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


labor, when the majority of the craft involved have been 
earning fair wages and have something to contr.bate to 
their unfortunate fellow workmen; bat those conditions 
do not prevail to-day and have not in the past year. That 
is why I contend that in a time like the present wage 
workers want the wisest counselors and men who are 
not ambitions to have their names emblazoned upon the 
scroll of fame as leading the greatest strike the world 
eyer saw ; bat who desire to keep workingmen who can 
earn their living employed, so thai they may contribute a 
mite to help him who has nothing. They should bend 
their energy and talents in convincing the hungry tollers 
of the causes of the great depression and point out a 
remedy, which certainly is not found by further plunging 
the avenues of trade into chaos by strikes, applying the 
biasing torch or in defiance of the laws. 

Intelligent wage workers will agree with me when I 
repeat that to-day we need radical changes in our national 
laws, a better protection for our labor, a curtailing of 
immigration, until the thousands of idle toilers now in 
onr land have found employment at good wages, and no 
sane person will contend that strikes in a time when 
thousands are living upon charity will hasten that hour. 
But if the idle workmen will pause to consider that these 
conditions are brought upon os by unjust legislation, the 
combinations of trusts and the manipulations or the 
stock jobbers and Wall street rulers and more in the in- 
terest of foreign powers than of our own country and 
thns they will continue until regulated by national laws 
and that to obtain these laws requires in the halls of con- 
gress and the state legislatures men who are in symDathy 
with the common people, who have been with them in 
the hours of their adversity and will not forget them 
when they have been elevated to a position of authority 
by their associates and become the servants of the same 
combinations that have created this horrible depression. 
If the leaders of labor will put away all selfishness and 
put off the cloak of hypocrisy that is worn by so many 
and let their minds be centered upon the needy people 
and not upon an office they hope to reach, we firmly Be- 
lieve that it is within the power of the wage workers, 
through the influence of trades unions, to bring about 
prosperous conditions and make plenty of employment 
at good wages. But if men are Influenced to strike and 
idleness is thrust upon those few who are now employed 
and thereby dls integration is caused among the traces 
anions and more misery to the families of workingmen, 
we will be retrograding and our conditions will be worse 
instead of better. Here in this beautiful city of the 
great commonwealth of Pennsylvania are representatives 
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, a trades 
union founded upon principles as good and elevating as 
any Boclety under the canopy of Heaveu, with a member- 
ship of 25.000 sturdy sons, who have faced dangers seen 
and unseen in the faithful discharge of their duties upon 
the great commercial highways of this country. 

This is the biennial meeting and these representatives 
chosen from among the toilers have entered the gates ot 
this city for the purpose of legislating for the brother- 
hood, their beet friend and their sure protector, and it 
may not be amiss if we dwell upon the aims of the 
brotherhood, review the past history briefly and set forth 
its mission and point out its mode of procedure as a 
trades onion. 

Years ago, firemen— few in nnmber— met together in a 
switch shanty in Port Jervis. N. Y., and discussed the 
question of organization. Imbued with the progressive 
spirit characteristic of locomotive firemen, they began 
their labors, and though but a handful, under the wise 
counsel of that old patriot and faithful brother, Joshua 
Leach, the numbers increased. New lodge fires were 
kindled and the influence of organization, impregnated 
with charity and true hospitality, brought forth the best 
element in man’s nature and «e see a prosperous growth 
and year by year the ranks extending until from the cor- 
poral's guard we have the vast army that to-day is repre- 
sented by these brothers out of a membership scattered 
throughout the length and breadth of the land. 

It may be said that when the brotherhood was first or- 
ganized, it was onlv a benevolent society, commonly 
known as an insurance order. So it was, for the reason 
that the locomotive flren cu in those days looked out for 
their families and provided for a protector to wife and 
child when husband nnd father should meet tho fate that 
awaits mauy of the cratt. The brotherhood did uot come 
np like a mushroom in a night. Good materia) was sought 
for, as the builders knew that to make the institution per- 
manent required care and the growth must necessarily be 
slow. It was not intended by the founders of thr order 
to overturn the entire universe in one year nnd to wipe 
off the earth all kindred organizations that they might 
have supreme control. What the firemen strove to do 
was to organize their craft into a substantial brother- 
hood, educate th*ir members and advance them to a 
higher standing in society and by faithful observance of 


their laws build up a brotherhood the peer of any in tho 
land and one that would command respect wherever an 
altar was erected and the faithful members assembled 
together. It must not be understood that the brother 
hood hss always had a clear track and that the son of 
prosperity has always shone upon her. There are many 
here who will remember the dark boors of ttJTT. when 
the s ton test heart grew faint and when it seemed that the 
work eo faithfully performed by our Illustrious Past 
Grand Master would come to nought; hut when destruc- 
tion seemed inevitable, there came forth men, who, like 
the knights of old, bared their arms and went forth to 
battle and rested neither day nor night’anlii the brother- 
hood was safely anchored and the storm had passed. 
Then, with a devotion worthy of saints, they set out to 
preach the gospel of charity, pointing out the benefits of 
sobriety, Inculcating that most sublime virtue, industry, 
and locomotive firemen flocked to the standard and the 
brotherhood trlamphed and became a power for good. 

After the organization had grown to a membership of 
15,000, and the people haa become acquainted with the 
alms and purposes of the brotherhood, when railway 
managers were convinced that a fireman In their employ 
who had a membership in the organization insured them 
of having a faithful servant- a sober and reliable man. tbs 
brotherhood, at its twelfth annual convention, in Phila- 
delphia. right on the threshold of the city of Harrisburg, 
adopted a protective trades union policy and set out to 
look after the wages of its membership, to endeavor to 
bring abont closer relations between employes and em- 
ployer and to provide rules and rates governing the call- 
ing of the members. Laws wc re enacted providing for 
committees to act in behalf of the firemen before tbs 
officials of the railways and the brotherhood declared 
itself a protector of it e labor. It did not enter the fold 
of labor with a grievance against anyone. It bad no chip 
npon its shoulder that it wanted knocked off. It did not 
claim that every other organization representing work- 
ingmen was a failure and that the brotherhood offered the 
only sure protection for wage workers. It did not eeod 
out its grand officers and agitators to tell the members of 
kindred organizations that their officials were bribe 
takers, had been bought by the railway corporations, In 
fact, were anything but what they represented. No, the 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen had been organised 
foi an honest purpose. It was instituted to benefit loco- 
motive firemen and not to create a sinecure for any one 
man. The members of the order realized that to be suc- 
cessful they must be honest with their employers; to ask 
those conditions for the firemen that were fair; in fixing 
rates of wages, to be governed largely by condttioua and 
surroundings. In trying to protect its membership, that 
these same members must be falthfhl in the discharge of 
their dutv to their employer, sober and reliable, and the 
organization should not be need to shield a man who was 
guilty of unbecoming conduct, willful violation of rules 
and incompetent to perform those responsible Unties of a 
locomotive engine-nan. 

The brotherhood realized that among the employers of 
its membership there were a few narrow-minded, unprin- 
cipled men, who had unfortunately been elevated to 
positions of anthority in railway circles, and that when 
in contact with such men, it would require something 
more effective as a persuader than the liiui>er longue of 
the chairman of the committee or the influence of the 
walking delegate, the Grand Master, so it introduced a 
striking plant or the most improved pattern, but with 
rules that would prevent it being set in motion except a s 
a last resort ana when every other men e had failed, 
whereby simple justice could be obtained for its member- 
ship. This plant was required, for wit hont it, the pro- 
tective machinery of the order would have been of little 
avail. It was known that the organization had ’his 

f iowerful instrument, although it was not always brought 
nto service, only referred to when speaking oi the pro- 
tective equipment of the brotherhood. 

From 1885 up to the preseut day the brotherhood has 
been in the field of labor striving to promote the ndl- 
tions of locomotive firemen. It has endeavored, hv fail 
dealing, to gain the confidence of the rsll war corpora 
tions by whom its members are employed, and tbe rvspott 
of the public. It has always cultivated fHcnUlv relation# 
with trades unions organized for a noble pumtsc. and 
has stood ready to aid the distressed wherever tltey might 
be found. Ilow’ well the brotherhood has fulfilled Its 
mission is proved by the standing of the organization to- 
day; the character of men that make op Its ranks; th« 
relation that prevail between the employer and the em- 
ploye. Slues the brotherhood adopted a protective policy 
there hnve beoo over two hundred written schedule* znd 
agreements made between the railway managers asd Uw 
committees representing the firmer, while number* of 
men have been discharged, to be returned to service 
through the Influence of the order. During tble Uw* tbs 
brotherhood has been compelled to start up Us strt’Hh* 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


machinery In a few Instances on account of running up 
against narrow-minded men, who would not listen to 
reason, who would not arbitrate, who would do nothing 
but have their own way. Some of them had it; but it 
cost them several dollars, and they had lots of experience 
which they will not require hereafter. In some instances 
the brotherhood was successful: in others it failed in a 
measure to gain the end sought, out in no single Instance 
was everything a loss. Lessons were learned that were 
at practical benefit to both parties engaged. In all these 
straggles the brotherhood confined its contest to the ter- 
ritory of the enemy, as the laws do not permit of the 
waging of a general warfare against friend and fbe alike. 
The order rocogntzes that it has friends among railway 
managers, who are treating its members with fairness; 
that with these same railway managers they have written 
agreements, and tn violate them on the part of the men. 
and Injure the business of their employer who has kepi 
his word and his agreement, would be an outrage and 
would place the organisation in a position to be con- 
demned by any fair-minded person. She, therefore says 
to her membership on other lines: “We will fight this 
battle upon the enemy’s own ground. You do your duty 
by your employer, earn your wages, respect your agree- 
ment, obey the laws of yonr organization, and when we 
call upon you fir financial support yon will have some- 
thing to contribute, and if we suffer defeat, you, whose 
employer has treated you with respect, will have employ- 
ment andean help those ot the members who have fought 
the battle '* This policy may not meet the idea of the 
reformist of to-day, but It Is the only policy that will 
maintain vour organization and insure situations to our 
membership. 

When the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen was 
engaged In wfrfare with General Lehigh Valley, what 

i ustioo would there have been in your Grand Master and 
ife associates waging war on the Pennsylvania RallroacL 
the D., L. & W. R, R., where our tried and true friend 
Hallstead reigns supreme? Or the Central of New Jer- 
sey? OrtheKrie? Stop every wheel in the country, is 
the cry. Carry out that policy and you stop the resources 
of your organization; destroy the relations that are 
pleasant upon many lines like the D.. L. & W., and Penn- 
sylvania Railroad ; lose agreements that have cost many 
hours of hard labor on the part of your committees, aod 
in the ©.id, assure as there is a sky above us, you have 
demoralized your organization, driven thousands out of 
employment, made enemies where you had friends, and, 
worst of all, piupers of the men themeelveB; and in 
room of being able to contribute support to the uofurtu- 
nate brother# who were aggrieved, whose employer was 
tyrannical and denied them justice, and who left his serv- 
ice expecting, if he succeeded in filling their places, that 
the Brotherhood would contribute something to their sup- 
port, yon force them to appeal to the charitable people of 
their town, to the governor of their state, to keep 
wives and children from starving, while those who left 
the service of an employer against whom they had no 
grievance are compelled to leave home and 
Friends and tramp the country over to find their name 
upon the black list, and then the fallacy of their acts be- 
comes apparent to them. But if the present policy of 
the Brotherhood is carried on and Federation with Trades 
Unions representing railway labor is encouraged, and 
Grand Officers who represent these organizations will 
labor as zealously to advance the organizations they rep- 
resent as some of them do to dest-oy those against whom 
they bave a grievance, it will cause wage workers to seek 
an affiliation with the union that represents their trade, 
and with a thorough organization and harmonious rela- 
tions much good will be accomplished for those who toil. 
The Brotherhood Is an advocate of federation. She has 
always been prominently connected with the other rail- 
way organizations that have a fixed policy a>,d adhere to 
it. She has always maintained pleasant relatioua with 
trades uuions outside of the railway service, and she fully 
recognizes the beneht of these relations; bnt in affili- 
ating with the American Federation of L*bor, the Car- 
penters, the flatters, the Cig»r Makers, she does not ex- 
pect that if she has a misunderstanding with Mr. Roberts, 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad, that every member of the 
American Federation or Labor, every carpenter, every 
hatter and every cigar maker will cease his labor and 

f i&rade the streets, and hold mass meetings to pass reao- 
uttoos of sympathy, bnt to go on with their labor, 
respect their laws and their agreement with their em- 
ployers, and the sympathy that the Brotherhood will 
expect of them is that whlcu will put some substance in 
the stomachs of her idle members and their families, a 
sympathy that does not come out of a resolution passed at 
amass meeting, bnt out of the earnings of wage workers, 
which cannot be expected if every man is on a sympa- 
thetic strike 

The Brotherhood has its fixed laws. Everv member 
has upon bended knee sworn to faithfully observe its 


527 

Uwb. The chief executive is under double obligation to 
enforce these laws. If he is working in the interests of 
the brotherhood he will always remain a firm advocate 
and defender of them. If in his opinion they are wrong 
he will await the time of the meeting of the law-making 
body and recommend such changes as may be necessary, 
bathe ha# no business to willfully ignore the law to gain 
the applause of law breakers, and no man who is con- 
nected with a labor organization, and who is honest in 
his motives, will condemn any officer or member of the 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen who hae respected 
his obligation and the laws of his union. It is only snch 
as have a personal end to gain and would sacrifice every- 
thing that they might succeed, who will vilify or misrep- 
resent their brethren. 

We come here as the representatives of the brother- 
hood to review the work of the past two years. We will 
find much of interest in the reports of the delegates and 
the prond officers, but the fact that the brotherhood has 
remained loyal to Its pledges and faithfully labored to 
advance the interests of the membership in the lace of 
the most discouraging times in the life of the craft and 
comes here In a better financial condition than ever in her 
history, ought to awaken in the heart of every delegate 
here a love for the grand old order that will insure a suc- 
cessful meeting, and that the predictions of her enemies, 
who said that she had outlived her usefulness and that at 
the fourth biennial convention there would not be a cor- 

oral’e guard, will be shown to be but the utterance of a 

lssatisfied element which could not rule and sought to 
ruin. 

1 hfcve no forebodings of evil befalling the organization. 
There are in the delegation here to-night, men of firm con- 
victions as to right. They have been In the labor move- 
ment for years, and they are fully competent to judge as 
to the success or failure of the brotherhood. We offer the 
prediction that the luture of the order will be even 
Brighter than its past; that her membership will Increase; 
a greater influence will be manifested, and many who 
have lost faith iu the brotherhood will return as did the 
prodigal of old. 

We have here to-night, representatives of other trades 
and callings, who are old in years as representatives of 
trade unions. The Brotherhood welcomes them as her 
guests and assures them of her ' appreciation of their 
presence. The organization can lend a helping hand to 
all. It is not necessary to inaugurate strikes to aid union 
labor, nor to hold these mass meetings— although much 
good comes from these meetings — but if you will buy 
union made hats, smoke union label cigars, wear union 
made overalls, employ in building your homes the union 
carpenter, in fact, eat, live ana sleep a thorough union 
man, you will all be performing your duty. Labor to in- 
crease your membership, get a thorough organization, be 
law abiding citizens and with such changes as can be 
brought about in our national laws by the united effort of 
trades unions, we will see a prosperous, contented peo- 
ple: the wages worker earning good wages; his family 
well clothed and well fed, and the stars and Btripes. that 
emblem that represents freedom, the only banner borne 
at the head of tne great army of labor; and the red flag of 
snatchy and its following driven oat of our country. 

Your Honor, on behalf of the Brotherhood of Loco- 
motive Firemen represented here by these gentlemen, 
delegates of the fourth biennial convention, 1 desire to 
thank yon for the kind address of welcome extended to 
us here to night. It needed no words of yours to make 
known that we were welcome, for ever since our arrival 
we have had substantial evidence of the generous hospi- 
tality of the people of your city. Yon. my dear sir, have 
ret.son to be proud of your people, and we are glad that 
for a time we may remain among them. It will be the 
ambition of every delegate to enjoy the beauties and 
share in the blessijgs that are so generously tendered, 
and we hope that when we are compelled to depart from 
your midst that yon will feel that our visit among you has 
not in auy way marred the pleasantness of the week aud 
that you inav wish for our return. 

To his excellency, the governor, we extend our ein- 
cerest thanks, also. A governor of the great common- 
wealth of Pennsylvania, who has won the admiration of 
his people by his faithful devotion to the interests of his 
state, w F e feel, sir, that to receive a welcome from you in- 
sures the success ol our convention, and in our delibera- 
tions here, it will be our purpose to enact such laws and 
map out snch a policy as will cause an increase in num- 
bers and influence, ard we believe from your utterances 
here that you will look with favor upon our organization 
as lone as it is conducted upon honest principles and its 
membership respect law and order. 

To our guests.the chief executive and representatives of 
sister organizations, we bid you welcome, and you can 
rest assured that in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire- 
men yon have an ally that will always be found ready to 
extend the hand of assistance in a substantial way, and 


e 




5 2S THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


while we may not leave onr situations to show onr sym- 
pathy, when it cannot be done without violating our 
oath, we will contribute of our substance abundantly 
and aid your unions in all laudable undertaking. May 
success attend you in yonr labors to elevate the condition 
of vour several crafts. 

We would fail in doing our duty, did we not pay our 
respects to our lady friends who are with ns here to- 
night. Their presence inspires our delegates to work 
faithfully to advance the brotherhood, and to sit in the 
sunshine of their beautiful faces is as refreshing as the 
morning air of the Alleghenies. 

To our brothers ol the dilFerent organizations located 
here in Harrisburg, who have so geuerouslv aided in 
making this reception a succets, we how a hearty appre- 
ciation and place upon the committee of arrangements 
the crown of merit for arduous duties faithfully per- 
formed, and with our hearts in full accord with the spirit 
of peace and brotherly affection, we say, “All hail to the 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen .' 1 

During the following day Messrs. Gompers, 
Powderly, Everett, Moseley and Clark appeared 
before the convention by special invitation and 
delivered short addresses. It was pleasing to note 
that these addresses were all temperate and con- 
servative, no appeal being made to passion or 
prejudice, and all were enthusiastically received 
by the delegates It was evident from the recep- 
tion given these remarks, that the convention was 
there in the interests of the Brotherhood with a 
fixed determination to preserve not only its auton- 
omy, but its reputation. We are not advised as tq 
any important changes in the laws but all reliable 
reports go to show that the old policy of the Bro- 
therhood was found to be satisfactory, and that 
the convention declared in favor of continuing the 
same. 

The faithful aad efficient services of the princi- 
pal officers of the organization, were recognized 
by re-election. Grand Master Sargent was re- 
elected without opposition. F. W. Arnold was 
returned to his old position of Grand Secretary 
and Treasurer, and J. J. Hannahan was again 
made First Vice Grand Master. Two additional 
officers for work in the field were chosen in the 


persons of Chas. A. Wilson, Pbillipsburg, N. J 
and Chas. W. Maier, Parsons, Kan , who wi! 
hold the rank of Second and Third Vice Grac: 
Masters, respectively. The convention ai* 
showed great discrimination in selecting W $ 
Carter, of Taylor, Tex., for the important pea 
tion of editor and manager of The Locomoir . 
Firemen s Magazine. Mr. Carter is a zealot 
supporter of his Brotherhood, and of labor inv- 
ests generally, and possesses the mental equip 
ment necessary for the successful performance of 
his new duties. We take pleasure in welcoming 
him to the ranks of the craft, and predict for bin 
a bright future. 

Late in the session the following resolution 
presented and adopted 

Whereas, There has been a disposition on the pari ' 
members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen n 
certain localities to disrespect and ignore the agreeiuca * 
with their employers by going on strike indirect vico 
tion of the constitution and by-laws of the order. <trui _ 
total disregard for the interest of their employer and ta: 
welfare of the Brotherhood, and. • 

Whereas. Such action is at all times condemned by dr- 
body as irrational, fanatical and illogical and injuno*.* n 
both employer and employe, therefore, be it 

Resolved, That it is the sense of this convention lav 
such action on the part of our members be denounce .. 
and that in the future we shall insist that they live str: :i\ 
up to the laws of the order and the contracts under »hr:L 
they are working at all times and in all plaits, and *■> 
emphatically declare that when we enter into an agree 
ment with any railroad company we will follow tt't 
agreements to the letter in accordance with the laws t 
the order. And we further demand on the part of ot_-- 
labor organizations that they do not interfere with cr t v. 
bers of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen 
working under such contracts, and it is the sente uf : 
body that, so long as we are not asked to perform h::i 
outside of our particular line of duty, we will comply vu 
any agreements entered into with any railroad company 

Under such a policy and in ihe hands of 9oable 
and faithful a board of officers, the organization 
can surely meet with nothing but success. 

Galveston, Texas, was chosen as the place fc: 
holding the fifth biennial convention 


Robert Collyer tells the story of a little girl 
with a vivid imagination which constantly led her 
into amazing extravagances regarding things 
which she claimed to have seen. One day, after 
an extraordinary exhibition of her inventive 
powers, her mother excUimed in despair: “Oh, 
my dear! my dear! my dear! Don’t you know 
that Ananias and Sapphira fell down dead on ac- 
count of the lies they told? Don’t you remember 
that terrible story?” “Oh, yes, ” responded the 
child, unabashed, “I saw them ca ried in after 
they fell down dead!” 


Is The Rutland Herald shy of type? Or is it 
following the senseless style of abbreviation set 
by The Boston Advertiser ? Listen to this: 
“The public schools will be closed to-day in 


honor of the anniversary of the birth of G. Wash* 
ington " This reminds us of an epitaph on a 
tombstone in a cemetery at Berne, Albacv 
county, which concludes “At rest with ] 
Christ ” It is less profane, though equally as 
senseless. — Troy Press. 


He Had Been There — Mrs. Jason — I wonder 
what them city folks won’t do nexi' I seen ic the 
paper that they are having vaccination bees now 
Mr. Jason — I guess about the time they get vac- 
cinated real good and bard by a healthy bumble- 
bee, they won’t want no more of it for a while — 
Indianapolis Journal. 

Upholding the Faiih — Sunday-S:hool Teacher 
— Tommy, I was shocked to hear you swearug so 
dreadfully at that strange boy as I came in 
Tommy — I couldn’t help it, ma’am. He was 
making fun of our kind of religion —t'hiea^v 
Tribune. 


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Our readers who write to any of the firms advertising in these columns are requested to mention 

The Railway Conductor. 

CLARK and WM. P. DANIELS, Managers. E. B. CLARK, Editor-in-Chibf. 

W. N. GATES, Advertising Manager, ag Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, O. 


B. B 


SAFETY APPLIANCES. 


This subject is one which has been of absorb- 
ing interest of late years, and that interest has 
been so strong as to crystalize itself into national 
law providing for the use of couplers which 
would obviate the necessity of men going be- 
tween the ends of the cars to couple or uncouple 
them, and for the use of power brakes. So far 
but one type of power brakes has stood the test 
satisfactorily. In the matter of couplers many 


coming fully within the inter-state commerce safety ap- 
pliance law. The device is claimed to be the best ever in- 


Sam’s coupler, and which its promoters are endeavoring 
to utilize is found in the remarkable cheapness of the de- 
vice as compared with couplers of what is known as tne 
Janney type, the cost being less than one-half, or a saving 
of more than $10 per car. Under the present trade con- 
ditions which have forced the railroads of the country, 
almost without exception, into serious financial dimcm- 
ties, and with a compulsory law staring them in the race 
involving immense expenditures, it stands t° reason tliat 
the opportunity to discount this outlay one-half will t>© 
most carefully considered ” 



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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


530 

ment for those who advocate government owner- 
ship. This is especially true with respect to the 
relative rates charged for passenger and freight 
service. In the passenger department Great Brit- 
ain shows an average of 4 42 cents per mile for 
first class, 3.20 cents for second class and 1.94 
cents for third class; or a general average of 3.18 
cents per mile. In France the average is 3.86 cents 
for first class, 2.86 cents for second class and 2.08 
cents for third class, or a general average of 2.93 
cents per mile. In Germany the rate is 3 10 cents 
for first class, 2.32 for second class and 1.54 for 
third class, or a general average of 2.32 cents. In 


the United States the average charge is 2 iz cents 
per mile. The same is true of freight charge* 
the average per ton per mile being: Great Britain, 
2 80 cents; France. 2.20 cents; Germany, x.64 
cents, and in the United States but 1 cent. It is 
true that private ownership prevails in the conn- 
try first named bat there is certainly a striking 
difference between the rates maintained in the 
others, where government ownership largely pre- 
vails, and those paid by oar own travelers and 
shippers. It will be difficult to convince the peo- 
ple of this country that they should seek relief to 
government ownership when the balance is so 
largely in their favor under the present system. 


CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION IN CANADA. 


The idea of arbitration as a means of settling 
disputes between capital and labor, seems to be 
taking strong hold on the people, not only of our 
own country, but the others as well. With a view 
to making the application of the principle easy 
and securing the best possible results for all par- 
ties, the legislative assembly for the Province of 
Ontario, Canada, passed a law early last May 
known as “The Ontario Trade Disputes Concilia- 
tion and Arbitration Act." Something of the 
scope of the measure, may be gathered from this 
title, and as the subject is one of vital importance, 
a brief resume of the provisions of the act, may 
be found of interest. 

By the provisions of this act the term “em- 
ployer" is limited to such persons or corporations 
as give employment to ten or more workmen, and 
the “employe" must be under such an employer, 
or the law does not apply. A dispute may be over 
the price of work, whether it be with respect to 
wages or hours of working; damage of any sort 
done to the work; unfit material; the price of min- 
ing or allowances of all sorts made in mining; the 
performance of agreements; quality or quantity of 
food; dangerous or insanitary working places; dis- 
missal or employment under agreement and dis- 
missal for belonging to a trade or labor organiza- 
tion. 

The plan of the act as outlined by its title is to 
use both conciliation and arbitration in the settle- 
ment of disputes, and the two functions are en- 
trusted to entirely different bodies. In the first 
place the Lieutenant Governor appoints a Regis- 
trar who acts as clerk for both councils of concili- 
ation and arbitration. He receives all applica- 
tions for settlement, convenes the bodies men- 
tioned, and keeps full record of the complaints 
made and of the hearings and findings thereon. 
A council of conciliation consists of four mem- 
bers, two nominated by each of the parties to the 


dispute. Matters may be referred to this body by 
agreement or upon the motion of either party, 
and each party is entitled to be represented at the 
hearing by the managers of its own selection, 
numbering not more than three. When a decision 
has been rendered either party may order the en- 
tire matter referred to the appropriate council of 
arbitration for settlement. 

Under tbs law there are two councils of arbitra- 
tion, one having jurisdiction over general matters, 
and the other over such as pertain exclusively to 
railroads. These councils are each composed of 
three members, one elected by the employes, one 
by the employers of the province, the two select- 
ing their own president. In case they fail to se- 
lect the Lieutenant Governor appoints a man who 
will be entirely impartial. In selecting their par- 
ticular representative on their council, each or- 
ganization composed of railroad men exclusively, 
is entitled to one vote, and the other classes elect 
their representatives in the same way. Questions 
may be referred to a council of arbitration from a 
council of conciliation, as before stated; by con- 
sent of both parties, or where one party has made 
application for a council of conciliation and the 
other ha \ not responded. Representation is the 
same as before the council of conciliation. 
Awards are made by a majority of the conncil, 
and must be returned within one month after the 
close of the hearing. 

While some will doubtless criticise this act be- 
cause it contains no provision for compellisg 
either party to submit to arbitration nor far en- 
forcing awards when made, we predict that it will 
prove the means of avoiding many expensive and 
destructive conflicts, and that public opinion will 
soon enforce this method of settlement when 
either party is willing to accept it. The thought* 
ful reader will not fail to remark that the act rec- 
ognizes the right of the men to combine for au- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


taal benefit and protection, and also their right to 
be represented before the councils by men of their 
own choosing. 

The principle of arbitration has been gain* 
ing ground in this country with wonderful 
rapidity daring recent years. Wherever given 
an honest trial it has been proven an efficient 
means for the settlement of all labor troubles and 
for the establishment of the most amicable rela* 
tions between employer and employe. In their 
recently published report the Massachusetts State 
Board of Arbitration pay the following tribute to 
the system: 

“To sum up the results of our experience, we have no 
hesitation in affirming our sincere belief in the efficacy of 
conciliation, mediation and arbitration, as contemplated 
by the laws of this State, for the settlement of the differ- 


S3 1 

ences between employers and employed. It is due to the 
workingmen, considered as a body, and to the members of 
labor organizations that have come in close contact with 
the board, to say that there appears to be among them an 
increasing aversion to strike, and a more ready acquies- 
cence in the adoption of methods that appeal to the sense 
of justice and to right reason. The very existence of a 
board ever ready to entertain such appeals, from what- 
ever quarter they may come, is of itself a reminder of the 
excellence of peaceful methods in comparison with strife, 
and thus employers and employed, are compelled, as it 
were, to choose their positions more carefully, to be more 
reasonable in their demands, and more ready to make 
concessions for the purpose of meeting and proceeding to- 
gether on common ground for their mutual advantage." 

This is but an expression of the general belief, 
and judging by it, the time is now not far distant 
when the friends of labor may hope to see some* 
form of arbitration and conciliation forever re- 
place the costly conflicts that have marred the re- 
lations of employer and employed in the past. 


MALICE, AMBITION OR IGNORANCE ? 


J. McNab, a conductor on the L. & N. railway 
and a member of Division 89 of the Order of 
Railway Conductors, contributes an article on la- 
bor organizations to The Southern Magazine 
which shows very clearly that he either knows 
little or nothing of the laws and principles of the 
organization which has honored him with mem- 
bership, or he has no desire to fairly present and 
discuss those matters. It cannot be claimed that 
his utterances do not apply to the O. R. C. be- 
cause he names the six recognized organizations 
of engineers, firemen, trainmen, conductors, 
switchmen and telegraphers as the ones under 
discussion. In submitting his views he says: 
"They may be entitled to some consideration as 
based on my experience and observation as a rail- 
way employe and conductor for more than twenty 
years." Mr. McNab has been a member of the 
O. R. C. since April, 1891, and it would seem 
reasonable to assume that he had, within that 
time, fairly well acquainted himself with the laws 
which govern, the principles which underlie and 
the policy which is pursued by the organization 
he has voluntarily obligated himself to support 
and stand by. If his ' ‘experience and observa- 
tion” in and of the matters upon which he essays 
to write have not been much more careful than 
his study of his own organization, his “views” 
are hardly entitled to the “consideration” he be- 
speaks for them. He says: “My experience leads 
me to believe that when men organize for proper 
mutual protection, but especially to secure such 
advantages as insurance, sick and disability bene- 
fits. etc , a great deal of good can be accomplish- 
ed.” This organization is “for proper mutual 
protection” and for the furnishing to its members 
of insurance and disability benefits, and were his 


utterances to end there, the only question that 
could be raised would be a construction as to what 
constitutes "proper mutual protection.” ' The 
principal complaint that is raised seems to be that 
the members of the organizations named are 
obliged to pay salaries to officers who devote their 
entire time to the interests of the organization 
and to pay certain dues and assessments. Oq this 
subject, be asks: "Suppose the members of these 
orders instead of maintaining the orders, should 
invest in some safe and remunerative way the 
money they now pay annually to these officers 
and like expenses, would they not be better 
off ? Could they not thus obtain surer protection 
for themselves and their families than they now 
get in the orders ? " It is true that the officers of 
these organizations are paid salaries and it is true 
that certain dues and assessments are of necessity 
paid in order to maintain the local divisions 
and to arrange for committees to represent the 
men in transacting their business with the manage- 
ments of the roads. The stress laid upon the 
question of officers’ salaries and protective fund 
would lead to the belief that a heavy burden rest- 
ed upon the members in those directions. The 
grand dues of this Order are $2 per member per 
year. The fund thus created amply provides for 
all salaries and other expenses of the Grand Divis- 
ion and each member is furnished with The 
Railway Conductor without further charge. 
The protective fund was established in March, 
1892, and since tha time no member has paid 
more than $3 to that fund. 

We have never made a point of parading our 
accomplishments in the interests of our members, 
but we will take as an example, one system of 
railway (located entirely east of Chicago, conse- 


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532 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


quently, it cannot be claimed that it is an ex- 
treme example) and see how his argument will 
hold out. On the system in question there are 
employed more than six hundred members of this 
Order. Four years ago the men employed as 
passenger conductors received from $90.00 to 
$100 00 per month, regardless of the amount of 
extra work or excess mileage they might perform. 
Freight conductors were paid from $2 50 to $2.75 
per trip or per hundred miles, regardless of the 
length of time necessarily consumed in making 
the trip. Within two years, as a result of the 
efforts of the men themselves and this organiza- 
tion, the pay of the passenger conductors was in- 
creased to from $100.00 to $140.00 per month for 
less mileage than they formerly performed, and 
within three years the pay of freight men was in- 
creased to the uniform rate of $3.00 per trip or 
per one hundred miles with a proportionate allow • 
ance for all excess hours worked as over-time. 
We will not take the extreme case of the conduct- 
ors who were working for $2.50 per trip, but will 
take the men who were receiving $2.75 per trip. 
If he worked thirty days, he earned $82.50. Now, 
if he works thirty days, he earns $90 00 without 
any over time, an iocrease in his moothly rate of 
$7.50 or of $90 per year, which is more than six 
times as much as his membership in the organiza- 
tion, including all assessments and dues of any 
nature whatever has cost him in the most expen- 
sive year. This has been accomplished without 
even straining the pleasant, friendly relations that 
exist between the organization, its representa- 
tives and the officers of the company in question, 
without the loss of a single day's time on the part 
of jmy member unless he was acting as a com- 
mitteeman appointed by the men. 

Mr. McNab suggests that a far better plan of or- 
ganization can be adopted, ‘ ‘based on a friendly un- 
derstanding and voluntary co-operation between 
the railway companies and their employes. I be- 
lieve it would be much better for both if, instead 
of the railroad orders as now constituted, there 
should be organized one (and but one) protective 
association for each of the railway systems of the 
country to be compDsed of all employes of that 
system " As indicative of the probable effect of 
such organization as Mr. McNab advocates, we, 
without further argument, refer to the history of 
the K. of L. troubles on the Gould Southwestern 
system and of the troubles from which our west- 
ern railroads have lately emerged. 

After repeating the axiomatic fact that the pros- 
perity of the company affects the interests of the 
employe, Mr. McNab says: “But the railway 
orders as now constituted and directed do not 
contribute, and are not intended to conduce to 


successful management of the properties." It is 
unfortunate for Mr McNab that his opinions are 
not coincided in by some of the most able and 
prominent railroad managers of the age, as well 
as other men of national reputation to whom we 
shall refer. The general superintendent of one 
of the largest systems of road centering at 
Chicago, in talking with a committee of his men 
during the late labor troubles, made use of the 
following expression: 

“The O. R. C.. B. R. T. and B. L. E. have always stood 
by this company and the company is willing to continue 
its business relations with them and we don’t want to see 
them broken np. * * * If this thing is allowed to go, 
it will wipe out all the established railroad organizations, 
the good organizations I refer to. Take the Trainmen on 
the — Division. Before they had organization there, there 
was trouble nearly every week. If the trainmaster did 
not suit the men, they wonld tie the road right up Since 
the men joined the organization, they have been educated 
up to an understanding that ‘flying off the handle* is not 
business. We have had more satisfactory service from 
the men there since than we ever did before. We do not 
want these relations wiped out. The men are better satis- 
fied now. Things are going on smoothly and the work of 
the road is better done. The discipline in the service Is 
better, for where there are objectionable members, com- 
mon drunkards and dishonest men, they do not allow them 
to remain. There is no way to do that as well as to have 
thoroughly organized organization in the hands of intelli- 
gent and capable men to handle them. It would be an 
injury to the railroad service to have the O. R. C., B. R. 
T. and B. L. E. wiped out and I think every officer in a 
position to know anything about it feels the same way. * 
* * * I believe that men are makings great mistake by 
extending sympathy in a case of this kind. 1 believe they 
are doing wrong, doing wrong to_ themselves; they are 
weakening their organizations, which are the best friends 
they ever had. * * * * I am talking to the naenbers 
of an organization that I respect, that 1 value and that I 
want to hold together. I do not want to see them disap- 
pear from the face of the earth, as they will if this thing 
goes through. Take our own case here. This railroad 
will stop and every wheel will stand still from now till 
doomsday before the management will give in to the 
American Railway Union. Rather than surrender the 
railway service to that organization, the railways will re- 
sist until the destruction of one side or the other is com- 
plete. You are not in it. Your organizations have not let 
you go into it because your leaders are too intelligent. 1 ' 

The Vice President of another very large sys- 
tem, in denying the charge that that company 
contemplated abrogating its agreements with its 
employes, said: “We are not unmindful of the 
position taken by our conservative employes, 
members of organizations in the late troubles, 
and personally, I would rather leave the railroad 
service than to undertake at this time to make 
war on the conservative labor organ izations." 

In the most exhaustive hearing of these ques- 
tions that has ever been made by any court or 
tribunal, olher than the interested parties them- 
selves, made by the United States Circuit Court 
of the District of Nebraska, Judges Caldwell and 
Riner presiding, the following from the decision 
of that court is indicative of the conclusions 
reached as to the effect of the influence of these 
organizations: 

“These rules, regulations and schedule* were there- 
sult of free and voluntary conferences held from elms to 
time between the managers of the railroad and the officers 
and representatives of the several labor or gam rations, 
representing the men in the different sub-divistons of the 
service, namely, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engioser*i 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, Order of Railway 
Conductors, Order of Railway Telegraphers, llii Union 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 533 


pacific Employes' Association and the Brotherhood of 
Railroad Trainmen. These labor organizations, like the 
rales, regulations and schedules, had become established 
institutions on this system many years before the appoint- 
ment of the receivers. Two of the ablest railroad man- 
agers ever in the service of this system and probably as 
able as this country has ever produced, Mr. S. H. H. Clark 
and Mr. Edward Dickinson, now General Manager of the 
road, testify that these labor organizations on this system 
had improved the morals and efficiency of the men and 
had rendered valuable aid to the company in perfecting 
and putting into force the rules and regulations governing 
the operation of the Union Pacific Railroad, which, con- 
fessedly, have made it one of the best managed and con- 
ducted roads in the country. The managers of this great 
transcontinental line testify that it has been their policy 
to bring it up to the highest standard of efficiency and to 
afford to passengers and freight transported over it all the 
security and protection attainable by the exercise of the 
highest degree of intelligence on the part of those engaged 
in the operation of its trains, and they cheerfully bear 
testimony to the fact that their efforts in this direction 
have been seconded and materially aided by the labor or- 
ganizations which are represented in this hearing." 

Again. from the same decision: 

"The legality and utility of these organizations can no 
longer be questioned." 

Instances similar to these could be multiplied, 
if necessary, or if space would permit. We are 
informed that the management of the road by 
whom Mr. McNab is employed, in employing 
men to fill vacancies caused by retirement of em- 
ployes from their service during the late troubles, 
gave decided peference to men who were mem- 
bers of the organizations. 

Mr. McNab says: 

"One great trouble, the worst of all the evils we have 
had ; arises out of the present system of organization, and 
1 think it would never occur if the methods I suggest were 
adopted. A grievance occurs on some road qr system, — 
perhaps because some member of seme one of the orders 
ts discharged, perhaps for neglect of doty. At once the 
order takes the matter up and says to the management. 
‘You must take back tne discharged man or we will 
strike.' Now, the order is composed of employes on all 
the different railroad companies and systems, as I have 
said, in the country The command to strike, therefore, 
is directed to all employes who work on railroads every- 
where. If there is a strike on one road, it Involves all 
other roads exchanging business with it, and sometimes, 
out of sympathy, it extends further." 

Again, he says : 

"Just so long as these different orders exist in their 
present form, so long will troubles we now have be un- 
avoided. Discontented men, who are never satisfied, can 
always breed trouble. The men who wish to be quiet are 
at the mercy of those who want excitement and trouble. 
When the ball is started, it is hard to stop. A man is dis- 
charged for neglect of duty or some deliberate offense; 
then a strike is ordered; then other railroad orders take it 
up out of sympathy or because their members refuse to 
work with new men." 

These statements, so far as this Order is con- 
cerned (and it is one of those that Mr. McNab 
.writes about), are simply and entirely false. 
Either Mr. McNab has never read the laws of the 
organization in which he holds membership, or, 
as we said at the beginning, he has no desire to 
truthfully represent them. The laws of the or- 
ganizations named by Mr. McNab, without ex- 
ception provide that, before any strike can be en- 
tered npon, two-thirds of the members directly 
interested mast have voted in favor of such ac- 
tion. and it is a well established fact that the ex- 
treme of a strike is never resorted to by these or- 
ganizations except in support of a cause which 


they would willingly submit to the arbitrament of 
any fair-minded, disinterested board. The strike 
is an absolutely last resort. The possibility is 
wisely provided for, and that the protective prin- 
ciple is considered as worthy of adoption by Mr. 
McNab, is evidenced by his careful insertion of 
the word "protective" in describing his proposed 
organization. 

It is to be regretted that individual members of 
these organizations forgot their allegiance and 
their duty, under the influences brought to bear 
upon them in connection with the late labor 
troubles, but that the plan of organization 
adopted by the organizations under discussion 
operates as described by Mr. McNab, is emphat- 
ically and successfully denied by the position 
taken and maintained by the organizations. The 
Son of God, when on earth, selected twelve apos- 
tles, but among them he found a Jndas. The 
church is never entirely free from hypocrites. 
Government is never entirely free from traitors. 
Labor organizations are never entirely free from 
the weak and vacillating or the unworthy, and, 
while it is generally conceded that they have done 
much to elevate the standard, they have not, as 
yet, succeeded in making the "leopard change his 
spots." The claim or idea that membership in 
another organization or under another name will 
change the nature of the mao is simply ridicu- 
lous. 

Mr. McNab asks, "Why is it that no official of 
any railroad company is ever a member of one of 
these orders? If the interests of the orders and 
the interests of the companies were the same, this 
would not be so, but the railway officials would 
sometimes belong to the orders." We could 
name, without any difficulty or hesitancy, at least 
fifty members of this Order who are railway of- 
ficials, and without very much trouble the list 
could be run up into the hundreds. 

There is considerable more of Mr. McNab’s ar- 
ticle. which is hardly worth discussing in detail. 
He maintains that the interests of the employe 
and of the employer are identical. This is one of 
the fundamental principles of the organizations 
which he criticises. He contends that the best 
results would follow the establishment of a feel- 
ing of confidence betwen the managements and 
the men. The efforts of these organizations have 
been put forth more in the interests of establish- 
ing that same feeling of confidence than in any 
other direction that can be named. He reasserts 
those principles which have been declared by the 
organizations, that a man should not be dis- 
charged without good cause and without a careful 
investigation of the facts in the case, and various 
other matters, for which he certainly cannot clair 


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5 34 - THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Qftrit of originality. His entire article is a 
^declaration of the principles advocated by the 
organizations and a misrepresentation of the facts 
-connected with the policy and administration of 
arif&irs within the organizations. The question 
'very naturally arises, if Mr. McNab believes the 
organizations, as at present constituted, such a 
menace to the interests of the members, why does 
retain membership in one of them, and if he 
does not believe his statements, what prompts 
him to make such misrepresentation of facts? 

If the article in question came to the notice of 
railway employes only, it could do no harm, as 


every one of its readers would iastaatly recognize 
the misstatements, bat appearing ta a lit ear} 
magazine, it is read by many who have no per- 
sonal or practical knowledge of the far** and a 
it does its damage by leaving an entirely errone- 
ous opinion of the organizations, their objecu 
aims, policies and practices. 

After expending so much effort to have tie 
principles and policies of the organization under 
stood by the people, that they might impartially 
judge them, it is discouraging and aggravating to 
see them stabbed in the boose of their friends 
and by those who have voluntarily promised to 
support and stand by them 


GARMENT MAKERS’ STRIKE. 


Of all the outrages perpetrated upon the work- 
ing people of this country there have been none 
so infamous as those finding cover under the so- 
called sweating system. Through this system 
the manufacturers and contractors have been en- 
abled to grind down their workers until the wages 
paid for a day, consisting of 16 hoars of the most 
trying labor, meant nothing better than slow 
starvation. Men, women and children were hud- 
dled together in rickety tenements, forced by the 
greed of their taskmasters into a life where health 
and strength were slowly undermined, while 
every sense of morality and decency was being 
deadened and destroyed. Sncb a deplorable con- 
dition of affairs could not long pass unnoticed, 
and strenuous efforts were made from time to 
time by the true philanthropists among the labor 
organizations and charitable societies to so place 
it before the people that the wrongs of these un- 
fortunates might be righted. Good as were the 
intentions of these people, their efforts were of no 
avail and nothing in the way of a permanent re- 
form was accomplished until the Garment Work- 
ers, supported by the American Federation of 
Labor, took up the fight in behalf of themselves 
and their fellow workmen, and compelled the 
abolishment of the system that was crushing 
them. Through the kindness of Henry White, 
General Auditor, United Garment Work- 
ers of America, we are enabled to give the follow- 
ing brief account of the straggle and of the gains 
to oppressed labor effected by it: 

The prospect of the great army of tailors of ready 
made clothing who work under what is well termed the 
sweating system, seemed but a few weeks ago to be one of 
utter despair. In fact, so pitiful was their lot that law- 
makers and philanthropists made many efforts to remedy 
the fearful abuses prevailing in the clothing industry. 
The results of these endeavors were very small, however. 
But to the surprise of all, and perhaps to themselves, the 
clothing workers arose in one grand movement in the 
cities of New York, Brooklyn and Newark and completely 
overthrew the task or sweating system which had been 
established in the trade for the past nineteen years. 


The unions of the trade that connected were frith the 
United Garment Workers of America represented hot a 
small proportion of the tailors previous to the sir it* 
Their constant agitation, however, took root, and wbea 
the call was issued for battle all the workers of the trade 
responded, without even any means of support m sight 
The struggle lasted but two weeks and a half. The Coo 
tractors' Association agreed to the demands regards 
hours and wages, but refused to give any security for the 
faithful observance of the agreement. The men refused 
to trust the contractors association owing to their for- 
mer dealings with them, in which agreements were *ic 
lated almost as soon as made, and they resolved to dtai 
individually with the contractors. 

Within two weeks over 500 contractors, employing aboo: 
10.000 people, signed the anion's agreement, which stipe 
lated that ten hours should constitute a day's work; wa«n 
should be paid weekly; no overtime to be jterxoitted; oclj 
union men to be employed, and the minimum rate of 
wages to range from nine to fifteen dollars, according to 
the stated division of work. The great contrast to the 
task, piece or sweating system that the terms of the agree 
ment present can be jnoged from (he fact that previooilj 
a set of four men had tp do say a task of twenty coats per 
day for a weekly wage. As this task is almost impossible 
to accomplish in one day, it was carried over to the next, 
and at the end of the week, after working at an average of 
sixteen hours per day, the set of workers were usually en- 
titled to but half of a week's pay. As the contractor* 
competed against each other for patronage from tb< 
wholesale manufacturers, the prices were usually cut, and 
the contractor got even by increasing the day's task 
Thus we have a most ingenious system for obtaining 1 
maximum amount of work for a minimum wage. 

This great success has stirred up the tailors of other cit- 
ies and other branches of the trade, and now the ht 
thousand tailors of Boston, of the same national body, are 
on a strike for the same conditions, excepting their de- 
mand for the nine hour work day, instead of ten. The 
cloak makers and shirt makers have joined in this move 
ment with great success also. The clothing cutters, who 
work directly for the manufacturer, are the best oft be- 
cause of their long trade union experience. Their aver- 
age wages throughout the country is twenty dollars per 
week for nine hours per day. They represent about one- 
aigbth of those engaged in the trade. 


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The union label which the national union issues to be 
placed on all union and fair made clothing, cloaks, over 
alls, shirts, etc., has afforded much practical work iota- 
proving the trade and the union. A number of large aua 
ufacturers in various parts of the country have adopted 
this labe\ and the demand made by union men ud 
friends upon the retailer for union labeled gar meats it 
steadily increasing. 

Railroad men could greatly assist in this practical vcrL 
Surely the achievements of the garment workers, &£xx 


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THE RAILWAY 

the past few weeks, ought to become an Inspiration to the 
workers of America to elevate their condition through 
the power of their trade unions. 

From the history of this movement it will be 
seen that public opinion is not always against a 
strike. The sympathies of the people are gov- 
erned by the merits of the individual case, and 
they are not often wrong. In this instance there 
was no room for doubt. The atrocities of the 
sweating system bad only to be made known to 
bring down upon it the condemnation of every 
man who had a spark of fellow feeling left unex- 
inguisbed in his bosom, and the men who, in the 


CONDUCTOR. 535 

face of every discouragement, with a feeble or- 
ganization and no resources but their own forti- 
tude, undertook to free themselves from it, were 
accorded the most hearty support from the very 
first revolt. The entire country is to be congrat- 
ulated upon their speedy and complete victory 
over a system little or no better than ihe most ab- 
ject serfdom, and it is to be hoped that the self- 
respecting men of the nation, without regard to 
class or calling, will see to it that no such degra- 
dation is again forced upon the American work- 
man. 


PRACTICAL POLICY. 


We invite a careful reading of the following 
address delivered by Major J. W. Thomas, presi- 
dent of the N. C. & St. L. R‘y, to the working- 
men of Chattanooga, at their celebration on 
September 3d. It is full of sound, practical 
sense, and its principal force lies in the fact that 
it comes from a man who is always ready to prac- 
tice what he preaches: 

Fellow Citizens —1 stand before you to-day not as a rep- 
resentative of capital, nor as a representative of labor, 
but as a business man, trained for maay years in the man- 
agement of a vast property, with millions of capital on 
one hand, and thousands of wage earners on the other. 
With this practical experience, I shall tell you what I be- 
lieve to be the rights and wrongs of labor, the rights and 
wrongs of capital, and what course 1 think should be pur- 
sued to promote the best interests of both labor and capi- 
tal. thereby enhancing the welfare and prosperity 6f the 
American people. 

Every man has the right to work or not to work, as he 
may see proper. To say to a man you shall work, implies 
one a master, the other a slave. To say to a man you 
shall not work, unless he has voluntarily surrendered that 
privilege, implies that he is to be arbitrarily deprived of 
a right guaranteed to him by the laws of the land. 

Every man has a right to sell his labor for the best 
price he can get. With these rights, the right to work or 
not to work, as ue may see proper, and the right to sell 
his work at the best price he can get, the race of life is 
free to all, and everyone by energy and industry, with 
sobriety and frugality, can earn a competency, and com- 
mand the confidence and respect of his fellow man. 

It is wrong to reduce wages to such an extent that men 
cannot earn a fair compensation for their labor. It is 
wrong to withhold wages so that laborers lose their credit 
because they cannot meet their obligations. 

It is wrong to pay wages in script, upon which the wage 
earner lias to suffer a discount before be can get las 
money. It is wrong to require laborers to purchase their 
supplies at any given store. Wages earned should be 
promptly paid, and the laborer has the right to spend it 
when, where and with whom he pleases. 

It Is often said that capital and labor are antagonistic; 
such is not the case. On the contrary, capital and labor 
are jointly interested in all the great enterprises of the 
age. Capital furnishes the use of land to the tiller of the 
soil; mines to the miner, machinery to the mechanic, 
goods to the merchant, ships to the sailor, and railways 
encircling the earth to the railway operatives. Capital 
furnishes the plant, labor furnishes the intelligence, 
muscle and skill with which to operate them. 

As labor should be protected in its right to earn a fair 
compensation for its services, so capital should be per- 
mitted to enjoy its rights of property and receive a fair 
return upon its investments. To deny these rights is a 
wrong, not only to capital, but to labor— for capital can- 
not be secured to develop the resources of the country 
unless its property rights are protected to the same degree 
as may be extended to all other citizens. 

We have in this country two extremes— amassed wealth 
and poverty. A few enjoy one, and thousands endure the 
other. Fortunately we nave a large intermediate class; 
business men, professional men, farmers, men employing 
both capital and labor, together with a host of wage earn- 


ers; men who have accumulated small amounts of capi- 
tal. With this class rests the hope of the country for a 
solution of the true relatious which should exist between 
capital and labftr. This solution does not rest with either 
of the great political parties. It cannot be found in gov- 
ernment ownership, for the best and most competent men 
are not always in charge of governmental affairs; nor is 
it in government control, which to some extent has been 
tried upon railroads, and has resulted in a general con- 
solidation of the larger lines, and the almost universal 
bankruptcy of the smaller roads; nor can it be found in 
compulsory arbitration, for we cannot compel a man to 
work unless be is willing to do so; nor can you force an 
employer to continue in business unless it is to his inter- 
est to do so; nor can the solution be found in labor or- 
ganizations, which should be for mutual aid, benefit and 
advancement, striving to make their members better 
workmen, better citizens, enabling them to offer the best 
service for the best wages; nor in strikes, which always 
inflict more injury upon labor than upon capital; nor in 
boycotts, which usually do more damage to innocent par- 
ties than to either of the contestants; nor in mobs, which 
for the tims being defy all law and become public ene- 
mies. The solution of this grave question does not rest 
in any of these directions, but is more probably to be 
found by intelligently considering the other side, ex- 
changing places, standing in others’ shoes, and by an 
observance of the divine principle, "Do onto others as 
ou would have them do unto you." If a solution can 
e reached by the interested parties upon this basis, vol- 
untary arbitration by disinterested parties should be 
resorted to. 

The arbitrators should be mutually selected, not one 
from each side, and in case of disagreement the two to 
select a third, but the entire board, three or five, should 
be mutually agreed upon. The arbitrators should be 
men of intelligence and ability, with decision of charac- 
ter. able and willing to decide questions upon the facts, 
without fear, favor or affection, and not mere mediators, 
securing concessions from each side, and striving to please 
both parties. 

It has been urged that the decision of such a board 
could not be enforced. So far as the employer is con- 
cerned, if he could not be compelled by the courts to 
comply with his agreement, public opinion would force 
him to do so. With the employes, such a decision could 
be made binding by the various labor organizations, 
recognizing the principle of voluntary arbitration, and 
disciplining or expelling any member refusing to abide 
by such a decision. With a definite agreement, that all 
differences between capital and labor should be adjusted 
by voluntary arbitration we would have a restoration of 
confidence which would soon result in a revival of busi- 
ness, a re-opening of mills, factories, and furnaces, 
causing a demand for labor which would inspire many a 
wage earner with hope, and give comfort and content- 
ment to many an humble home, and as a nation, we would 
have passed another milestone in the progress of civili- 
zation. 

The importance of a permanent and satisfactory ad- 
justment of the labor problem cannot be overestimated, 
as with the present distrust and discontent, there can be 
no material progress and no great degree of prosperity, 
for capital cannot be secured for any great enterprise un- 
less there is security for the investment and a fair return 
probable; and in my opinion, voluntary arbitration is a 
solution of this question which would be for the best in- 
terest of both capital and labor, and would promote the 
welfare and prosperity of the American people. 


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536 



THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

JUDGE JENKINS REVERSED. 


In December, 1893, two injunctional orders 
were issued by the United States Circuit Court 
for the District of Wisconsin, Judge J J Jenkins 
presiding, in which certain named representatives 
of the railroad brotherhoods, the employes of the 
Northern Pacific Railway Co., and all persons 
generally, were restrained from doing many 
things which they had never contemplated doing. 
These injunctional orders went so far in the direc- 
tion of interfering with the individual rights and 
freedom of those most interested that it was de- 
cided by the officers of the organizations of which 
they were members to make a test case on the 
question of whether or not a judge of the U. S. 
Courts had the right to restrain thg officers of or- 
ganizations, and other persons, "from ordering, 
recommending, approving or advising otners to 
quit the service of the receivers of the Northern 
Pacific Railroad on January 1, 1S94, or at any 
other time," or “from combining and conspiring 
to quit, with or without notice, the service of said 
receivers, with the object and intent of crippling 
the property in their custody or embarrassing the 
operation of said railroad, and from so quitting 
the service of said receivers , ivith or without 
notice, as to cripple the property or prevent or 
hinder the operation of said railroad (Italics 
ours. ) 

In the name of the allied brotherhoods and or- 
ders of railroad employes motion was made to 
modify these restraining orders by striking out 
the parts quoted. This motion was argued be- 
fore Judge Jenkins, and on April 6 his decision 
was handed down modifying the original injunc- 
tional order by striking out that portion restrain- 
ing from “ordering, recommending, approving or 
advising others to quit the service," etc.; in other 
respects the motion was denied. Appeal was ta- 
ken to the Appellate Court, and on October 1st 
the decision of that court was handed down re- 
versing the decision of the lower court and fur- 
ther modifying the writs by striking out that por- 
tion which restrains the employes from “so quit- 
ting the service of said receivers, with or without 
notice, as to cripple the property or prevent or 
hinder the operation of said railroad." In this 
connection the court says: 

‘‘But the vital question remains whether a court of 
equity will, under any circumstances, by injunction, pre- 
vent one person from quitting the personal service of an- 
other? An affirmative answer to this question is not, we 
think, justified by any authority to which our attention 
has been called or of which we are aware. It would be 
an invasion of one's natural liberty to compel him to work 
for or to remain in the personal service of another. One 
who is placed under such constraint is in a condition of 
involuntary servitude — a condition which the supreme 
law of the land declares shall not exist anywhere within 
the jurisdiction of the United States." 

The railroad organizations have always con- 


ceded that violent interference with property 
with the movement of trains or with those who 
desired to work, was a violation of law, and pun 
ishable as such. Entertaining no desire to con. 
mit these acts, no objections were entertained to 
the issuance and existence of any number of in- 
junctions restraining from their commission. W* 
never believed that it was consistent or within the 
authority of a court to restrain men from "arivjs- 
ing" each other or to restrain employes from quit- 
ting their employment at such lime as they mirt: 
choose, even though such quitting might result ir 
hindering the operation of the road. 

Judge Jenkins’ issuance of these writs and bs 
decision on the motion to modify seem to be based 
entirely upon the opinion that it was impossible 
for a lot of men to strike or quit their employ 
ment in concert, without resorting to violence and 
unlawful practices That no restraint was Id: 
under the injunctions, except in the pajticubrs 
mentioned, is evidenced by the fact that the cob 
effort that has been made was to secure a tno ±: 
cation No effort has ever been made to biv* 
these writs dissolved. So far as the Northers 
Pacific case was concerned, the questions at issos 
were amicably disposed of in conference betwira 
the’receivers and representatives of the men. If 
the effects of Judge Jenkins' action had beet or 
could have been confined to the Northern Pad^ 
system and to the case then at issue, no questirc 
would have been raised. His example was quic* 
ly followed, however, by Judge Dundy, of 
Nebraska, in the Union Pacific controversy 
Judge Dundy afterward stated from tbe bead 
“I have got myself into difficulty, as yon cat 
readily see, by following the example Judge Jit 
kins made in the Northern Pacific case Juc;< 
Dundy's order was promptly vacated by the I'.s 
Circuit Court, and we believe that tbe stronger 
argument against the use of the injunction is 
cases of this kind is contained in the follower 
from the decision rendered by Judges C aid veil 
and Riner in the Union Pacific case: 

“When properly is in the custody of receiver*, the -r* 
declares it to be a contempt of the court appointing «»- 
for any person to interfere with the property or i*it. t: - 
men in their employ. No injunctional ordcT can 
such unlawful interference any more of a cc-iitem;< 
the law- makes it without such order, buch order* ti ^ 
an injurious tendency, because they tend to create the - 
presston among men that it is not an otfense to interfri 
with property in possession of receivers cr wit i. the &** 
in their employ unless they have been especially ar.-J 
from so doing This is a dangerous delusion. Totl>*<. 
tent that a special injunction can go in litis class of c^sts, 
tbe law- itself imposes an injunction. ’ 

The exceptions taken to the injunction issued 
by fudge Jenkins, seem to have been well founded 
in the face of his own modification of tbe order; 
tbe decision of the appellate court and tbe finding 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


of the Congressional Investigating Committee, in 
whose report may be found the following vigorous 
denunciation of the m junctional orders: "Your 
committee has no hesitancy in declaring that the 
orders rendered were a gross abuse of the power 
of the court, were supported by neither reason 
nor authority, were beyond the jurisdiction of the 
judge, and were therefore void." 

At the bearing on the motion to modify the in- 
junctions, the following definition of a strike was 
given by the Grand Chief Conductor, and con- 
curred in by the representatives of the other or- 
ganizations: 

"A strike is a concerted cessation of or refusal to work 
until or unless certain conditions which obtain or are in- 
cident to the terms of employment are changed. The 
employe declines to longer work, knowing full well that 
the employer may immediately employ another to fill his 
place, also knowing that he may or may not be re-em- 
ployed. or returned to service. The employer has the op- 
tion of acceding to the demand and returning the old 
employe to service, of employing new men, or of forcing 
conditions under which the old men are glad to return to 
service under the old conditions." 

All that is or has been claimed by the organiza- 
tions in this particular, is expressed in this defi* 
nition. We have stoutly maintained that we had 
a right to counsel together and to act in concert 
so long as violation of the laws of the land, was 
neither counseled nor committed. An abiding 


537 

faith that these principles would be upheld by the 
courts, has been maintained, and this decision is, 
to us, neither a surprise nor a disappointment. 

In this connection it is interesting to note that 
the best legal thought of the country is in full ac- 
cord with this decision by the appellate court. 
Judge Seaman, of the U. S. Court at Milwaukee, 
when instructing his grand jury regarding the ex- 
amination of the men who will appear before that 
body next week, charged with interfering with 
the transportation of the mails, said: 

"You will be callel upon to listen to testimony against 
parties who are charged with interfering with transporta- 
tion of the United States mails. This is an important 
statnte, the enforcement of which is necessary to the 
proper conduct of the government's business, ana any vio- 
lation of which should receive the law’s penalties. In 
considering the testimony on this subject, however, you 
will remember that the mere act of a railway employe in 
resigning, is not an act of conspiracy. He bas'a right to 
leave the employ of the company, and in so doing he is 
not necessarily conspiring within the meaning of the stat- 
ute. But the effort to influence others to strike, or 
threats or intimidation of employes, most be considered 
as contrary to the statutes." 

This is a practical recognition of the principle 
for which we have been contending, and is an- 
other evidence that the time is rapidly approach- 
ing when it will be difficult to convince even the 
lawyers that the right of employes to quit, either 
alone or in concert, could possibly be questioned. 


THE NORTHERN PACIFIC MEN NOT STRIKERS. 


Referring to the decision of the Appellate Court 
in reversing the decision of Judge Jenkins, the 
Chicago Herald says: 

"If the case, which is that of the Northern Pacific 
strikers last December, shall be appealed to the United 
States supreme court, doubtless Justice Harlan's affirma- 
tion of the law will be sustained. He is one of the ablest 
and most enlightened jurists on the supreme bench, and 
be has given to this case elaborate study and care. It 
Is desirable that an appeal shall be taken in order that a 
judgment of the highest American court may be had m 
this subject, which is of the greatest practical import- 
ance." 

!t is not fair to refer to the employes of the 
Northern Pacific at that time as strikers. The 
receivers of the company advised the men that 
they proposed to materially reduce their wages, 
effective January ist, 1894. In December, the 
men sent a committee of employes to St. Paul 
for the purpose of conferring with the receivers 
and endeavoring to secure the recall or modifica- 
tion of this order. While the conferences be- 
tween this committee and the management were 
actually being held, the restraining orders were 
issued, the purpose aimed at being clearly set 
forth in a letter written by Gen. James McNanght, 
as counsel for the receivers, to his associate, Mr 
G^o P Miller, of Milwaukee, on the day before 
thar s** fir a conference between the mauige- 
tn m aad the m’n, which Mr. Miller testified be- 


fore the Congressional Investigating Committee 
was laid before Judge Jenkins and read by him 
before the supplemental order was issued. In 
this letter Mr. McNaught said: "The petition 
should be broad enough to prevent the various 
labor organizations from taking any steps tending 
to facilitate or assist in the making of an order to 
strike. It should prevent the thirty-two people 
with whom our operating officers are to meet and 
have conference to-morrow from making reports, 
advising a strike. * * * Another proposi- 

tion, and that is, whether or not yon can obtain 
from the court an order restraining the employes 
of the Northern Pacific, under the peculiar cir- 
cumstances surrounding this case, from quitting 
the service of the company in the winter time 
without giving the company at least fifteen days' 
notice " 

Attention was particularly called to the fact 
that no court had ever issued such order. The 
only argument offered in support of this petition 
was the inconvenience the company and its pat- 
rons would suffer on account of inability to 
promp’.ly secure other men. 

The General Manager for the receivers testified 
before the Congressional Investigating Committee 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


538 

that no threats or talk of strike had been engaged 
in by the representatives of the men, and that he 
had no good reason to believe that the officers of 
the organizations contemplated advising a strike. 

The supplemental injunction was clearly for 
the purpose of preventing the committee who 
had been sent as representatives of their associ- 
ates from advising them to retire from the service 
of the company if circumstances should so shape 
themselves as to render such advice, in their 
opinion, proper. It also contemplated re- 
quiring the employes of the company to remain 
in its service even though it was against their will 
to do so. 

These two points were very clearly covered in 
the order which was issued, and upon these two 
points the motion to modify and all arguments in 
support of such m ation were based. The court, 
of course, assumes 1 ‘For the purpose of this hear- 
ring” that the intervenors admitted the correct- 
ness of the estimate of existing conditions set 
forth in the petition of the receivers for the re- 
straining orders. The admission was simply 
“For the purpose of this bearing" and to empha- 
size the objectionable portions of the writs. The 
facts are tbit, while anxious to prevent the re- 
duction in their wages if possible, the employes 
of the Northern Pacific at that time were, by 
overwhelming m ij orities, strongly opposed to the 


idea of a strike. While such sentiments were 
entertained by the men, the officers of the organi- 
zations would be impotent to precipitate a strike, 
even were they inclined to do so. 

In as much as no motion haj ever been made 
to dissolve; inasmuch as the two modifications 
pra edfjr have been granted, one by judge Jen- 
kins, the other by the Appellate Court, we are 
unable to se; in where, from the standpoint of 
the intervenors, there is any occasion for appeal 
to the supreme court. The only objections to 
the restraining orders on the part of the organi- 
zations who made the effort to have them modi- 
fied have been clearly sustained. The policy and 
practices of those same organizations is in close 
harmony with the decision of tbs Appellate 
Court. 

We join the Herald in saying: 

* This luminous interpretation of the law of strikes 
should be read by every man in the commnnaty. Labor- 
ing men should study it to learn the exact nature of their 
rights if disputes arise between them and their employ- 
ers in regard to wages or any other subject. Leaders m 
the labor unions should take it as a text book, a guide, 
instructing them in the law by which they are bound in 
regard to strikes." 

Also in the following: 

•"Midnight injunctions do not suit the spirit of the 
American people, which above all things demands fair 

a . If the courts cannot establish rules providing that 
sides shall be heard before the most powerful en- 
gine of the court is set in motion, then congress ronst." 


COMMENT. 


In his history of the French Revolution, the 
historian, Taine, thus remarks on two radical 
evils of the ancient regime: "In the structure of 
the old society there were two fundamental evils 
which called for two reforms of corresponding im- 
portance. In the first place, those who were pri- 
vileged, having ceased to render the services for 
which the advantages they enjoyed constituted 
their compensation, those privileges were no 
longer anything bnt a gratuitous charge imposed 
on one portion of the nation for the 
benefit of the other, and hence the neces- 
sity for suppressing them. In the second place, 
the government, being absolute, mad j use of pub- 
lic resources as if they were its own private prop- 
erty, arbitrarily and wastefully; it was, therefore, 
necessary to impose upon it some efficacious and 
regular restraints." It strikes me that with respect 
to the first of these evils, at least, we have the 
parallel of the ancient regime in the United 
States. For years and years we have granted 
privileges to private corporations upon condition, 
expressed or implied, that they do certain things 
for the people in exchange for those privileges; 


and these corporations have almost invariably 
“ceased to render the services for which the ad- 
vantages they enjoyed constituted their compen- 
sation." Hence the necessity which now arises 
for suppressing those privileges. 

* # # 

The theory of our tariff policy has always been 
that the privileges which were extended by the 
government to tariff beneficiaries were graoted 
on condition of a certain service to be performed 
for the benefit of American workingmen. The 
implied contract has been that in consideration of 
the government aiding certain privileged persoos 
to make higher profits than are made in the same 
lines of business in other countries, they, in turn, 
would pay higher wages than were paid to work- 
ingmen in oiher countries. There has been ouch 
talk concerning an American rate of wages and an 
American standard of living, and the necessity for 
maintaining them; and the tariff beneficiaries 
have virtually said to the government: “Yon take 
care of us and we will take care of the working- 
men, and see that the American standard is main- 
tained." But, notwithstanding that the privilege^ 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


have been extended and increased, and confirmed 
and reconfirmed, from time to time, the American 
workingman has failed to receive his share of the 
profits which were conditioned upon the privi- 
leges granted, and the American standard has not 
been maintained. The beneficiaries of oar gov- 
ernmental policy have failed to perform their part 
of the contract; and i* has come to pass that the 
pretense that the policy was for the special bene- 
fit of the American workingmen, has virtually 
been abandoned, and the beneficiaries have come 
oat boldly with the demand that government be 
run in their interests without any reference with 
their relation to the workingmen. The interests 
of the workingmen in the transaction have been 
wholly ignored. This being true, it is high time 
the privileges were suppressed. It is not only in 
connection with the tariff matter, either, but 
through the whole range of privilege we shall find, 
upon investigation, that there has been gross neg- 
lect in the performance of certain duties or serv- 
ices for which the privileges were to constitute 
compensation. 

# * * 

One is continually running across statements of 
fact which are different from what one would ex- 
pect to find them, as, for instance, that railway 
passenger fares average nearly twice as high in 
the United States as they do in Canada, is a fact 
which I imagine is not generally known; it is a 
condition which I, at least, would have said did 
not exist, that is, speaking from general knowl- 
edge, merely, and without having seen the fig- 
ures. But it is a fact, nevertheless, according to 
figures which appear in a statement made to the 
Senate on August 27, relating to railroad owner- 
ship by foreign governments, by the Chairman of 
the Interstate Commerce Commission. Although 
these figures are taken from statistical reports for 
the year 1888, I never happened to run across 
them before, and they were a surprise to me. 
They show passenger rates to be 1.8 cents per 
mile in Canada, while in the Uaited States they 
are 2 34 cents per mile. In no other nation ex- 
cept Norway are first-class passenger fares as low 
as in Canada. Freight rates in Canada are 
slightly in excess of the rates in the United States, 
but both countries show the same percentage of 
working expenses to gross receipts, and the per. 
centage of interest paid on capital invested is 1.7 
in Canada as against 31m the United States, 
There is some food for thought in these figures. 
Caoada has a railroad system which is far beyond 
her needs as a country, and it is certain that the 
Canadian roads could not keep out of bankruptcy 
for a year if they were deprived of the percentage 
of the carrying trade of the United States which 


539 

they depend upon for their existence. Our gov- 
ernment attempts to control and regulate the com- 
petition of our own roads by the interstate com- 
merce act, and then it permits the Canadian 
roads, which cannot be controlled by the act, to 
enter our territory at half a hundred points be- 
tween the two oceans and compete for strictly 
American business; business which ought to go 
to support American roads and employ Amer- 
ican labor. It is said that the C. P. R. keeps a 
permanent lobby at Washington. For what? To 
look after its interests. But what interest has the 
C P. R. in American legislation? The interest 
paid on capital invested in Canadian railroads is 
paid by American business; the roads could not 
begin to earn running expenses without it; and 
the lower average of passenger rates represents, 
to a great extent, the keenness of the Canadian 
competition to get that business. The Canadian 
roads ought to be compelled, wherever they come 
in competition with American roads, to submit to 
the same regulations which the latter do. 

# * # 

Speaking further of this report relating to rail- 
road ownership by foreign governments, it is a 
sort of a special plea against government owner- 
ship, and the advocates of government ownership, 
from the standpoint of economy, at least, will not 
derive much comfort from it. Roads under pri- 
vate ownership are shown to be cheapest to the 
public, as regards freight and passenger rates, of 
any in the world, the United States and Canada 
being at the foot of the list, that is to say, the 
cheapest of any when both freight and passenger 
rates are considered. But that is not all there is 
to the question of government ownership, by any 
means, although it is the point of especial promi- 
nence in this little report. And, too, it is a point 
that is supported only by the evidence of Canada 
and the United States, as the highest rates in the 
world occur on the railroads of Turkey, which 
are exclusively under private ownership and op- 
eration, and the next highest occur in Spain and 
Great Britain, which have their railroads also ex- 
clusively owned and operated by private parties, 
and Great Britain must certainly be conceded to 
have the most efficient system of government con- 
trol, under private ownership, in the world. 
The matter of rates is one which depends on con- 
ditions prevalent in each country by itself, and it 
is not the whole of the railroad question by a long 
shot. The views of many prominent persons are 
presented in this report, their general tenor being 
against government ownership. Inter-State Com- 
missioner Veazey’s views are given as follows: "In 
my judgment there is no adequate necessity for onr 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


540 

country to try that which I think would bs a dan- 
gerous ex peri meat of the Government in assuming 
the enormous burden of debt which the acquisi- 
tion of all the railroads would involve, and to en- 
gage in a busin&s that requires a foce of nearly 
1,000,000 men. * * * The necessity should 

be the most extreme before such enormous pjwer 
and working force should be added t ) that which 
the General Government already has. # * * 

As a general proposition rates are 1 jw. * * * 

Regulation under the law, State and national, is 
working out its designed result in correcting evils 
that had-crept into railroad administration. * * 

* In a word, without stating further reasons, I 
do not believe that transportation by comm >n car- 
riers, or the interests of commerce, will be im- 
proved by Government ownership and operation 
of railroads. The railroads themsalves, as artifi- 
cial persons, would undoubtedly be benefit jd io 
a majority of cises by Government assump ion, 
but I would not take the risk of it." (Intel -S. ite 
Commerce Commissioner Veazey: interview in 
The Washington Star, July 21, 1894 ) 

* » # 

It seems as though a lesson as to the gentril 
tendency Of our present industrial development, 
might be learned from the vast aggregati n aid 
concentration of railway capital which li is re- 
cently been accomplished in the South, through 
the merging of some thirty independent corpora- 
tions into the Southern Railway Company. H *re 
is an operation which The Railway Age charac- 
terizes as ' One of the most difficult and como’i* 
cated financial undertakings on record," that his 
Seen carried through in the face of trem tndous 


opposition, and for the purpose of escaping 
very conditions of bankruptcy, on the part of tfe 
principals to the reorganization scheme, whick 
such aggregations of capital are supposed to brine 
about. It is an operation which, in a certain 
sense, was made necessary by the very laws which 
have been enacted in the Sontb with a view d 
preventing it. For years past the Southern nil- 
way legislation has been of what is known as the 
“granger" character; the idea actuating it fea> 
been to restrain the corporations and pre*w. 
combinations among them which should be detrv 
mental to the public interest, the suppression of 
competition being a particular grievance of the 
law makers. And now, out of the very necessities 
of the industrial situation, out of the very condi 
tions towards which our whole development 
tends, has growu the immense aggregation of cap 
ital which the legislators have cried oot against 
and which they have sought to avoid. It puts ms 
in mind of the old rhyme: 

Mother, may I go out to swim? 

Oh, yes, my darling daughter. 

You may hang your clothes on the hickory limb; 

But don't go near the water. 

There is no earthly use of “kicking against the 
pricks," and it does seem as though there is a les 
son in this Southern Railway organization scheme 
which our statesman ought to heed. This ten- 
dency to concentration cannot be avoided; it is in 
the line of industrial development; and why would 
it not be a good plan to seek to bring it into har- 
mony with the interests of the public, and guide 
it for the public benefit, instead of laboring eter- 
nally to array the public against it? B. 


BORROWED OPINION. 


The attempt made by the British ministers to 
conciliate the advocates of the eight hours Hay, 
at the same time that they retained Mr. Morley 
at the Irish Office, has so far had small practical 
results. The eight hours bill for miners, which 
was read a second time, was met in comm t tee of 
the whole by an amendment providing for local 
option, which was carried by a small mrjjri.y. 
Thereupon the bill was dropped, it being an ar«i 
cle of faith with its promoters that the eight 
hours must be enforced in all mines or in none 
The result of conceding the eight hours d ly 10 
government workmen is having some curious 
results, not altogether agreeable to workmen not 
employed by the government. At Portsmouth, 
for instance, there is great complaint that some 
of the dockyard men. when their eight h. urs dav 
is over, do not hesitate to take further work in 
their newly acquired leisure, thereby cutting out 
the less fortunate workman who is not in a govern 


ment berth. It is even alleged that the government 
workmen, not content with competing for jobs 
with other workmen, actually blackleg them by 
cutting prices, which they can afford to do. see 
ing that any work they get in this fashion is as 
extra. The complaints may be exaggerated, but 
they are significant. No eight hours day will 
prevent the workman selling his ninth, tenth or 
eleventh hours to any one who will buy them 
Even if overtime is forbidden by statutes, the 
workman will serve two masters instead of one 
and as the experience of one radical newspaper 
in London shows, he will prefer to put in all mi 
time in one office, instead of splitting it up be- 
tween two. What is to be hoped for is that right 
hour men will have a second string to their bow. 
such as gardening, farming, and other occupa- 
tions, which they can resort to for their owe ben- 
efit and the advantage of their families without 
necessarily entering the public market. — /Vma 
0/ Reviezus. 


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Marion, Iowa. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

The following was written after reading "My 

Iowa" in your last number, and is respectfully 

' dedicated" to the author. "Mrs. C. B. Rouse:'' 

MICHIGAN. 

Oh. Michigan, ye "land of lakes," my own, my 
native state, 

Within whose bosom, yet unborn, earth s richest 
treasures wait. 

I fain would clasp you in my arms, like some old 
time tried friend 

Upon whose breast in childhood’s hours my sor- 
rows found an end. 

I lov^ your lakes, your hills and dales, your or- 
chards running o’er, 

Your fields of grass and waving grain, with 
boundless wealth in store. 

Ah, many spots you hold m^st dear, I trace on 
mem’ry's wall, 

And one, my "childhood's cherished home," is 
dearer than them all. 

Yea, these I love, yet more than these, and all in- 
trinsic worth, 

I love the "friends" you hold to-day, the first I 
knew on earth. 

My father’s patient feet still tread thy cultivated 
soil. 

His loving hands there garner in rich products of 
his toil. 

My sisters' homes, my brothers', too, thy boun- 
dary lines enclose, 

And there my loved ones' sacred dust has found a 
last repose. 

Out here in western Iowa, fate bade our feet to 
roam, 

And here, midst strangers grown to friends, our 
children find a home. 

Wealth, health and happiness combine with 
blessings full and free, 

To make it just as good a home as you once made 
for me. 


And I have learned to love her well, this "land of 
golden corn," 

Yet mingled strangely with thine own, my love 
for her is born. 

Reflected in her sunlit skies thine ovn bright 
beams I see, 

And low’ring storms or winter's winds, are echoes 
but of thee. 

Once more "we children" search the woods and 
fields for fragrant flowers. 

Or 'neath an overhanging tree, dream out the 
sultry hours. 

Again we gather nuts and fruit for winter's goodly 
store, 

And heap the sacks and baskets full, to measures 
running o’er. 

Once more we climb your snow capped hills, or 
round the cheerful grate 

We crowd in childish haste to warm, our 'ventures 
to relate. 

And "father's care ' and "mother’s smile" rest on 
each wayward head, 

As sleepily ws say "good night" and hasten off to 
bed. 

Then "mama, may I," "maim, say," recalls my 
wand'ring mind, 

And here again in "Iowa," myself at home I find. 

And links that bound my soul to thee, are forged 
in these to-day, 

To form one endless chain of life and mern’ries 
by the way. 

Yet visions sweet you bring to m2, whene’er I 
hear your name, 

Oh, "Michigan, my Michigan," of fruit and 
woodland fame. Mrs. N. D. Hahn. 


Philadelphia, Pa. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Once more I beg the privilege of a few words 
to the Auxiliary through Thb Conductor, which 
we all read monthly with great pleasure. It was 
recently my very agreeable datyto visit Maryland 
Division, No. 46. L. A. to O R. C., and I wish 
to thank the members for their kind and generous 


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542 J/fl? RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


hospitality while in their city. Sisters G. 
Schmutz, C. Schmntz, J. W. Walsh, W. Dunlap, 
J. S. Knee and Mrs. Humes were especially kind, 
sparing neither trouble nor expense in making 
my visit a pleasurable one, and there were many 
others, whose kind invitations had to be declined 
on account of the press of official business. The 
meetings of this Division are well attended, and 
as the members are deeply interested in the work, 
I am sure they will make of it a complete suc- 
cess. Division 46 has every prospect of becom- 
ing one of the most prosperous of all our subor- 
dinate bodies. My visit to these ladies and their 
homes was one of the most enjoyable I had ex- 
perienced, and will long be held in pleasant 
remembrance. 

•On the way home I stopped off at Harrisburg, 
intending to visit Keystone Division, No. 47, but 
owing to a misunderstanding on my part, no 
meeting was held that week. The ladies of this 
Division also gave me a most hospitable recep- 
tion during my short stay in their city, Sisters 
H. A. Myers and L. I-Jartzell being especially 
kind. I am looking forward with pleasant antici- 
pations to meeting these ladies again in the near 
future. 

Not being the corresponding secretary for 
Erickson Division, I will not attempt to give you 
a full report of the doings of that body, but will 
say that No. 5 is still prospering. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. B. F. Wiltse. 


Battle Creek, Mich. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

As I have again changed my place of abode, I 
will be pleased to receive all communications on 
the revision of the ritual, at No. 36 Jay street, 
Battle Creek, Mich. All resolutions must be in 
the hands of the committee by January 1, 1895. 
There are still a great many Divisions that have 
not been heard from in this matter. Sisters, if 
the ritual is not what you would like it to be, now 
is your time to make it so. Please do not wait 
until it is revised and then think of something 
that would improve it. 1 would like especially to 
hear from Sister Turner, of De Soto, Mo. , as I 
fear there is some error in her address as we 
have it. 

There is no Division of the Auxiliary here and 
we miss the pleasant meetings very much. Wish- 
ing all the Sisters God speed in their great work, 
I am 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. C. G. Smith. 


Memphis, T*yy 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

Bluff City Division. No. 29, met in our tittk 
hall on our usual appointed day. We were both 
surprised and delighted to meet so many of our 
members who had been absent at several past 
meetings, from sickness and other causes. The 
day was warm and threatening, but nearly en 
member was there to answer in person at roll call 
It gave renewed energies to each and all. Jwn 
we may look for cooler and more pleasa&t 
weather and we shall hope to see the full member 
ship there to answer ‘’present’* at each succeed- 
ing meeting, that we may continue the goed work 
so nobly begun. We have the honor of wearing 
the medal ; let us strive to retain it. We have a 
money credit, though we were nbt in the sugar 
trust, but it proves we have some good financiers 
in Division 29. We have been following a good 
example of some sister Divisions by addiog to 
our “mite box,” our good president taking the 
initiative. She made a very handsome white 
velvet hand painted banner, from which she 
realized five dollars. This little sum is held 10 
reserve for incidental charity work among ocr 
members. We are to take it alphabetically Itb* 
writer rejoices to be near the X Y Z), each month 
to make with our own fair bands (there 1 20 
out again) some pretty but useful artic!e-*some 
thing inexpensive — not to cost less than twenty- 
five cents, or more than one dollar, to be disposed 
of by chance or to the highest bidder. It affords 
amusement as well as being remunerative. At 
our last meeting our popular president informed 
us she was going to take a vacation for some 
weeks, to journey among the scenes of her juve- 
nile days, and gladden the friends of her youth 
She will visit the different Divisions in Ohio. 
Indiana and Illinois, and catch on to ail theii 
new and good works. When she returns, with 
that already well filled and busy brain, what a 
time she will have instructing us in all the new 
ideas, and how delighted to hear her say: Well 
done, Sisters, we are ‘an up to date’ Division.” U 
we have been slow in attending during the heated 
term, we have many bright members away ahead 
of X Y Z. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs W. R S. 


Cleveland, Ohw 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

Some months having elapsed since Bethlebca 
Division’s correspondent has contributed ay* 
thing for the columns of the Ladies* Departmeai, 
we assume our mite will again be acceptable 



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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 543 


providing we do not dbcupy too much space for 
the little we have to say. 

The extreme heat of the past summer has had 
visible effect on the attendance of our Division, 
many members taking refuge outside the city, 
and others less fortunate finding it more com* 
for table to remain at home on meeting day, than 
to suffer the inconvenience of the heated Division 
room. However, the 1 'faithful few, M of whom I 
have made mention in former letters, have proven 
themselves indeed faithful, in that they are gen* 
erally present at all the meetings, and are to be 
depended on 

Our last meeting was a very lively and inter- 
esting one, and was enjoyed by all present. Many 
suggestions were made and discussed for "the 
good of the order," and some of them adopted. 
We also enjoyed a talk by our president, Sister 
S. N. Pencil!, who entertained us with an inter- 
esting and graphic account of her trip across the 
continent this summer, and we all felt like asking 
for more when she had finished. A vote of 
thanks was unanimously accorded her, and all are 
glad to have her with us again. No Sister can 
absent herself from our meetings who will not be 
missed, and we would be so glad to have all of 
them with us again without a single absentee; but 
in a Division of fifty members, this is hard to 
accomplish. The better the attendance, the 
more can be done, and we owe it to our officers, 
whom we placed in their chairs nearly one year 
ago, to rally to their support, and assist them in 
every possible way to carry out the principles of 
our Order. This cannot be done by staying at 
home. Although our hearts may be with the 
work, it needs our presence; we must be on the 
ground if we expect to see results that will crown 
our efforts with success. I firmly believe if all 
members of all Divisions would attend the meet- 
ings regularly much good work might be accom- 
plished, and all be correspondingly benefited, 
t notf our Division is not the only one whose 
attendance shrinks during the summer months — 
when the majority of people indulge' in a vaca- 
tion for rest and pleasure. A number of other 
Divisions heard from complain of the same thing. 
We hope in the near future to secure better 
attendance, and consequently better work. How- 
ever, we are far from being discouraged, and 
although the work has met with discouraging 
draw backs on account of the extreme heat and 
financial depression of the times, we feel brave. 
We believe the darkest hour has passed, and the 
dawn of a brighter day, with all its earnest work- 
ers with us again will inspire us to more eager 
effort, and result in lasting good to the Division. 

Our socials were abandoned during the sum- 


mer, but will be resumed again in October, and 
continued twice a month. We find them a source 
of much pleasure, as well as profit. 

I often wonder why some other of our Bethle- 
hem Sisters never contribute anything for this 
department. I feel confident many of them 
could write much more entertainingly than I, if 
they would. And I will gladly lay down my pen 
in their favor, believing all will be glad to hear 
from a fresh correspondent from Bethlehem, 
over which we earnestly pray the "Star of Peace," 
as of old, may continue to shine, shedding its 
peaceful rays in radiance over all hearts sheltered 
there. 

A few lines have been suggested to my mind, 
and although they may be crude, sure from the 
heart, and with the "Truest Friendship" for all 
my Sisters in the Auxiliary, I modestly submit 
them : 

"BETWEEN THE LINES." 

Events control our lives, 

And frequent are the times 

When we, with purpose wise 

Should "Read between the lines." 

Oft times our hearts are sad, 

And we fain would blend our sighs 

And tears, with notes more glad, 

And bid bright hope arise. f 

Yet we are mortals weak; 

Making missteps and falls, 

While we in doubt may seek, 

To act as duty calls. 

Oh, "Read between the lines"; 

Judge not a Sister's act; 

The motive which defines 
Her earnest wish, make fact. 

Our motto is so plain, 

If we its teachings heed. 

"Sisterly Love" will reign, 

And "Friendship True" will lead. 

Then "Read between the lines," 

Grant each a purpose true, 

Assert no wrong designs, 

That "Peace" may reign anew. 

Mrs. C. P. Hodges. 


Denver, Colo. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

Doubtless the sisters will learn with pleasure 
that Division 13 L. A. to O. R. C. is living and 
growing . in every way. We took in two new 
members at our last meeting, have two petitions 
ready to be acted upon and applications out for 


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544 THE ^RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


more. We now have a membership of forty-six 
and have been organized bnt two years. 

The regular division business is broken into by 
a social gathering of some sort occasionally, and 
we find the change to be beneficial to both mem- 
bers and friends. Qur last essay in this line was 
a picnic held at Elitch’s Garden, Sept. 22 last. 
There were about sixty present to participate in 
the festivities, consisting of elaborate refresh- 
ments. dancing and theatre going, and all ex- 
pressed themselves as having passed a day fall of 
pleasure. 

We hope to secure a number of new members 
during the coming year and if any of the Sisters 
wish to learn of our work and what we are ac- 
complishing they may write to Division No. 23, 
L. A. to O. R. C., McPhee Block, Denver, Colo. 

The division has met with a great loss in the 
resignation of our beloved president, Mrs. J. J. 
Bresnahan, who was compelled to that step by 
removal to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Resolutions 
of regret at her departure were adopted by the 
division and spread upon the records. Our 
worthy Sister Mrs. W. H. Hinckley has been in- 
stalled in her place and Sister H. Holbrook has 
been made vice president. Under their leader- 
ship we feel confident that Division 23 will con- 
tinue to prosper. With best wishes for The 
Conductor and all sister divisions, I am yours 
i«T. F. Mrs. A. H. L. 


Buffalo, New York. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The regular meetings of Columbian Division 
No. 40, L. A. to O. R. C., have been held, also 
one special meeting since my last letter, but, as 
nothing of interest to other Divisions has trans- 
pired, I have felt that there was nothing worth 
writing to the readers of The Conductor. Our 
meetings during the summer months have been 
poorly attended. Let us hope it has been caused 
by the absence of our members from the city 
and that with their return we shall find a renewal 
of that zeal and enthusiasm shown by them at 
first, and that growth and prosperity may be 
their watchword during the coming winter. 

When I read the reports of other Divisions I 
feel that we are not working as earnestly as we 
might and not interesting others in the Order to 
the extent that we should. There is a bountiful 
harvest, but I fear that we are poor gleaners. 

Division 2, O. R. C., has a large membership 
and nearly all their members reside in Buffalo. 
Then why is it we have not succeeded in getting 
their wives interested in the L. A. Let each 
member ask herself "is it my fault?" "or their 
indifference?" If our fault, let us remedy it at 


once. If each member wguld constitute hen ell 1 
committee of one to try and see what she could 
do to build up our Division, I am sure our Orde* 
would grow and we would all be encouraged. 1 
know that many are unable to attend every meet 
rag, and give that as an excuse for not joian^ 
To them we say "be with us as often as you c*x 
associate yourself with us. let your name appsa; 
on our membership roll, and thus show >orr 
willingness to become one of our oumber. y:i 
will find a cordial greeting awaiting yon wta 
you can be with us. and we are anxious to extend 
the right hand of fellowship to all wives of 0 H 
C. men." Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. A. H 


De Soto, Mr. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

It is with much pleasure that I accept the op 
portunity to write in behalf of De Soto Divisioo 
No. 13, L. A. to O. R. C. This has been a ven 
prosperous Division, and I think, from the ac- 
counts of last meeting, it is still prosperous 1 
could not attend, myself; but am confident the> 
had a nice meeting and full attendance. Though 
we are not yet known in The Conductor, tbai 
does not mike us the least by any means; that u 
only neglect on the part of our former corres- 
pondents. From now on we will make an effort 
to let you hear from us oftener. 

Socially, our Division is in the lead. Onlyi 
few weeks ago No. 13 had a cordial invitatioc 
from Sister John Smith, of Potosi, to come and 
dine with her, the dinner bsing given in honor ol 
Mr. Smith's fifty-third anniversary. There were 
about ten in the party, including two members of 
No. 241 (we thought it best to have some protec 
tion. and they were all that had courage enough 
to go, though I guess one or two more would have 
gone had it been convenient for them). We had 
only a few hours to stay, still it was a day long to 
be remembered by all. The ladies presented Mr 
Smith with a handsome silver cup and sauce# 

This was only a beginning, and it wasn't but a 
short time before our good Sister Kahler bad as 
come and take cream and cake with her After a 
pleasant afternoon all left feeling that there was 
some sisterly love in us that is only displayed 00 
such occasions. 

This division is growing but slowly. Not loof 
since we lost Mrs. Fletcher, one of our bet: 
workers, bnt know that our loss is some otben 
gain. She was president last year, and tbougo 
she lived oat of town, was very attentive. 

We meet every first and third Friday ia 1 0 
O. F. hall at 3 o'clock. Our officers for the en- 
suing year are : 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Presided, Sister H. M. True; Vice President, 
Sister W. V. Carson; Senior. Sister M. Ayla- 
worth; Junior, Sister W. E. Bohmis; Guard, Sis- 
ter R. E. Singleton; Secretary and Treasurer, 
Sister W. C. Turner; Correspondent, Sister J. G. 
Clanton; Chairman of Executive Committee, 
Sister E. L. Johnson. 

Sister Johnson declined the office of chairman 
and Sister J. G. Clanton was elected to fill the of- 
fice. Sister Turner, our secretary at present, has 
been filling that coair for two years. We now 
have a membership of twenty, and all seem to be 
working to bring more in. 

With best wishes to The Conductor and all 
Sister Divisions. I remain yours in T. F. 

Mrs. J. G. Clanton. 

Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The quarterly report of Columbia Division, 37, 
L. A. to O. R. C., of Cedar Rapids, will neces- 
sarily be somewhat limited, as most of our mem- 
bers have been absent from the city a greater 
part of the warm weather, while others were 
compelled to be absent on account of sickness or 
other cause. However, there have been several 
afternoon sociables held at the homes of the dif- 
ferent members There is to be a sociable at the 
K. P hall, given by the L. A. to O. R. C. on Oct. 
2. This will be our first public social for the 
season, and we hope it to be a success, and doubt- 
less it will, as all others have been. 

Yours truly, 

Mrs Barr, 


Wilmington, Del. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Perhaps the readers of The Conductor would 
like to hear from our new Division — Delaware 
D. vision, No. 50, L. A. to O. R. C. — as no ac- 
count of our organization has been forwarded for 
publica ion. We organized on the 10th of May, 
and were publicly installed in the Locomotive 
Firemen's hall by Grand Deputy President Mrs. 
B. F. Wiltse, of Philadelphia. Pa., assisted by 
Vice President Mrs. Wm. Bingham. 

The following officers were elected and public- 
ly installed: 

President, Mrs. Geo. D. Broomell; Vice Presi- 
dent, Mrs. F. J. Boylan; Secretary and Treas- 
urer, Mrs. O E. Wellman; Senior Sister, Mrs. 
O. R. Mount; Junior Sister, Mrs. G. J. Cbarsha; 
Guard, Mrs. A. T Ewing; Chairman Executive 
Committee, Mrs. E. M. Dunn; Correspondent, 
Mrs. J F. Sweeney. 

Our installation took place in the evening, the 


•545 

B. of L. F. being so kind as to tender us the use 
of their beautiful hall for the afternoon and even- 
ing. 

After installation we were pleasantly entertained 
by interesting remarks from a number of the 
Brothers, who were kind enough to furnish re- 
freshments for the occasion. They have also 
been so generous as to give us the use of their 
hall for our meetings, which we hold on the sec- 
ond and fourth Thursdays of the month at 2:30 
o'clock. # 

We have sixteen charter members already and 
expect several additions soon, one coming in at 
our next meeting. 

The sisters are very much interested and work 
hard to make our Division a success. I know 
they are always glad when meeting day comes 
around. 

We have made our first veoture in the way of 
enlarging our treasury — by chancing off a set of 
dishes — and we expect to swell our bank account 
considerably. 

We will be pleased at any time to have visiting 
Sisters with us, and promise them a cordial wel- 
come. Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. O. E. Wellman. 

% 

Cumberland, Md. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Since our last report Maryland Division No. 46 
L. A. to* 0 . R. C., has been having a very enjoy- 
able time. One of the most pleasant events was 
a visit from our installing officer, Mrs. B. F. 
Wiltse, wbcf spent a week among us. Mrs. Wiltse 
has made herself very popular with all our mem- 
bers and you may be sure her welcome was a 
cordial one. On August 14 we gave a picnic in 
her honor and sent an urgent invitation to the 
members of the O. R. C. All of them who could 
responded, and their presence added not a little 
to the success of the occasion. We did our best 
to give them a good time and they seemed to 
enjoy it all, especially the refreshments. 

Sister L. P. Adams, our Vice President, has 
been obliged to resign on account of leaving the 
city. We miss her very much and find the va- 
cancy her absence leaves in our working force 
difficult to fill. Sister C. E. Schmutz was unani- 
mously chosen to succeed her as Vice President. 

Sister J. W. Walsh, our Secretary and Treas- 
urer, has recently moved into her handsome resi- 
dence at 145 Columbia Street. Sister A. C. 
Schmutz has been away for some time taking in 
the sights of the “Quaker City." 

With regards to all I remain yours in T. F. 

Mrs. W. W. Dunlap. 


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Stony Ridge, N. Y. 


Editor Railway Conductor : 

As I am living twenty miles from a railroad, 
receiving my mail overland, having for associates 
people who have day and date for every trip they 
ever made on the cars, yon may have some idea 
of what The Conductor means to me and how 
disappointed I am at never seeing a word from 
the Division to which I belong. They are smart 
enough to write a letter for The Conductor, tor 
after I came east they formed a sinking fund of 
intellect and let it out on good security at reason- 
able rates of interest, so you see there is no ex- 
cuse for their not contributing something for the 
good of the order. 

I am not staying in this out of the way place 
from choice; mine is a case of sickness and 
seniority. 

I wish to thank Brother J. V. Russ fof his let- 
ter in the July number of The Conductor, also 
any other railroad man who writes and talks 
against the greatest curse with whjch railroad 
men have to contend. I can't write a letter like 
Brother R. but I have been in Topeka, worked 
for the Santa Fee and met Mr. T., Brother S,'s 
trainmaster, and found him a gentleman in every 
respect. Judging from his conversation he would 
give experienced men the preference if he could. 

Some Brother jays one Brother should not be 
hard on another. So I think. Brother S. says I 
must starve along with hundreds of Brothers in 
good standing that are out of employment, go to 
Washington overland or brake from five to seven 
years; now is not Brother S. hard on me as well 
as the rest. In my opinion any man that needs 
seniority should be compelled to resume his 
former occupation. 

That work has its disadvantages to be sure, no 
overtime and no chance to tell some dining room 
girl all about the last trip, how Maurice put the 
old "34" over on sand and the slack run in bard 
enough to tip the coffee pot over, but what is that 
to be compared to sitting on a self binder or be 
ing allowed to work around a traction engine. 

I can only find three excuses for a conductor's 


recommending seniority: the first, “God bless Be 
and my wife," the second is a desire to stand io 
with the brakeman, and the third is “perhaps I 
may go into the hotel business some day. ' 

Now any Brother who thinks I am hard on 
seniority or the people upholding it. shonld talk 
with me personally and I would convince him 
that the word “hard" was a very mild way of 
putting it. 

In closing I would like to ask some questions 
I am in need of help, can Brother Mounts send 
me any $2 men for a dollar? Why don't some 
Brother write a letter from No. 70 or 245 saying 
we are all well? W. A. 


Chicago. Illinois. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The finding of the congressional committee 
appointed to investigate the charge that Judge 
Jenkins had exceeded bis judicial authority in the 
terms of his injunction, coming as it did. when 
the so-called commonweal armies of the discon- 
tented unemployed were forming and marching 
from all directions toward Washington, and while 
it was yet extremely doubtful in what spirit and 
in what numerical force they might arrive in 
Washington— the finding of that committee, com- 
ing at such a time, seemed to me like the act of 
the engineer who flips open his firebox door when 
she is about to pop. but quickly lams it to again 
as soon as the gauge shows a little relief, in order 
to keep her practically in the same condition 
without a waste of water. 

A little later, while the coal miners were strik- 
ing, Judge Grosscup delivered the Decoration 
Day oration at Galesburg If he said a word 
that is usually considered appropriate to such 1 
function, it was not so reported in the Chicago 
papers; but they published his discourse at great 
length, under immense headlines declaring that 
Judge Grosscup saw in the organization of labor 
a menace to civilization. His recital of the his- 
tory of our civilization naturally began at the 
beginning, when there was none here. He said 
the mines were here, the sea, the forests, and 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 547 


they belonged to all; but there was no wealth. 
Then, labor, with his hands, and genius with in- 
vention, working together, after paying the debt 
of existence, laid by their surplus, which was the 
first wealth, the first capital; and worked on and 
laid by more, till now, this accumulation is rep- 
resented by seventy thousand millions of dollars. 
And this magnificent sum of wealth seems to be 
the measure, as I understand Judge Grosscup, of 
our present civilization in this United States. 
He said not a word as to the share of labor or of 
genius in this accumulation of their own creation, 
but he said that with the invention of machinery 
to multiply the power of labor, capital had 
learned to combine; that out of this combination 
was evolved the corporations and trusts of to-day, 
wherein the individual member delegates bis 
natural authority in the management of the busi- 
ness to a leader selected for that purpose, and 
never appears in the transaction of its affairs ex- 
cept in the selection of this manager or leader, 
and in the division of the profits. He said it 
was not surprising that labor should also learn to 
combine; that in its organization the will of the 
individual is completely hidden in that of his 
union; that he may work only for such pay and 
on such conditions as are sanctioned by his or- 
ganization; and that he most at all times, at the 
bidding of his organization, be ready to deliver 
himself to idleness, hunger, and the street; that 
it is this galling tyranny which is rapidly destroy- 
ing all individuality in the American workman, 
and in that fact is the menace to our $70,000,- 
000.000 civilization, accumulated in most part, 
as he had just stated, within the present century, 
and by precisely the same method of combination 
on the part of capital, with precisely the same 
purpose of oppoung the power of union against 
the competition of the individual, but without 
the motive always present in the labor union — 
the necessity of resisting a force acting continu- 
ously to increase the harshness of labor's 
condition. Finally, Judge Grosscup said; "I 
have no quarrel with labor unions. 1 do not say 
they are not within the law. I am not now in- 
terpreting the law.” 

He did interpret the law later, and sitting with 
Judge Woods, screwed the pop down another 
turn by issuing an injunction, as compared with 
which, that of Judge Jenkins would appear to be 
tolerably fair law. 

Now, what I want to say is this: The railway 
companies have discovered a sure cure for strikes, 
and it need 'not surprise Judge Grosscup more 
than before, if the labor organizations learn anew 
from a study of their methods. 

It is plainly apparent that the strike, at best, a 


clumsy weapon, dangerous to them that wield 
it, often costly beyond the worth of the object 
fought for, can no longer be used against that fin 
de siecle triumph of invention, the blanket in- 
junction, by which Cullom's notoriously inopera- 
tive inter-state commerce law, and Sherman’s 
hitherto unconstitutional anti-trust law are made 
at last to serve a useful purpose. But there is 
still a means of salvation in organization, a 
means quite within our reach, which will place 
the horde of unemployed in our own ranks, and 
not as starving scabs, at the disposal of the cor- 
porations. If you did not see the world's fair, 
you read more or less exaggerated accounts of its 
magnitude, and it is safe to assume that your im- 
pression of the amount of labor consumed in its 
construction is sufficiently appreciative. Well, 
while that was building, there were enough able- 
bodied workmen in this country, out of work, 
and unable to find work, to have gone to the 
mines and forests for every pound and splinter of 
its material, fashioned it, and put up that same 
worlds fair in two days. These men, and more, 
are still out of work, and there is no righteous 
reason why they should be. In this country 
there is room and is luork for ten times as many; 
but there is still less reason why we should 
oppose such a mighty force with our compara- 
tively little organization rather than add it to our 
equipment. 

A dispatch from Omaha, dated 5th inst., in the 
Chicago papers, stated that the Union Pacific 
Company had issued an order to their employes 
to abstain from politics. Now, that is precisely 
what every workman must not do. Politics is 
their only salvation — not by the old plan, which 
has simply made them the tools of the politicians 
and built up the trusts and monopolies that have 
crushed them. Here, a combination will ac- 
compli ih more than was ever hoped for from our 
class organizations. 

The American Railway Union strike has dem- 
onstrated beyond a possible doubt, the existence 
of an interest common to all workmen. That in- 
terest is to remove, or reduce, or resist the over- 
whelming competition that is fast destroying our 
independence. 

As individuals we are fools and slaves. We 
yawp for Harrison and protection to American 
industries, and whoop for Cleveland and death to 
the robber baroos, while we know that the Amer- 
ican industries need only send a satchelful of 
money to Washington to get all the protection 
they need. 

We run the best, the freest, the richest couutry 
on the face of the earth. We have saved up of 
our production $70,000,000 000, while people are 


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$48 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


starving under some governments. $70,000,000,- 
000 is about $5,000 for each family oow living in 
the United States. Oar voting did it all right 
enough, but whether we should be proud or 
ashamed of it, is another story. 

Let ns put our heads together with other organ- 
izations and find out why, being worth $5,000, we 
can't get enough for our children to eat; what 
they mean by over-production, and why they 
mean it — if there's anything in it for them; what 
are honest dollars, and what makes them honest. 
It is time for a sensible conspiracy on our part. 

Yours truly in P. F. , S. 

Yuma, Arizona. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

The strike of 1894 has become a matter of his- 
tory and the railroad world is rapidly returning 
to its normal state, but there are still some 
troublesome conditions, left as a heritage of that 
and previous conflicts, which will have to be just- 
ly settled if the present peace is to be made more 
than a hollow truce. Many of the men who 
were out of employment when the struggle ended 
are finding it difficult to secure places, and they 
feel that they are being persecuted beyond the 
limits of endurance, through the medium of the 
black-list. No one will question the right of the 
railroad corporations to refuse or to give employ- 
ment as they may see fit, but no set of officials 
have the right to arrogate to themselves the 
powers of both judge and jury, and, after declar- 
ing a man to be a criminal without giving him 
the shadow of a hearing in his own defense, ad- 
vertise him as such the country over, and thus 
shut out from him all h*ope of gaining employment 
at his chosen calling. This is practically what 
the black-list does, and it would be difficult to 
find defense for such a method in any of the es- 
tablished rules of equity and justice known to 
civilization. The experience of the railroad men 
in this section of the country has been particu- 
larly unfortunate as they have sought for all kinds 
of employment in nearly all parts of the naticn, 
only to meet with refusal, or at best, with ulti- 
mate dismissal. Some fifty of them had secured 
work picking fruit in the country at one dollar 
per day and board, only to be peremptorily dis- 
charged. Others sought the extremes of the east, 
north and south, only to meet with the same fate, 
and they are now returning to their old camping 
ground, placing the blame for their fruitless 
search upon the black-list. Many of them simply 
resigned their positions because they would not 
stay at work under the condemnation of their fel 
lows, and the fact that such men as these, who took 
■opart whatever in the strike, are punished equally 


with those who -were it? prime movers, shows how 
dangerous an engine of oppression the black-list 
may become. 

To my mind the railroad men of America have 
fallen into a dangerous condition of lethargy re- 
garding their personal interests. Able advocates 
are not wanting to tell us of the dangers menac- 
ing the laboring man, the country, its laws and 
law makers, but no one seems to be enough of a 
Solomon to discover the remedy for all these ills. 
Whether justice to the working man will come 
through the ballot or through bloodshed is a 
question for the future to determine, but in the 
meantime let us try the ballot. Let us elect men 
to represent us in our balls of legislation who are 
true to America's interests, men who will close 
the gateways of our country against foreign 
pauper labor. Once this has been accomplished, 
the workingman of this country will soon be in a 
position to take care of himself. 

Now, I do not want any member of Division 
55, when he has read this, to come out in the 
next Conductor and ask me if I had * ‘brasses 
for my luggage" when I landed in this country, 
because 1 did not have any luggage. I came by 
the native American route. Neither do I care to 
be asked if I have talked these matters over in 
Division meetings and have sought the proper 
avenues for redress, because I have. I find the 
average member of the Pacific coast to be just 
like myself, "at war with himself." and fighting 
for fear he dies before seeing some permanent 
benefit derived from our respective orders, for 
the maintenance of which we liberally pay our 
money and whose constitutions and statutes we 
will loyally obey and defend to the end. 

Yours in P. F., 

Imprimatur. 


El Paso. Texas 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

I am not a regular correspondent of The Con- 
ductor, but have a few words to say that may 
prove of interest to some. A short time ago 1 bad 
occasion to make a dying trip to the land of the 
Palmetto tree. After leaving ray own road, the 
S. P , 1 found some fine fellows among the 
knights of the punch. On the L. & N and on 
the A. & W. P. you find the typical southern 
gentleman, handsome in appearance and court- 
eous in manner. On the old reliable Georgia 
R R. you find smiling faces and manly men. 
while the knights of the C. C. & A. are men 
whom you would like to meet agaig and greet 
with a hearty welcome. If the few I met are a 
fair sample of our southern Brothers, I think 
those who visit the Grand Division will come 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


back highly pleased with southern men, southern 
hospitality and with that queen of southern 
cities, Atlanta. I will close by saying Division 69 
bas a large and nretty hall with lots of easy 
chairs and a hearty welcome for visitors. 

Yours in P. F., 

G. H. A. 


Crestline, Ohio. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

Alliance Division No. 177 and Allegheny Divi- 
sion No. 314 gave their first joint picnic at Rock 
Point, Pa., on July 28, last. This place is located 
about forty miles north-west of Pittsburgh, on the 
Erie road, and the grounds are owned by the 
Pennsylvania Co. The day was all that could 
have been asked for such a gathering, and the 
Brothers turned out with their wives and sweet- 
hearts to the number of fully 800, to enjoy it. All 
kinds of amusements were provided for their en- 
tertainment, and the roller-coaster and merry-go- 
round were soon in full swing, while others found 
greater pleasure in clambering over the rocks and 
drawing inspiration from the beauties of nature. 
The dancing hall was in charge of Brother T. F. 
Maloney, assisted by Brothers T. W. Morrow, 
M. R. Matthews, John Davis, C. H. Mell, P. B. 
Bower, L. C. Stevenson, D. Bradshaw and F. M. 
Foster, and they made it one of the most attract- 
ive places on the grounds. The grand march was 
an especially interesting spectacle, being partici- 
pated in by 85 couples, and Brother Maloney won 
new honors in conducting it. Brother R S Ray- 
lor and wife were present, and took part in the 
general festivities. All were out for a good time, 
and when the time for departure came they as- 
sured us that it had been a most enjoyable day, 
and one they would not soon forget. It will cer- 
tainly be long held in pleasant memory by the 
members of both Divisions No. 177 and 314. 

Yours in P. F. 

F. M. Foster. 


Denver, Colo. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

It is true I am not a regular correspondent for 
The Conductor, but perhaps the Brothers will 
bear with a word from one who h^s 
their best interests thoroughly at heart. 
1 read with much interest an article 
in the August number from the pen of 
• Growler,” of Division Nj. 331. in which he calls 
our attention very forcibly to the laws governing 
our Benefit Depirtment. I, for one. am glad he 
bas taken this matter up, and hope others may be 
induced to discuss it, not only in The Conduc- 


549 

tor, but in our Division rooms, to the end that 
our delegates to the next Grand Division may 
make the laws relating to disability claims more 
generous in their scope. As the laws now stand 
a disability claim can only be paid for the loss of 
a hand or a foot, or where the eyesight or hearing 
has been destroyed. This is all well and good, 
but why not extend the provisions to cover the 
case mentioned by "Growler,” where the Brother 
is suffering from paralysis, or to any disability 
that makes it impossible for the Brother to sup- 
port himself and family. If this is not done, too 
often the unfortunate one becomes dependent 
upon charity and a burden to himself and friends. 
He may have been a contributor to this very de- 
partment from its inception, but that fact does 
not enable him to secure any aid from i>. I would 
favor allowing the insurance committee more lati- 
tude in all cases of disability recommended for 
payment by the physician and members of the 
department. A home may be partially paid for 
and the Brother may lose all he has invested un • 
less he is allowed, upon makiug proper proof, to 
draw something from this fund, to which he has 
been contributing for years, and thus save the 
home and perhaps have something over with 
which to keep the wolf from the door. Brothers, 
weigh this matter well and see if you do not find 
in it sufficient cause to recommend action. 

Again, would it not be well to provide for old 
age? Our government gives soldiers over 62 a 
pension, why not make provision for our Brothers 
after they reach 65 or 68? We have a few mem- 
bers now who are 60 years of age and upward, 
and are still carrying the punch or way bills. 
They may fail at any time, and through misfor- 
tune of some sort fiad themselves without support 
f yt the balance of their lives. What a boon to 
them to know that their brothers had provided to 
shield their declining years! I hope others will 
discuss this subject so that it may be acted upon 
intelligently when the time comes. 

Truly yours in P. F , 

Growler No. 2 

[About how high will the boys be willing to go 
in assessments? Ed ] 

“307 ” 

Jersey Central Division No. 307 held a regular 
meeting (under a dispensation) in Castle Hall, 
Long Branch, N. J., Sunday, Sept. 23rd, at 11 a. 
m., with visiting brothers from Divisions No, 
153, 254. 169 and 291. During the session sev- 
eral subjects were discussed in a very able man- 
ner by the various Brothers, and as a clam bake 
had been arranged for by our worthy Brothe 
Geo. Allen, of the New Jersey Southern Divisr 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


550 

we adjourned to take conveyances to Port Au 
Peck, on Pleasure Bay. Arriving there we found 
"Host" Wardell awaiting our coming. We sat 
down to eighty plates, and started at a menu con* 
sisting, as Brother Haynes said in his personal 
invitation to Brother Jos. Keely, of the N. J. So. 
Division, of clams, hard and soft, (a la Sandy 
Hook); fish, (a la Atlantic); lobster, (a la Long 
Branch); chicken, (a la incubator); corn, (Mm* 
mouth Co.); potatoes, white and sweet, (Ireland 
and New Jersey); watermelon, (hot house); refresh- 
ments, (Somerville style). I would like to hear 
from Brother Keely on the latter, (Samerville 
style) as he seemed to have very pleasant memo- 
ries of a trip to Somerville, during which Brother 
Haynes took a prominent part in his entertain- 
ment. I heard Brother Keely say if they were to 
be served on that style he wished to be counted 
out, as once was enough. He was finally per- 
suaded to accompany us. and I noticed that clams 
were placed very often before him, and it seemed 
to be nip and tuck, whether he or Sargent Kleine 
(sometimes called Papa by Brother Haynes) who 
sat near him, got the upper hand. I had best 
stop, but it was clams galore. Brothers Living- 
ston and Van Deveer, of Division No. 291, and 
Reed, of Division No. 154, seemed to keep up 
their end in a very creditable manner. Brother 
Livingston gave us the slip, and took passage 
back by the steamer Elberon from Long Branch. 
Brothers Staats and McDonald, of Division No. 
169. were too busy doing justice to 
the gx)d things to entertain us in the 
manner which they can so ably do. 
Brothers Mumbrower and Pyle, of Division 
No. 153, enjoyed themselves thoroughly and as 
it was a new section of the country to them, they 
could only admire the beauties to be seen on all 
sides. It did us all good to see how Brother Dol* 
beer, who has recently returned to duty after 
spending several months in hospitals undergoing 
severe operations, enjoyed his outing. Brother 
O'Brien, of Division No. 169, had the credit of 
having the greatest number of shells, but Brother 
Leek played a close second. Brother Munn was 
too busy with the good things to reply to requests 
for a toast. When the lobsters were secured I 
think Brother Leek took first place. Brother 
Keely struggled hard to steal a little of the glory, 
but failed, as he had wrestled with clams too 
long. I could go on and enumerate the many 
good qualities of the Brothers present, but it 
would require too much space. The boys would 
like to hear from Brother Kieine on his saccessin 
hunting up 2nd Corps men at Pittsburg during 
the recent reunion. All praise is due Brother 
Haynes, of the invitation committee, for his ef- 


forts in looking after the welfare of the Brothers. 
As we had to make the train from the branch at 
4,40 p. m., we left early and enjoyed a drive 
along the ocean front, arriving at the station in 
good time. In all it was a most enjoyable diy. 
and all participants wished our outing might soon 
come again. 

I pick up The Conductor each issue, and my 
first thought is, has any Brother from Division 
No* 307 mustered up enough courage to write, 
but am always disappointed. If they would only 
make the attempt, there are several who could 
write very entertaining articles. 

I hope Brother Keely will let us all know what 
Somerville style is. Brother Leek gave his expe- 
rience of a similar trip. 

I want to say a few words for the ex L V R. 
R . conductors who are still out of work, and ask 
some of the Brothers who are continually harping 
about the inaction of the Grand Officers in not 
using up the protection fund, to read up the laws 
a little and say less and do more financially. I 
think Brother Clark suggested a good thing in the 
last circular. If all Divisions will give a little, it 
will make a start, and then let us repeat it 
monthly and increase it if we are able. Let ns 
that mike steady time contribute to a special do- 
nation each month for those loyal Brothers anti! 
such time as they get employment, forgetting any- 
thing they may have said or done out of place, 
remembering we might have done the same thing 
under like circumstances. Let us make up a fund 
that will pay these men all they think is due 
them,, and when our delegates assemble In Grand 
Convention, instruct them to agitate this subject 
that more favorable laws may be added for all 
under like conditions. I fully believe our Grand 
Officers feel as keenly as any of us the condition 
of the Brothers and non-union men, “I ought to 
call them all Brothers," but are powerless to do 
more than they have, while the Lehigh Valley is 
controlled by its present offi rials who are devoid 
of honor. Hoping a large fund may be realized. 
I am fraternally, More Anon. 


Harrisburg, 

Editor Ruilzuay Conductor : 

As a representative of Dauphin Division No 
143, it affords me great pleasure at this time to 
pen a few lines to The Conductor. We have 
had quite a time during the last two weeks In 
Harrisburg, owing to the holding of the B, of L.F. 
convention in this city. There were a large num- 
ber of strangers in the city, and among them our 
G. C. C., Bro. E. E. Clark, who was gladly met 
by all. In him we found a noble man, one of 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


sterling worth to our organization and a gentle- 
man, ready and willing to explain, advise and 
answer intelligently all questions asked, w^ich 
you may know were not a few; but a great many 
answers were " You know the law." It gives us 
great pleasure to have the grand officers visit us, 
and I am sure this visit from our G. C. C. was 
highly pleasing to all. Our only regrets are, that 
pressing business compelled him to make his stay 
among us so short. The personal acquaintance 
of some of us with Brother Clark has been short, 
bat in the judgment of those who had the pleas- 
ure of meeting him and an opportunity for a close 
perusal and observance of his work, recognize in 
him the man for such a very responsible position 
as that which he now occupies. Each and every 
member should closely watch his Conductor and 
everything pertaining to the railroad organizations 
and most especially our own, also our constitu- 
tion and by-laws governing and regulating the 
general work of our Order, and the duty of all 
officers, and make these things a study. We 
should also think of the trials and g-eat responsi- 
bility thrust upon our grand officers, and we 
wonld not then stand so ready to censure, find 
fault and accuse them of wrong doing. By closely 
reading our Conductor something may be found 
to arouse every member of our Order to a deeper 
interest in the cause, making them more enthusi- 
astic in their endeavors to make the work of our 
Order a telling success. 

The different railroad organizations have ren- 
dered all the aid they possibly could to the B. of 
L. F. daring their convention in this city. There 
J}as been nothing left undone to make the conven- 
tion a success, and to entertain the delegates and 
visiting members. That they enjoyed themselves 
was very evident, and we hope they are pleased 
with their stay among us and with our city, and 
leave us bearing away with them a general good 
impression of the people of Harrisburg. I am 
sure the convention was a success, and a grand 
success; It is very apparent that the Firemen 
and people of this city are well pleased with the 
results. I would just say to our Brethren all 
around us, who think Harrisburg an out-of-the- 
way place or a slow place in which to hold a con- 
vention, come this way with your conventions. 

1 dare say there is scarcely a week passes without 
a convention of some description in Harrisburg. 
Why, this is the convention city of the United 
States, and I think I am not putting it too strong. 
We have all the conveniences and accommoda- 
tions necessary to entertain the national conven- 
tions of any organization in existence, political or 
otherwise. 

At our Division meeting Sunday afternoon, the 


551 

17th, our attendance was rather slim but there 
w&s no lack of interest. We had an exciting dis- 
cussion on the laws, both relating to the govern- 
ment of the Grand Division, and the Subordinate 
Divisions. Such discussions, I think, reflect 
great credit upon the members of any Division, 
and it shows a desire to learn and become more 
conversant with the work enjoined upon eacfl and 
every one of us by our constitution and by laws, 
and by the cause. 

Yours in P. F. Mox. 


Charleston, S. C. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

The writer is not the regular correspondent for 
208, but a self-constituted one. Our Secretary 
and Treasurer was chosen for that position, but 
bis other duties are so arduous that I am not sur- 
prised when The Conductor arrives containing 
nothing from bis pen. We certainly have the 
banner Division when it comes to imposing work 
on a Secretary in the way of hustling for funds in 
order to keep a big bank account, etc. It is to be 
regretted that he cannot find the time to write 
oftener, as he does everything so well. We have 
been interested in reading the well written letters 
on the subject of Seniority that have appeared 
during the summer, but notice that, with one ex- 
ception, they all seem to have mutually agreed to 
drop the subject with the August number. We 
are very slow to catch on. In fact, the arguments 
on both sides of this question have been present- 
ed in such an able manner that I confess I have 
not been able to come to any conclusion. I have 
no doubt that ignorance has more 10 do with this 
than climate. Now, do not charge me with be- 
ing opposed to seniority, as I have already said I 
am undecided. We must all agree that the B. L. 
E. is one of the best labor organizations now in 
existence, and its keystone is "Seniority." I 
have heard some of the best engineers say, take 
it away and not only the arch would tumble, but 
the very foundation of their organization would 
be shaken. I very much wish that the Brothers 
would continue their arguments on this subject 
for the education of us poor ignorant mortals in 
the south. 

We would be specially pleased to read no more 
abuse of the A. R. U To say the least, it is bad 
taste, and it is certainly not courageous to abuse 
a defeated organization Had they succeeded, 
there would have been nothing but praises for 
their pluck and good management. The old ad- 
age bobs up before us, "Nothing succeeds like 
success." As we claim to be conservative, let our 
conservatism extend to tha vanquished. We 


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552 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


most all agree that strikes are very unprofitable 
at best, and God forbid that oar Order should 
ever be engaged in one. I have always believed, 
if we had a just grievance, and if properly pre- 
sented to the officials, that in nine cases out of 
ten everything could be amicably settled. While 
on the subject of settlement of grievances the of- 
ficials are more or less to blame for many of the 
troubles between themselves and employes. 
Members of Divisions who are, in every sense, 
conservative, do not wish to serve on these com- 
mittees, and the result is that those impulsive 
members are selected by the Divisions. [And 
sometimes their impulsiveness gets things in a 
mess. Then who is to blame? — Ed.] 

Every thirg is working quietly and harmoniously 
here, and what we want now is, turn on more 
light on the subject of seniority, so that the 
Divisions can instruct their delegates intelligent- 
ly as to their vote in Grand Division. It may be 
asking too much of the Grand Chief for his views 
on this matter, but we would like to hav* them 
all the same. S. C. G. 


Concord, N. H. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

As I have seen nothing in The Conductor 
for some time from Division No. n, I will write 
a few lines. I am still stopping at the capital 
city of the old "Granite” state, where I have 
been now for a little over a year, where I have 
formed the acquaintance of a lot of good "boys,” 
who are always in for a good time and want 
everyone else to enjoy themselves. I shall have 
to give you a sketch of an excursion gotten up 
Sept, ist to 3d by N. E. Division 157, of Boston, 
with an invitation extended to all members of the 
Order and their families. 

Saturday, Sept, ist, at 11:30 p m., a train 
composed of two Allen hotel cars, four Wagner 
sleeping cars, one of the C. & M.’s elegant parlor 
cars and one of the B. & M.'s best combination 
baggage and smoking cars, rolled out of the Union 
Station of Boston, with a merry crowd on board, 
bound for the White Mountains. Arriving at 
Concord, the party was swelled by twenty more, 
making in all two hundred and sixty-two. The 
different Divisions represented were 66, 146, 335, 
122, 11 and 157. Specially invited guests were 
Walter Burns, Supt. Wagner Palace Car Co. ; T. 
W. Kennon, Supt. Central Division N. Y. & N. 
E.; I. N. Marshall, Supt. Providence Division 
N. Y. N. H. & H.; Geo. W. Stover, Asst. Genl. 
Passenger Agent, C. & M. Ry., accompanied by 
their wives; and O, W. Greely, Traveling Pass- 
enger Agent, C. Sc M. Ry. Also on board were 


Bro. C. P. Chapman, Trainmaster N. Y. ft X 
E., of Boston, and Bro. W. R. Mooney, Train- 
master Concord Division B. & M. Ry , of Con- 
cord, accompanied by their wives. 

We arrived at the Fa by an '§ at 6:45 Sun- 
day morning. Just before arriving at tbe Faby- 
an s the committee passed through the train, 
supplying each one of tbe party with a 
badge bearing the inscription, "O. of R 
C., N. E. Div. 157. White Mountains. Sept 
ist to 3d, 1894.” The lacies* badges wtte 

a pale blue and the gentlemen's dark red At ; 
o’clock we were served with an elegant breakfast 
at the Fabyan House. As we passed into tbs 
dining hall each member of the party was pet 
sented with an elegant folding time table and 
program of the entire trip. At 8 :40 we left over 
the C. & M. for the base of Mt. Washington 
While gliding along the committee again passed 
through the train, giving to each member of the 
party a button-hole bouquet, presented by W. K 
Twombly, of Boston. We arrived at the base of 
tbe mountain at 9:20 and took tbe cog railway for 
the summit, and everyone enjoyed themselves for 
two hours. We then returned to Fabyan $ 
where we took the Maine Central tbroogh the 
Crawford Notch to Bartlett’s and return to Faby- 
an’s. Thence over the P. & F. N. Ry. to the 
Profile House, where we made a short stop to ge: 
a view of the 4 Old Man of the Mountains, 
from there to Bethlehem, where we had as 
elegant supper at . the Sinclair House. Thee 
back once more to Fabyan ’s where a 
short halt was made before starting on our home- 
ward journey. Leaving Fabyan’s at 10:45 p. m ’ 
we arrived in Boston at 5 o'clock Monday more 
ing, every one happy and well pleased with the 
trip, which will long be remembered by all the 
party. 

Some of yonr readers may thiok Ibis was a 
long and expensive trip, but not so It was a 
long trip and a beautiful one, but not expensive, 
as $6 a couple covered the entire expenses. Too 
much praise cannot be given tbe committee for 
the management of this excursion, which was a 
complete success from beginning to end. Div 
157 gives an excursion somewhere every year and 
always make it a success. When any of yon 
Brothers want a good time just join No. 157 00 
some of their trips and you will be sure to bane it 

On Sept. 16 I attended a meeting of Divisoc 
335, where I met a jolly good crowd of Brothers 
Considerable business was transacted Amoog 
the passenger conductors an the Concord Division 
B. & M., is one A. B. Cole, who has been cm 
fined to bis home for five long wreks by illwsi 
with no prospect* rf g-tti r g bct?i r II?. •; t 


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THE RAILWAY 

was discussed, and although not a member of the 
Order, it was voted to donate him $25. Although 
the Division is only two years old, it has a mem- 
bership of thirty-five and all a noble set of boys. 
May the Division and its members live long and 
prosper, and the Division continue to increase in 
membership, which it has a fair prospect of 
doing. As my letter is lengthier than I intended, 

I will draw it to a close. 

Yours in P. F. 

F. L Cass. 


Tucson, A. T. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

I would like to pass a few remarks regarding 
W. Welch’s article in The Conductor for Au- 
gust. I do not propose to discuss a thing of the 
past (with a great big "I told you so. ") 

Mr. Welch asks what would labor be worth in 
this or any other country were it not for capital. 
That sounds to me as coming from a fossilist of 
the past ages. Abraham Lincoln said labor was 
the creator of capital, and is, therefore, greater 
than capital. A man that is unable by the sweat 
of his brow to earn but enough to fill bis belly 
and clothe his nakedness, is a bondman. The 
grandeur of humanity is in moral elevation, sus- 
tained, enlightened and decorated by the intellect 
of man. Therefore let us have faith that right 
makes might, and in that faith let us to the end 
dare to do our duty as we understand it. We 
should all bear in mind that we are sent into the 
world to act a part in it, and, though one may 
have a more obscure part assigned him. yet the 
actor of each is equally responsible. The writer 
of the article referred to, says that cine strikes 
out of ten would never occur, were the agitators 
driven from the field. I concur with him in that 
respect, but let me add — for his information — 
that nine conductors out of every ten, now outside 
of our Order, would join us if the bone-chewers 
of contention were mustered out of our member- 
ship. My learned brother repeatedly refers to his 
salary of one hundred and fifty dollars. The 
hundredth mark we reach here, but the additional 
fifty is too high for us. The great and good ship 
has not done that much yet for its members on 
the Pacific coast. 

I believe some brighter intellect must have 
stepped on Brother Welch’s toe with the corn on 
it, and the said intellect must have had the mis- 
fortune, at some time, to have been a member of 
the B. R C. Now in regard to the amalgama- 
tion of the B. R. C. with the O. R. C., it was 
conducted in a business manner, for the best in- 
terests of the railway conductor at large, and 
not, as Mr. Welch would have one believe, crawl- 


CONDUCTOR. 553 

ing on their hands and knees carrying burnt of- 
ferings and sacrifices, humbly knocking at the 
door for admission. This I most emphatically 
assert, that the membership transferred from the 
B R. C. to the O. R. C., have always been and 
are to day most loyal to the Order of Railway 
Conductors. Af.er the O. R. C. was made a pro- 
tective order, there was no room for two orders of 
conductors; and the 6. R C. did the right thing. 

I wish my good Brother Welch would take a trip 
to the land of sunshine and peace, and I wilt as- 
sure him that the members* of Division No. 313. 
will forcibly demonstrate to him the falseness of 
his radical assertion, that it was the restless dis- 
contented offspring of the B R. C. that took part 
in the past A. R. U. trouble; and that thiawaa 
but what he expected of them. I have booked 
Brother Welch as a braggadocio. "Conceit, more 
rich in matter than in words, brags of his sub- 
stance, not of ornament; they are but beggars 
that can count their worth.” Again, he says that 
prior to this A. R. U. strike all railroads were 
running to their fullest capacity, and many of 
them running trains at a dead loss^.. Might I ask 
the necessity for running trains at a dead loss, 
when all were running to their fullest capacity? 

I have yet to know the railroad company that will 
run a train at a loss; such is not business, and not 
to be expected. 

In this I am sure that thinking members of our 
Order will admit, that we stand sadly alone in the 
battlefield, and that there is a Warwick needed to 
brhig in some way the forces together in order to 
bring about a successful issue; whether such a 
man is of our generation or not, I cannot answer. 

I look for great good to come of our next Grand 
Division, for we have mistakes to rectify, such we 
are all subject to. When the world was created, 
mistakes were first made, and the following are 
three of the most radical the writer knows of : 
man ought to have been created with bis shins 
behind, and thus prevent their being cracked 
while coming in contact with the many obstacles 
that beset life's pathway; cats should have long 
bills, in order to pick mice out of holes, and the 
railway conductor should have had more pay as- 
signed him. Yours always for 

Justice. 

• 

Seymour, Ind. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

"Not dead but sleeping the long, long sleep of 
'Rip,'” would be an evasive yet an appropriate 
answer as to what has become of Division 301 
In the long, long ago we were wont to sleep with 
our armor buckled tightly on, our senses all alive 
and active, our eyes and ears wide open, our 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


554 

bands, and last bat not least, our moaths wide 
open to the interests of the Order of Railway 
Conductors. Now we are like a lot of mummies, 
and *tis only a question of time until we will get it 
"spread all over us.” 

Disregarding the old adage that "in prosperity 
we should prepare for the days of adversity," we 
have quietly leaned back on our oars and trusted 
the craft to drift along as best it could until now, 
when active work is needed, we have none to 
propel it. In the good old times pist, when our 
number was larger, when those of our own — sev- 
eral in number — who have gone before, were with 
us, and even since then, we took a back seat for 
none. Our Division was our pride, and came 
next to our homes. Good attendance was always 
had and we could, until within the last year, say 
"We always have a quorum.” It is true that in 
many cases the bulk of the work fell on a few — 
such is generally the case — yet the few were 
willing to devote their time and their limited 
ability toward keeping up a good Division, so long 
as they were encouraged by the attendance and 
advice of those who were in from their runs, and 
would aid with their presence. 

It is something particularly singular that con- 
ductors, a body of men who in point of intelli- 
gence rank among the first, men used to strict 
discipline, regular habits and close attention to 
business, cannot or will not realize and see the 
importance of united and harmonious action, of 
staying close together, saying but little to the 
outside world, but doing their planning, their 
thinking and their acting for their good, for the 
good of their families, for the good of their em- 
ployers and for the good of the conductors in 
general, at the right time and in the proper place. 
Had the writer the eloquence of a Gladstone, a 
Bismarck or an Ingersoll, he would exhaust it all 
in his efforts to bring about a different state of 
affairs as to Division matters. In the bright past, 
and not long ago, when we were working and 
pulling together, had it come to a hand to hand 
conflict we would have asked favors of none. 
To-day we would each hunt a tree to climb at the 
firing of the first gun. Who is to blame? I am. 
you are, each and every one. We are all lacking 
that particular, little bit of knack of encouraging 
each other, and that little bit of necessary stuff 
that oftentimes keeps us from doublirg on a slip- 
pery rail, "Sand,” spelled with a big * S." If 
any of the readers of The Conductor have any 
good receipts to offer that will aid in getting up an 
interest, or any good story books, or the latest re- 
garding Corbett and Fitz that would be consid- 
ered a drawing card, rush them along, and we will 
adopt a literary department as an annex to our 


Division. Election of officers will soon be at 
hand, and the one who is afraid of his popularity 
so far as to allow it to affect his control as an 
officer in any Division had better decline. Right 
or wrong the motive of an officer should be "rule 
or ruin,” his action at all times of coarse being 
within the prescribed limits of the law. 

Let us all begin auew and retrieve our reputa- 
tion as a good Division, and with our sleeves 
rolled up and our shoulders to the wheel, show 
the world of railroad men that the B. & O. S. W. 
boys lead but never follow. 

Yours in P. F. C. W M. 


Harrisburg. Pa. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

There was a letter in the September Conduc- 
tor regarding members holding insurance who 
are delinquent in the subordinate Divisions. I 
have been thinking this matter over and am of the 
opinion that the question should be taken up by 
our Grand Division at its next session. It is cer- 
tainly annoying to have members delinquent who 
could as easily keep up their Division dues as 
not. If they did not have the means it would be 
different. When we talk to them they say they 
have the insurance and caie nothing about the 
rest. Such men can be of no benefit to the Order 
in general, and if possible our laws sboutd be so 
framed as to make them retain membership in 
both or neither. Some of them have paid griev- 
ance assessments for fear of being thrown out of 
their insurance, and this goes to show that every 
restriction is of benefit. 

It is difficult to get some members to look at 
the Order in the right way, all they seem to care 
about are the insurance and the weekly Division 
benefits. I cannot agree that insurance belongs 
to the Grand Division, but feel it to be the duty 
of every Division sending a delegate to have a 
voice in the matter. Let us hope that 9ome way 
of amending the law to cover this point, may be 
found at the Atlanta meeting. 

This city has just bad the pleasure of entertain- 
ing the Firemen, who met here to bold their 
fourth biennial convention. Many of the dele- 
gates were accompanied by their wives, and the 
different orders of the city took turns giving these 
ladies a day's outing. September iS fell to our 
lot, and we bad a pleasant time in spite of the 
rain. We ran a special train to Mount Gretna, 
one of the largest and most beautiful picnic 
grounds in the state. About one hundred and 
fifty of the visitors attended, and we had a splen- 
did time, despite the rain which confined us to 
the dancing pavilion most of the time. The din- 
ner was a trifle marred by the unaccountable ab~ 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


fence of that prime necessity, batter, bat a fora- 
ger sent oat into the country supplied the lack in 
good time, and wh it promised to be a misfortune 
only added zest to the occasion. We remained 
on the grounds until 2:30 p. m., and then paid the 
ore banks a visit. After these wonders had been 
duly admired we returned home by the way of 
Lebanon. The trip was highly appreciated by 
our guests, being pronounced by them one of the 
best of the week. Thanks are due Supt. Smith, 
of the Cornwall and Lebanon R. R., and Brother 
Smith, of Reading, for courtesies shown us dur- 
ing the trip over their road. 

Yours in P. F., G. B, W. 


Columbia, Pa. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

There is a letter in the September Conductor 
from Brother Welch, in which he accuses me of 
finding a great deal of fault with our insurance 
laws, and especially those pertaining to disability 
claims. He is right; I do find fault with them 
when they deprive a Brother of what justly belongs 
to him. For what does he hustle to keep square 
with bis assessments if not to receive his full due? 
He does not pay bis assessments with the expecta- 
tion that, when he is incapacitated for train ser- 
vice, unless possessed of some of this world's 
goods or a friend who will take him in charge, he 
will become a pauper. Your best friend is your 
own money — I have found that out, and I suppose 
you all have. Away with such laws, they are a 
disgrace to the Order. The Brother says we will 
be overrun with frauds if the law is changed, and 
I won't growl, but groan, when I pick up my next 
annual coupon of assessments and see about every 
other one a double-header. Well, we have four 
double-headers now, and the change would only 
make two more. Then all Brothers not frauds 
would get what justly belonged to them when in- 
capacitated for train service of any kind. Now, 
Brother, don't you think for a moment that Divi- 
sion No. 331 would ldt a Brother’s insurance go 
by default; the members are not built that way. 
You may rest assured that the delegate from this 
Division will be a member of the Benefit Depart- 
ment. I would like to hear the views of some 
other Brothers on the question of paying for pa- 
ralysis. Yours in P. F., 

Growler. 

Wilkes Barrb, Pa. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

As my last letter in your valued magazine was 
read by some of the Brothers and caused them to 
smile I will try another, and not be quite so severe 
on Brothers Culver and Kelley {the alderman). 


555 

Since you last heard from me Brother Raynor 
(from Canada), has been resting a few weeks just 
because he worked one day in daylight. Now, it 
seems queer that after a man works nights so 
long it takes some time for him to get used to 
working days. But then Raynor says he does 
not want to work days, unless they put “Spog” 
Norris on with him, as he and “Spog" get along 
so well together that he (Raynor) does not want 
any other engineer pulling him. T. X. says he 
does not care how many extras he has to make if 
Mose Mitchell will only keep out of his way 
when going home, as every time be follows Mose 
he lays him out, making him late getting in. 
Brother A. £. Law says he has a good run if he 
had some heavy men to do the unloading. 
Brother Sink, our assistant yard master at Kings- 
ton , has already commenced to worry about the 
cold winter days, and I do not know what will 
become of him this winter, as he has been wear- 
ing an overcoat all summer. Well, I guess there 
is room for another coat on those shoulders, Jess, 
so we will let it go at that. Now, as I said be- 
fore, there are a lot of good boys on the D. L. & 
W. ; so there are on the D. & H. and the Lehigh 
& Wilkes Barre. There is Brother Knauber, of 
the L. & W. B. C. Co.; we do not see much of 
him, but when we do be always has a smile and 
a good word for all. The same can be said of 
Brothers Dermody and Buckley. On the D. & 
H. we have Brother Brown, an old war horse, 
who is always ready to do anything that will ben- 
efit the Order or its members. Brother James 
Corrigan is still in charge of engine 31, and is a 
good man in the right place. 1 have not seen 
anything of Brother P. J. Rudy lately, but I do 
not mind that, as I know his time is taken up 
with the girls in Avoca. Now, in my last letter 
I spoke of the L. A. in this city. We have a 
Division which I cannot say anything about, as 
there seems to be a falling oft of membership. 
You do not see any reports where Division No. 20 
holds entertainments or tea parties, like we read 
of in The Conductor. Come, Sisters, get to- 
gether and be agreeable, and you can have as 
good a Division as any L. A. in the country. 

It is with regret that I inform the Brothers and 
Sisters of the death of Herry, the youngest child 
of Sister and Brother Wallace, and am sorry to 
say the attendance of members of Division 20 L. 
A. and 160 O. R. C. was very small at the 
funeral. 

I see that the B. of L. F,, at their convention 
in Harrisburg, Pa. . have passed resolutions favor- 
ing the payment of Lehigh Valley members who 
were loyal to the Order, and I hope that at our 
next G. D. the members of our noble Order will 
not be forgotten, and I hope the delegates will 
show themselves as good as the B. of L. F. to the 
Brothers who are in need of some consideration 
for their loyal stand for right and justice. 

Yours in P. F. ( 

Jambs Finlf 


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If Brother W. A. Dillon, of 274, will write to 

the secretary of his Division he will learn of 

something to his advantage. 

♦ # 

« 

If the party who wrote us asking us to insert 

inquiry for the wife of a former Georgia Pacific 

conductor, will furnish us his name, we will con- 

sider inserting his inquiry. 

* * 

* 

Grand Sscretary and Treasurer, Wm. P. Dan- 
iels, was nominated by acclamation as the Demo- 
cratic candidate for Cqpgress from the F.fth Dis- 
trict of the state of Iowa. 

* * 

* 

Look out for a fraud wearing clothing marked 

•*W. H. R.,” sailing under the name of George 

T. Taylor and claiming membership in Division 

No. 44. Last heard of was in Kansas. 

* * 

* 

Brother Geo. W. Cortright, of Division io, one 
of the late Lehigh Valley conductors, has gone 
into the meat business at Owego, N. Y. We 
wish him success, and hope that the Brothers 
will give him their patronage. 

V 

“There is always room at the top.” We regard 
The Chicago Herald as a model newspaper. It 
merits the wonderful success it has achieved. It 
is edited with great ability, and its news and lit- 
erary features are of a high order. * 

* * 

* 

It affords us pleasure to note that later advices 
inform us that the re-election of Grand Secretary 
F. W. Arnold, of the Brotherhood of Locomo- 
tive Firemen, was without opposition. A sponta- 
neous, unqualified endorsement and expression of 
recognition of efficient and faithful service. 

* * 

* 

It is important that the members of our Order 
make arrangements as early as possible with their 
secretaries to report them as being entitled to 
The Conductor for the coming year. All 


changes of address should be given at the same 
time. 

* * 

* 

Brother J. T. Crutcher, of Division No. 165. 
has retired from railroad work for the pres 
ent, and is running a restaurant at Springfield, 
Mo. His many friends will learn with pleasure 
that the business promises to be successful from 
the first. 

V 

The Chicago Herald is, in our judgment, the 
most ably edited journal and the most candid and 
fearless defender of the people’s rights published 
in the west. It scourges the monopolists without 
stint, and throws its mighty power, in every in- 
stance, on the side of the oppressed # 

V 

Brother Richard Ramsden. of Division No. 75. 
is anxious to learn the present address of Charles 
Beattie, late of Point St. Charles, Quebec. When 
last heard from Mr Beattie wa* working at Los 
Angeles, California. Anyone having the desired 
information will confer a favor by addressing 
Brother Ramsden at xi Maple Ave., Montreal. 

V 

Brother £. Humphrey has accepted the posi- 
tion of special agent for the Travelers' Insurance 
Company, of Hartford, Conn. ~His headquarters 
are at Cleburne. Tex., and his territory is abng 
the line of the Gulf, Coloradj & Santa Fe. where 
he formerly ran a passAger train. Brother 
Humphrey's many friends will learn with pleas- 
ure that he is making a decided success of the 
new business. 

* # 

* 

The R a Hi cay Hews Reporter , of Omaha, is oat 
with a large and fine review number. The Con- 
ductor acknowledges with thanks, receipt of a 
copy, and we have found much pleasure in look- 
ing at familiar faces among the large number of 
really good portraits of prominent railway men 
which it contains. Brief sketches of the lives of 
many are given. Altogether it is a very interest* 



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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ing book. It is offered b> Arthur Brjwn, Box 
470. Omaha, Neb. Price Si. 00. 

* « 

# 

Brother F. C. Webb, of Division No i. h:*s 
been promoted to the position of Division Super- 
intendent, having in charge the third, f >urth and 
fifth districts of the Deaver & Gulf. His head- 
qoarters are in Denver, and the lines under his 
charge are those running fro n Denver to Greeley, 
Graymont and Pueblo, with all their branches. 
Brother Webb is well qualified to meet all the re- 
quirements of his new position, and the company 
is to be congratulated upon securing the services 
of so faithful and < fluient an officer. 


Mr. F. J. Feldman, photographer, of Tucson, 
Arizona, fends The Conductor a handsome 
group photo of the members of Division 313. It 
is really a work of art; forty-two manly faces 
grouped around the charter of the Division, with 
officer's badges at each corner of the photo The 
original, 44x54 inches in size, was presented by 
Mr. Feldman to the Division. The present was, 
beyond doubt, as acceptable to the Division as is 
the copy sent us to us. Mr. Feldman has our 
thanks. 

V 

Charters of Divisions 254, 295, 312 and 348 
have been arrested on account of the actions on 
part of a majority of their members in connec- 
tion with the late strike. Loyal and innocent 
members can. if ; quire on the looks, secure their 
credentials and transfer to other Divisions, by 
applying to the G. S and T. for same. The S. 
and T. of 295. C. A. Gibson, disappeared, and 
with him some of the books of the Division. The 
charter of Division 356 was arrested on accouit 
of general neglect of the Division and its work, 
on part of its officers and members. 

* * 

# 

Indi anapolis, Ind. June 27 1894. 

Isaac Doles — Dear Sir : — We are all out again 
of your song, “My Sweetheart of Years Ago." 
Bring down 100 copies at once. It’s the best 
seller w f e have had on our counter for years, and 
you have made a great hit! Respectfully, 

Emil Wulschner & Son. 

The above is a sample of the many orders re- 
ceived. Send this notice direct to the publisher, 
Isaac Doles, Indianapolis. Ind., and get a sample 
copy at the introduction price, 10c., for piano, 
15c. for orchestra. Regular price 40c. * 


Brother J. H. Evans, of Division No. 1, was 
the victim of a sad accident on the 3d of the 
present month He was switching at Maywood, 


557 

111 , on the C. & N. W. R. R., and in attempting 
to catch a cut of cars, fell beneath them. When 
taken out it was found that his right arm was cut 
off below the elbow, his left shoulder was dislo- 
cated and his right leg badly cut, though the 
bone had not been broken. He was taken to St. 
Luke's hospital, Chicago, where he was doing 
nicely at the last account. All will sympathize 
with Brother Evans in his great misfortune, and 
will hope for his speedy recovery. 

%* 

For $3 25 we will send The Railway Conduc- 
tor for one year and deliver to you post paid a 
complete volume of the genuine Harper's Picto- 
rial History of the Civil War, in portfolio form, 
bound in paper This volume contains more than 
800 pages, 11% by 16 inches, and more than 
1,000 of the best illustrations that appeared in 
Harper's Weekly during the war. For ten new 
subscribers, at $1.00 each, sent by one person, 
we will give you the Pictorial History as above 
free, post paid. Will quote prices on handsomely 
bound copies in one or two volumes. 

*** 

The members of New York City Division are 
arranging for their fourth annual ball, which is 
expected to be the event of the season. To vary 
matters the committee have decided to make it a 
Calico Ball. It will be held on Wednesday even- 
ing. November 21st, at Lyric Hall, Sixth avenue 
between 41st and 42nd Street. The executive com- 
mittee are Brothers Cramer, Heitzman, Finley, 
Hicks, Marley, Brisack, Hall, Cameron, Shep- 
ard and Merrill. No pains will be spared in 
making it a complete success, and a cordial wel- 
come will be extended visiting Brothers. 


* * 
* 


For $1.75 we will send The Railway Conduc- 
tor for one year, and deliver to you, prepaid by 
express, “Boys' and Girls’ New Pictorial Library 
of Prose, Poetry and Art." For four new sub- 
scribers at $1.00 each, sent by one person, we 
will give you this handsome book, which is ele- 
gantly bound in red silk cloth, and which con- 
tains 132 fine illustrations; 41 full page engrav- 
ings; 24 full page illustrations, in colors. The 
book is full of articles on travel, adventure, his- 
tory, biography, etc., by eminent authors. It is 
a book of instruction and pleasure for your young 
folks, and is ordinarily sold for $1.75. We can 
make it ah object for you to get us some sub- 
scribers. 

V 


In Brother John F. Thorpe, Division No 48 
claims to have the oldest conductor on this couti- 


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558 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Dent in regular service. Brother Thorpe began 
his railroad career in the early fifties, being en- 
gaged in construction work on the old Great 
Western. In 1854 he was promoted to the posi- 
tion of freight conductor, and for the past thirty- 
six years has had a run from Detroit to Suspen- 
sion Bridge, a distance of 252 miles. Although 
nearly 73 years of age, he still holds the old run, 
and it is his proud boast that he has never had a 
passenger injured on a train* in bis charge. He is 
still hale and hearty, and promises to add many 
years to his already wonderful record. 

V 

A fraud giving the name of H. W. Pangburn, 
and claiming to be a member of Division No. 
148, has been imposing upon the members in 
Wisconsin. The secretary of Division No. 148 
says he never belonged to that Division, and 
there is no record in the general office of mem- 
bership on the part of any such man. Several 
cases of this kind have come to light recently, and 
members will have to be very careful in order to 
prevent being imposed upon. Where parties pre- 
sent themselves, claiming to be a member of a 
certain Division, if they are not armed with un- 
questionable credentials, it would be well to tele- 
graph the Division in question, and ascertain 
whether or not their representations are correct. 

• * 

# 

Words fail us entirely in undertaking to express 
the awfulness of the appalling calamity which 
came to Brother Phil. S Herbert, of Division 11, 
on the night of Sept. 21st. Brother Herbert re- 
sided at Osage. Iowa. At ten o’clock p. m. of 
the date mentioned, his house, barn, and all his 
personal effects were swept away by a cyclone, 
and his wife and two children were instantly 
killed. Our Order is composed of tender hearted 
men, and Brother Herbert can feel assured that 
from every one of those hearts there wells up, for 
him ia his trouble, sympathy and sorrow, pure 
and sincere. 

V 

The Union Trust & Security Co., of Chicago, 
are in the field with a somewhat unique and new 
plan for the encouragement of savings on the 
part of wage earners, and as the plan guarantees 
the return of all money invested, together with 
reasonable interest thereon, as well as the assum- 
ing responsibility for attending to some matters 
in which many members are somewhat negli- 
gent, it seems to promise nothing but benefit for 
those who may take hold of it. The contracts 
given by the company are guaranteed by the 
Royal Trust Co., and secured by actual securities 
deposited with them, The company offer to enter 


into a contract with any member of certain or- 
ganizations, among them our own Order, by 
which the member invests with the company a 
monthly and agreed upon amount, from $5.00 up. 
The company guarantees to pay all assessments 
against his certificate in the Benefit Department 
and to refund him at the end of the twenty years, 
for which the contract runs, considerably more 
money than he has invested, the excess being 
what the money would earn at a moderate rate of 
interest. In addition to this, the insurance of the 
member has been cared for during the life of the 
contract. Any member taking hold of it can se- 
cure himself absolutely against loss by sticking to 
it until eight per cent, or more of the total amount 
to be paid under the contract, has been paid in. 
After this amount has been paid, the agreement 
may be terminated, if the member chooses, in any 
one of three ways, namely: accepting a paid up 
contract for a proportionate amount of what 
would be due if the contract was carried through 
the time contemplated; accepting a cash surren- 
der value, or leaving the money paid in there and 
accepting a contract under which the Security 
Co. agree to pay the insurance of the member for 
a stipulated and agreed upon time. It is not one 
of those schemes bv which anvone can exoect to 
get suddenly rich. There is nothing of the lot- 
tery about it. It is simply an investment of a 
moderate sum, such as the member is able to 
save from his earnings in such a way as secures 
the highest possible benefit from such moderate 
and steady savings. The company can, by com- 
bining the small amounts, make investments of 
large sums at good rates of interest, and thereby 
earn a fair return for their efforts, while being ab- 
solutely safe. 

# # 

* 

"One evening some of the men ran down from 
their camp to tell us that a York boat was coming 
down the main channel. Here the rapids are as 
fierce as those of Niagara, and no boat has ever 
been known to comedown safely. I do not know 
when I have seen anything that so strongly im 
pressed me. It was a large black boat, carried 
off by the Hoods above, with a capacity for per- 
haps eight tons of cargo and a dozen men. We 
could see her coming afar off, hurrying down, rid- 
ing the smaller rapids so well that we thought she 
might possibly run the larger ones. But as she 
struck the great masses of surf the first blow made 
a large hole in her side, showing the black ribs: 
at the second she plunged and turned over; at the 
third the fragments of the hull fixated upside 
down on the water, and then she swept past ns, a 
confused mass of splintered timbers." — "A 
Woman in the Mackenzie Delu .” — Outing for 
October . 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


559 


ORDER OP RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OP AMERICA. 


MUTUAL BENEFIT DEPARTMENT. 


Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Oct. i; Expires Nov, 30, 1894. 

Assessment No. 287 is tor death of Geo Galvin, Sept. 15, 1894. 


BENEFITS PAID FROM AUG 23 TO SEPT. 20. INCLUSIVE. 


Bea. 

No. 

B 

FOR 

OF 

CAUSE. 

Cert No. 

Series. 

DIV. 

727 

$1,000 

Death 

W. Wilson 

Kidney Disease 

672 

A 

289 

728 

4,000 

Dis. 

A. F. Langford 

Loss of Leg 

214 

D 

196 

729 

1,000 

Death 

Jas. Munn 

Accident 

2832 

A 

225 

730 

3000 

Death 

R. C. Tabler 

Heart Disease 

3605 

C 

159 

73 i 

2,000 

Death 

J. S. Coughlin 

Shot 

2307 

B 

280 

732 

2,000 

Death 

J. W. Fuqua 

Consumption 

2470 

B 

332 

733 

1,000 

Death 

J. E. Tobias 

Suicide 

2044 

A 

78 

734 

1,000 

Death 

J. L. Connolly 

Typhoid Fever 

5004 

A 

221 

735 

I, OOO 

Dis. 

C. E. McFarren 

Loss of Leg 

4696 

A 

138 

736 

2.000 

Death 

C. A. Smiley 

Shot 

2123 

B 

343 

737 

3,000 

Death 

G. R. Oyster 

Accident 

2970 

C 

95 


ALL APPROVED CLAIMS ARE PAID. 


NUMBER OF MEMBERS ASSESSED. 

Series A, 5,010; Series B, 2,761; Series C, 4,746; Series D, 359; Series E, 90. Amount of as- 
sessment No. 287. $26,652; Total number of members 12,986. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 


Received on Mortuary Assessments to August 31, 1894 $1,703,431 70 

Received on Expense Assessments to August 31, 1894 * 25,995.00 

Received on Applications, etc., to August 31, 1894 - 27,889.79 


Si. 757 . 3 i 6 49 

Total amount of benefits paid to August 31, 1894 $1,663,804.00 

Total amount of expenses paid to August 31, 1894 62,361.8 6 

Insurance cash on hand August 31, 1894 31,150.63 


EXPENSES PAID DURING AUGUST. 


Si, 757.316 49 


Incidental, 25 cts.; Fees returned, S3 00; Stationery and Printing, $11.00; Salaries, $363.67; 
Postage, $132.00; Total, $509.92. 

The above amounts were paid out during the month, but items of postage, printing, legal, etc., 
often cover supplies and work for more than one month, and sometimes several months. 


Received on Assessment No. 283 to Sept. 20 $24,26500 

Received on Assessment No. 284 to Sept. 20 - 11,452.00 

Received on Assessment No. 285 to Sept. 20 2,838.20 

Received on Assessment No 286 to Sept. 20 2,635.00 


WM. P. DANIELS, Secretary. 


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*1 



< 


J 



r 



(Gtbeou. 

Died, Sept. 30th, at Minueapoli*, Minn., of 
tvphoitl fever, Albert Gibbon, aged 3y year*. 
The above was born in Seymour, lnd., Sep- 
tember 6th, 18.55, where he lived until 187b with 
hiB parents. Early in li te, when bat a mere 
boy, he evinced a desire to be a railroad man. 
and, in 1871, took service with the O. &, M. as a 
brakemau. In 1876 he went to the C. & V. 
road, where he acted in the different portions 
of brakemau, freight and passenger conductor, 
for several years. In the year 18SI he was 
married to Miss Mary Falk, of Brownstown, 
lnd., one child being born to them, a girl, cow 
18 years of age. Leaving the service of the C. 
& V., he worked as a conductor on the M. A 
O. and M. & St. i\ roads for several years, he 
being employed by the laner at the time of his 
death. He was a member of the Mason- 
ic order, U. H. K. of P, and belonged to 
St. Louis Division No. 3, O. It. C. He leaves 
an insurance of $3,0 >0.00, $1,000.00 of which is 
in the Conductors’ Order. Al. Gibson was 
well and favorably known to old O Jfc M. rail- 
road men, and to the major portion of the 
people of Seymour. A wile, a daughter and a 
mother living in Seymour are left to mourn 
his untimely death. The funeral services were 
conducted by Herinion Lodge No. 44, K. of P , 
and his remains placed in the cemetery at 
Seymour, Oct. 3rd. 

-£talU)uv. 

Monon Division, No. 89, is in mourning for 
the death of Bro P. W. Kalihur, one of the 
best known and most highly esteemed of its 
members. Bro. Kalihur had been for several 
months a sufferer from that most dreaded of 
all diseases, consumption. Every thing that 
loving hearts could suggest, and the best med- 
ical science could otter was done to check the 
ravages of his malady, but it all proved of no 
avail. He was finally called to make the last 
run home at 1 o’clock a. m. of September 10, 
last. In the death of this Brother, Division 
89 sustains a loss that the members feel can 
never be replaced. He was to them a Brother 
in all the term should imply, and their sorrow 
could not be more poignant if the tie had 
been one of blood instead of brotherhood. 
Their sympathy with the sorrowing wife and 
daughter was the deeper for this sense of per- 
sonal bereavement, and for their personal 
knowledge of the full extent of the loss they 
were called upon to mourn. The entire Or- 
der suffers when such members are called to 
their final home, and joins in extending sym- 
pathy to the family in their hour of supreme 
affliction. 

The ranks of Division No. *2011 have been 
brokeu by the death of Brother D. R. Stone, 
one of its most zealous and most favored 
members. At a recent meetiugof the Division 
resolutions were adopted expressing the deep 
sorrow of the members over the death of one 
who had been to uli of them a Brother in 
everything that word can imply. Their sym- 
pathy was also extended the bereaved family 
in their loss of a kind and aftectionate Hus- 
band, father and protector. 


©umthtflljam. 

Denver Division No. 41 has beeucalied upon 
to mourn the loss of one of its most worrby 
aDd most highly esteemed members, 

Scott Cunningham. Deceased had been UK for 
several months, and on August *25. last, the at- 
tending physicians decided th.it the only hope 
for his recovery was to be found In a delicate 
surgical operation. Trevions suffering had 
made him loo weak. D. Tcvcr, to aland tbf* ad- 
ditional strain, and on the following day h* 
passed quietly away. At the time of uo. ^.lesion 
Brother Cunningham was general yardmu^-ier 
for the D. & R. G. Ry., ana was held in nigh 
regard by the officials of itiat road, and by all 
who knew him. A wife and two children are 
left to mourn the loss ot a loving husband »n<. 
lather. Resolntlous expressing the sorrow of 
the members at the death of ibis upright citi- 
zen and faithful Brother and their sympathy 
with the bereaved one*, were passed by I>l\i 
eion No. 44 and by Division No. 41, L. A. to O. 

R. C. 

Ilvonm. 

For the second time In the present vear the 
Brothers of Dine Tree Division No. 66 hav* 
been called upon to perform the last sad duty 
of laying at rest one of our Brother*. Sunday. 
Sept. 30, as many of the Brothers as could 
went to Island Pond, Vt., to attend the funer- 
al of Brother T. A. Brown, who wa* killed by 
falling between the cars from the top of hie 
train at Gorham, N. If., September *27tb 
Brother Brown was a genial companion, a de 
voted friecd and a zealous Brother, aud lit* 
death has left a vacancy it will be difficult 10 
fill. A wife and two small children mouru 
his untimely death, their grief beiDg shared by 
every Brother of Division No. 66. 

Nellie, »• ifo of Brother J. E. Summon*, died 
at their home in Blue Island, III , Sept.C, 
after a brief illm-ss of three days. Mrs. Sam- 
mons was the daughter of Rev. Thoma* Mc- 
Broorn, ol Toronto, Canada, and was born in 
that city August 7, '861. she came to Blue is- 
land with her husband about a year ago from 
Denver. Her life has been a retired one, and 
devott d to 1 be study and practice of art Sbr 
was an ardent lover of nature, and possessed 
no little skill In painting upon the cAttra* 
what pleased her iu nature Her husband anil 
one son, Chester, are left to mourn her loss 
from the home she loved and graced with * 
kindly life. Alter u brief service of prayer m 
the house, August 7, Mr. .Samuione left Blue 
Island with the remains for Denver, Colorado 

$4arhcmatt» 

At a regular meeting of Division No. Sl«. 
resolutions were adopted expressing the sor- 
row’ of the members at tno death of Brother 
G. A. Starkeman,nml their sympathy with the 
bereaved family thus deprived of a loving aid 
devoted husband aud lather. 

tJcnjlatt. 

At a meeting of Wilraingtou Division V*. 

224, held Sept. 16, last, resolutions of resjsct 
to the memory of Brother R E. Boy 1 an. t'Otel 
Conductor of that Division, recently riec****L 
and of sympathy with the her**av*d faollT, 
were adopted. 


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VOL. XI. CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, NOV., 1894. NO. 11. 



WHY DO WE MAINTAIN STATE GOVERNMENTS ? 


BY W. P. BORLAND. 


It costs the people of this country more than 
one thousand millions of dollars aanually for the 
purposes of government; about one-third of this 
vapt sum is paid for keeping up the numerous 
state governments throughout the country; and it 
is a question if this' great sum of money is not 
worse than thrown away, it is a question if the 
people derive any benefit whatever from the ex- 
istence of their state governments. What benefit 
is conferred upon the people at large by the ex- 
istence of our separate state governments? 
What useful purpose do these governments serve, 
what duties do they perform for the people in re- 
turn for the enormous sums which they exact 
from the people, that could not be as well, or 
even much better, performed by the central 
government at Washington? Under our theory, 
we cannot suppose government to exist except for 
the benefit of the people; it is, at best, but a 
means of administering the collective affairs of 
the people; a method which they have adopted 
for the administration of those matters which 
cannot be attended to, or not so well attended to, 
by each individual acting for himself. M The ex- 
pense of government to the individuals of a great 
nation," says Adam Smith, “is like the expense 
of management to the joint tenants of a great 
estate." The idea of reciprocity of service be- 
tween the individual and the state lies at the bot- 
tom of all governments, even the most despotic; 
it forms the only basis of justification for the ex- 
ercise of the supreme attribute of sovereignity, 
the taxing power. Says Judge Cooley: “The justi- 


fication of the demand (for taxes) is found in the 
reciprocal duties of protection and support be- 
tween the state and those who are subject to its 
authority. The person upon whom the demand 
is made, or whose property is taken, owes to the 
state a duty to do what shall be his just propor- 
tion towards the support of government, and the 
state is supposed to make adequate and full 
compensation, in the protection which it gives to 
life, liberty and property, and in the increase to 
the value of his possessions, by the use to which 
the money contributed is applied." — Cooley, on 
Taxation. Governments may become oppressive, 
either in the exercise of their delegated authority, 
in the usurpation of authority not delegated, or 
in the extravagance with which they use the peo- 
ple's money; but that does not change their na- 
ture at all, and when the tenants of the “great 
estate" find that they are paying more for its 
management than they ought to pay — that is to 
say, when they find that they are not receiving 
benefits in proportion to their payments — they 
will consult their best interests by instituting new 
management. That is the condition to-day; the 
people are paying more for their government 
than they ought to pay; they are not receiving 
benefits to correspond with the magnitude of their 
payments; the management of their estate is cost- 
ing them more than the character of the manage- 
ment itself is worth; and they ought to institute 
new management. 

The evolution of our government has been 
such as to render the separate state governments 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


562 

practically useless. They are not sufficiently lo- 
cal, nor yet sufficiently general in character to 
supply the wants of the people; they are not in a 
position where they may supply the administra- 
tive details necessary to the government of a 
united people. They are continually interfering 
in the purely local affairs of the people in such a 
way as to always do more harm than good, be- 
cause it is impossible for them, because of their 
too general character to obtain a correct view of 
the diverse local interests they are called upon to 
deal with; and they interpose themselves as bar- 
riers to prevent the people from exercising that 
consol over, and influence upon, the general gov- 
ernment which they ought to exercise in order to 
preserve their liberties What the people want 
now in the way of govepiment is more local 
power down close to the people, more power to 
deal with the common, every-day wants of life 
as they chance to arise; and more general power 
to deal with matters that are essentially common 
to the whole people. The state governments 
stand as a bar to the inauguration of any meas- 
ures which conform with these two requirements 
of good government; they clog movement from 
below as well as from above. When the people 
desire to act locally their state government stands 
in the way, and when they desire to act generally 
they are confronted by the same obstacle; and 
there seems no way in which the difficulties of 
the situation may be overcome, except by the 
obliteration of state lines and the abolition of 
separate state governments. In supporting the 
separate state governments the people are not get- 
ting what they pay for; they are paying for a sort 
of government which it is impossible for the 
states to give them. 

The danger which the founders of our govern- 
ment feared from the destruction of state auton- 
omy and the concentration of pover in the hands 
of the general authorities no longer exists; or if 
the danger does still exist the circumstances have 
so changed as to render the people more compe- 
tent to deal with the danger, and combat it. than 
they were a century ago, and to place them in a 
position where they can exercise greater control 
over the general government directly for the pur- 
pose of warding off the danger, than they can by 
acting upon it indirectly through their state gov- 
ernments. At the time our government was 
founded local interests and local prejudices were 
strong; there were greater differences of feeling 
and diversity of interests and sentiment existing 
between the citizens of New York and Pennsyl 
vania than there are to-day between those of 
Michigan and California; and still more were 
the people of the south, those of Maryland, Vir- 


ginia and the Carolioas, a separate and distinct 
psople from those of the north. Attachment to 
local 'institutions and local characteristics and 
peculiarities were strongly marked; put a citizen 
of Massachusetts or Pennsylvania down on the 
streets of New York, at that time, and it could at 
once be told wbat state he bailed from; if bis 
dress did not proclaim him it was only necessary 
to engage him in conversation and his dialectical 
peculiarities would; and he was looked upon as 
some sort of a foreign animal By mere observa- 
tion of his individual peculiarities the citizen of a 
particular state might be pointed out in a crowd 
with almost unfailing certainty. The means of 
communication between the states, those forces 
that promote social intercourse, harmonize indi- 
vidual peculiarities and create a homogeneous 
people, were also the crudest and most inefficient; 
it took longer to go from New York to Charleston 
than it now takes to go from Portland, Maine, to 
Portland, Oregon, and the trip was infinitely 
more dangerous and costly; and the newspaper 
published in Philadelphia might not be read in 
New York until it was nearly a week old. Under 
such circumstances there was danger to be appre- 
hended from too great centralization of power, 
that the general government would come to be 
dominated by one of these local cliqnes — if I may 
so call them — and would be used to magnify the 
importance of one particular locality at tbe ex- 
pense of all the others. How well founded was 
the suspicion of any such danger may be judged 
from the extent to which the federal power has 
been used for the building up of local interests, 
in spite of tbe limitations placed upon such 
power by the existence of the state goverments. 
The people, too, being thinly scattered over a 
wide extent of territory, and not having facilities 
for properly exerting their influence or impress- 
ing their will upon the central governing author- 
ities, there was danger, especially as there was an 
active monarchical sentiment present in tbe 
country at that time, that a few designing persons 
might obtain control of the government and sad- 
dle tbe people against their will with a govern- 
ment identical in substance, if not in form, with 
the one which they bad just fought so long and 
so bravely to free themselves from. Our fore- 
fathers showed a wise judgment, then, when they 
sought to maintain the integrity of their state 
governments, and restrict the power of tbe gen- 
eral government to tbe dealing with, those nutters 
only that were essentially common to tbe whole 
people. Even though they may have made mis- 
takes that are now plainly apparent, in the con- 
struction of the instrument which was to acoump* 
lish their end, the object they had in view was a 
laudable one. 


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Bat, since our plan of government was adopted, 
while those purely local interests whffcb come 
within the purview of government have not de- 
clined, but rather increased in importance till the 
purely local machinery has become too weak to 
handle them. — and this deficiency in the local 
machinery has been* at tempted to be made good 
by calliog on the power of the state, with the re- 
sult that there has been everywhere exhibited a 
want of adaption. — those interests which are 
essentially common to the whole people have 
enormously increased, both in extent and impor- 
tance. At the same time that this change has 
been taking place the facilities for keeping watch 
upon the general government, and impressing it 
with the common will of the people, have been so 
vastly improved and extended that the influence 
of the people of California or Oregon can now be 
made nearly, if not quite, as effective in shaping 
federal policy as can the influence of the people 
of New York or Pennsylvania. Local prejudices, 
and local characteristics and peculiarities, too. 
have, to a great extent, disappeared; we have be* 
come practically a homogeneous people; the citi- 
zens of one section of the country find them- 
selves thinking the same thoughts, animated by 
the same wants and aspirations, as a<e those of 
another; and there are practically no longer any 
distinctive traits which mark out the average 
citizen of one state from the average citizen of 
another. Even the localisms of the southern peo- 
ple which formerly marked them off as a distinct 
people have, to a great extent, disappeared along 
with the peculiar institution which kept them 
alive. 

In the presence of these new facts the old 
theories no longer have force. Rather, the need 
for keeping alive a force to preserve and protect 
our liberties is as great as ever, but new circum- 
stances demand a new force, and the government 
that was constructed to conform with the old 
theories fails to fill the bill when it is brought to 
the test of the new facts. The changed condi- 
tions have been accompanied by a decline in the 
importance of the state governments with a cor- 
responding increase in the power and importance 
of the general government; and for general pur- 
poses the federal government truly represents the 
survival of the fittest. In this connection it is 
curious to note how wide of the mark were the 
deductions of Hamilton and Madison on the sub- 
ject of relative growth in the importance of na 
tional and state governments These able states- 
men reasoned that the natural development of 
our scheme of government would be to increase 
the power of the state governments, while all the 
time decreasing the power of the federal govern- 


ment and rendering it less and less competent to 
encroach upon the power of the states — see the 
Federalist on this point, especially papers XVII 
and XLIV — and they pointed out from this 
standpoint that the people had nothing to fear 
from the encroachments of the federal power. 
This rtasoniog, of course, was based upon the 
well known localisms of the people as they then 
existed, and upon the almost universal previous 
experience of mankind with popular governments; 
and had the localisms they had in mind continued 
to exist the evolution would, no doubt, have been 
upon the lines indicated. 

But had the em nent authors of the Federalist 
been gifted with the power to look into the future; 
had they known that they were standing in the 
dawning of a great industrial and economic revo- 
lution which would sweep old customs into 
oblivion and change the entire aspect of the civi- 
lized world; had they been able to predict the 
wonders that have been accomplished by the 
aid of the railroad and the telegraph and caught 
a vision of the vast empire that was destined to 
arise in that terra incognita west of the Missis- 
sippi; had they been able to foresee that in a few 
short generations from their time there would be 
a populous and intelligent community, even on 
the Pacific coast, owing allegiance to and having 
a common interest in the general government 
with all other sections of the country, even unto the 
Atlantic; and were it possible for them to have 
caught a glimpse of that miracle of science 
whereby the event which occurs at noon in the 
city of New York may be discussed on the streets 
of San Francisco, over three thousand miles 
away, at 9 a. m. of the same day — bad they been 
able to foresee these things, I imagine they might 
have arrived at different conclusions. 

To deal with the essentially common interests 
that have arisen out of our changed conditions 
and environment, the states have proved them- 
selves utterly incompetent; the one case of the 
railroads may be cited as an example of failure 
on the part of the states; it was only after the aid 
of the federal power was invoked that there was 
even an approach to efficient protection of the 
people's interests in the railroads brought about. 
Before, all was chaos and clashing of conflicting 
regulations It is not hard to recall the puerile 
and inefficient attempts of the states to control 
the railroads through the so-called "granger 
laws.” Although the validity of those laws was 
sustained by the federal supreme court when they 
were attacked on constitutional grounds, their 
diverse and chaotic character, because their 
operation was necessarily restricted by the exist- 
ence of arbitrary state lines, created endless con* 


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564 THE RAILWAY CONDUCIOR. 


fusion and demonstrated the attar i a ap ad tj o I 
the states to daal with tba great cotsoos istcrot 
which the people of the whole nation have to the 
railroads. Only when, after streuoons opposition 
from local in ter eats and much objection to each 
an extension of the federal pow er , the federal 
jurisdiction was extended to the railroads, did 
there appear a regular and comprehensive 
acbeme of control. And where the interstate 
commerce law has failed of its evident intent, 
soch failure may. in many instances, be ascribed 
to the fact of ita coming in conflict with certain 
•tate regulations that have been set op against it; 
the attempt to place an arbitrary construction not 
within the meaning of the statute on the word 
“line," so aa to destroy the authority of the com- 
mission to deal with roads lying wholly within 
the borders of a single state bat forming parts 
of continuous routes between different states, is 
one notable instance of such conflict. The feder- 
al construction of the word “line" has thus far 
been sustained, but it is worthy of note that the 
existence of arbitrary state lines is the only thing 
which furnishes occasion for such poerile dis- 
putes. But the railroads, as well as corporations 
in general, are subject, in other respects, to state 
authority and state attempts at regulation which 
operate only to the people’s detriment. 1 have jnst 
been looking over some of the state provisions, 
as to the taxation of corporations 
and I can certify to Judge Cooley’s truthfulness, 
where he says: “The method of taxing these arti- 
ficial bodies, when not fixed by the constitution 
or by charter, is left to the legislative judgment, 
and the diversity actually met with under tax 
laws is very great." The diversity is, indeed, 
“very great;" it is enough to make one’s head 
reel to attempt to establish any regular principles 
from out of the general confusion. Notwith- 
standing that the operations of these artificial 
bodies are nation wide, each state in the union 
seems to proceed upon a different theory, or want 
of theory, in dealing with them. Not alone with 
respect to ihe taxing power, but with respect to 
other regulations concerning the conduct of cor- 
porations, has the “legislative judgment" in the 
various states been allowed to operate without 
restriction; and the influences that have been 
brought to bear to pervert that “judgment" have 
been neither few nor insignificant. A perfect 
saturnalia of corruption reigns in onr state legis- 
latures throughout the land; and the business of 
our state legislatures, of late years, has been 
merely the trading in legislation, for a considera- 
tion to the legislatOTs, affecting corporate and 
other private interests. This question of bribery 
is one that has come to occupy the attention of 


pxb fi ca ti with increasing frequency, of late; » 
was dfccosecd by Moor fie Id Storey, at the Ur 
annual meeting of the American Bar Assoditm 
m aa able address, a part # of which was as & 
lows: 

“The dancer against which we guard in ctnumtiucai 
and which in conversation we rqpagnire and deplore „ 
the danger that private interests can afford to pay ter 
privileges which they seek, prices which the ordioan 
legislator cannot refuse. In many states, certainly tferr* 
has grown op aa irresponsible body, between the peop* 
and their representatives, which undertakes to sell l#p» 
Lari on and flnds the business extremely profitable wW 
the legislature meets, each professional lobbyist ba 1 
body of members who will listen readily to hu adnet 
and whose votes he can influence to a greater or lew ti 
tent. Certain large corporations which are likely to S» 
interested in legislation adopt the same method of mtr 
ing representatives, and each has its cohort of discipline! 
supporters. The issues upon which these representative 
have been chosen have played no part in the campvc 
have been discussed in no politic*! meeting, have « 
tr acted no public attention. The real question which h 
to divide the legislature which they choose, is wbt'Ju- 
oae party or another shall acquire the right to control c- 
streets of some great city." 

This states the fact with regard to our scab 
legislatures; they have become useless, do longer 
have any work which they can do for the pec 
pie. and they have thus developed into mere 
agencies fer the pandering to private interest! 
The power which they possess, ss it is no longer 
capable of being used for a good purpose, most 
be used somehow or other, so it is used for a tad 
purpose. It must not be supposed, either, that 
the corporations are always the ones who are 
principally to blame in this sort of work; briber) 
comes to be a mere matter of self defense with 
them quite frequently, and takes the form o! 
blackmail. Unacrnpnloos legislators, who ought 
to be in the state prison instead of the legislator? 
frequently take advantage of their position to ir 
troduce bills inimical to the interests of a rar 
road, for instance, and then they demand and 
receive money from the railroad managers for de- 
feating or suppressing such bills. The amount 
of money which is paid out by the corporation; 
for the purpose of corrupting legislation to oar 
various states must reach to an enormous figure, 
it is stated to be $30,000 000 annually by the rail- 
roads alone. — but, of course, there must always 
remain a certain element of guesswork abom 
such estimates — and it all comes out of tbc 
pockets of the people in some form or other; it it 
regarded by the corporations as being in the na- 
ture of an investment, and they never make an 
investment where there is no show Jor profit 
Wbat do the states give the people in return for 
it? Nothing. As I have said, the operations 0 / 
corporations are nation wide; the laws under 
which they are organized, then, ought to be 0! 
national scope and application. But sneb is not 
the case. A corporation might organize under 
the laws of the insignificant little state of RMc 
Island (excuse me for using capital letters) and 


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operate in every state in tbe anion, from Maine 
to Oregon and from tbe Canadian border to the 
gulf, when it is quite possible that there is not a 
single state in tbe anion, except Rhode Island, 
where it might secure a charter which would en- 
able it to carry on its particular business. It is 
extremely difficult to reconcile that condition of 
affairs with any possible construction which may 
be placed upon the doctrine of state sovereignty. 
By “capturing" the legislature of a single state 
a corporation may be created with full power to 
inflict its operations on the citizens of all Other 
states in the union when, not only would it be 
impossible for it to secure a charter in any other 
state, but its operations are carried on in opposi- 
tion to the wishes and against tbe emphatic pro- 
test of the citizens of all other states. The 
Louisiana Lottery Company, which was long in- 
corporated under tbe laws of the state 
of Louisiana, furnishes a notable ex- 
ample of the powerle*tness of the state 
governments at large to protect their citi- 
zens from the consequences of vicious legislation 
enacted by the legislature of one state in particu- 
lar. The contest over the lottery question is 
fresh in the public mind and will be readily re- 
called. How the company nearly succeeded in 
buying a charter from the Dakota legislature 
after its prospects for obtaining a fresh charter in 
Louisiana were blasted, is recent history; and 
that we should have had the lottery still with us, 
bad the Dakota scheme m iterialized, no person 
can doubt. There is no state sovereignty about 
that sort of business. If the states are to be re- 
garded as autonomous bodies, then there can be 
no very serious objection to any one of them set- 
ting up any sort of an institution it sees fit, with- 
in its own borders, providing it obeys the re- 
quirements of its own constitution and providing, 
too, it limits the operation of the institution it 
sets up, to its ovn particular territory; but when 
its operations are extended into the domain of all 
other states, against the will of those other states, 

I fail to see where any rational theory of state 
autonomy finds lodgment. Such a condition as 
that is not merely the assertion of the autonomy 
of a single state, it is the invasion of the auton- 
omy of all other states. In this connection, it is 
instructive to observe how instinctively and with 
what practical unanimity the people turned to 
the federal power for relief from the lottery evil. 
It was the only governmental force that was 
competent to deal with the common interest of 
the people in the emergency that had arisen; 
and it was exerted as far as possible. Although 
the general government has no power to prevent 
the state of Louisiana, or any other state, from 


565 


chartering a lottery, it did all it could do, and 
restricted the lottery company's facilities for doing 
business, to a certain extent, by refusing it the 
use of the people's postal system. 

On the other hand, we have a sort of corpora- 
tion which is the peculiar progeny of the federal 
government, and which inflicts its operations 
upon the people at large to the destruction of 
state autonomy. This is the national bank. A 
license tax cannot be imposed upon national 
banks, nor can the states exercise any control 
over them whatever, except as permitted by 
congress. Whatever power of control the states 
exercise over the national banks is power which 
they have received from the federal government, 
and which must be exercised strictly within limi- 
tations prescribed by the federal government; 
and such power may be extended,, abridged or 
annihilated, at the pleasure of congress. It is 
true that this denial of state authority over na- 
tional banks rests upon a well settled principle, a 
principle which limits the power of control of 
each state and of the federal government, respec- 
tively, to its own agencies of government. 
Nevertheless, although this principle was ap- 
plied to the old United States bank, and the power 
of the states to tax it was denied on the ground 
that it was a chartered agency of the federal 
government, it is hard to see how the principle 
may be made to apply to the present national 
banks without straining it wonderfully near to tbe 
breaking point. 

There is, in fact, no longer present, such a 
condition as real self-government in any of our 
states — and this assertion is made with reference 
to the recognized constitutional meaning of the 
term, and in no absolute sense — the federal 
power can, and does invade the constitutional 
rights of the states, at pleasure, and the states 
are powerless to prevent it. This condition 
arises from the peculiar nature of our federal 
compact which makes each individual citizen of 
the United States subject to the authority of the 
federal government, as well as to the authority 
of his particular state government; and the cir- 
cumstances of our development have naturally 
forced the federal power to the front hs the domi- 
nant governing force and caused the members of 
the compact to look more and more to that domi- 
nant force to supply the needs of government. 
The structure of our federal government is well 
described by John Stuart Mill, as follows: “The 
federal congress of the American Uoion is a sub- 
stantive pirt of the government of every indi- 
vidual state. Within the limits of its attributions, 


it makes laws which are obeyed by every citizen^ 
individually, executes them through its own off 


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566 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ficers, and enforces them by its own tribunals." 

It is such a structure as this which is alone able 
to supply the wants of a united people; it is 
blindly recognized, and the people turn to this 
power to supply the deficiencies of their state 
governments, in spite of the fact that they are 
held back by that bugaboo, “centralization." 
They hesitate to take the leap into what seems to 
them the dark; let us hope that they may not 
hesitate so long as to give the enemies of demo- 
cracy such a hold upon the federal government 
as will give them the opportunity to make cen- 
tralization truly a thing to be feared. Now, the 


deficiencies of the state governments in that do- 
main of statute law which is recognized to be 
still peculiarly their own, the harm they do to 
purely local interests, together with some con- 
siderations on centralization of power, have still 
to be noted; and as this subject is an important 
one, because of the feeling abroad that we are 
approaching a period where there must occur 
changes in the organic structure of our govern- 
ment, it is worthy of another article; wherein, 
after we see their importance to the prevailing 
party system of politics, we may be able to get 
an answer to the question, ‘“Why do we maintain 
state governments?" 


INCONSISTENT REFORM MOVEMENTS. 

BY JOSB GROS. 


The word reform implies the need of suppress- 
ing some deformity which has crept in or been 
evolved by the inner forces of the organism in 
question, in defiance of the order of niture. So- 
cial reform embodies then the conception of some 
deviation from natural law on the part of that 
collectivity of human beings called the nation, 
and therefore the necessity of a return to the 
simplicity of all well defined processes of nature, 
or, if you like it best, of a better adaptation to 
such processes, for the purpose of a higher de 
velopment of humanity. 

When applied to men, individually or in 
groups, natural law includes two departments, 
the physical and the mental, or the material and 
the ethical. Every reform movement, however 
trivial or incomplete, is accepted by its apostles 
as a need of a higher morality or ethical order 
in this or that line of human activities; but that 
alone does not embody consistency on the part of 
such apostles. Their intentions may be good 
enough, as far as they go, but they maj^ go too far 
or not far enough, and their efforts may 
represent wasted time and force because of their 
attacks against effects and not causes, fundamental 
ones we mean. We have had reform movements 
enough, in the course of human history; but can 
you tell me of a single one that we could really 
call consistent because offering fundamental 
remedies against fundamental evils? Let us see 
if socialism does that. 

What is society? A group of human individ- 
uals, each one of whom comes to life endowed 
with certain grand, natural rights, among them, 
that of enjoying the fruits of their own individual 
exertions any way they see fit, with no other 
limits but those needed for every other man to 
do the same. Socialism claims the right to can- 


cel that cardinal individuol right by giving to so- 
ciety the power to control production and com- 
merce, and hence, all the labor created tools that 
commerce and production may need. It comes 
to tell the farmers, for instance, to abandon their 
farms, and tools, and stock to a group of county 
officers, for them to form a colossal farm extend- 
ing over, say, 500,000 acres or more, those officers 
themselves to be controlled, in certain lines, by 
state officers, and the latter by national ones, 
clustered in bureaus that could not fail to evolve 
autocratic power of the most repulsive type, as it 
has been the case so far, always and forever, 
when any such combinations have been attempted 
in any particular branch, social, industrial or 
political, under civil or military paraphernalia. 

Socialism would also tell all our middle men to 
abandon their shops and stores, in order to make 
clerks out of them in some formidable county 
establishments, also subordinated to the central 
bureaus in state and nation. And so in all manu- 
facturing branches, and so in all the one thou- 
sand and one industrial activities of our time and 
generation. 

Is there anything natural or ethical in all that? 
Is it anything but one of the roost laughable, 
childish, ludicrous, pbantastic conceptions that 
the mind of man could ever concoct, of that mar 
who seems to have been born insane, or with a 
very strong tendency that way? 

In certain respects modern socialism transcends 
all the previous follies with which humanity has 
indulged its many fancies through the long cen- 
turies of historical development It may be the 
last effort, the last gigantic frenzy of tbe human 
mind on earth. It may indicate the approach of 
that day when men shall decide to be seosibtc 
and act like reasonable beings bent opoo evolving 

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56 7 


•a bealtby civilization resting upon the order of 
nature. 

That order, as we have stated above, includes 
two grand departments, the material and the ethi- 
cal; both standing on that freedom which obeys 
all lazL\ law conducive to the development of the 
full man and the full citizen, and hence to a so- 
cial organization that does not need the strait - 
jacket of a bureaucracy such as our socialists 
would like to spread over all our industrial activi- 
ties. under the barbaric assumption that that 
alone can give us plenty to eat. 

Most socialists are conscious of the inherent 
weakness of the individual system they propose, 
as shown by the petty constant concessions they 
are introducing in order to make it more pala- 
table. such as that of free production for use and 
not for exchange, and that dreamy, impossible 
idea of buying up the plants of our wholesale 
monopolistic capitalists, etc. Just as if we could 
suppress evils by buying them up and cheating 
the evil doers, as it would be the case with the 
contrivance of any attempt to buy the plants in 
■question and prevent the capitalists from erecting 
new plants. 

Besides all that, and much more in that line, 
onr readers may have recently noticed that that 
friend of ours, who is so heroically trying to make 
socialists out of them, is ready to give up the so- 
cialistic money theory of transient la*ior notes 
with a certain manufactured-to-order "unit of 
value," without which Mr. Borland has proved 
the utter impossibility of the modern socialistic 
scheme. 

So vividly do our most prominent socialists re- 
alize that their industrial fabric rests on a bank 
of moving sand, that few of them, if any, dare to 
measure swords with the average single taxer, al- 
though be is geneially a man willing to friendly 
discuss all the aspects of social phenomena and 
seldom indulging in sarcasm or personalities, 
the favorite weapon of our kindergarten socialists. 

Some of the items which make socialism im- 
practicable and unjust were briefly indicated in 
our April article, which was never refuted. 

The rapidity with which all workers would be- 
come capitalists and the loafing capitalists would 
vanish like smoke, that was demonstrated in our 
May article, and it was never refuted either. 

Our readers must then derive considerable 
amusement when they notice that our opponent 
is perfectly satisfied with those constantly re 
peated assertions of his. his dogmas, the truth of 
which be has never proved, since he has not even 
tried to refute the facts with which his dogmas 
have been shattered into fragments. 

We have also proved, in our June article, and 


other writers in The Conductor have done it, 
too, that under a single tax regime land values 
would be relatively low, would only advance by 
slow gradations, and would gradually become 
less and less distinct in importance, from point to 
point, in city or country, all regulated by the 
workers themselves, the monopolists having 
ceased to exist because dislodged from all land; 
from their own present citadel or intrenched 
camp. That has never been disproved. And 
that can only be disproved by well cut facts 
showing how monopolists can keep on with their 
present tricks, after land monopoly, as well as all 
franchises and class legislation, have been sup- 
pressed through the law of equal rights embodied 
in that expression of ours —the single tax on all 
land and franchise values. 

Now, let us notice that in almost every article, 
our friend never tires of repeating two of his fa- 
vorite notions, viz.: 1st, The enormity of land 
values under the single tax, with which the mono- 
polists would convert ninety- five per cent of the 
race into beggars. 2d, The insignificance of the 
single tax when the government would pass the 
plate around for collection of revenue. Our 
friend is then entangled in two single tax theories 
or philosophies, totally denying each other, but 
that does not trouble him in the least. Contra- 
dictions seem to be extremely palatable to him. 
We don't know why we should object to that, 
since that implies a virtual surrender to all plain 
logic and sense, as we have been endeavoring to 
resort in all our presentation of social and eco- 
nomic developments. If we have failed in that, 
let any of our readers indicate it that we may be 
able to recede from our wrong presentations. 

We must now refer to a Aiming assertion, to 
be found in the September Conductor, from 
our friend of the socialistic creed. It is as follows: 
He assumes that any given town with 1,000 build- 
ings and about 5.000 people, may develop, the 
next day after the single tax is in operation, a lot 
of maniacs who, in a solitary year will build up 
2,000 additional buildings without any increase 
in population, when we shall have there three 
times as many buildings as we need and we shall 
then enjoy a grand reduction in rents, all for the 
purpose of cheating our own government and 
carrying unspeakable joy to the hearts of any so- 
cialists that may have survived the establishment 
of the single tax. 

Men have committed blunders enough in this 
world of ours; but, somehow or other, they have 
always preserved the business instinct. They 
have never used their resources, in industrial 
enterprises, but for the sake of some probabl 
gain or benefit. They have never ruined ther 


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568 

selves and families out of spite against anybody. 
They have never squandered their capital in the 
erection of buildings for which no demand was 
likely to spring up in the locality in question. 
The folly of the above assumption is then so 
vivid that we are really sorry for our friend. He 
must have been extremely busy when he wrote 
that and did not notice that absurdity of his own 
manufacture. 

The men who assume to teach others cannot 
afford to be in a hurry when they expound their 
teachings. Much less can they afford to allow 
their own prejudices to darken their own minds. 
It does not pay to write for the mere sake of de- 
molishing our opponent. It only pays to write 
for the sake of advancing truth. 

The realm of truth is that of logic. When ap- 
plied to social developments truth contains those 
two grand elements of freedom and ethics. No 


more, no less That means all the freedom com* 
patible with ethical conditions through the whole 
social structure. Socialism repudiates both ethics 
and freedom in their natural developments It 
attempts to eVblve a certain freedom and ethics 
devised by petty human contrivances regardless 
of the eternal verities that transcend the imagi- 
nation of men, but appeal to their reason. Such 
are the verities by which we should try to abide 
in our reform movements if we want to claim for 
them the consistency of truth with its finality as 
a permanent factor in the life of nations. 

With its made- up- to* order ethics and freedom, 
socialism is, no doubt, the most inconsistent, and 
certainly the wildest reform movement ever for- 
mulated. It stands self condemned in the pres- 
ence of the order of creation. No socialistic 
writings have ever disproved that. 


LOST HIS JOB. 

BY PRANK A. MYBRS. 


It was through no fault of his own that James 
Fresno lost his job. He was a good, faithful, 
honest man, and had filled the same place for 
fourteen years. His employers said he was sober, 
efficient and trustworthy, and in all the time he 
had been with them they never knew him to be 
absent onj minute from his place without giving 
them due notice. He was a carpenter in a great 
flouring mill. 

But last fall the mill shut down. This close- 
down affected all the employes alike. But it 
seemed to fall with greater force and bring greater 
hardships upon poor James Fresno than any of 
the others. Like so many, many poor laborers 
all over the broad world, in spite of hisdilligence 
and constancy he had not prospered. He was 
poor — depended upan his daily wages for his sub- 
sistence and the maintenance of his kind wife 
and six dear children. With his day's wages he 
fed and clothed them, and with his pitiful salary 
he strove hard to be respectable and to educate 
his loving family. So, through it all, when the 
blow came, he was not prepared for it It fell 
upon him like a thunder clap from a clear sky. 
Nothing had been saved up for a "rainy day," 
for he could not persuade himself to believe that 
such a day would ever come to him. But it did 
come at last. He was poor. 

With his bright and happy family he lived in a 
respectable part of the city. They tried to be 
nice, because they believed that trying to be de 
cent and self-respecting was a wise, educating 
effort, which would have a wholesome influence 


throughout their whole 0 after lives. However, ia 
order to think well of themselves, they had not 
wrecked their domestic ship on the hidden reef 
of debt, though they had used up all the weekly 
wages of the strong arms that brought it to them, 
never dreaming that a time of need would come. 
Perhaps it was not just right to live up to their 
small income in this inconsiderate way. but they 
did, and so when the shut-down came, it brought 
in its train real sorrow to them. 

They never even owned their own home. But 
they had lived in the same little modest house for 
many years, and it had grown dear to them. 
They called it home. The children, rangiog in 
ages from twelve to one, never conceived of it in 
any other way than home. It was a lovely, in- 
viting, perfect little home. But it was not theirs, 
as they soon discovered now. 

The dutiful, thoughtful mother was quite fru- 
gal, and her taste was such as to convert every- 
thing around her into a thing of joy and beauty. 
The husband and wife loved each other with a 
sacredness too tender for the impure touch of 
vulgar words at this place, and they loved their 
children as the apple of their eye. Therefore it 
is not difficult to see just how hard this blow of 
the shut-down affected them. If he had been 
paid better and deserving wages through all the 
years of his life he had sacrificed in toff at the 
mill for his employer, no doubt he would have 
been in immeasurably better circumstances when 
the calamity — ye3, calamity — came. 

"Well, Mollie.” James Fresno said that evening 


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569 


o bis wife, as he returned home as ostial for this 
stesmtng. savory sapper, "the mill has closed 
down at last, and I am out — oat of a job— what 
do yon think !" 

"What !" She stopped pouring the coffee into 
his cop and stared at him across the table in much 
surprise. Then she saw what she bad never seen 
before, a serious look of pain mantling his strong, 
manly visage. A new idea, a new and sudden 
sense was born in her — she must be brave. Now 
be. the breadwinner, needed encouragement. 

"Yes," a sickening fear was in his heart as he 
looked around at his children. He knew what 
serious efforts others had made to secure work 
but failed. He knew what must be in store for 
him. He knew what possible anguish and suffer 
ing they might all have to pass through before 
long. 

"That is bad." said Mollie, as she resumed the 
pouring of the coffee. Her inspiration to be 
strong and hopeful and helpful stood in her eyes 
like a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire 
by night It was a brave woman's intuition born 
of love. 

"Why did they shut down, papa?" asked Myr- 
tle, who was twelve years old. 

"Mr. Magner, the business manager and pro- 
prietor of the mill, said they regretted to close 
down, but the hard times forced them to do it." 
said James Fresno. "They could not find ready 
sale for their Hour, and already they had lost 
heavily." 

"When will they start up again?" chimed in 
Joe, the oldest boy, who was ten years of age. 

"They did not know — may not resume this ap- 
proaching winter," said the father. There was a 
deep, hoarse note of sadness in his voice that he 
could not suppress, and it transcended every 
other feeling and sentiment around that table. 
Like a contagious disease it communicated itself 
to the others. The meal proceeded through an 
atmosphere of heaviness. 

"Well, I suppose there is always a way to live," 
said the mother. It was an effort to make the 
first move in the direction of hopefulness and 
sunlight. But after she had uttered these words 
it seemed that a great flood of cheer was let into 
her own soul. Then she knew she zvas brave. 
The smile aronnd the corners of her well- chiseled 
mouth was not assumed 

“I believe it was Ben. Franklin who first said 
God helps them who help themselves." said the 
father, "and I have loug made that bit of philoso- 
phy one of the corner stones of my faith." He 
looked straight at his wife. There was some- 
thing about her that seemed to make a rift in the 
cloud through which stretched a mighty arm of 
help. 


"Well," she said, after a little pause, during 
which all ate in silence, "it says in the Bible 'that 
all things work together for good to them that 
love God.' And I have faith in that promise." 
Mrs. Fresno was a good Christian lady, and she 
had endeavored to train up her children aright, 
so that when they became old they would not de- 
part therefrom. 

"In these perilously hard times,” returned the 
husband, "lam a little shaky in respect to the 
doctrine that where there's a will there's a way. 
A will is not always mighty enough to throw off 
disease, or to avert hardships, or to bring victory 
in a revolution. Many a good man wkh a strong,, 
unyielding will has gone down before the inevita- 
ble. But still — but still one always can try." 

"That's it," sanctioned the good wife. It was 
hard for her to retain the smile and at the same 
time conceal a tear that willfully persisted in 
dwelling in the corner of her eye. 

"I don't know just yet what 1*11 do— what I 
can get to do. I have not thought it out." 

"Take time," said the wife. 

“Ah, time! I suppose I’ll have enough of it 
now on my hands. I do not know what to do. 
There's so many men wanting jobs, and so many 
rushing for the same one when an opening is 
found somewhere — somewhere, where some poor 
unlucky fellow perhaps gets the grand bounce or 
has >ielded up to sickness, or something. Ah, 
me ! Time ! He shook bis head. Then he 
gazed desperately into his plate for a minute, but 
saw nothing. The meal was finished. He real- 
ized that they had just entered on the beginning 
of a hardship, the end of which no man could 
foresee. As he rose from the table he threw his 
purse on it for his economical wife to take into 
her keeping. O, might it prove to be like the 
poor widow's cruse of oil ! 

' We were all paid off this evening. I am 
thankful for that. And now this," nodding 
toward the purse and then looking up, "this is all 
we have left to live on.” There was a touch of 
pathos in this remark that eludes words. It 
pierced the heart of the wife like an arrow. The 
group of children stood around, gazing at the 
father and mother in wonder and fear. They 
had never before in all their fresh young lives 
witnessed such a scene a< this in their home. 

"It will do. You’ll find other work.” As she 
pronounced these strengthening words a dread in 
her heart accused her of open falsehood. But 
still she said it. She thought it best to do so. 

"It is not enough to buy bread and pay the 
rent, now about due. If the landlord comes for 
his money, if I am not here, send him awa^ 
again empty handed. Djn’t pay him We m 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


keep this to live on." There was an air of busi- 
ness in all these words, bat the wife read a 
tragedy to his honor between the lines. He bad 
made it a special point of his life to pay as he 
went and keep from small scores, and when he 
could not pay he would not go. Now! now!— it 
was different. Hunger knows no laws. 

“No, I shall not pay him," said the good, faith- 
ful, wise wife, approaching closer, laying a hand 
on his strong right arm, and looking through his 
eyes into the gathering pain in his soul. She saw 
his love of her. and his children, and his family 
pride and honorable name wrestling with antici- 
pated suffering and idleness, and to her it was a 
sickening sight. 

"Possibly — possibly — hardly to be hoped, much 
less expected — we can keep the money-grinder, 
the man who loves money better than humanity, 
loves the lifeless dust better than flesh and blood, 
keep him off till I find a job. " 

’‘You’ll find work at once, no doubt. You are 
•well known. Peoplfe will want you. You can 
ffnd a place where others can’t. I know you will 
not be out long. It is not reasonable to suppose 
you will. You are too good a workman. No, 
have no fears, my dear. You are all right. We 
-are all right." 

How brave and noble for the wife to say this ! 
ft was balm to his fainting soul. 

"Of course I will not go outside of my union — 
that is, I will not do anything contrary to the 
general will and wish and action of my union, 
but I will do any little odd jobs around at any 
thing that do not come within the instructions of 
•the order. We must live. We have a right to 
live. We 20 ill live." He was evolving purpose 
out of the first chaos of his mind Insensibly 
plan was to be seen and cosmos was stretching 
•through the confusion 

"Of course we will," said Mrs. Fresno, slowly. 

"I will seek anything — anything!" He pro- 
nounced the last word most emphatically feebly, 
ft was an exhausted expression. 

Sitting down in a chair, his little, tender group 
•of dependents assembled around him. This was 
a scene — pathetic, tragic. The lightnings of 
poverty had riven a strong man. He was crusshed. 
Mighty manhood is a child in the face of cruel, 
pinching poverty. The blasting winds of adver- 
sity and the fearful simoons of despair wreck 
the best manhood the earth ever saw. Not even 
the mighty men in the stadium of Olympia were 
•superior to the fatal fangs of pulseless poverty. 
It is worse than death, for death ends the strug- 
gle; poverty prolongs it. God, and what wrench- 
ings of the breast, what exposures of the bosom 
it is the diabolical parent of ! 


They talked late. It was a sad family. 

Then the father sent bis children to bed; dis- 
missing them with a pathetic kiss, and then Idss- 
ing his wife, turned away to lie down but not to 
sleep. 

Before the precious wife and mother retired 
she poured out her aching trembling heart to the 
Most High, her Rock and Strong Hold, and then 
with a calm reliance on His will, not hers , she 
also sought her bed. It was not a downy one 
they slept on that night. Many a tear-stain was 
upon the pillow. 

The next day James Fresno started out to seek 
work — work for bread — bread for his wife and lit- 
tle ones — bread for life ! All day he tramped from 
place to place. He begged for anything. Bat 
there was nothing. Over and over and over be 
encountered the same general, disheartening re- 
fusal. This is what he heard — it rang in his ears 
like the palsying repetition of the mad in an in- 
sane hospital. It so weighed upon bis mind he 
did not know whether he was sane or mad: 

"Hard times. Can’t afford it. Cut expenses. 
Hard limes." 

As he trudged from place to place, tired, h*art- 
sore, brain-weary, without dinner, the tame hate- 
ful plea came ever into his mind. 

“Hard times. Can’t afford it. Cut expenses. 
Hard times.” 

When he went home, his loving, devoted, brave 
wife said: 

"No success. I see it plainly in your face. 
Cheer up, James. God tempers the wind to the 
shorn lamb. He will not forsake us — He will be 
with us in our seventh trouble, for He has prom- 
ised it. It is so comforting and sweet to trust 
Him." 

He looked the very picture of dejection and 
despondency. She put her kind, gentle hands oo 
his knees as she knelt at bis feet and looked 
sweetly and truthfully into bis eyes. 

"Brave little wife, all very true. But God has 
ordered it in nature that we must help ourselves. 
We must not sit down and hope and expect 
ravens to come and feed us. We are not all 
Elijahs." 

"Don’t be discouraged too soon, James. Hope 
and try on. Courage lost and all is lost." 

Oh, what ineffable clouds obscured hot heart. 
Black night all. No sun anywhere. But bravery 
goes far, in any direction 

"Hard times! Can't afford it ! Cut expenses! 
Hard times ! That was what 1 heard every- 
where. It rings in my brain. I am almost 
mad." ^ 

"No, no, no \ You are all right. You are 
fighting a noble fight for us Look up at the sun. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


One defeat, a dozen defeats are not a conquest. 
Sometimes in war hundreds of battles are fought 
before a peace. But wars do not last always, 
and peace, sweet peace, comes at the end. " 

“I never forget, my dear, my dear ones. That 
is what hurts." 

''Don't despair, fames. I can do something. 
I can sew, or take in washing — something — and 
we need not suffer, except in mind. Thousands 
and thousands of poor, fearfully poor people, 
worse off than we are. Think of them ! I'm so 
thankful it is no worse It c mid be. But I am 
strong. We have so much to be thankful for. 
We all have good health." 

"But it is horrifying to a sensitive man to hu- 
miliate his wife and children, as they will be 
when the stern face of poverty stares at them — 
when the wolf is at the door. It is a come* down, 
a fall. " 

"God bumbletb the proud. They fall. If we 
are humble we cannot fall That rock is not in 
our way for us to f*ll off of. No. I have no 
fears. We are all right. " 

‘Tm very glad — so glad — you feel so." 

They kissed a blessed kiss of hope and trust. 

The next day James Fresno went out again. 
Being skillful, sober, industrious and well-known, 
he was a Samson among workingmen, and in all 
human reason stood a good chance of securing a 
job. 

And yet the same tale of woe about hard times 
palsied his ears. 

At evening, tired and hungry and sick, he told 
his experiences to his listening, sympathetic, 
brave wife. Sometimes men were too busy, more 
than to give him a cold no; sometimes it was a 
heartless rebuff ; and sometimes it was a polite 
"1*11 see about it — I’ll do what I can for you." 
That merely meant "/ can't do anything for 
you." It was an affable way of dismissing him. 
He knew it. It was refined deception, but it de- 
ceived no one — except, perhaps, the utterer who 
believed he was believed. 

The next evening he brought the same unwel- 
come news — no place yet. 

And the next, and the next. A week, two 
weeks, a month passed away, and though tramp- 
ing daily and dilligently seeking for work, yet he 
found none — none / Not an odd job«ven. 

His friends saw him. How hard it was to 
smile when he came upon them in the busy 
streets ! 

Men who had money would not use it. They 
said they did not know what would happen, and 
they wanted to be prepared for the worst. No 
body was spending money. Many, who bad 
tbeir scant savings in the banks, but drew them 


57 x 

out when the panic came, were again trusting, 
them to the bank vaults. They had heard how 
many, who had taken their little hard earned 
"filthy lucre" out of the bank and trusted it to 
an old stocking or a cold stove, had either b^en 
robbed or lost their all in a thoughtless 
fire in the unsafe stove safe. It was no worse to- 
have a bank rob them than it was to have burg- 
lars 

Confidence and work had so contracted that 
there was absolutely no new enterprises being 
undertaken. So James Fresno found nothing. 
Men would not turn men out of a position just to 
give him one, especially when the men they had 
were giving perfect satisfaction. 

The rent was past due. They had no coal. 
There was no bread or meal in the house. The 
fierce, howling blasts of winter roared down the* 
streets. They were cold and hungry. They 
went to bed hungry and cold. Their money had 
run out. The children were smt to bed early to 
save them from being chilled to the marrow. 
They gave them bread as long as they had it, and 
went without it themselves. They knew now 
what hunger v was. 

What raving, raging, burning thoughts dwelt in 
their hearts ! James was restrained from cursing 
the close-fisted rich man by the kind beseechments 
and gentle restraints of his noble wife. She was 
still brave. Though hardships and sorrow, a 
brood out of the valley of Tophst, multiplied 
like the flies of Egypt, yet she never murmured. 
Oft* n she shivered with hunger and winter's chill, 
but she always looked up God never forsakes 
His own, she said, thankfully and truthfully. 

One evening, just before retiring, little JamM, 
only three years old, came up to his father, and 
looking pleadingly and wistfully into his face, 
said, in a tragically pathetic manner: 

"Papa, I'm so hungry!" 

"Yes, dear," laying out his hand on his bead 
as if he would bless tbs hungry little lad. 

"Hush, dear," said the mother, pulling him 
away to herself. She understood what a burden 
was on the father’s heart. It was a crushing 
stone. 

The strong father bowed his head forward in bis 
hands, and concealing bis face, almost wept tears 
of blood. How his frame shook beneath the 
struggles within. The convulsions were piteous 
and heart rending to behold ! 

The brave wife put the hungry child to bed. 
Then she went to her husband, who was still 
bowed in grief, and said: 

"James, look up!" 

Those words of cheer from her were balm. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 



572 


She strong and he weak — it would not do. He 
must be brave. 

Then she knelt before him and silently prayed. 
It was a beautiful, hopeful sight. He caught 
courage from it. 

But someway he felt so badly. Hope was in 
vain. A depression was over him like a settled 
gloom, and he could not escape it. What was 
the matter? 

The next morning he was unable to arise. He 
was indeed sick — in heart and body. 

The physician said he had brain fever — that 
was the way he called it to the wife. He said 
Mr. Fresno had worried too much about some- 
thing; had exhausted himself physically; had 
perhaps not had the right kind of nourishing 
food. But he said he would recover in a few 
days, he thought, as he had reached the case be- 
fore the disease had made much progress — had 
reached it in its first stages, which was the most 
of the battle. 

And now what was that brave little woman to 
do? No money, no food, no coal; hungry and 
weak, and a sick husband to care for. Oh, God, 
pity her, and help her! 

The neighbors heard of the sickness, and in 
human sympathy they called. 

M How haggard and awful Mrs. Fresno looks," 
said one neighbor to another, as they retired from 
the house after their visit. 

“Don't she ! Did you ever see the like. I de- 
clare she looks like a dead woman now." 

“She is worrying too much," said the first one. 
••Perhaps — but it can’t be— no ! And yet he has 
been out of a job for a long time." 

“That’s it. Poor, sensitive thing is worrying 
about that, I feel sure," said the second one. 

“Maybe they are in need," said the first one. 

“Do you think so? I do wonder in my soul." 

“They are nice people, and he is too proad to 
beg or tell his condition to others," said the first 
one. 

“I’ll bet you that is it. now — I’ll just bet." 

And thus they walked away talking. 

James Fresno grew worse. He fell into a 
comatose condition. His life was despaired of. 
The children and everybody went about the house 
on their toes, in order to preserve silence. Noise 
was painful to the moaning sufferer. 

By his bedside day and night the loving wife 
kept her faithful vigils. She wore down paler 
and thinner. Her spirit seemed almost to walk 
out of her hollow eyes. But she did not leave 
her husband. 

On the seventh day, when his life hung in the 
balance, and after she had smoothed down the 
cover over the restless, suffering victim, she bowed 


her head on the edge of the bed and prayed. It 
seemed her brain was on fire — she had borne so 
much. Then she lifted her bead and looked at 
the sick, expressionless features. 

“O, God, spare him !" was the cry of her soul. 
“Spare him and I’ll not murmur again in my 
soul at anything Thy chastening hand may lay 
upon us." 

Then some one touched her shoulder and whis- 
pered that a man in the next room wanted to 
speak to her. She went . 

“Now, Mrs Fresno." said the man, sternly, if 
not a little coarsely and savagely. “Now, Mrs. 
Fresno. I've come again for the rent. Have you 
got it for me to-day?" 

It was their landlord. Phil Harsh man, that 
spoke. He was a cruel looking man, robbed of 
bis humanity by the love of the shining gold 
He bad got rich, but it cost him all the 'finer 
human sympathies of life. What a terrible sacri- 
fice of nobility to the Moloch that always cries 
for more, like the daughters of the horseleech * 
Gold, gold ! it is a monstrous robber. It is but 
dust of the earth. A man accumulates it, but he 
loses his better self in doing so, and becomes 
soulless like his possessions. It is but natural. 
Truly gold is a curse. 

“As be came forth of his mother's womb, 
naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall 
take nothing of his labor; which he may carry 
away in his hand." Ecclesiastes, v. 15. 

“There is one event unto all * ♦ they 
go to the dead." Ibid, ix, 3 

Poor, weary, worn, sick Mrs. Fresno ! The 
words of Mr. Harsbman stabbed her to the quick 
She looked pitifully, helplessly, pleadingly at 
him. Where was his soul? Gold had robbed 
him of it. The very winds whispered of him as 
they did of Midas — “Midas has ass’ ears!" Now. 
is that not a criticism? Is not that a lamentable 
fate? 

“Mr. Harsbman." she stammered, standing 
before him as he bruskly and commandingly 
arose on her entrance, “Mr. Harsbman, I — I — 
my husband—’’ 

“Have you the money?" interrupting in a 
brutal, rebuking way. 

“No— o — o — ol" prolonging the sound, scarcely 
knowing wbat* she said. She was bewildered, 
lost, stupefied. She was half dead. 

“Then you must get out of this house immedi- 
ately/’ harshly. Gold had robbed him of feel- 
ing and manhood. But you could not make him 
believe it. Didn't be know himself better than 
others knew him? 

“O, wad some power the giftie gie us 
To see oursels as others see us!" 


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THE RAILWAY 

Such people, be said, most be dealt with; that 
was all. He never paused to consider. Gold 
bad robbed him of the power to consider, except 
for seif. 

“Mr. Harshman, I beg — ” 

“If you haven't got the money, you’ve got to get 
oat. You need not expect me to keep you up. 

I can’t afford it. I must have my money!" 

“But, Mr. Harshman, my husband is — " 

“That is no affair of mine. You owe me 
money for rent and I want it. I must have it .” 

“We have none. My husband is sick. He 
cannot be moved. We cannot go !" 

• You must go — this day. You owe me now 
for two months. It has gone too long now. / 
must have it." 

•But—” 

“But me no buts. Money I'm after. I’ve 
already spoken to the sheriff. / must have 
money or I'll put you out of the house." 

“O. Mr. Harshman, I implore — ” falling on 
her knees and holding up her hands to him — “I 
implore — " 

“Get up, woman. I want no scene here. This 
is my house. I want only my money— not your 
female scenes. They pay no bills. / must have 
my rent money ." Ye very devils, hear him ! 

“O, please.'" Tears rained over her face. 

“No pleases go — money does. I want my rent. 
If you have not got it, that settles it. You go — 
this day. I do not want a scene. It is useless to 
prolong this. So I will go and send up the 
sheriff." He buttoned up his great coat, pulled 
on his gloves very deliberately, and settled his 
beaver on his head. 

“O, God. pity this pitiless man," cried Mrs. 
Fresno in solemn tones and soul-shocking agony, 
as he stalked out of the house and banged the 
door with an unfeeling hand. 

Before Mrs. Fresno arose from her knees, 
where she had rested after Harshman left, and 
knew it not, Mrs. Jane Hicks, an aged and gray 
widow entered. She was astonished to behold 
Mrs. Fresno on her knees in the center of the 
room. The poor woman stared up, dazed and 
almost crazed. Her tearless eyes looked fire, in 
their hot, burning condition. Mrs. Jane Hicks 
imagined at once that her husband was dead. 

“What?" she half exclaimed and half inquired. 

“Ob. Mrs. Hicks 1" cried Mrs. Fresno, arising. 
Then she sat down and burst into a flood of 
tears. It was soul-palsying to witness her, She 
sobbed and sobbed, and could not speak. Mrs. 
Hicks sat down and waited. Long years before 
she had lost a husband, and she had gone through 
the same valley of the shadow of death. There- 
fore she could understand. 


CONDUCTOR. 573 

After a while Mrs. Fresno recovered her equa- 
nimity somewhat, and she said to Mrs. Hicks: 

“No, it is not that, Mrs. Hicks. He is not 
dead, as you may think from my actions, but he 
is close, just on the borderland, and it may hap- 
pen any moment. I expect it, I'm afraid he 
can't get well." 

Mrs. Hicks looked at her in amazement. 

“Always hope for the best," said Mrs. Hicks, 
comfortingly. She had been touched to the bot- 
tom of her very soul by the great grief of her 
friend and neighbor. 

“I'm trusting," she returned, sadly and tear- 
fully. “But Mr. Harshman has been here and 
demanded his rent, and we have no money to pay 
it; no money to buy bread for our little ones; no 
house to go to, and he has just gone away to send 
up ihe sheriff to throw us out in the cold, snowy 
street this very day. O, what will we do, Mrs. 
Hicks, what wilt we do?" She broke down 
again. 

Mrs Hicks was a poor woman, and she lived 
on a very slender income. In her purse there 
never were but a few dollars at a time, at most, 
and some times not one dime, even. 

“How much do you owe him?" she asked, as 
soon as Mrs. Fresno had recovered sufficiently to 
answer. 

“We owe thirty dollars — for two month's rent." 

“I don't like these soulless, grinding landlords, " 
said Mrs. Hicks. “Down in that bottomless pit, 

I think they will be put into the back wall of the 
furnace as fire-proof bricks. They are certainly 
hard enough — seared in this life." Mrs. Hicks 
was righteously angry. 

“O, Mrs. Hicks," pleaded Mrs. Fresno, glad 
for her true sympathy. 

“Here— take this — pay him off; and if he comes 
here again, order him out of your house. You 
have a right to. Do it. I don't like such peo- 
ple." 

* The gray-headed old lady walked over to Mrs. 
Fresno and put three ten dollar bills in her lap. 

She just happened to have that much money, and 
while it was all she had, she cheerfully and freely 
gave it. What a vivid contrast between this 
noble-spirited old lady and the narrow-souled 
old Harshman ! God notices all these differ- 
ences. 

“O, sweet Mrs. Hicks," cried Mrs. Fresno. 

The sun suddenly and unexpectedly burst through. 

God had certainly heard her prayers. 

“Pay him off!" uttered Mrs. Hicks. She 
wanted to say “pay the rascal off," but she felt 
that was too harsh for an old lady like her to say. > 

“O, thanks! thanks! thanks! God will bless 
you. You have saved us — perhaps saved my bus* 


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band's life. You know not how much good you 
have done, O, Mrs, Hicks!" She wept. Were 
they tears of joy m her much heaviness? 

The sheriff came, armed with the proper legal 
documents. The rental was tendered him, ac- 
cep ted. and then he gracefully retired.. That 
awful crisis was passed. A friend had arisen in 
the very nick of time and helped them through. 
How fortunate ! 

While now she watched over her sick husband 
with unflagging interest, good neighbors had dis- 
covered the low stage of the meal board, and bad 
filled it with abundant, good, wholesome food for 
the children. Then they assisted Myrtle to pre- 
pare it, and all things went on smoothly. Little 
James did not now go to bed hungry. 

A change came over the sick man for the bet- 
ter. The good wife secured some needed rest. 
The sick rapidly recovered. The fearfully tried 
home was again happily restored. 

It was not long until James Fresno was able to 
go forth upon the street again and ask for work. 
He called on his old employer, Mr. Magner, and 
obtained a permanent job at once. They were 
happy once more. The first thing he did was to 
return the money to the soul-wise, good Mrs. 
Hicks. 

But as soon as they could they forsook the 
house of the soulless Phil Harshman, and secured 
a better one at a cheaper rent. James Fresno 


felt bitter in his heart toward 1 Har shma n for his 
conduct toward his wife and the awful pain h* 
had inflicted on her while he was at death's door, 
and be would not stay in his house a minute 
longer than circumstances made it obligatory to- 
remain there. 

Only last evening when he returned from his 
day's toil, cheerful and smiling, the echoes of his 
being responding to the warmth of his family, 
little James crawled upon his knee, and looking 
kindly into his papa's face, said: 

"Papa's 'e nicest papa 'at ever was. Mama 
says so." 

The fond father gently pressed the little fellow 
to his glad bosom and kissed him. It is almost 
certain that a great tear of joy glistened in his 
eyes. 

To be out of a job he found to be a fearful 
thing. Hereafter he was going to lay up regularly 
a part of his wages, and not use it all as fast as 
he earned it. By bitter wisdom he had learned 
the folly of that. A man, he said, must live 
considerably within his income. It's worse than 
a crime to live beyond it. Had he received a just 
part of his earnings — had his wages been what 
they ought to have been — this great injury and 
sorrow had not come upon him. Somebody com- 
mitted a crime by robbing him of a part of his. 
wages. 


ABOUT TWO WORLDS. 

BY R. M WBBSTBR. 


“No; I don’t believe a word of it. It is sheer 
nonsense. " 

“Now, Modena, what's the use of talking that 
way? You don’t know that it is not so. Your 
calling it nonsense doesn't make it so." 

"Dj you believe it, then? I thought you — but 
what's the use; you would never be so carried 
away if you had not dreamed such a fine dreim 
yourself." 

"Ob, it ivas a fine dream then?" 

"Well, Irwin, I admit, of course, that you can 
dream fine things, especially when you are wide 
awake." 

"All right, Deenie. But, if it was a fine thing 
to dream it, then it would be a still finer thing to 
make it real. Were it not a fine thing when real- 
ized. then it is not a fine thing to dream about." 

"But it doesn’t follow that because it were a 
fine thing to make the reality correspond to a 
lovely ideal, that therefore it can be done. You 
know that as well as I do. Our own home, for 


instance; it would be a mighty fine thing if we as 
a family could make real our ideal of a home— a 
convenient and not unbeautiful house, with green 
lawn and plenty of roses in front, fruit trees and 
pleasant flowers at the back, close into a clean, 
airy and beautiful city, near also to wide fields, 
not too far from glorious mountains and the blue 
sea; no debt upon the property, no lack of books 
and things lovelv to look upon and convenient to 
use; neighbors all about, equally well situated, all 
unselfish and well educated; no tramps or beggars 
to disturb or distress us; no need of locks or bolts, 
no fear of want, plenty of useful, healthful work 
for all of us to do, but not too much, an assured 
provision for all needs — this is our ideal. But you 
know how perfectly impossible it is to realize it 
We shall probably lose what we have in the shape 
of a home — poor enough, too, but ourp — because 
the interest on the mortgage increases faster than 
our ability. Father can't earn much and you— 
well, you are in debt yet for your education, and 


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your wages as clerk cut a sorry figure in view of 
all the demands upon them, aod " 

"Hold on, sister; pause right there. And let 
me tell you that we can have the very reality vou 
picture. You know there is nothing in the na 
ture of things to present it. The facts and forces 
of the world all ad nit of it. There are all the 
materials that can be needed. There is labor 
enough and skill enough. You yourself have the 
plan — the ideal — all right. All we have to do is 
to bring the labor and the materials together in 
the right place and rightly apply the one to the 
other, and the thing is done. And not a home 
for us only — 'us four and no more' — but for 
every family in the land or on the earth, for that 
matter. There are mountains and sea shores and 
pleasant spots enough for all." 

"My dear Win, there's a wideness in yonr 
dreaming like the wideness of the sea. But that's 
the trouble. It's too wide — too general. It won't 
butter any parsnips, nor pay any debts. And 
that's why I say that Grace’s story is nonsense." 

It was at this precise point in the conversation 
of the sister and brother in the home of the 
Willards, that 'Gene Ramsey, a son in the family 
next door, walked suddenly in upon them without 
ceremony, and caught the last words. 

"What story is nonsense?" he asked. 

"Sit down. Eugene, and I’ll tell you. Win 
thinks there is something in it. But as sure as 
you live it is nothing but a ghost story." 

" Nothing but a ghost story! Why, I have come 
to think that ghosts are the only real persons. 
Bodies, we know, go to gases and dust, they are 
only phenomena that appear for a little time like 
a vapor and then vanish away. If there be any- 
thing real and abiding about us, it must be our 
ghosts." 

' Good for you. 'Gene. But go on, Daenie." 

"Well, Grace was here last night. You know 
Win thinks that Grace is at least twenty-eight 
centuries wiser than Solomon, and that as to 
goodness she discounts all the saints and martyrs" 
('Gene smiles and looks at Win, who nods affirm* 
atively) "and her story is that, the night before, 
About midnight, she had a visit from one of her 
old class-mates who had gone over to the major- 
ity and who told her how they lived and what 
they did; what freedom they had, and plenty. 
She told Grace — " 

"O, it was she? I thought it would be Isaac 
Helper, of whose death the paper spoke so lately 
— a good fellow, too. " 

"No; it was Eva Lovegood, who went over 
some months ago. She gave Grace — so Grace be- 
lieves — a complete plan for making a heaven on 
earth — a grand co operative association of all 


575 

Christian people to carry into the business of pro- 
ducing wealth, and of securing the good things of 
life, the exact directions • and precepts of Jesus. 
Christ. Grace was full of it, and, of course, Witu 
drank it all in as a desert traveler would drink 
from the long sough t-for spring of living water; 
He does not simply have the idea, the idea has 
him. He admits it was probably only a lovely 
dream But he says the Bible assures us that our 
young men shall see visions and our old men shall 
dream dreams, and he takes it^seriously. So does- 
Grace." 

"And why not?" 

"You don't mean, 'Gene, that youaregoing to 
take it seriously too?" 

"But why not? I agree with Win entirely as to- 
Grace's wisdom and goodness. You may depend: 
upon it that whatever she takes seriously is worth 
serious taking. And if Eva is not extinguished 
but is still Eva, she 'must be somewhere. And if 
somewhere, why not within reach of us, as well as 
upon some other planet. And if within reach of us, 
why should she not'be interested as before in her 
dearest friends'and in the same things that inter* 
est t’ em. And, you kno v, Grace has always 
been taken up with the idea that we might so 
work together as to have everything lovely for us 
all." 

"Hurrah for the kingdom of Heaven! You 
have it straight as a sunbeam, 'Gene. Been can’t 
say a word against that reasoning. And you must 
see Grace and hear her. By the way, she has the 
instructions which Eva gave her all written out." 

"But tell me, Deenie, or perhaps Win can do 
it, how Eva got hold of a perfect plan." 

"Deen, you tell him." 

"Well, that is the wonderful part of it. She 
told Grace, so Grace declares, that the whole 
thing is in the sermbn on the mount; that the 
whole thing, in fact, is in the first dozen verses — 
those beatitudes, you know— in truth, the whole 
thing is in that verse called the Golden Rule: 'All 
things whatsoever ye would that men,’ etc. 

"Grace says that Eva made it as plain as day 
that even in the highest heavens they have not 
gone beyond just that. Ia fact, heaven is heaven 
simply because they all act upon that in every- 
thing right straight through. And Eva said that 
if any two psople on earth would begin just sim- 
ply, but perfectly, to do that , they would at once 
be true friends, true co-operators, and would 
serve each other and cease all competition. When 
a third neighbor began to do it, that would be a 
third co-operator, and so much more competing 
put an end to. And if a whole community began 
to obey it, they would find themselves organizing 
at once to secure to eryone all the good that all 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


576 

their combined capital, labor and skill, applied to 
the resources and forces of nature, could pro* 
duce." 

"That’s just what our minister said the other 
day. Win remembers it. Eh, Win?" 

"Yes, but he spoilt it all by saying that we are 
all such poor critturs that we can’t do it. That’s 
the way with a lot of these fool preachers." 

"Sh-sh, sh-sh, Winnie, dear." 

"All right; you have more reverence for a 
preacher than I have. And I guess that's why 
you , sister, think we can't make the kingdom of 
trnth and justice come. As I was about to say, 
the preachers will set forth the ideal thing, the 
right thing. Then, for fear some good paying 
member will think the lines are drawn a little too 
hard on him — for you know the mere idea that 
they must do the exactly and divinely right thing 
or have no part in the kingdom, always makes 
your mammon-servers squirm — then, I say, the 
p'eacher will talk of poor human nature and 
fallen creatures, and being saved without any 
merits of ours, and the selfish and greedy and un- 
brotherly people will go home with the idea that 
they are as good as anybody. 1 am sick of such 
preaching." 

"But say : I am tremendously interested in this 
vision and talk with Eva. Was that all the plan 
she gave for a new order of society, just to obey 

Jesus Christ ?" 

"She told Modena a great deal, but I am sure 
shs was right when she said if men and women 
will simply begin to do what Jesus told them, 
they would find out all the right plans and meth- 
ods with no troubte at all. What else, sister?" 

* 0 , she said Evi insisted that Heaven was as 
simple and sensible a state of society as can be 
imagined. No one pretends anything. Love is 
the one law, and that we may have as good times 
here , on the same principles. But, Win. I want 
‘Gene to hear your dream." 

"Very good. I thought I went up in a bal- 
loon — " 

"He is pretty near always up in a balloon, you 
know, ’Gene " 

"Well, a min can see some things when he’s 
up. But I was in the balloon alone. The mana- 
ger let me go by mistake, and up I went, and up. 
And it seemed to me a company of spirits — " 

"What! more ghosts?" 

1 — threw something over the balloon and took 
it in tow. We seemed to go like lightning. I 
was not afraid, because the ghosts seemed real 
folks and had kindly faces — in fact, lovely faces — 
though they seemed very eerie." 

"I tell you, the ghosts are the real people." 

"After a long time I dreamed that I went to 


sleep and forgot everything. Then I woke up. 
and asked where I was. One of the pleasantest 
people I ever saw said to me: ’This is Altrnria.’ 
’What, ’ said I, ’the place Mr. Howells’ traveler 
came from, the place of which he would never 
tell the exact location?’ Yes; it was the very 
place." 

"And did you find everything as the traveler 
tells it?’’ 

"Now, Win, it will take you all day to tell it. and 
I am going to shorten it up for you The fact is, 
’Gene, Win was like the Qneen of Sheba when 
she saw how Solomon lived. The reality took her 
breath away. The half had not been told her. 
All the people there are equal owners of the whole 
planet — by the way, they told Win it was one of 
Jupiter’s moons — they are all mutual servants and 
devoted friends. They are all healthy, wealthy 
and wise. There are no armies or navies, no 
forts or arsenals, no weapons of war, no jails, no 
houses of refuge or asylums — no need of any. no 
taxes, no rents, no usury, no paupers or tramps 
or beggars, no police, no rulers. The administra- 
tors of affairs and business are the people's obedi- 
ent servants, not their rulers. No lawyers — when 
the people want a regulation adopted they ask 
their public servants to submit the proposal to the 
whole people. It is then discussed in all their 
papers and assemblies for a few weeks, then voted 
upon by the entire people, men and women. 
There are no patents, no patent medicines, no 
doctors. Most of the people are so well versed is 
the laws of health and the means of healing and 
the anatomy of the body, that any neighbor can 
set a bone, and each family is its own physician. 
They learn such things at school instead of study- 
ing Greek and Latm. They have only one Ian- 
guage, and they learn what will help them to live 
long and well and happily. They are great musi* 
dans. We don't know anything of music in this 
world, so Win says. As to machinery and natu- 
ral power, to save labor, they work miracles 
there, and have the most delightful houses and 
abundant leisure. Win says they have churches 
But O, my! not more than one for 10.000 people. 
Then it is a beauty, and such musicl 

"They pay no preachers, and no one preaches 
to get a living, so they have only geniuses and 
prophets and poets and natural orators. But they 
have plenty of them. Everybody believes in God 
and in eternal life. The spirits from this world 
are there, off and on; and the people can see and 
talk with them. They do there exactly what Je- 
sus tells as to do. Win is sure now that if even 
Christians would actually begin to do that, we 
could have all that health and wealth and power 
and gladness right here." 


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"And why not? O, ye of little faith! Come, 
Win. I'm dying to see Grace, and yon always 
are except — “ 

"Except when I'm living to see her. By the 
way, it is decided that she and I are to start a co- 
operative association anyhow. And if you and 
Deenie are of the same mind, why can’t we make 
one association that shall include the two? ” 

"Win, you know you and I must stay by Father 
till that mortgage is paid.” 


577 

“Oh, yes; that is what I came in for, and I am 
glad to meet you and Win both. I knew you and 
I could not btgin our co-oper ition, Deenie, until 
that mortgage was fixed. So I have fixed it. You 
know I could as well as not. Here are the pa- 
pers. Not a word, now, from either of you. It 
is only obeying the Golden Rule, doing wh it you 
yourselves have just been preaching. I thought 
of seeing Grace before I spoke of it, for she has 
had a hand in it, too. But all is well. We have 
simply begun to be Altrurians.” 


FALSE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC REMEDIES. 


BY W. H. STUART. 


CONCLUDED. 


I shall now consider the financial and monetary 
reforms advocated by a large class of earnest peo- 
ple, who see in the vicious financial legislation of 
the past thirty years, the cause of the rapid con- 
centration of wealth io the hands of the plutocrat- 
ic classes; the poverty of the masses, and the 
idleness of millions, and who look forward to the 
abolition of our national banking system, the free 
ooinage of silver, and the increase in the volume 
of money to $50 per capita, as the remedy that 
will prevent the rapid concentration of wealth 
and give to labor its full reward. 

It may be freely admitted that the financial leg- 
islation of the past thirty years might challenge 
all history for a parallel for the wholesale robbery 
of a people. Yet as a solution of the present 
enormous concentration of wealth in the hands 
of the few, and the consequent degradation and 
poverty of the masses, it is altogether inadequate, 
nor will the reforms advocated reach the root of 
the matter. 

The theory, in brief, is, that by contraction of 
the currency, and the consequent inflation in the 
value of gold, the value of all property, and par- 
ticularly of agricultural property and products, 
has enormously declined. A favorite method of 
illustrating this decline in values is to point to the 
fact, that twenty years ago the national debt 
could have been paid for in so many million bush- 
els of wheat, or so many thousand bales of cot- 
ton, that now having paid half the debt, it would 
still require twice as much wheat or cotton as 
twenty years ago, to pay the balance. The argu- 
ment is, that the purchasing power of money 
increases or decreases in direct ratio to the vol- 
ume in circulation. That if, for instance, the 
volume of money in circulation was decreased 
one-half, its purchasing power would be doubled, 
or, in other words, that the value of all property 
would depreciate to half its former value. Sen- 


ator Stewart estimates the reduction in the value 
of property and product within the last thirty 
years, at 40 per cent, which reduction he ascribes 
to the inflation in the value of gold, and its conse- 
quent increased purchasing capacity. The advo- 
cates of the money theory, therefore, claim that the 
reduction in the value of property is the direct 
result of the contraction of the currency, and the 
consequent increased purchasing power of gold; 
tha t the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 ; 
the abolition of the national banking system, and 
the issue direct to the people of money, on good 
security, at 2 per cent, and the increase of the 
circulating medium to $50 per capita, would bring 
about an era of unexampled prosperity; increase 
wages; the value of property and products, and 
give remunerative employment to every idle man. 

As an argument in favor of the appreciation of 
gold theory, it is shown that within the last 
thirty years the price of land, products and com- 
modities have depreciated about 40'per cent. It 
is claimed this appreciation in the value of gold 
has been effected purposely with»the intention of 
depreciating the value of property and products, 
which the "money power” have taken advantage 
of to acquire at half their value, or less, and 
that this process is the direct cause of the rapid 
concentration of wealth into the hands of the 
plutocratic classes. 

This hypothesis will not stand critical examina- 
tion. The depreciation in the value of property 
and products is freely admitted, but I shall en- 
deavor to show that the depreciation can be 
accounted for on other grounds, and for reasons 
natural, obvious, and satisfactory, without having 
recourse to an assumed hypothesis. 

Here let me say, that I have given the study of 
the money question some attention. I am in full 
sympathy with the modern or greenback theor 
of the nature and functions of money. I ho 1 




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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


578 

that the theory that money must have intrinsic 
value is an ignorant economic superstition, for 
which no intelligent student of the subject can 
offer any excuse. A theory that according to the 
Encyclopedia Britannica "has been abandoned 
by the best authorities on the subject." I hold 
with an eminent English authority: "That, as 
far as concerns our domestic exchange, all the 
monetary functions which are usually performed 
by gold and silver coins, may be performed as 
effectively by a circulation of inconvertible notes 
having no value but that fictitious and conven- 
tional value they derive from law, is a fact which 
admits, I conceive, of no doubt. Value of this 
description may be made to answer all the pur* 
poses of intrinsic value, and supersede even the 
necessity of a standard, providing only the quan- 
tity of issues be kept under due limitation ” 
The italics are mine. I draw attention to the 
qualification, because ignorant critics continually 
assert* that fiatists propose to issue unlimited 
quantities of irredeemable notes without decreas- 
ing their value. 

But it is one thing to believe in the greenback 
theory of the nature and functions of money, 
and another and altogether different thing to 
ascribe present poverty, idleness and depreci- 
ation in the value of property and products to a 
scarcity of the circulating medium, and the infla- 
tion in the value of gold. 

Take wheat, for instance. Twenty years ago 
it could not be produced for less than $1 00 per 
bushel; it can now be produced at a profit for 50 
cents per bushel by the bonanza farmer. If it is 
replied that the small farmer cannot produce at 
the latter price, the answer is, that neither can 
the hand loom weaver compete in price with the 
owner of the huge factory with its steam power 
and improved machinery. The present methods 
of farming are antiquated and must be changed 
like manufacturing industries to correspond to 
improved and scientific methods of production 
Land that formerly produced $1.50 wheat now 
produces 50 cent wheat. This means decreased 
land values, for land is valuable in direct ratio to 
the value of its products. A curious and sug 
gesiive fact in regard to the ascription of the 
cause of decrease in land values in the middle 
and western states to the inflation in the value of 
golc is, that the enormous reduction in land val- 
ues in the New England states is never referred 
to as an illustration of the inflation theory. The 
reason is that the causes operating there are too 
obvious, viz: the competition with the bonanza 
farmer of the northwest. Land formerly valued 
at $40 or $50 per acre now selling for $5 00 or less. 
But in the middle and western states where the 


causes of the depreciation of land values are not 
so obvious, the cause is still ascribed to inflation 
in the value of gold. 

I shall condense from Hon. D. A. Well's 
‘ Recent Economic Changes " some points bear- 
ing on the subject, a work, by the way, while 
valuable as a compilation of facts and statistics, 
is valueless as far as any deductions are made by 
the author in view of the great economic changes 
which he notices. 

Railroad rates have been reduced from 3# 
cents per ton per mile, to less than one-half cent 
Ocean transportation of wheat from New York to 
Liverpool from eighteen cents per bushel to three 
cents. Telegraph rates six times less in 1887 
than in 1866. Quinine from $4 70 to 30 cents 
per ounce Pig iron from $53 00 per ton in 1872 
10(16.50 in 1876. Steel rails from $120.00 per 
ton to $25.00. I could quote scores of other 
commodities that have been reduced in price 
from 25 to 80 per cent, said reduction is every 
case can be accounted for by the introduction of 
labor saving machinery, or by new processes 
which have cheapened the cost of production. 

Why should wheat continue at the old prices, 
when other products and commodities have de- 
creased in value from 20 to 90 per cent? There 
are also other reasons for the decline in the value of 
that cereal. Under the stimulus of a failure of 
European crops in 1879-80 and i88j, the exporta- 
tion of wheat from this country rose from 40.000,- 
000 to 150,000,000 bushels; from a money value 
of $47,000,000 to $167,000,000. But this same 
scarcity of European crops gave an enormous 
impetus to the production of wheat in India, 
which in a few years rose from nothing to 40.000,* 
000 bushels. At the same time transportation 
rates through the Suez Canal fell from 32# cents 
per bushel to 16 cents, a reduction that inured 
to the benefit of the Indian producer as against 
the American. In addition to the Indian compe- 
tition, the American producer has of late years 
been confronted with the enormous product of 
the Argentine Republic, on whose immense level 
plains, wheat can, with the aid of improved ma- 
chinery, be produced for twenty-five cents per 
bushel. 

In addition to those causes, which are obvious, 
natural, and not hypothetic, the American farmer 
is suffering from the results of planless over- 
production, that is to say, overproduction, as far 
as effective demand is concerned. Not koowing 
what the rest of the country is producing, he con- 
tinues the production of cereals, hoping the de- 
pression in prices is only temporary. To make 
good the deficit of one or more low priced crops* 
he places a mortgage on his farm, and as cheap 


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7 HE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


579 


wheat means cheap land, he is surprised when 
the mortgage becomes due to find that his land 
will not much more than pay the mortgage, owing 
to the decrease in land values; the direct result 
of the decrease in the value of the laud product* 
which he foolishly continues to ascribe to the 
contraction of the currency, and the consequent 
inflation in the value of gold. He is also suffer* 
lag from competition with the capitalist bonanza 
farmer, who even at the price that is ruining his 
smaller competitor, is able to make a profit, who 
on fifty cent wheat makes a profit of 33^ percent. 

Undor no change or improvement in our finan- 
cial system will the small farmer ever be able to 
produce the staple cereals in competition with 
his capitalist competitor. No financial change 
can remove thediscrepency or difference in cost of 
production between the small isolated methods 
of the small farmer as against the large produc- 
tion of the bonanza farmer. The ultimate fail- 
ure of the small farmer is inevitable. Neither 
with free money nor with free land, neither 
money at two per cent nor the adoption of the 
single-tax, nor even the making of land absolutely 
free, would put the small farmer on terms of 
equality with the large producer. The question 
which confronts the American farmer is whether 
he is content that ihe enormous advantages of the 
large system of production shall inure exclusively 
to the benefit of an idle capitalist class, while he 
himself will sink to the condition of the Indian 
Ryat, or Egyptian Fellaheen, or whether by 
national co-operation in production, the immense 
advantage of the large system of production shall 
inure to themselves, the real producers. 

Compare, for instance, the methods of modern 
manufacture, with the methods of average agri- 
culture. Take - the iron and steel industry. 
Carnegie has reduced the price of steel rails from 
$120.00 to $25 00 per ton Might he with the 
same show of reason claim that at the former 
price he could have paid off his debts with so 
many thousand tons of steel, but that now having 
paid three fourths of his debt, it will still require 
more thousands of tons to pay the remaining one- 
fourth than it would in 1870? Carnegie has 
adopted all the modern devices for cheapening the 
product. He has called to his aid science, art and 
costly labor-saving — or rather labor-displacing 
inventions. He has also combined with others to 
keep the output within the limits of effective de- 
mand, and has thereby averted ruinous over 
production through competition. But the Ameri- 
can farmer continues bis wasteful and isolated 
system of production, and imagines that the price 
of silver has some relation to the price of wheat, 
whereas, bis capitalist competitor, the bonanza 


farmer, has, like Carnegie, availed himself of all 
modern' improvements, and the immense econo- 
mies in production effected through conducting 
operations on a gigantic scale. Small farming 
must go with the hand loom, the stage coach, and 
the tallow dip. Co-operation is the only hope 
for the small farmer. If he had his debts all 
paid to-morrow in a depreciated currency, the 
same causes for his downfall would be at work, 
he would still be confronted with the problem of 
wheat and other cereals being produced profitably 
at less than half the cost that he could produce. 
The same problem, by the way, is confronting 
the small horticulturist in this state. Small pro- 
duction of all kinds is doomed. It is either large 
production for the benefit of a few capitalists, or 
national co-operation in the interests of all. 

Again, if the inflation in the value of gold is 
the cause of general depreciation of values, it 
should effect the value of all labor and services. 
This, however, is not so. Where a depreciation 
of wages has occurred, it can in ^nearly every 
case be traced to the introduction of machinery 
that has displaced skilled labor. This is particu- 
larly true of the skilled labor in Carnegie’s works. 
Operations that twenty years ago required the 
services cf perhaps twenty skilled workmen at 
high wages, are now performed by [machinery with 
the aid of a couple of unskilled laborers at one- 
fifth the individual wages formerly paid. In 
such occupations as bricklaying, carpentering, 
paper hanging, etc. , where machinery is not a 
factor, wages have not been materially, if at all, 
reduced. The same rule applies to the fees of 
professional men, of doctors, lawyers, architects, 
etc. In general it may be stated, that in occu- 
pations where machinery has not been intro- 
duced to lessen the cost of production, prices 
have not materially changed. 

Advocates of the money theory point to the fact, 
that the per capita of circulation is actually less 
tban when production and business was less than 
half what it is at present; and they point to that fact 
as a sufficient cause of the depreciation of prop- 
erty. But a certain indication of the real scarcity 
of money is a high rate of interest. It is a fact 
that interest was never lower than at present. 
There is an actual plethora of money. Within 
the current year hundreds of millions on call 
loans have been offered in Wall street at one per 
cent. The New York banks are loaded with 
money for which they can find no use. The 
banks of San Francisco have fifteen millions, 
which are offered on good security at 4 or 5 per 
cent, a lower rate than has ever been offered on 
the Pacific Slope. The current rate of discount 
of the Bank of England is two per cent, while 


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c8o THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


the English government are able to cash their cur 
rent treasury notes for one and three-fourths per 
cent. 

It must also be taken into account that as civ- 
ilization advances, and trade and commerce 
increase, the use of actual money in the trans- 
action of business operations is constantly de- 
creasing. a system of checks, bills of exchange, 
and book credits and accounts being everywhere 
substituted. An important fact bearing on this 
subject is that Bradstreet’s report that of the 
total volume of business transacted, only 7 per 
cent of actual money, either gold, silver or legal 
tender paper, is used, while 93 per cent of the 
business transacted was effected in the manner 
referred to. Our city, state, national, and inter- 
national clearing houses, render the use of 
actual money almost unnecessary, millions of 
bills of exchange, checks and drafts being daily 
liquidated in New York, London and Berlin, and 
other important business centers, only a few 
thousand pounds or dollars in actual money or 
bullion being required to settle those national or 
international balances. In view of such facts, 
the claim that the decrease of the 7 per cent of the 
money actually used, to say 3^ per cent would 
depreciate the value of all property and products 
one-half is manifestly absurd. 

It is sometimes argued that workingmen would 
be directly benefited by an increase in the vol- 
ume of money, as it would increase the wages of 
labor. To this it may be shortly replied that the 
same cause that effects the increase in wages 
will also raise the price of all other “commodi- 
ties/’ and per consequence the cost of living. It 
is not a certain nominal rate of wages that men 
contend for; it is for a wage that will maintain 
a certain standard of living. Any wage that will 
maintain that standard will set men to work, 
whether the nominal wages is $1.00 or $5.00 per 
day. 

It is claimed that the demonetization of silver 
in 1873 inflated the purchasing value of gold, 
and per consequence decreased the value of 
property and products by an amount estimated at 
hundreds of millions of dollars. This claim 
must be largely considered as chimerical, and 
rests on no solid ground of reason or argument. 
As a matter of fact, silver was not demonetized 
in 1873. Previous to that year the total silver 
coinage had only aggregated seven millions, since 
that time three hundred and thirty-eight millions 
of silver have been in circulation, either in the 
shape of actual coin, or in silver certificates, 
which have performed all the functions of money 
as fully and completely as gold coin. To the 
actual producer of wealth, the contest be- 


tween the “gold bugs" and the “sitaer 
kings" can have no real interest. Neither 
gold nor silver is necessary as money, 
and the interests of the laboring classes 
would be better subserved by the demonetization 
of both metals, and the substitution therefor of an 
issue of inconvertible notes subject to rigid limita- 
tion as to amount issued. It should be borne is 
mind that the Bank of Venice for six centuries 
transacted a world-wide system of national and 
international exchanges, by a mere transference 
of credits on the bank books, said credits at no 
time being convertible into coin. Yet during that 
time the bank never “suspended," nor was there 
ever a financial panic. 

The claim that contraction of the currency ts 
effected purposely to enable the money lending 
class to acquire the property of the masses by 
foreclosure, is not borne out by the fact of the 
suspension and wreckage of numerous Western 
Mortgage Companies, who found to their cost that 
the property they advanced money upon was not 
worth the face of the mortgage, 50 cent wheat 
being a great iconoclast of land values. The fact 
is, the money lending classes are mere parasites 
and non-producers, while there is no crime or vil- 
lainy they would not be guilty of (within legal 
limits) to increase their ill-gotten hoards, yet 
there is no class who are so directly interested in 
keeping np tbe value of property and products, or 
whose interests are more subserved by the general 
prosperity of the business interests of this coun- 
try. Only when the country is prosperous, and 
business healthy and increasing, does the money 
lender find remunerative use for bis capital. In- 
terest at 8 or 10 per cent, as a steady thing, beats 
the ownership of property, or the ordinary 
chances of capital invested in commercial enter- 
prises. The chief method adopted by tbe money 
power to rob American industry, has been 
through the means of an interest bearing national 
debt. This, certainly, has been one of tbe causes 
of the concentration of wealth in the hands of the 
plutocrats. But this is a secondary system of rob- 
bery, for as I have shown in a previous number 
of this magazine, labor must first be robbed be- 
fore this form of interest can be paid. 

I need not dwell longer on tbe money theory of 
exploitation. It mast be evident that that theory 
does not furnish a solution of the problem Ad- 
mitting fully the vfcionsness of our financial sys- 
tem, it yet remains apparent that the cause lies 
deeper, and must be traced to tbe fact that labor 
that creates ell wealth, is treated as a mere “com- 
modity," and is compelled to give up to tbe capi- 
talist exploiter in tbe shape of rent, interest and 
profits, all above tbe necessary amount in the 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


shape of " wages/' to provide a bare subsistence. 
While this system remains no change ia our fiscal 
or financial policy will be of any permanent bene* 
fit. While the competitive system is in force, the 
best financial system that the wit of man could 
devise, would not prevent the concentration of 
wealth into the hands of the original exploiters, 
the owners of the means and instruments for the 
production and distribution of wealth. 

There only remains to consider the single tax. 
I have, however, discussed this theory in detail in 
previous numbers of this magazine, showing con- 
clusively, I believe, the economic fallacies on 
which it rests, and its entire inadequacy as a 
'sovereign remedy” for our social and economic 
ills. I shall, however, for the sake of the com- 
pleteness of this article, briefly recapitulate the 
principal arguments urged against it. 

We have seen that the theory rests upon the ab- 
surd assumption that all surplus wealth, above the 
cost of subsistence of the laborer, is absorbed by 
the private land-owner in the shape of "rent.'* 
All statistics, facts, observations and common 
sense discredit this assumption. 

The confiscation of rent is practically the same 
as the confiscation of the land, and is so admitted 
by its advocates. This would be the robbery of 
a class, for which no justification can be offered, 
lor, as I have fully shown, present land-owners 
are only partially the beneficiaries of that ' 'un- 
earned increment” which the single taxis designed 
to confiscate, all former beneficiaries would retain 
their share of the "swag” unmolested. I have 
shown that the land owner is only one of the rob- 
bers of labor, that "interest” on capital can no 
more be justified than private rent of land; that 
the "capitalist,” as such, no more produces "cap- 
ital” than the land-owner does the land; that to ex- 
propriate one and leave the other, would be par- 
tial, unjust and indefensible. 

We have seen that security of tenure of either 
land or improvements, would be destroyed under 
a tax tha* would so greatly vary with increase of 
population or business. 

I have thoroughly demonstrated the fact that 
onr present system of the monopolization of the 
instruments of production, mere access to "nat- 
ural opportunities” is the merest mockery; that 
the men without capital, and that class 
represents 95 per cent, of the popula- 
tion, would be exactly at the same 
disadvantage as they are at present. Even with 
land absolutely free, the man without capital 
would still remain the virtual slave of those who 
controlled the modern tools of production. 

It has been shown that the enforcement of the 
single tax wonld entirely prevent the holding out 


581 

of use of all v leant land for which there was not 
immediate use. This would throw upon the mar- 
ket 95 per cent, of all vacant land, both urban 
and agricultural. This would obviously reduce 
land values, or the rental value of land to a mere 
nominal amount, certainly only a fraction of pres- 
ent values. This shows the absurdity of the 
claim that economic rent would be sufficient for 
all the purposes of revenue; on the contrary, it 
would not probably produce one- tenth of the sum 
necessary, so that the term "single tax” is a mis- 
nomer and absurd. 

Our present system of taxation is the very best 
that could be devised for the purpose of raising 
the largest possible revenue from land, as it pre- 
vents the virtual monopolization of the entire con- 
tinent, whereas the adoption of the single tax 
would reduce the taxable area to one tenth of the 
area now paying taxes. This would certainly be 
a benefit, but the same benefit, I have shown, 
could be obtained by the enforcement of present 
laws, which demand that all land shall be taxed 
at its fair "cash value.” This would equally as 
well as the single tax, prevent the private monop- 
olization of unused land. 

To sum up the case against the single tax, it 
may be stated that that theory merely offers to 
the man without capital whatever he can produce 
on land at the "margin of cultivation,” i. e., on 
land of no rental value, with the ordinary and in- 
dividual tools of production. All the excess of 
production on land above the margin of cultiva- 
tion would be confiscated by the state, by means 
of the single tax, and all the difference between 
what conld be produced by the individual tools of 
production, as against the best in use. would go 
as "interest” to the capitalist class as the "wagss 
of capital,” as the "just return,” as George puts 
it, for their "aid in production.” Or, as the Hon. 
F. M. Finlay son expressed it in a recent address 
on "wages,” before our local single tax club: 
"Labor's share as 'wages' would be what it could 
produce on land at the margin of cultivation, 
without the aid of capital.” 

It will therefore be evident that under a single 
tax regime the capitalist system of production 
would be perpetuated, the tools of production 
would still be the property of a small class, who 
would be the only ones who could effectually util- 
ize natural resources, and that under competitive 
conditions, the man without capital — the 95 per 
cent, of the population — would still be forced to 
accept subsistence wages for his ' 'aid in produc- 
tion.” 

I have now reviewed the various "panaceas” 
offered as "remedies” for our economic ills. We 
have seen that while the competitive system is re- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


582 

tained, no permanent improvement in the condi- 
tion of the masses is possible. We have seen that 
no fiscal or monetary reforms can be of any bene- 
fit to the propertyless class. Under competitive 
conditions, labor's share will continue at the 
"wages" necessary for bis maintenance and repro- 
duction, according to the standard of living. 
There is only one solution to the problem. We 
most make this a real democracy. We must in- 
troduce the democratic ideal into our industrial 
system. We have now political equality; we must 
have also economic equality. For without econo- 
mic equality, political equality is the merest 
sham The monarchical idea in government is 
that the king and a privileged class shall rule, on 
the supposition that the people are incapable of 
self government. This is the "paternal" ideal. 
Under a democratic form of government it is as- 
sumed that the people are perfectly competent to 
govern themselves. This is the rational ideal. 
We have adopted the democratic ideal in our po- 
litical affairs, but have retained the monarchical or 
"paternal" ideal in our industrial system. For is 
not our industrial system completely under the 
domination of a small class, who control, shape 
and carry on industry for their exclusive benefit 
and advantage? Have we not "railroad kings, 1 ’ 
coal "barons" and "lords" of industry, who use 
the workers as mere tools for the production of 
wealth, the major portion of which they retain, 
merely allowing their unfortunate wage slaves and 
dupes sufficient of the product to enable them to 
continue the process? Why should we not adopt 
the democratic ideal in our industrial affairs? 
Why not "fraternalism" instead of "paternal- 
ism?" Who builds and operates railroads; rail- 
road kings? Certainly not; not one of them, prob- 
ably, could drive a spike. Who digs coal, or 
mines iron, or silver, coal barons or iron and sil- 
ver kings? Certainly not; most of them would 
starve if that was their only resource for a living. 
Who are the real producers, those who actually 
produce wealth, the lords of industry? Certainly 


not; they merely scheme how to get control of th* 
wealth after the real producers create it. k'l 
but I bear someone say: "The capitalists certaich 
furnish the capital, and capital is an indispecs 
ble aid in production." Yes. that is true; be: 
was not labor here before capital? Does not labor 
produce all wealth, and necessarily all capital } 
Are we never to get rid of the ignorant supersti- 
tion that there would be no capital if there wer« 
no capitalists ? Formerly we looked helplessly to 
a king and a governing class to look after oar po- 
litical affairs, no* we look as helplessly to som« 
capitalist to give ms employment. Why do we not 
retain the capital we produce, and instead of 
handing over to a capitalist, retain it in our 
hands to "aid in the production" of all Into?* 
wealth? Why should we not in short make 00 
industrial system like our political system, a gov 
ernment of, by and for the people; a system wherv 
production would be carried on for use instead cl 
for profit, in the interest of all the people instead 
of in the interest of 3 per cent, of them? Why 
not get rid of industrial "kings," "lords" and 
"barons," as we got rid of their political proto 
types, and found a real industrial democracy; id » 
word, The Co-operative Commonwealth? This 
can be done by legal and constitutional methods 
We have already adopted the co-operative systeo 
in our postal affairs, in onr system of free schoc!< 
our army and navy, our lighthouses and public 
roads, etc. Other countries have taken unde 
communal control railroads, telephone and tok 
graph systems, municipal control of electric lift 
and gas plants, and water supplies, and the strt? 
transit system is successful wherever tried. Wfe< 
should we lag behind other countries? We ha™ 
only to continue to extend national, state or mu 
nicipal control, gradually, just as fast as it can be 
successfully accomplished, until private control of 
the ' ‘means of production" shall cease, and tbr 
people themselves conduct all industry in tbetr 
own interest. Then, indeed, will we have a real 
democracy, a system of fraternal co-operation in 
the interest of all the people. 


OUR NEW YORK LETTER. 


Life in the metropolis is just now quite full of 
mild but pleasurable excitements of various sorts, 
which are a decided relief from the monotony of 
the panic period, from which most people are 
convinced that we have safely emerged, even if 
not yet on a very high tide of prosperity. What, 
with the glory of winning the Temple Cup at base- 
ball after the local team had lost the champion- 
ship by the skin of its teeth, the rapidly growing 


fad over the game of golf, a crazy quilt condition 
of politics in which about every newspaper in 
town supports some combination of candidates 
that is quite different from that advocated by any 
other paper, and as a sideshow to which vigorous 
campaigns are also being carried on pro and con 
sundry constitutional amendments, the Greater 
New York scheme, and the municipal rapid 
transit proposition (all of which have to be voted 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 583 


an at the coming election), the perennial •enter- 
tainment of the Lexow investigation — which is 
in reality, of course, only a tender to the political 
canvass — and the distant accompaniment of news 
from the Oriental war, we have plenty of sub- 
jects to both read about and talk about and keep 
our minds from growing rusty. 

Politics naturally comes first in public estima- 
tion as an object of interest, and this year it is as 
good as a play; so great is the medley of parties 
and factions, of candidates and platforms. The 
strongest advocates of the Cleveland policy have 
rallied to the support of Cleveland’s bitterest en- 
emy; the most radical of the freetraders have 
joined forces with their protectionist foes. Hill 
and Tammany have generally been considered 
identical forces; yet this year it by no means fol- 
lows that because a voter is identified with the 
one, he necessarily is with the other. Nor is it 
only state and municipal tickets that are inex- 
tricably tangled; for at a time when political is- 
sues as distinct from personalities have become 
more considered tban they had been for a gener 
ation, we find men seeking to go to congress with 
the main and avo ved purpose of breaking 
down the tariff, relying for their main chance of 
election upon the endorsement of conventions in 
which the tariff is extolled as the chief bulwark 
of American liberties. And not the leaU interest- 
ing feature of the whole thing is that, as we were 
buncoed into an apology for the Australian ballot 
which requires separate ballots to be prepared for 
each party, all the various factions have man- 
euvered a set of cross-nominations for the different 
state and district offices, which will help them to 
gain all the benefit possible from individual split 
votes. On top of the resulting mass of ballots 
which will burden us all at the polls on election 
day, will be an additional avalanche with which 
to register our decision on the various legislative 
questions to be submitted to the people. Just 
what cards will come out of the grand shuffle 
then made, it would take a lucky guesser rather 
than a shrewd man to predict; especially under 
the circumstances in which these lines are writ- 
ten — of being committed to paper before election 
but appearing in print only after the ballots are 
counted; but it is a very amusing thing to watch, 
and however it turns out, there will be plenty of 
citizens who have had lots of fun out of the game 
and some of them a fair amount of pecuniary 
profit. 

For exploiting the comic features of the cam- 
paign, Puck and the World may justly claim the 
palm; Puck dilligently promoting one of the tick- 
ets in its cartoons each week and bitterly attack- 
ing it in its letterpress; while the World has ac- 


complished the champion somersiult of its career 
over the charge made against one of the candi- 
dates that be had violated the contract labor law. 
When this charge was first made Mr. Pulitzer’s 
news columns fairly gloated over the discovery, 
but all at once it had a change of heart, and 
while still opposing the candidate, it rose to a 
height of supreme political magnanimity, and now 
its columns fairly ring with declarations of the 
pettiness of such tactics as bringing an issue of 
this sort into a campaign. As for the charge 
itself, it is likely to bring about a wholesome re- 
vulsion of feeling against the sentiment, which 
would exhaust itself in ridiculous attempts to 
empty the ocean of popular distress by tin-cup 
measures such as this. If the condition of the 
laboring classes were what it should be in a great 
country like America, it would injure no one to 
have fresh hands coming in to labor and increase 
the general fund of wealth on which all ought to 
have an opportunity to draw; and with that con- 
dition as it is, there is scant hope of relief from 
barring out importations nnder contract, when 
employers need hardly turn around to get all the 
labor that they need at home, on their own terms 
and without binding themselves by any contract. 
Of course, it is the lowest form of demagogism to 
condemn a rich man who happens to be a candi- 
date for doing what all other rich men do, al- 
though it is fair enough and wise enough to dis- 
criminate against very rich men in public office, 
and particularlv when they represent nothing but 
their wealth; yet it is a little hard to understand 
the consistency of a law that permits men to em- 
ploy as they please other people to minister to 
their comfort as domestic servants, and forbids 
them from doing the s&me thing in producing the 
fund out of which to pay those servants And 
another inconsistency is that we construct all our 
laws so as to foster the amassing of great wealth 
in few hands and yet assume to dictate how it 
shall be enjoyed by the beneficiaries to whom we 
have so freely granted it. But the most patent 
thing about the whole business is the futility of 
attempting to prevent an employer from contract- 
ing in advance for foreign labor that he can get 
whenever he wants it, without a contract and on 
his own terms. And it is most of all pitiful to 
see the amount of labor that is wasted on schemes 
like this to prevent an effect, that if rightly di- 
rected, could stamp out the cause. 

Devotees of the referendum will have a good 
opportunity to observe how their pet scheme 
wotrid work in watching this year’s New Yodfl| 
elections. There is a long string of constitutio$r^ 
amendments to vote on, most of which haW 
business, however meritorious, to be petriflq 


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584 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


a constitution; these amendments being submit* 
ted in lieu of a completely new organic law. 
Since many of them are bad, and there has been 
no opportunity for the public to study them, it is 
to be devoutly hoped that the indifference which 
generally shows itself at popular elections about 
things of this sort, will serve to defeat them all. 
Then we are to express an opinion about whether 
the city shall be extended to something like its 
logical limits, and to decide whether the com* 
mon-sense plan shall be adopted of the city own- 
ing for itself a comprehensive system of local 
transit. One of these issues is sentimental to a 
great extent and the other practical, and, as 
usual, it is the sentimental one that is receiving 
most notice. How it ever happened to finally 
dawn on the commissioners' minds that when an 
enterprise was of such universal importance as to 
need the power of the community for its creation, 
its profits should certainly belong to the creator, 
nobody seems to exactly understand. But after 
two years of doddering over the problem how best 
to turn it over to individuals, they at last stum- 
bled on the right plan; and now there are fair 
prospects that it will be lost through general 
apathy. Of course, the relief from our present 
broken-down systems of transit, would have to be 
paid for in higher rents; but at least such physi- 
cal comforts would be gained as would be worth 
paying for, and the increase of rents in the office 
districts would to some extent be compensated 


by practically throwing open for use the districts 
now inaccessible because of distance, and so, tern* 
porarily at least, reducing the cost of living by 
means of the greater amount of land brought into 
competition. 

The Greater New York scheme is, in good 
measure, a plan of real estate dealers in the sub- 
urbs. backed by sentiment in favor of living in 
a city so much larger than the present, nominal 
limits. It is a rational thing in itself, for there 
is really no reason why people should live in one 
place, and have the most important part of their 
interests in another, as is the case with so large 
a part of our population; thus tending to inten- 
sify the want of acquaintance with their neigh- 
bors, which constitutes one of the greatest diffi- 
culties of our local politics; and at once belittling 
the affiirs of the outlying districts and dimin- 
ishing that sense of responsibility in municipal 
affairs which always comes with the increasing 
importance of these. Unfortunately, it cannot 
be extended to take in a strip nearly twenty miles 
square across the Hudson river, which legiti- 
mately belongs to the city, because that lies in 
another state, and this was one of the things in 
which our forefathers made a great blunder, when 
they decreed that no state should have any of its 
territory taken without the consent — not of the 
people living in such territory, and properly the 
ones to be consulted, but of the state at large. 

Edw. J. Shrivbr. 


Song of a 

One night beneath my window, when the stars 
were bright above, 

The music of a mandolin, blent with a lay of 
love. 

Came stealing through the stillness like the balmy 
breath of spring; 

I opened up my window-blinds and heard a singer 
sing: 

“Cupid is an archer, and his arrow’s ever set, 

And swift and sure the arrow fiies, as from a fal- 
conet; 

His bow is ever trusty and his aim is ever true. 

Be wary of the archer when bis arrow's aimed at 
you!” 

At first I only lingered there to listen for a while, 

And thought the singer only sang the hours to 
beguile. 

My heart began to tremble with the touch of 
every string. 

opened wide my window-blinds and heard the 
singer sing: 


Serenade. 

“Cupid is an archer, and bis arrow's ever set, 

And swift and sure the arrow flies, as from a fal- 
conet; 

His bow is ever trusty and his aim is ever true. 

Be wary of the archer when his arrow's aimed at 
youl” 

The weary day I'm waiting for the twilight shades 
to fall, 

And where the tangled woodland waves I hear the 
lone dove call. 

The song of running brooklets and a thousand 
birds a-wing 

My eager ears will hear not when my love begins 
to sing: 

“Cupid is an archer, and bis arrow's ever set, 

And swift and sure the arrow flies, as from a fal- 
conet; 

His bow is ever trusty and his aim is ever true. 

Be wary of the archer when bis arrow's aimed at 
you!” 

— Cy IVarman, in McClure' s Magazine. 


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Our readers who write to any of the firms advertising in these columns are requested to mention 

The Railway Conductor. 

B. B CLARK and WM. P. DANIELS, Managers. E. E. CLARK, Editor-In-Chief. 

W. N. GATES, Advertising Manager, 99 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, O. 


INSURANCE. 


The Conductor does not enter into a discus- 
sion of this matter, which seems to be of consid- 
erable interest at the present time to the contrib- 
utors to our Fraternal Department, with any view 
of imposing its idea upon any, but with the hope 
of giving some information that is not generally 
well understood and with the hope, possibly, of 
advancing some idea which may assist Brothers 
in making up their minds as to what they desire 
in this direction. 

It is not an uncommon thing to hear a member 
make the statement that membership in the Ben- 
efit Department "costs too much," and again, "I 
can get cheaper insurance.” Insurance is a com- 
modity which various dealers have to sell. The 
way to determine the best place at which to pur- 
chase this commodity is to investigate carefully 
with a view of determining how much insurance 
can be gotten for the money, and what is the 
quality of the article. We invite the 
member who thinks he can get cheaper 
insurance to go out in the market and 
undertake to buy it; find out how much you 
can be insured for in case of natural death, how 
much m case of accidental death, how much you 
will receive for the loss of both hands or feet, 
how much for the loss of one hand or foot, how 
much for the loss of eyesight or the sense of 
hearing, and then ascertain how much the insur- 
ance will cost per year Der thousand dollars of 
insurance. Learn how much you will be re- 
quired to pay as premiums and how much time 
will be allowed for payment after it is due. After 
you have carefully canvassed all these points, 
yon will come back to the Benefit Department 
convinced that you cannot get cheaper insurance 
and that you cannot get the same quality else- 
where. Insurance is a business, and in order to 


conduct it successfully, business principles must 
be adhered to. No insurance company can long 
pay its claims unless its income equals or exceeds 
the amounts it is required to pay out. Expensive 
and exhaustive experiments have been made for 
the purpose of determining just bow far insur- 
ance against disability can be furnished. The 
limit is, and always will be, fixed by the amount 
the insured are willing to pay for the insurance. 
The rules or laws which govern an insurance 
company should clearly provide just what risks 
are taken. Every policy-holder should under- 
stand just what he is insured against. The great 
mass of laws and jurisprudence in existence 
to day is practically all founded upon precedent 
and custom. Custom makes the strongest kind 
of law, and if an insurance association pays the 
claim of one or more of its policy-holders on ac- 
count of sympathy, the precedent is established 
which grows into custom and soon crystalizes into 
law in the eyes of the courts. 

We have made some figures which can do their 
own talking, and to which we call especial atten- 
tion : 

Percentage 

Membership Membership members 
in Order. in Ben. Dept. carrying 


Jan. 1st, 1887, X0330 

Jan 1st, 1888, 12323 

Jan. 1st, 1889, 13224 

Jan. 1st, 1890, 13720 

Jan. 1st, 1891, 14453 

Jan. 1st, 1892, 17906 

Jan. 1st, 1893, 20224 

Jan. 1st, 1894, *20224 

♦Approximate. 

In 1887, insurance in the Order cost the mem- 
bers per thousand dollars of insurance, $12.00;. 
in 1888, $14.40; in 1889, $15 20; in 1890, $14 80; 
in 1891, $15.40; in 1892, $14.00; in 1893, $15*00, 


4586 

4768 

4559 

4296 

3933 

5844 

9942 

12424 


insurance. 

44 39 
38 69 

34 47 
31.31 
27 21 
32 63 
49 

6l.42 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


586 

and in 4894, $16.00. All who have made a study 
of this question know that the last Grand Divis- 
ion directed extra assessments made for the pur- 
pose of catching up with the approved claims 
against the Department, and that alone accounts 
f r the higher cost for the year 1894 Every 
approved claim against the Department is at the 
present time paid, and there is sufficient in the 
Benefit fund to promptly pay the claims as they 
miture, unless for some unforeseen reason, an 
unusually large number of claims should come. 
Various experiments were made with the laws, 
but the above figures will show that from 1887 up 
to 1891, the membership in the Benefit Depart- 
ment steadily decreased, while the membership 
in the Order steadily increased. 

In 1890 the low water mark was touched, and 
with but 3933 members in the Benefit Depart- 
ment the cost per one thousand dollars insurance 
wis $15.40. Having paid up all the approved 
claims for which the extra assessments were pro- 
vided, the Benefit Department, for ihe year 1895, 
will issue assessments not exceeding $14.00 per 
year per thousand, and in the absence of any 
epidemic or calamity, will be able to p omptly 
pay all approved claims as they come. At the 
time our present laws were enacted, the Depart- 
ment was three or four months behind in paying 
the approved claims. Now, claims are paid 
immediately upon approval. 

Our Order is not the only one that has experi- 
mented on the question of insurance against dis- 
ability. All of the recognized organizations in 
railway service similar in character to ours have 
tried this thing. Each in common with ours 
has gone farther in that direction than it 
could afford to and continue its benefit depart- 
ment, and all hive arrived at practically the 
same conclusion, that it is impracticable and im- 
possible to successfully insure against any dis- 
ability about which there can be the slightest 
possible question. The Brotherhood of Loco- 
motive Firemen, after carefully studying this 


question for years, and after considerable experi- 
menting, have, at their 4 ate convention, enacted 
a la* providing for the payment of disability 
claims for ‘ loss of hand at or above the wrist, 
loss of a foot at or above the ankle," and in 
cases where beneficiary members are "totally and 
and permanently incapacitated f rom perfoi roing 
manual labor by reason of the following diseases, 
to- wit: Consumption, Bright's disease of the 
kidneys or total and permanent paralysis." This, 
as we understand it, opens the door for the pay- 
ment of disability claims a little more than 
formerly, but to our mind, not to any alarming or 
dangerous extent. Cases under the three beads 
named, are, when they have reached the stage to 
totally incapacitate the afflicted one, hopeless, 
and the question resolves itself into one of 
whether or not the claim will be paid at a little 
earlier date than that upon which it would be 
paid if the member’s demise is waited for, as- 
suming. of course, that he continues his member- 
ship. One thing can be safely asserted, that 
every inch the door for the payment of disability 
claims is opened, means just that much additional 
tax upon members. That our present laws and 
the condition of the Benefit Department have 
had the effect of inspiring confidence in the De- 
partment is evidenced by the steady gain in mem- 
bership and by the fact that for the year 1893 the 
membership in the Benefit Department increased 
2482, while the membership in the Order did not 
increase to speak of Some members attribute 
all the increase in the Benefit Department to the 
laws r< quiring new members to carry our insur- 
ance. The increase for the year 1893 con- 
clusively disproves this, as do the figures for 1892. 
Membership in the Order for 1892 increased 
2318; membership in the Benefit Department in 
creased 4098. 

In face of this showing, Thb Conductor be- 
lieves that any radical departure from the pres 
ent policy and laws governing the Benefit Depart- 
ment which will affect it financially will be a 
serious mistake. 


SENIORITY. 


Upon this subject are entertained, probably, as 
radical and widely differing opinions as upon any 
subject that is of interest to railway employes. 
The worst thing in this connection, except the 
establishment of a rule of strict seniority, is the 
fact that nearly all of the advocates and oppo 
nents of tbs theory go to extremes in their opin 
ions and in expressing them. The only proper way 
in which to determine the real merits or demerits 
of the opposing ideas is to carry each to its 


logical conclusion with a view of determining 
which plan will be productive of the greatest 
amount of good to the greatest number of those 
interested. Very many are apt to express their 
opinions without taking into consideration the 
question, Who are the interested parties? The 
interested parties are the older employes, who. 
having served their apprenticeship, have emi- 
nently fitted themselves for positions higher in 
the service; the young employes who desire 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


58 7 


speedy promotion; the employers and the public. 

We will take for example the conductor and 
the brakeman. though the same arguments will 
apply witb equal force to other classes of the 
service. It has grown to be a universal custom 
to promote practically all of the conductors from 
the ranks of brakemen except where an experi- 
enced conductor is hired as such. The applica- 
tion of a strict line of seniority in promotions 
means that the oldest brakeman in the service 
will be given first opportunity to fill a vacancy in 
the ranks of conductors, providing he can pass 
an examiuatien or is capable of filling the posi- 
tion. If he fails to pass proper examination or 
is not capable of performing the duties of con- 
ductor, the next oldest man must be given his 
turn. So long as there is a man in the service 
who can perform the daties or pass the examina- 
tion, no man may be hired from the ranks of the 
unemployed for the position, nor can any person 
younger In the service of that company be given 
preference in promotion, even though he possesses 
ability and merit of a much higher degree than 
those who outrank him in point of age. A man 
who has spent the b*st years of his life, and has 
served successfully for years, as a conductor, has 
no stock in trade, no capital to invest except his 
labor and bis experience. A line of strict seni 
ority places him with his experience and acquired 
ability on a common plane with the younger, 
inexperienced and untried man. It is not an*un- 
common thing for a conductor to be diimissed, 
even against the personal wishes of his superior 
officers, purely as a matter of discipline, or in 
order to protect the company against liability for 
"contributory negligence" in case they should 
continue him in their service and further accident 
should occur. It must be admitted that conduct- 
ors are somstimss dismissed for, seemingly, fla- 
grant and willful violation of rules or orders. 
Unfortunately, at times, a conductor will forget, 
and. as a consequence, irreparable injury is done. 
If seniority universally prevails, the conductor, 
who for any reason, loses his situation, must 
either seek employment in some other line or 
bsgin again as a brakeman and continue in that 
service until be becomes the oldest in the service 
of that company before he can again be employed 
as a conductor, and this, regardless of the num- 
ber of years of successful experience he may 
have had as a conductor or of the enviable repu 
tation he may have built for himself in that 
capacity. What would be the effect on the ser- 
vice of following su?h a policy? The mist able, 
best and most reliable men in the service would, 
as soon as misfortune in the shape of dismissal 
overtook them, conclude that they could do 


beter in some other line than to begin all over 
again in that manner, and this class of men 
would permanently leave the service, while those 
who, by force of circum stances were obliged to 
remain, would grow discontented. The standard 
of excellence and ability in the service would be 
gradually lowered, and as a result, the interests 
of the employers ani the public at large would 
suffer A man who has spent the b sst years of 
his life in the operating department of a railroad ' 
has generally unfitted himself for any other line 
of business, and it would certainly be dishearten- 
ing and discouraging to see himself crowded out 
of his chosen profession by the apprentices whom 
he has assisted in teaching. 

The advocates of the plan of seniority main- 
tain that a man who enters the service in a sub- 
ordinate position does so with the hope of secur- 
ing promotion, and that when he gets to be the 
oldest employe in the service in bis class, be has 
earned the first right to promotion. SDms of the 
effects of the establishment of such a rule have 
already bsen pointed out. A further bad effect 
is, that it places the man who has no ambition 
except to get to be the oldest man in exactly as 
advantageous circumstances and with just as 
bright prospects as has the man who is faithful 
and ambitious and who desires to secure promo- 
tion solely on his merit. Laziness on the one 
hand would be encouraged and laudable effort on 
the other band would be discouraged. 

As opposed to those who advocate the estab- 
lishment of a line of seniority in promotions are 
those who go to ths other extreme and argue that 
there should be no seniority and that no consid- 
eration should be given a man's age in the ser- 
vice. but that experienced men should be employed 
at all times when available, instead of making 
promotions. The establishment of that policy 
would also be followed with bad effects. Men 
who had worked honestly and faithfully for pro- 
motion would feel that their efforts were not 
appreciated, ambition would be deadened and 
they would not bring to the service the same de- 
gree of efficiency or earnest effort which they 
would if they felt they had something to work 
for beyond their immediate compensation. With- 
out reasonable opportunities for promotion, there 
would be, under many officers and many places, 
charges of nepotism, favoritism and all of the oth- 
er isms which could be connected with the subject. 

Old employes who felt they had earned further 
promotion, who were equipped to fill positions 
higher in the service, would see themselves over- 
looked, while some friend or relative of the offi- ^ 
cer in charge was employed to fill the choicf- 
position. This policy, if carried to an extreor 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


588 

would result in discontent and dissatisfaction 
among tbe employes, and the interests of the em- 
ployer and the public would suffer through injury 
to the quality of the service. There is no more 
reason why a conductor should not, at proper 
times, be employed as a conductor, getting credit 
for bis experience and an opportunity to invest 
his capital, than there is why a superintendent or 
train master should not be hired. There is no 
more reason why a conductor should not be em- 
ployed as a conductor than there is why an expe 
rienced carpenter, blacksmith, brick-layer or 
master of any other profession should not be em- 
ployed in the capacity for which he has fitted 
hi unelf. There can be no good reason why a 
faithful, competent employe should not have rea- 
sonable hopes of, and opportunity for, promotion 
afforded him. Either the establishment of a strict 
line of seniority or the abolishment of tbe idea in 
its entirety, can be plainly shown to promise evil 
results; hence, it seems a reasonable conclusion, 
that a common ground between the two extremes 
can be adopted with promise of the best results. 
A man's ability and record should cut some figure 
in the question of his employment as a conductor. 
A man's ability, merit and record should be taken 
into consideration in connection with his promo- 
tion. We would not favor depriving a man of 
every reasonable inducement in the way of pros- 
pects for promotion. We would not discourage 
the old and tried employe by depriving him of all 
prospects of securing employment in the profes- 
sion which he has chosen and mastered. We be 
lieve the adoption of a fair compromise as be 
tween the two which fits itself to the local condi- 
tions, will best serve all the interests involved and 
be productive of by far the most satisfactory re- 
sults. The adoption of such a policy means to 
the conductor the recognition of his calling as a 
profession, and an opportunity to secure employ- 
ment therein if misfortune overtake him and he 
can show a good record. To tbe brakeman it 
means that he perhaps will have to serve a little 
longer as a brakeman before securing promotion, 
but when promotion comes, it is to a profession, 
and when he has mastered*it he, in turn, will reap 
the benefit of his patience. The adoption of a 
line of strict seniority means that the younger 
men will be continually and steadily crowding the 
older ones over the top of the ladder and that 
they, in turn, will be crowded over. In this con- 
nection it is very significant that as soon as the 
new conductor has begun to feel at home in bis 
position, his ideas on seniority begin to change, 
and when he has served a few years as conductor 
he wonders why he ever believed that conductors 
should never be hired. 


Thus far we have considered this from the 
standpoint of individual interests alone. We 
could write at length upon the interests of labor- 
ing men generally; of labor organizations and of 
such organizations as are composed of railway 
employes in particular. Under the conditions 
which at present obtain in our country and cer- 
tainly, so long as our present extremely and un- 
reasonably liberal immigration laws are in c ffect, 
tbe working men will be forced into conflict with 
the law of supply and demand. There is no way 
in which tbe men engaged in any trade or calling 
can do more to improve the conditions under 
which the men in that trade or calling labor than 
by limiting the supply of available and competent 
men to the demand for their services. The estab • 
lishraent of a line of strict seniority and the fol- 
lowing of that policy for a few years will fill the 
country with experienced trainmen who. like 
some of our statesmen, will be "out of a job.** 
They will not be satisfied in the positions into 
which they may drift or be forced aud as a natural 
and unavoidable consequence, the stock of avail- 
able, experienced, competent men for this service 
will far exceed the demand for their services. 
The results which will follow that condition of af- 
fairs are apparent. There are more experienced 
conductors today in the United States than there 
are positions of that character, and it behooves 
not only those who are now in positions of that 
kind and those who, having already fitted them- 
selves for those positions, are at the present time 
unable to secure employment, but those who ex- 
pect to fill those positions in years to come, to 
bend their every energy toward tbe establishment 
of such practices and policies as will be calculated 
to make the position one of stability. 

The employer in all probability will, so far as 
tbe interests of the service will admit, consider 
carefully the wishes of his men and take such ac- 
tion as he believes will best promote harmony 
among them and at the same time insure efficient 
service. He will never surrender bis right to a 
voice in the matter, 

The policy advocated by the extremists on either 
side will never be generally adopted. If the di- 
rectly interested parties, viz., the conductors, the 
brakemen and the employers can not agree upon 
some fair basis which will grow into established 
custom, the question will have to work itself out 
by evolution in which greater care in the selection 
of men who are allowed to enter the service will 
cut an important figure. Local conditions vary 
so widely that an inflexible rule would be unsat- 
isfactory and unfair. If all interested will adopt 
tbe motto, "Live and let live," and will bend their 
energies toward the establishment of such condi- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


lions as promise best for them in the future and 
best for those who may follow them in the profes- 
sion, setting aside for the time being immediate 
self interest, there will be no difficulty in securing 
the adoption of a general policy which will result 
in the elevation of the profession and which will 
materially increase the ability of the employes in 
the classes, through their combined efforts and 
their organizations, to maintain a satisfactory 
standard of compensation for thsir services. 

We are unalterably opposed to the idea that an 
employer can not or shall not hire a conductor. 
We are equally opposed to the establishment of 


589 

any policy which does not recognize and reward 
ability, merit and faithful service on the part of 
anyone, be he conductor, brakeman or neither. 
We are opposed to the policy of overcrowding the 
profession or of holding out promotion by age in 
the service as a premium upon disloyalty to fellow 
employes who bear the responsibility. We be- 
lieve that, while urging the employment of ex- 
perienced conductors on account of their experi- 
ence, it is but consistent and eminently proper at 
the same time to advocate the employment of 
experienced brakemen m preference to new men. 
We believe the laborer is "worthy of his hire.” 


"THE LABORER WORTHY OF HIS HIRE. 


The decision recently handedi down by Judge 
Woolson, of *he U. S. Court, in the case of the 
Omaha Sc St. Louis Railway, was a notable vie* 
tory for the employes of that company, and the 
far-reaching arguments upon which it was based, 
will doubtless work for the benefit of many be- 
yond the immediate jurisdiction of that tribunal. 
In June of 1893 the road in question went into 
the hands of a receiver. Some time during last 
May this official recommended to the court a re- 
duction in the pay of different classes of em- 
ployes, stating that he had been unable, after an 
honest and earnest effort, to agree with said em- 
ployes upon a reduced schedule. On July 10 the 
court issued an order referring the bearing of the 
entire question to a master in chancery, giving 
him the following just and indeed generous in- 
structions: 

To take proofs upon said petition of said receiver and 
also as to what wages are now being paid on other lines 
of similar character, operated under like conditions 
through the same country, and to report the same together 
with his findings thereon to this court with all reasonable 
speed; that be cause to be delivered a copy of this order to 
each of the employes, so far as practicable, who are to be 
affected by said proposed reduction of wages, that the re- 
ceiver furnish transportation, going and returning over 
his own line, to such of said employes as shall attend be- 
fore the mister in chancery, and that he pay the reasona- 
ble and necessary expenses of said employes-while attend- 
ing upon said master; and that all employes of said recei- 
ver; so desiring, whose wages are, by said petition sought 
to be reduced, have leave to appear, in person or by attor- 
ney or attorneys or other representative, before said mas- 
ter at time and place of hearing, there to offer all such 
proper proof as they may deem fit, bearing upon the mat- 
ters presented in said receiver’s petition. 

Under this order the hearing was commenced 
July 25, the employes participating and being rep* 
resented by counsel. Both parties submitted 
their evidence, upon which the master made a re- 
port recommending that the reduction asked for 
by the receiver, be ordered. This finding was 
taken before the court by the employes on excep- 
tions, and extended bearing and argument were 
there given. The result was a decision reversing 
the master and sustaining the stand taken by the 
men. 


In this decision Judge Woolson called specia 
attention to the fact that the practice had been in 
full accord with the rule laid down by Judge 
Caldwell in the Union Pacific case. The receiver 
had called his men to a conference, and they had 
been given every opportunity to present their side 
of the questions at issue. The same privileges 
had been accorded them in the hearings before 
the master and the court. He also quoted at 
length "the leading principles which courts of 
equity keep in view" when considering cases of 
this class, as expressed by the same authority, 
their substance being: when a court takes charge 
of a road, its employes are subject to the orders 
of that couit and entitled to its protection; the su- 
preme duty of the court is to operate the road ef- 
ficiently and safely; if passengers are killed or 
freight lost through the negligence of the court in 
providing necessary means of safety, the court is 
morally and legally responsible; sober, intelligent, 
experienced and capable men are requisite to the 
safe operation of a road, and when the employes 
possess these qualifications, the court will not, 
upon light or trivial grounds, dispense with their 
services or reduce their wages. Reference was 
also made to that portion of the decision in which 
Judge Caldwell said the men "must be paid full 
wages, though no dividends are paid on the stock 
and no interest on the bonds.” These rulings 
were shown by Judge Woolson to be peculiarly 
applicable to the case in hand, as the receiver 
bore cheerful and hearty testimony to the faith- 
ful, intelligent and capable character of his men. 

In reviewing the argument advanced by the re- 
ceiver supporting the proposed reduction, it was 
stated to be in effect: for years the Omaha had 
been closely allied with the Wabash system, their 
rates having been the same for the same service 
in May last the Wabash reduced its men to 1 
of pay practically the same as he proposed, 


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590 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


under the conditions it was no more than just 
that his men should accept the same reduction . 
Against this the men urged that, owing to supe- 
rior road-bed and equipment, the Wabash em- 
ployes were enabled to earn greater mileage 
within a given time with less work and risk and 
proved to the satisfaction of the court that the 
present pay per hour on the receiver's line was 
much less than the pay per hour to like classes of 
employes for similar service under the Wabash 
reduced wages. The bearing of decreased earn- 
ings upon the subject of wages was disposed of by 
Judge Woo Ison as follows: 

If it be urged that under the reduced earnings of the 
road for the past few months, the present pay becomes 
disproportionate thereto, the language of Judge Caldwell, 
in the opinion above cited, is pertinent, that: “The em- 
ployes, under the present (mileage) system, share the bur- 
den of diminished business. They make less mileage and 
get less pay per month." 

Upon the basis of these rulings, and the evi- 
dence and argument as outlined, and after con- 
sidering at length the tabulated statements of the 
yearly and monthly average wages paid by roads 
under practically the same conditions, and com- 
paring them with the rates in force on the 
Omaha, Judge Woolson summed up his decision 
in the following vigorous langage: 

The evidence does not show that these yearly and 
monthly averages are higher than the rates paid on other 
lines operated, as nearly as can be found, through similar 
country and under like conditions. And in the opinion of 
the court, the payments shown to have been made by the 
schedules now in force, are just and equitable, ana the 
rate now paid not higher than it should be for the service 
rendered. At least not higher to such an extent as to re- 
quire the enforced order of this court in the matter. Es- 
pecially under the fact apparent from the evidence, that 
the rates, as applied to the greatly reduced volume of 
business lately passing over this road, will result, of ne- 
cessity, in greatly reducing payments to these employes. 

I do not overlook the testimony introduced on the part 
of the receiver, that the rates as proposed in the schedule 
recommended, are fair and just to the men. The wit- 
nesses are experienced railroad operators. Their testi- 
mony is largely based on the reduced earnings and the 
fact that the expenditures of the road for some months 
have exceeded the receipts. And also on the fact shown by 
the evidence that at the present time many railroad men 
are unemployed and seeking employment, so that there 
would be no present difficulty in engaging others in the 
place of those who might quit the service, because of the 
reduced pay. The court does not regard these reasons as 


entitled to much weight in considering the matter to bi 
here decided. The retention of faithful, intelligent sad 
capable employes is of greatly more importance than tem- 
porary decrease in earnings, or present ability to secure 
other employes at reduced wagea. The court is not lam- 
bed in discharging trusted, satisfactory employs* 
or compelling their retirement from the sendee of 
the court, because present ability to employ others at r* 
duced wages, would turn a present operation at a loss into 
such operation without loss. If, as has already beande> 
termined. the wages now paid are not in excess, in th* 
particulars considered, of the wages paid by other roods 
running through the same general country and operating 
under practically similar conditions, and the wages no* 
paid on this line are not excessive for the services per 
formed, the reasons presented for a reduction, by the 
court, of those wages (against the protest of the men af- 
fected thereby) should be weighty indeed, end should ap- 
peal with most convincing power, before the order for 
such reduction is entered. The evidence shows that soma 
of the employes, with families to support, are scarcely 
able to maintain them on present wages. The highest and 
best service cannot be expected from men who are com- 
pelled to live in a state of pinch and want. 

This is a plain, straightforward, statement of 
the duties owed by the courts to their employes, 
and it might be studied with advantage by em- 
ployers who have no such relations with their 
men. It is not only in direct keeping with the 
stand taken by Judge Caldwell, but with that 
taken by Judge Woolson upon a former occasion. 
Through it air there is a keen appreciation of the 
principles of justice underlying the relations of 
employer and employe, that speaks volumes for 
the man as well as the judge, and when the doc- 
trines here enunciated are more generally re- 
ceived, the labor problem will be well on the way 
to solution. 

Oa the bearing counsel for the employes admit- 
ted that the pay for local freight men on the 
Omaha was greater than was paid by other roads 
under the same conditions, and a reduction was 
ordered in this one particular, though it was only 
half what was asked by the receiver in the case of 
engineers and firemen. It was a sweeping victory 
for the men^ and but adds emphasis to the asser- 
tion we have often made, that the working men 
of this country need no better asylum than the 
courts when presided over by fair minded and 
fearless judges. 


NEW LAWS FOR THE FIREMEN 


During their recent convention in Harrisburg 
the Firemen made a number of important changes 
in their laws, and most of them were of general 
interest. The Grand Officers recommended the 
removal of the Grand Lodge from Terre Haute, 
and the delegates decided without opposition that 
such change was essential to the welfare of the 
Brotherhood. To the Grand Officers and execu- 
tive board was entrusted the selection of a new lo- 
cation, and a special meeting will be held for that 
purpose in the near future. A number of impor- 
tant changes were made in the laws regulating the 


payment of benefits, but these ar<- explained at 
some length in another column of this issue. 

Of all the new provisions adopted, ptrbaps the 
following possesses the most direct interest for the 
members of other organ izations: "Striking fire- 
men shall be allowed $25 per month for three 
months only." This takes the place of a law 
granting $40 per month during a strike, and it was 
the general practice to petition the membership to 
have that pay extended. This practice grew to 
such an extent that it became practically impossi- 
ble to decide when the pay should stop and hm 


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such decision accepted or followed with any de- 
gree of satisfaction on the part of those interested. 
The fixing of an invariable rule obviates the pos- 
sibility of misunderstanding, and insures all being 
treated exactly alike. All other railroad organi- 
zations have had similar experiences, and the in- 
flexible rule is unquestionably the only satisfactory 
solution of the problem. 

The new law also contains the following impor- 
tant provision : * ‘Strikes may be declared off by 
the Grand Master with the consent of a majority 
of the members of the Grand Executive Board." 
Heretofore it has been impossible for the Grand 
Officers to call off a strike without the consent of 
the local committee, no matter what the urgency 


591 

might seem to be. The law now makes the Grand 
Master and the Executive Board the supreme au- 
thority upon this question, and when in their 
opinion a strike has been hopelessly lost or the 
good of the order demands, they can act without 
the cousent of the local body. 

Every labor organization has the right to de- 
mand the undivided support of its grand officers, 
and the following protective measure is strictly in 
line with this fundamental principle: “No mem- 
ber of any other labor organization shall hold the 
position of a grand officer of the brotherhood. " 

On the whole, the changes made appear to have 
been well considered, and it would se-m that they 
could hardly fail to work in the direction of the 
steady and healthy growth of the order. 


THE READING AGAIN. 


The hostility entertained and exercised by this 
company toward labor organizations of any kind 
is too well known and has been too thoroughly 
discussed to make further detailed discussion of 
it profitable. The receivers and other officers 
have been making some more of that history 
which has made the name of the P. & R. a syn- 
onym of all that 19 unreasonable, harsh and op 
pressive on the part of an employer, by renewing 
their attack upon an organization of workingmen. 
In September Mr. Sweigard called certain of his 
employes to his office and informed them that 
they must sever their connection with the com- 
pany or their membership in the Brotherhood of 
Railway Trainmen. Grand Master Wilkinson 
appealed to the courts for relief, praying that the 
receivers be restrained from enforcing such or- 
ders. The receivers, in their answer, set up tech- 
nicalities connected with the individual cases 
cited, thereby dodging the general or real issue. 
The matter went over without date. It is to be 
earnestly hoped that success will crown the efforts 
of the officers of the B. of R. T , as otherwise the 
men must give up their membership in a fraternal 
and beneficial organization or seek employment 
elsewhere. The P. & R company has had no 
difficulty with the organizations it wars up an, and 
if the records of those organizations for honestly 
conducted affairs and square dealing, as well as 
fair consideration of and regard for the rights of 
the public, were no better than those of the 
(in)famous P. & R , they would well deserve an- 
nihilation. So long as this company can continue 
to require of all men entering their service a 
written assurance that they do not belong to any 
labor organization, or an agreement that they 
will withdraw from same and refrain from be- 
coming a member of one, while in their employ, 


so long will the present policy be followed and so 
long will it prove practically abortive to appeal 
to the courts. What is needed is a law in Penn- 
sylvania, similar to that now in effect in several 
other states, which will prohibit and prevent the 
carrying out of any such feeling or policy on the 
part of any public corporation. We know of no 
better law of this kind than the one of Minnesota, 
which we append hereto. There is a Legislative 
Committee in Pennsylvania. Can they secure 
the pas-age of such a law there? 

Chapter 25, H. F. 36, General Laws of 1893. 

AN ACT declaring it a misdemeanor on the part of em- 
ployers to require as a condition of employment the 

surrender of any right of citizenship. 

Section 1. Apy person or partnership carrying on any 
trade or business in this state, and any corporation char- 
tered under general or special laws, foreign or domestic, 
and exercising public or private franchises therein, are 
hereby forbidden from requiring or demanding of or from 
any servant or employe, on any condition whatsoever, the 
surrender in writing or by parole, or the abandonment, or 
any agreement to abandon any lawful right or privilege of 
citizenship, public or private, political or social, moral or 
religious, and whosoever violates the provisions of this act 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con- 
viction shall be fined in a sum not exceeding one hundred 
(100) dollars, and shall stand committed to the common 
jail of the proper county until such fine and costs of pros- 
ecution are paid, or in lieu of such fine the proper court 
may in its discretion sentence the convicted party to im- 
prisonment in the county jail of the proper county for a 
term not exceeding ninety (90) days. 

Sec. 2. The president, vice-president, secretary, gen- 
eral superintendent or other principal officer of any such 
partnership, association or corporation as is named in 
section one of this act, who may direct or be a party to the 
violation of the provisions hereof, shall be taken and 
deemed as persons within the meaning thereof, and shall 
be held liable in all courts and places for a violation by 
such partnership or corporation, of the provisions thereof. 

Sec. 3. The county attorney of any county, or the 
proper prosecuting officer of any city or municipality in 
this state, is hereby authorized and directed to commence 
and to prosecute to termination before the proper court 
all violations of the provisions of this act, whenever the 
same are brought to nis notice. 

Sec. 4. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this 
act are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from 
and after its passage. 

Approved March 3, 1893. 


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592 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


IS IT 

Some fifteen years ago one H. C. Parsoas was 
Vice President of the Richmond & Allegheny rail- 
road for about two years. Later this road was ab- 
sorbed by the Chesapeake & Ohio, and Mr Par- 
sons’ offici il connection ceased certainly so far 
as any employe had any knowledge. The rules of 
the C. & O. require its conductors to collect 
transportation from all persons on their trains, 
and to insist that all persons (except officers per- 
sonally known) exhibit their annual passes each 
time th j y ride. 

Mr. Parsons had an annual pass, and he formed 
a strong dislike to Brother Thomas A. Goodman 
because he insisted upon compliance wiih the 
rules of the company Parsons repeatedly pre- 
cipitated unpleasant controversies instead of ex- 
hibiting his pass as he should, and once when 
required to pay f ire for his daughter, (for whom 
he had no transportation) in addition to enacting 
a disgraceful scene on the train, he strove ear- 
nestly to secure the dismissal of Brother Good- 
man. Brother Goodman had faithfully per- 
formed his duties as prescribed by his employers, 
and was upheld by them m so doing. 

After pursuing these tactics for four years, Par- 
sons finally resorted to an effort to deprive Bro- 
ther Goodman of his position, and in the same 
connection to blast his character, and even inter- 
fered in his family affairs, in a communication to 
the General Manager of the road. The letter 
found its way back to Brother Goodmaa. On 
June 29 Brother Goodman met Parsons at Clifton 
Forge, and asked him to retract wh^t he had said. 
Parsons (with an insulting remark) refused, and, 
according to Brother Goodman’s statement, threw 
his hand to his hip. Brother Goodman drew his 
gun and shot Parsons dead 


JUST? 

If it were not for the fact of Parsons' seeming 
attempt to draw a weapon, we would not be able 
to find any justification for Brother Goodman's 
act. If Parsons had refused to retract his slan- 
ders and Brother Goodman had given him a good 
sound threshing, we would have said, good boy! 
We have no patience with the cur who, when he 
has some little fancied grievance against an em- 
ploye of a corporation, seeks to get even by using 
his influence to get the employe dismissed, nor 
have we any sympathy for him if, as a result of 
his cowardly action, he gets into trouble. If the 
attacks are supported by misrepresentations and 
falsehoods, about the only thing that is not excus- 
able on the part of the wronged employe, is mur- 
der. 

Brother Goodman was indicted, tried, found 
guilty of murder in the second degree and sen- 
tenced to eighteen years in the state penitentiary 
A stay of execution pending an appeal was 
granted It is thought a new trial will be granted 
Brother Goodman's gentlemanly deportment and 
his worth as a man are abundantly testified to by 
prominent and reliable business and professional 
men, as well as the press of his locality. There 
is much truth and force in the following from the 
editorial columas of one of the Virginia newspa- 
pers: 

We do not take the position that crime should not be 
punished. Far from it. But we do think that a poor man 
should have some show in this world. Parsons was a man 
of means and position. Goodman was an humble em- 
ploye. Parsons wanted to have him removed from his po- 
sition because he (Goodman) was true to the interests of 
his company, having made passengers on his train pay 
their way. A verdict of acquittal, or even a lighter sen- 
tence, would have shown conclusively that men of means 
were upon the same footing in Virginia as that of honest 
men in the humble walks of life. * * * * • 

We believe in justice, but we do not think it right and just 
to send one man to the penitentiary for eighteen years for 
defending himself and loved ones, and then send another 
for only five years for a greater crime, as was the case 
with T. J. Clark, of Danville, who in the night time way- 
laid Rev. J. R. Moffett and shot him down like a dog. 


COMMENT. 


A very common objection to government own 
ership of the railroads is that the government 
would be unable to carry the enormous burden of 
debt which it would be necessary to assume in 
order to acquire possession of the railways. That 
is the principal objection advanced by Commis- 
sioner Veazey, as stated in these columns last 
month, and there are many prominent persons 
throughout the country who treat the proposition 
for government ownership as a self evident ab- 
surdity on that ground alone. Yet, it seems to 
me that this objection is the very one which has 
the faintest show of reason to support it. To in- 
crease the bonded debt of the government, say, 


eleven billions of dollars, would be a very serious 
matter, would mean bankruptcy for the govern- 
ment, would be loading the people with a burden 
of debt which they could never carry in addition 
to their present burdens, if the debt happened to 
be of the same nature as the present national 
debt; and such a proposition would certainly be 
absurd. But the bonds issued for the purchase 
of the railroads would be of an entirely different 
nature from our present government bonds; in- 
stead of being based on wealth that has beets de- 
stroyed they would be based on wealth actually 
existing and actively employed in the service of 
the people; instead of representing the waste and 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


destruction of war they would represent the actual 
present value to the people of a very important 
agent of civilization. The people would get some* 
thing tangible in return for their payments on the 
government bonis issued for the purchase of t^ie 
railways; for their payments on the present gov- 
ernment bonds they get no benefit whatever in re- 
turn. This is a distinction that is often fo gotten, 
but it needs to be kept in mind. 

* » * 

The gross amount of revenue paid to private 
parties on account of the railroads during the last 
fiscal year was considerably more than one bil- 
lion dollars; a sum which answered to pay more 
than four per cent on the capitalized value of the 
roads after deducting the cost of operation. Who 
furnished this revenue? The railway users, the 
people, of course. Suppose we leave things ex- 
actly on their present basis of operation and man- 
agement; would it be any harder for the people, 
any more of a burden upon them, to furnish the 
present amount of revenue to the government than 
it is to furnish it now to private parties? Cer- 
tainly not The people are just as truly bur- 
dened with the cost of operating the roads, to- 
gether with the net revenue which goes to make 
payments on railway capital, now, as they wculd 
be were the roads owned by the government and 
their present capitalization represented by gov- 
eminent bonds The people would have to stop 
using the roads entirely in order to deprive the 
government of the means of meeting the pay- 
ments on the bonds issued for the purchase of the 
railroads, and it is not likely they will do that 
just yet. Not a dollar of extra tax need be levied 
in order for the government to acquire ownership 
of the railroads; the government can issue bonds 
to the present holders of railway securities to 
cover the value of their holdings, and the receipts 
of operation that now go to pay interest and divi- 
dends on railway capital can then be devoted to 
paying the interest and principal of the bonds. 
Increase in capitalization would cease, and from 
that fact, together with economics in manage- 
ment, the roads would pay for themselves in one 
generation and the people would have them free 
without a dollar of taxation anywhere in the pro- 
cess. There are some valid objections to govern- 
ment ownership, but increase in the bonded in- 
debtedness is not one of them. 

* * * 

Our courts are rendering very extraordinary 
decisions of late. If the decision of Judge La 
combe, of the New York district court, in the case 
of Levi Morton's imported coachman, holds wa- 
ter, our secretary of the treasury is invested with 


593 

the power of a Russian autocrat. Morton’s coach- 
man was arrested and detained under the terms 
of the contract labor law. That law especially 
exempts “domestic servants,” and Judge Lacombe 
says there can be no doubt but the man is a * do- 
mestic servant” and so exempted under the terms 
of the law; but he adds that the courts are pow- 
erless to help the accused. If Secretary Carlisle 
says the man is not a domestic servant it lies in 
his power to arrest him, throw him into jail, and 
then forcibly deport him. Of caurse, the action 
of the authorities in this matter is merely for the 
purpose of making political capital; if Morton 
were not candidate for governor we should never 
be bothered about the fact of his having imported 
^a coachman; but that does not matter much be- 
side the extraordinary scope of the district judge’s 
decision. That decision practically gives to the 
secretary of the treasury the power to arrest and 
send out of the country any foreigner whom he 
may choose to designate as coming under the 
terms of the law, and the courts are powerless to 
rescue him. It was was never intended that such 
extraordinary power as this should be lodged in 
the person of any executive officer of this govern- 
ment. The executive department of the govern- 
ment has assumed some extraordinary powers of 
late, but this power given to the secretary of the 
treasury by the court, the power to imprison and 
deport a man who the court says has a perfect 
ri^ht to be here, is one which an executive officer 
would hardly dare assume on his own motion* 
Entirely aside from any of the matters connected 
with Levi Morton’s coachman, this is a question 
that needs to be looked into. 

* * * 

Another extraordinary decision was that of 
Judge Butler, of Philadelphia, in refusing to issue 
naturalization papers to an applicant for citizen- 
ship who said that he believed in the collective 
ownership of the means of production, on the 
ground that such doctrine is socialism and a so- 
cialist is not eligible to citizenship. This, not- 
withstanding that the American Federation of 
Labor, at its last annual session, adopted as one 
of its demands a plank calling for the collective 
ownership by the people of all means of produc- 
tion and distribution;- notwithstanding that the 
Socialist Labor party has a national organiza- 
tion in this country, and is formally recognized in 
many of our states, where its tickets are regularly 
printed on the official ballots; and notwithstand- 
ing that there are thousands of American citizens 
who are believers in the doctrine of nationalism 
in every state and territory in the union. If a 
belief in socialism is incompatible with the proper 


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exercise of the duties of American citizenship, we 
have gotten a long ways on the wrong road 
before finding it out. Evidently, there is some 
work to be done in re-organizing our federal ju- 
diciary. 

« * * 

An interesting point touching the respective 
jurisdictions of state and federal authority is 
raised by the treasury department concerning the 
South Carolina dispensary law. which the su- 
preme court of that state has pronounced consti- 
tutional. This law gives state officials the right 
to take possession of and confiscate all liquors 
produced either in or out of the state, or to sell 
them only through the state agencies, upon pay-^ 
ment of the United States internal revenue tax. 
Inasmuch as, under the restrictions imposed by 
this law, the distiller cannot sell his product to 
private persons within the state, nor to persons 
outside the state, except on such disadvantageous 
terms as to practically prohibit its manufacture, 
the law tends to diminish the sale of liquor, and 


consequently to reduce the revenues of the gen- 
eral government. Upon this showing of facts the 
treasury department raises the question whether 
a state can *o legislate as to deprive the United 
States of one of its declared sources of revenue 
1 would be vastly pleased to see an authoritative 
decision made upon this question If the con- 
tention of the treasury department has any foroe. 
it would also make prohibition laws illegal, be- 
cause they would interfere with the revenues a! 
the United Stales. State laws prohibiting the 
manufacture of oleomargarine would also be ille- 
gal. Laws against gambling might be shown to 
interfere with the revenue which the general gov- 
ernment derives from the sale of playing cards 
In fact, there is no telling what department of 
state legislation the question might not be made 
to cover if once established as a principle. It is 
well to remember, in this connection, that such 
absurd contentions could not arise if the govern- 
ment confined itself to the one natural source erf 
revenue, land values, and ceased trying to collect 
revenue from so many unnatural sources. B 


BORROWED OPINION. 


Another sign of diminishing friction is the bet- 
ter management of trade union societies. These 
institutions are the outcome of the factory system 
and the division of labor. When every man sup- 
plied his own wants there was no organizing of 
men, but when capital was massed in large quan- 
tities, and many men were drawn under the same 
roof, what was more natural than for them to 
confer and form an association to protect and ad- 
vance their own interests? If the employer 
mourns over the formation of these societies, let 
him remember how much they have been caused 
by himself. They are a necessary counterbal- 
ance to aggregated capital. This is imperious 
enough now, and we fear would be more so if 
trade union societies did not exist. Anyhow, 
many improvements may be seen in the manage- 
ment of these societies. In the beginning they 
were rude affiirs officered often by ignorant and 
prejudiced men who were constantly blundering. 
Realizing their ignorance and inability to man- 
age wisely, persons outside their own number 
were frequently chosen, and who on many occa- 
sions abused their trust. As labor unions have 
grown older, their members have learned more, 
and better men have been chosen leaders. The 
consequences of striking are more intelligently 
considered than they were a few years ago. It 
must be remembered, too, that many of these 
societies have been formed on the eve of a strike; 
that it was not the consequence of forming the 
society, but the society was a consequence of the 
intention of the members to strike. Especially 
that was the origin of many trade union societies 
in this country. * * * 

If the conflict between the employed and the 


employer seem violent, let us consider that we see 
only one part of the battlefield whereon all the 
opposing classes of producers and exchangers are 
contending. In France the way of peace has 
been found; in England the worst is probably 
over; and in the light of our own and of foreign 
experience, can we not see. if we choose to look, 
how to lessen the conflict? Between the con- 
tending parties is a moral basis of settlement. — 
the rendering of a fair equivalent for the service 
or thins given, — and whenever this basis shall be 
adopted, the terms of permanent settlement will 
be the short closing act to the long and pathetic 
drama of ill-requited toil . — Albert S. BolUs. in 
The Century . 


The report of Deputy Fac ory Inspector Mary 
O'Reilly respecting the sweating system m Phila- 
delphia presents a condition of affairs that seems 
to call for legislative interference Competition 
in business nourishes the sweating system. The 
buying public looks for “bargains" and does not 
stop to inquire how the low prices are brought 
about. Thus the wages are forced down and 
down until starvation prices are reached, and 
work is carried on in the cheapest quarters and 
under the worst possible sanitary conditions. No 
one can exaggerate the evils of individual cases: 
the disease and suffering; the cruelty of task- 
masters; the impositions practiced upon the hun- 
gry worker, who must hold bis place or starve; 
the danger of a spread of infection from the 
crowded tenements to the homes of purchasers of 
clothing made in these sweat shops. — Philadel- 
phia Public Ledger. 


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Salida, Colo. 


Editor Railway Conductor : 

It may be that some of the Sister Divisions are 
saying, "What has become of Columbine Divi- 
sion?” We are still alive and prospering nicely, 
but are a little excited at the present time over a 
coming event, namely, the giving of a big ball on 
Thanksgiving night. All of the Sisters are taking 
a lively interest in it, and we look forward to a 
grand success. 

Deputy Grand Sister Kissick has been with us 
since I last wrote, and taught us some new floor 
work that is quite pretty, and which we all en- 
joyed. 

I am very sorry to say that our Sister Secretary 
and Treasurer is sick with a very bad cold. We have 
the loveliest kind of weather in our little town, 
but there seems to be an epidemic of colds going 
around, so that some of our sisters are not able to 
attend meeting. There are a number of conduc- 
tors’ wives who have not joined us as yet, but we 
hope to gather them all into our little band in 
time, and then I think they will say, "I wonder 
why I didn't join them before ” It is so pleasant 
to put household duties to one side twice a month 
and meet all of my sisters, for we have such 
pleasant times together. 

I hope that our Sister, Mrs. A. £. T. , has seen 
the silvery lining of the dark clouds long before 
this time. We, too, in our little town had some 
experience this summer of a railroad strike, but, 
am glad to say, with no very disastrous results. 

I think the ladies' Department of the magazine is 
getting more fall of interest all the time, and en- 
joy reading the magazine all through. 

With kindest and best wishes to all L A's to O. 
R, C . I remain Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. Frank Gilman. 


St. Albans, Vt. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

Vermont Division is steadily increasing in 
membership. Our meetings are well attended, 
and all are interested and working well for the 


good of the Order. The first opportunity to add 
to our treasury was given us by an invitation 
from Division No. 24, O. R. C., to join them in 
a picnic at Missisquoi Park. Fine weather; a 
large and orderly crowd; excellent music by St. 
Albans Brigade Band, which consisted of a con- 
cert in the afternoon, and the orchestra furnish- 
ing music for dancing in the afternoon and even- 
ing; interesting sports; a large and beautiful 
park; one and all combined to make the picnic 
a decided success, both socially and financially. 
A good supper, delicious ice cream, cake, etc., 
served by the Ladies' Auxiliary, netted us the 
sura of $50, which we thought very good for a 
first attempt. This will enable us to get our 
badges, frame our charter, meet other expenses; 
in short, free us from all indebtedness Our 
socials now and then bring us in something, be- 
sides giving us a pleasant time. Last Wednesday 
we met at Sister Remington's, where we had an 
exceptionally good tiras, which we did not need 
to be assured of when the invitation was given. 
I am glad we have a little time left us to enjoy 
these beautiful autumn days, which are passing 
so swiftly, before the cold winter, which is now 
fast approaching. 

Vermont Division sends greeting to all the Sis- 
ter Divisions. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. G. H. Peck. 


Atlanta, Ga. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Golden Rod Division still continues to grow. 
Oar last meeting was a good one; in fact, they atl 
seem to be so. I think if the Sisters would attend 
every meeting, they would take more interest in 
the Order and derive more benefit from it. Try 
it, Sisters, for a few months and see. 

We came near having no place in which to 
meet at our next meeting. The building caught 
fire Sunday morning, and would have burned to 
the ground, but for the wails of our poor bright 
eyed goat. 

We are making a silk crazy quilt to be raffled 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


596 

•ff at twenty-five c$nts a chance to get more 
money in our treasury by the convention, and I 
feel sure that all that can ill take some chances, 
knowing what it is for and bow badly we need 
money, or will in the spring, so if any of you 
Broth', rs or Sisters feel like sending a chance or 
two, it will be appreciated, I assure you. 

I think I learned a lesson a few days ago, 
which I want to share with the Sisters. There 
were several of us at a neighbor’s house at a kind 
of sewing, quilting, or it matters not what, for we 
spent a delightful afternoon. In some way the 
conversation turned to different churches, and 
my church was literally torn to pieces and not 
put together again. I sat silently by (for a won- 
der) and let them rattle on. I was obliged to 
laugh, for some of the most unreasonable things 
said of the church, their belief and so on. Some 
of you may say: “Why did you not tell them it 
was the church you belorg to, that they were dis 
cussing?” Well, for this reason, I knew it would 
make them feel badly, and ask pardon for what 
bad bten said, thinking my feelings were hurt, 
which was not the case. Now the lesson is, vs hen 
we are in company we should not make remarks 
about any person, for a sister or brother may be 
sitting by. These ladies would have been far 
from saying what they did if they had known it 
was of my church they were talking. Now if any 
of you ladies who were present that afternoon, 
should happen to see this, please do not think for 
one moment thet I think any less of you, for not 
so. I only write this for a lesson. And another 
thing, 1 don't think we should ever have any hard 
feeling i against each other in or out of the Divi- 
sion room, and we should correct each other’s 
faults, and try and be in as good trim as possible 
for a new Division to be in, when the convention 
meets here, which is almost upon us. 

Yours in T. F. . 

Plain Spoken. 


Cheyenne. Wyoming 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

As it is sometime since our Division has re- 
ported through your columns, we wish our sister 
Divisions to know that we are living and busy. 
We have initiated three new members this year, 
six since organization. Three of the young con- 
ductors have shown so much interest in the 
Ladies’ Auxiliary that they made it a duty to find 
mates and so add to our number. 

Sister J. H. Wiley has been obliged to leave us 
on account of the serious illness of her husband 
that necessitated an immediate change to a lower 
altitude. The majority of the ladies of our Di- 


vision met one afternoon at the home of Sister 
C. G. Wolcott and helped with preparations for 
the departure of her family. We hear that Bro 
Wiley is improving, and hope to see them all in 
our midst again in a near future. Sister Wolcott 
served nice refreshments and we all enjoyed the 
afternoon, as well as spending it profitably. 

A few days ago, quite a number of our ladies 
met at the home of our Sister President R. G 
Shingle, and made a handsome cheesecloth com- 
forter, which is to be raffled in the near future, 
and the proceeds sent to the “Home for Aged 
and Disabled Railroad Employes” in Chicago 
All present had a jolly time, enjoying the work 
and especially the hot coffee, sandwiches, ice 
cream and cake furnished by our hostess, and we 
hope to realize enough from the comforter to 
furnish several more for the unfortunate men 
who are so fortunate to have a "Home" provided 
for them. 

We have given several entertainments which 
have betn complete successes, and are now diill- 
ing on the ' O Why” degree, with which we an- 
ticipate a great deal of amusement as well as 
some financial profit during the winter. 

We have had a short literary and musical pro* 
gram at some of our Division meetings, and find 
it adds to the interest. 

Will some of the Sisters suggest something else 
to interest and draw the Sisters out when bust' 
ness is dull? 

Yours in T. F. t 

Mrs. EBB 


Toledo. Ohio 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

You no doubt think we have taken a long sum- 
mer vacation, but here we are again, after a jolli- 
fication. 

Last Tuesday, Oct, 9th, about twenty mem- 
bers of Banner Division met at the passenger 
depot of the T. & O. C. Railway, and boarding a 
train that was in waiting, were whirled away to 
Bucyrus, Ohio, seventy miles distant. The ladies 
were delighted to find that their precious lives 
were in charge of that pleasant and efficient con- 
ductor, H. C. Gray, and they hereby extend their 
thanks to him for courtesies received. Brothers 
Wright and Loop remained standing on the depot 
platform waving their farewells, while the tears 
coursed down their cheeks — poor fellow's 1 Be- 
fore the train started they were in the best of 
spirits and gave all kinds of advice and instruc- 
tions. Brother Loop particularly called our at- 
tention to the obligation we had all taken in the 
“Oh Why Degree.” relative to flirting. We each 
one of us, however, mutually resolved that for 


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this occasion only we would absolve ourselves 
from that obligation, and at that moment the 
train started and we were soon beyond the reach 
of his expostulations and admonitions. I would 

tell you about Sister W and the wandering 

minstrel, but I would not like to hurt his feel- 
ings, for through his efforts we were agreeably 
entertained. 

Arriving at Bucyrus we were met by Conduc- 
tor Baylor, accompanied by Mrs. Miller, Mrs. 
Baylor and Mrs. Morse. We were escorted to 
the elegant dining room in connection with the 
railway depot, where we were served with a 
splendid dinner, and to tell the truth, I don’t 
think we felt as well after partaking as before, 
and I don't think the proprietor did, either. We 
were then escorted to ihe Macabees’ Hall, where 
were assembled other ladies, and we proceeded to 
institute Harmony Division, No. 57, which Di- 
vision. though consisting of only eleven charter 
members, we predict a glorious future, for we be- 
lieve they have the pluck and energy to achieve a 
grand success. The following Sisters were 
elected officers for the ensuing year: Sister Bay- 
lor. president; Sister Beilharz, vice-president; 
Sister Kimmel, S. S.; Sister Stauffner, J. S.; 
Sister Young, Secretary and Treasurer; Sister 
Miller, G.; Sister Morse, chairman executive 
committee.’ Some of the gentlemen being pres- 
ent. the officers were publicly installed, and im- 
mediately afterward fourteen of our ladies gave 
tbs new floor wotk and then the 'Oh .Why" 
guards conferred the degree on the following. 
Brothers Baylor, Gardner, Miller, Morse and 
Young. They all wear the yellow ribbon now, 
and have promised in the future to live up to 
their obligations In the evening we were de- 
lightfully entertained at Sister Miller’s, where we 
met Brothers Jas. McMillan and E. W. Purrett, 
whom we immediately took under our charge and 
protection The evening was passed in pleasant 
conversation, music and cards. An elegant lunch 
was served, and we all voted that as royal enter- 
tainers the Bucyrus Sisters could not be beaten. 
Now I will tell you who we were that have been 
the recipients of all these favors: Sisters J. H. 
Moore, Jas McMillan. A W. McIntyre, M. A. 
Loop, J Power, E W. Purrett, Geo. Updyke. 
D. Myers, A M. Prince. V. Hendrix, J. W. Ar- 
nold, M. Miller, J. Talty. O B. Clark, B F. 
Osborne. H O Wright, J Heath, C. C Wood- 
ward, Geo French and H, C. Gage. 

Yours in T. F., 

Banner Correspondent. 


597 

Harrisburg. Pa. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

It has been some time since you have heard 
from Division 47, and perhaps a few words re- 
garding our continued prosperity may not be un- 
welcome to your readers. 

We have taken in quite a number of new mem- 
bers sirice our organization, but not so many as 
we would have done bad it not been for the hard 
times among the railroad men and the prejudice 
felt by so many against such organizations among 
women As soon as times grow better we will 
take in a number of others and will show the 
“queer” husbands that we can run Keystone Di- 
vision successfully. The members of the O. R. 
C. have been very generous with us, both socially 
and financially, and we are under obligations to 
them therefor. 

Two entertainments have been given by the 
Division recently; the first at the home of our 
President, Sister Ross, was a complete success, 
as she knows how to manage such entertainments. 
Several visitors were present from Philadelphia 
and Sunbury, and they seemed to enjoy it thor- 
oughly. The second was a lawn social, and was 
held at the home of Sister Myers, and was 
equally successful. The lawn was beautifully 
decorated, but owing to stress of weather we 
were obliged to meet in the house. 

When theB. of L. F. convention was held in this 
city their ladies were entertained by the different 
railroad organizations. On August i8ih the O. 
R. C. took them on an excursion to Mount Gretna, 
and we passed a most enjoyable day. 

With best wishes for all. I remain, 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. A. H. Eastright. 


Des Moines, Iowa. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Our Division is in mourning through sympathy 
with Sister O. T. Johnson, who was called upon 
to suffer the loss of a devoted husband on the 4th 
of September last. Brother Johnson was very 
popular wherever known, and the sympathy ex- 
tended his wife was all the more sincere because 
of the sense of personal loss felt by the friends 
of both. The funeral was held in the First Con- 
gregational Church, and was largely attended. 
The^flaral offerings were many in number and 
beautiful in design; those from the O. R. C., the 
Auxiliary, the insurance men of the city and 
from the children of the neighborhood, with 
whom Brother Johnson was a great favorite, be- 


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ing especially noticeable. The members of the 
Auxiliary attended in a body, and our hearts 
went out to our Sister in her grief for a kind and 
loving husband who had shared her life for the 
past tweaty-five years Mrs. Johnson was presi- 
dent of our Division for two years, and there can 
be no question but her services in that responsi- 
ble position were made more valuable by the 
ready support and sympathy always accorded by 
her husband. In him we have lost a true friend 
whose place it will be difficult to fill. Sister 
Cherry, who was present from Valley Junction, 
had laid her husband to rest on the 9th of the 
September before. 

During the past summer we have lost three 
members. Mr. and Mrs. Tone Boen have gone 
to the south; Mr. and Mrs. McMahon and Mr. 
and Mrs. Wilcoxen have gone to St. Paul, where 
we hear they are doing better than when. with us. 
Naturally this is pleasant news to us. but we 
shall miss these Sisters greatly from their places 
in the Division room. 

Sister Hall is somewhat improved in health, 
and we have hopes for her speedy recovery. 

An addition of eight new members will soon 
be made to our Division, coming from Valley 
Junction. This will be a great help to us in many 
ways, as we have been somewhat unfortunate in 
having our members move away. 

I wish the Sisters would write more and oitener 
to the Ladies’ Department of The Conductor. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. Andy McLees. 


Eagle Grove, Iowa. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

It may be that some of the readers of The 
Conductor will be interested in hearing of the 
growth that has come to Prosperity Division No. 
49. L. A. to O. R. C., during the year now so 
nearly ended. Although we have been organized 
since last February only, we have taken in seven 
new members and have hopes for more. The at- 
tendance has increased since the cool weather 
commenced and the meetings have grown in in- 
terest thereby. We are still meeting in I. O. O. 
F. hall, but hope to be at home in our new O. R. 
C hall by the first of the new year. On the 
whole, the Division is prospering nicely, and we 
feel that a good work has already been accom- 
plished iu promoting sociability among the con- 
ductors and in establishing a spirit of sisterly 
love among our own members. Hereafter we 
will give a social every two weeks, aiming as 


much at the cultivation of sociability as at the 
improvement of our finances. 

It may be a little late, but I must mention our 
exceedingly pleasant visit to Lake City some time 
since. The members of the O. R. C. were kindly 
furnished with a special train by their sufferin- 
tendent, and the wives were included in the invi- 
tation, all of the latter being members of the 
Auxiliary. When we reached our destination we 
were received by the Brothers and Sisters of that 
city and royally entertained at their homes. The 
O. R. C. meeting was held in the morning, and. 
after enjoying a sumptuous dinner, we occupied 
the same hall and initiated two members. At the 
close of the session we were taken to the home of 
Sister Seiverts, where a most enjoyable reception 
was given by the Lake City Sisters. It certainly 
was an entertainment to be long held in pleasant 
memory. The Sisters of that city are deeply in- 
terested in the work, and we only regret that they 
are not nearer to our Division. May God bless 
the O. R. C. and bring them safely through all 
the trials and dangers that attend their daily life. 

Yours in T F., 

Mrs. C. F. Bachbldbr. 


The South this season has been favored with 
an enormous crop of cotton, and an exceptionally 
large production of corn, with also an excellent 
yield of tobacco, and although market prices may 
be low* especially as to cotton, the fact remains 
that the cost of production, taking into considera- 
tion not only the question of labor, but recogniz- 
ing the complete utilization of the by-product 
which was formerly wasted, is now greatly re- 
duced, and the net result is a favorable one. The 
sugar interest, stimulated by the bounty provi- 
sion, and strengthened in its position, has unfor- 
tunately been confronted with a modification of 
direct benefits, but it is to be hoped that existing 
hardships may be but temporary, and that this 
important industry may steadily continue in ad- 
vancement, accompanied ultimately with remun- 
erative results. The production of rice in the 
South is extending, and will undoubtedly assume 
very greatly enlarged proportions in the near u- 
ture. The lumber resources of the South are 
being more and more brought into prominence, 
attracting capital for its preparation for market, 
widening the employment of labor, and adding to 
the available wealth of the community . — Jamas 
M. Glenn, in North American Review far No- 
vember. 


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Alexandria, La. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Having noticed many articles with reference to 
seniority, /roand con, I would like to give expres- 
-siod to the views of some of those who feel sort of 
isolated, as it were, down here in this neck of the 
woods (swamps). 

A great deal has been said about seniority be* 
ing the cause of so many trainmen, conductors 
and brakemen, being put out of employment, etc., 
and of only those being in favor of it who are 
"incompetent." This, while not always being 
the word used, is always insinuated. My ex peri* 
ence, while quite limited, is that both parties are 
in error as to the cause and effect, and I hops to 
convince some of our Brothers when I open the 
question of " Ratio'' as the real cause of the sur 
plus of conductors and brakemen For example, 
two brakemen or three brakemen are “set up” — 
promoted to conductors — does it not necessarily 
follow tha 4 some one must be put into the place 
recently made vacant by their promotion? It 
must be admitted that there must be some one to 
iill the vacancies. What are the results? New 
men, sometimes relatives, sometimes friends or ac- 
quaintances of men on the line in train service — 
some men who reside in the vicinity of the road, 
lor those who have had the expsrience are not at 
hand to fill those places The result is that for 
every three experienced conductors hired you 
have increased the ranks of conductors three fold 
and doubled the ranks of the brakemen, or, where 
you only had three conductors, you now have 
nine or twelve, and where you bad three brake- 
men yon now have six, for those recently pro* 
moted brakemen are to all intents and purposes 
brakemen, although acting as conductors. 

While I admit it is laudable for a man braking 
to desire and work for promotion, is it best that 
said promotion be permanent or temporary? If 
the present ratio is kept up for a few years, as it 
now is and has been for the past five years, then 
good*bye to railroading — there will be no brake* 
men, but all conductors. 

I have heard it said by some of my worthy 


friends of the B. R. T. (and there are quite a 
number of them in that order), that conductors 
should refuse to take out green men when B. R. 
T. men can be found to go out. How silly such 
talk is I leave to any sensible man — to ask a man 
whose job you are taking, according to your own 
confession, not to take out the green man as a 
brakeman when there are B. R. T. men to be had. 
Supposedly, of course, a man who belongs to the 
B. R. T. must necessarily have had experience. 
What are the brakemen doing who are being pro- 
moted, when there are old, tried conductors, 
perhaps braking beside or opposite them? It is a 
poor rule which will not work both ways. Ad- 
mitted we are all selfish, were it not best that we 
use a little judgment in our selfishness, when it 
will possibly interest us the remainder of our life, 
which it certainly will if we follow railroading? 

Personally, I believe seniority is detrimental to 
myself, but that does not justify me in condemn 
ing it. Like everything else, when properly used 
it is all right, and keeps down personal strife. 
Like the constitution, or rather declaration, of our 
glorious country, “the greatest good for the great- 
est number," should be our motto. Old timers 
in all walks of life, politically and otherwise, have 
to take a back seat, and let youth go to the front; 
so, “ye croakers," take a back seat and be satis- 
fied, or at least give way with as good grace as 
you can. Youth will push you aside! 

Condemning each other, seniority or f ivoritism 
should drop. Many good and able men are to be 
found on both sides, and if we only attend faith- 
fully to our own work we will get there by and 
by. Perhaps after I have been in harness a long 
time, like some of my Brothers, I may change 
doctrine. Until that time, permit me to wish you 
success, and especially the Order of Railway Con- 
ductors. Yours in P. F., 

Geo. B. Lee. 


Chattanooga, Tenn. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

Some months since there were several commu- 
nications in The Conductor urging the next 


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Grand Division 10 take action towird placing our 
insurance on a tontine or endowment basis. It 
seems to me there would be wisdom in so doing. 
It would not only benefit those who take advant- 
age of it to draw out a few hundred dollars 
when they found themselves out of the railroad 
service or unable to keep up their assessments 
for any cause, but it would also benefit the treas- 
ury of the department. For instance, we might 
allow a Brother, when he had been a member of 
the Benefit Department for ten yrars to surrender 
bis certificate and draw out the amount he has 
paid in assessments, and thenceforth be de- 
barred from taking out a new certificate. In 
fact, soon after a Brother has been a member of 
the department for ten years, we will be called 
upon to pay the full ajnount of his certificate, 
and it would certainly be better for the depart- 
ment, as a whole, to pay a few hundred dollars at 
the end of ten years than to pay a few thousand 
after twelve or fifteen years, as the case may be. 
I would be glad to hear an expression of opinion 
from some of the Brothers on this question, and 
have the matter take some form at the next Grand 
Division. 

Yours in P. F. t 

“Look Out No. 148. ” 


Elmira. N. Y. 

Editor Railivay Conductor : 

Responding to an invitation from “Growler" of 
Columbia, Pennsylvania, and from “Growler No 
2" of Denver, I will endeavor to give you some- 
thing of my views on the subject of insurance, 
though doubtless some of the Brothers will think 
I had better have kept still I am not a member 
of our Insurance Department, my claim for total 
disability having been allowed in January, 18S7, 
because of progressive paralysis I still have the 
good of the Order at heart, and believe that our 
laws as now framed are wrong. If I were to ap 
ply for my insurance today I would have to 
whistle for my claim, yet I would rather have 
both legs off or lose both hands at the wrist than 
to be as I am. I would rather lose my eyesight 
than to be as I expect to be should I unfortu- 
nately live through another year. la answer to 
the question asked by our editor as to how high 
the Brothers will be willing to go in assessments, 
I believe a majority of the members will pay as 
long as the assessments go to deserving Brothers 
I have never found myself overstocked with ca>h, 
yet my dollars always went freely, knowing that 
they would do somebody good. I believe we all 
see our money go for this purpose with pleasure. 
Without my insurance I would have been left in 
bad shape. If health would permit I would go 


to Atlanta and let the Brothers see what paraly- 
sis has done for me, and it might change the 
views of some regarding our laws 

I can say but little regarding our Division 
meetings as I am obliged to go about in a wheel 
chair, and must depend upon some of the Bro- 
thers to carry me up three flights of stairs, which 
they are always willing to do. Brother Hewitt, 
however, generally calls on his return from a 
meeting and keeps me posted as to what is being 
done. Brothers, attend your Division meetings, 
and see that your delegate is instructed to vote 
for a change in our insurance laws. I am proud 
to say that the register of Elmira Division will 
show up very favorably for yours truly. To the 
Brothers, my address is 41 1 Balsam St., Elmira. 
N Y. Yours in P. F., 

H. S Lewis, Jk 


Colorado Springs, Colorado. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

As no other member of Division 244 has any 
desire for literary honors, I am going to accept 
them without a request. Division 244 is doing 
nicely, not losing any members to speak of, and 
once in a while taking one in. We have a few 
Brothers employed on the Rock Island, but the 
most of our members are on the First District of 
the Colorado Midland division of the Santa Fe, 
with'ten freight crews on the division. The con- 
ductors are all members of 244 and most of our 
brakemen are O. R. C. men. Several belong to 
other Divisions but we expect them to transfer 
soon. If that is not a good showing we would 
like to hear from some other climate where O. R 
C. men fare better. 

As it is nearing the time when our delegate to 
the next Grand Division will be chosen, we are 
indulging in considerable talk as to how he shall 
be instructed. I think without a doubt be will 
be a member of the Benefit Department. I have 
a few ideas on different subjects if I could only 
express them. I think these matters should be 
talked over fully before Grand Division meets 
and not left to chew the rag over after the next 
session. Some of my Brother cor respor dents 
think that our insurance committee is tied down 
too closely, and that too little is left to its dis- 
cretion. So do I Others think that we should 
change our laws so that all cases of disability 
would receive consideration— this also meets with 
my approval. It will no doubt be expensive, but 
if we are going to care for our members properly 
it seems to me that the ones to care for should be 
those who through disability cannot care for 
themselves. Division 244 has paid out money 
enough to tide over cases of temporary disability 


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601 


or financial embarrassment, to have paid her 
share of all the permanent disability claims not 
covered by our laws that would have come up in 
years. 

There is a great deal of controversy on the 
subject of permanent membership in the Grand 
Division, and good arguments are being put 
forth on both sides. It does not look fair and 
just to me that men who have not been in rail- 
way service for some time, and have no intention 
of engaging in it again, should have a voice in 
naming the Grand Officers who are to direct our 
destinies, or to legislate and enact laws to govern 
the men in active service. I do not think that 
they can be as well qualified to speak or vote in- 
telligently on these matters as the man who is~m 
touch ‘with the present mode of business, and 
knows all of the requirements necessary to fill "his 
position with credit to himself and profit to his 
employers. Now, railway service is not what it 
was a few years ago, or even one year ago, as 
some of our old-timers would soon discover if 
they were to re-enter the service. I do not wish 
to see any honor taken from the veterans in the 
Order, many of whom belong to the Benefit De- 
partment, and should have a voice in determin- 
ing its affairs, but 1 don’t want them to fix my 
hours or my wages. I think an honorary mem- 
bership should be established where their names 
would be placed on the scroll of fame and all pos- 
sible honor and respect paid them, and such priv- 
ileges granted as the Grand Divi; ion may elect. 

In my opinion members who have retired from 
railway service and have entered some other bus- 
iness or profession should not be allowed a Divi- 
sion card, and if they are there should be a differ- 
ence between the card issued tQ the railroad man 
and the business man. 

If such matters as I have mentioned are 
brought up in each Division room frequently 
from this dat-i until the meeting of the Grand Di- 
vision our delegates ought to go with a good idea 
of what their Divisions expected them to try to 
accomplish, and I think a few changes can be 
made that will be for the good of the Order. 

If I meet with fair success in my venture as a 
correspondent, I may tell you in some future let- 
ter what I know about seniority. 

Yours in P F., 

J. V. Russ. 

St. Paul, Minn. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

All our readers are no doubt familiar with the 
facts io relation to the disastrous forest fires in 
northern Minnesota and Wisconsin only a short 
time ago, and how bravely the train crews stuck 


to their duties, saving hundreds of lives from the 
fate that befell so many of their friends and 
neighbors. It is with pleasure that I refer in par- 
ticular to the noble acts performed by two mem- 
bers of St. Paul Division No. 40. 

Brother Thos. Sullivan of the St. Paul & Du- 
luth Railway, after he found it impossible to go 
ahead, the train being on fire, gave the signal to 
back up and spent the time during that terrible 
run passing from one coach to another trying to 
quiet the passengers and prevent them from 
jumping from the train, using what water there 
was at hand to quench the fire as much as possi- 
ble. He personally prevented several passengers 
who had become crazed by the heat and smoke 
from jumping through the car windows After 
reaching the swamp, which was his destination 
when he first gave the signal to back up, the train 
was stopped and all on board, including the en- 
tire train and engine crew except Brother Sulli- 
van, took to the swamp to escape (he fire. Bro- 
ther Sullivan, seeing that his passengers were as 
safe as it was possible to make them under the 
circumstances, and the entire train being in 
flames, started back to the nearest telegraph 
office on foot, twelve miles distant, to inform the 
officials of the road what had happened, and also 
to prevent a freight train that was following from 
meeting the same fate his train had met. 

After performing these duties and making bis 
report to the operator, Brother Sullivan fell 
down exhausted from the effects of the fire and 
smoke, and the terrible mental and physical 
strain that he had endured up to that time. 

The other member of whom I wish to speak a 
few words of praise is Brother H. D. Powers, a 
conductor employed on the Eastern Minnesota 
Railway. While he was not placed in the same 
position as Brother Sullivan, he (Brother Pow- 
ers) having a freight train instead of a passenger 
train his noble acts of bravery and unselfishness 
prove to us all that he is made of the right ma- 
terial for a loyal and true blue conductor. As 
soon as he realized the terrible fate that would 
surely come to all citizens of Hinckley should 
they remain there, he immediately set about find- 
ing some way to relieve them. Amid the smoks 
and roaring of the flames he commenced to 
switch out some empty cars that were standing 
on the side track. Into these he loaded the peo- 
ple as fist as possible, and when the fire became 
too hot for any human being to endure he started 
with his train of human freight for Duluth. On 
the way they crossed a number of bridges that 
were on fire, and one high trestle bridge fell 
down twenty minutes after the train had passed 
over it. There was no time to think of dangers 


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602 

ahead. Brother Powers thought only of the 
lives he was saving and of others that he was un- 
able to save. 

The acts of both these Brothers should never 
be under-estimated, and I feel sure their heroic 
deeds will never be forgotten by those who were 
saved from the awful fate of being burned to 
death. The railway companies in recognition of 
what these Brothers had done, have presented 
each of them with a magnificent solid gold watch, 
suitably engraved, showing fully what they were 
given for A prize like this, given under such 
circumstances, is worth a hundred times more 
than its intrinsic value. 

In mentioning only Brothers Sullivan and 
Powers I don't wish to infer that the balance 
of the train crews did not perform their duties. 
I feel sure that all are entitled to much more 
praise than has been bestowed upon them. The 
sentiment of the public was all in favor of the en- 
gineers, and w^iile I agree that they wert entitled 
to their share of the praise, I don’t see why they 
should receive any more credit than the balance 
of the crew. Without them the engineers could 
have accomplished very little. 

Yours in P. F., 

M. N. Goss. 

Peru, Illinois. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

I am now located in a strange town, and being 
a little lonesome among strangers, I thought I 
would write a few lines and let the Brothers from 
my home and vicinity know where I am and 
what I am doing. I am switching in a yard here 
for the C. R. I. & P. and would be glad to have 
some more of the old Lehigh Valley Brothers se- 
cure positions here so I would have some one 
whom I could talk to about old times. 

Brother J. B. Kintz is our yard-master here, 
and he is the right man in the right place. Bro- 
ther Bell of Cedar Rapids has charge of the 
engine on the Ottawa run, and between him and 
the two Johns they do the work in good style. 

It was pretty hard for me to leave the town 
where I was born and raised and come to a place 
where I knew no one to regain what I lost 
through idleness after our stand against the Le- 
high Valley Railroad Company. I will say to my 
brother railroad men in the part of the country 
where I came from, if you have a job at home 
and can get $50 a month the year around, keep 
it, but if you want to railroad and get paid for it, 
come to this part of the country (if you are not 
afraid to work. ) I be gan to work here on Octo- 
ber 2 1st, and I hope to have my family with me 
by Christmas. 


I would like to make mention in this letter of * 
presentation made to Division 160. At oor mar 
ing held Sunday, October 7. 1894. Brother J E 
Baldwin, on behalf of himself and wife, pn 
seated the Division with a set of altar flags asc 
banner stand. Brother Ksithline, in acccphcf 
the gift for the Division, thanked the doaori 
most heartily, and aUo invited Mrs Baldwh * 
send in her application to the L. A . alter who 
the Division gave a rising vote of thanks to Brc 
ther Baldwin and wife. 

I would like to say something about the Brc 
ttaers on the D. L. & W., bnt as I am so far awat 
and do not know what they are doing, I will 
refrain. 

Now, Brothers, as you will not hear from me 
again before you elect delegates to the Graod 
Division, I hope you will all put it iq the dele 
gate's mind that the Order had ' some'’ loyaJ 
Brothers on the Lehigh Valley system last N<> 
vember, and they should be rewarded in some 
way for what they have lost. 

As there are many of our Brothers at ray bone 
who would like to write to me. they can direci 
letters to me in care of J B. Kintz, Box 7, Peru 
Illinois. With best wishes for The Conductor 
and our noble Order until yon hear from mt 
again, I am, Yours in P. F., 

Jambs Finlii 


Tucson, Am? 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

‘ ‘Build thee more stately mansions. O my soul 
As the swift seasons roll! 

Leave thy low vaulted past; 

Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 

Shut thee from Heaven with a dome more vast. 
Till Thou at length are free. 

Leaving time’s outgrown shell by life's unresting 
sea.” Oliver W. Holmes 

I believe the proffer of advice in this age to be 
waste of time. Advice was never of less vain* 
than at the present day. Books and people are 
full of it; but who cares for it? Advice in the 
nineteenth century is as valuable as ice in Green- 
land. What we are in need of is encouragement 
to salf effort and action, without these we dnfr 
o wird nothingness. Let us remember that per 
fection in small things makes great ones possible 
and now that the month of December approach*? 
and we are called upon constitutionally to select 
the material for the foundation of our respectiw 
Divisions' coming year's success, let us he earth! 
that such material is of the best the market if 
fords. It will be well with the Divisions whose 


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choice falls to the worthy and well qualified, and 
not those who place self interest above all else. 
A good officer adds to the dignity and efficiency of 
bis Division, while the unworthy and incompetent 
one but helps to dim the glory of past success, 
and presents an unsur mountable obstacle to future 
achievements The Divisions that are successful 
io electing men of moderation, intelligence, hon- 
esty. with self- effort and ambition enough to dare 
todo their duty to the fullest demand of their of- 
fice, will be well equipped for the work of the 
coming year. An officer is a representative, sup- 
posedly the pick of his Division. The office is a 
responsibility and honor; while the duties of such 
an office may be arduous, it is the holder's simple 
duty to honor the trust reposed in him to the ut- 
most of bis ability and to ever bear in mind that 
his Division will receive credit according to the 
wisdom of his administration. Officers of our 
Order should be men able to plan and execute, 
men with a full seflse of appreciation of their po- 
sitions, and endeavor to secure for their Divisions 
the good opinion of the outside world a The du 
ties of our officers are multifarious, and at times 
entail loss of time and annoyance, but such is im 
possible to avoid, and some one has to bear the 
responsibility. These offices are the gifts of the 
Division, and should be appreciated as such, and 
should be handed down to those who are best 
qualified to care for and fill them under any and 
all circumstances, and, Brothers, what makes this 
December election of double interest to the wel- 
fare of our Order, is that we select the material 
that will compose, to a large extent, the next ses- 
sion of our Grand Division, where much business 
of an important nature will come before them for 
just consideration, and I trust that much better 
results will be forthcoming from the Atlanta ses- 
sion than the one held in Toledo. I hope there 
will be less time given to airing the grievances on 
any system of railway, and more to business of a 
general nature and of benefit to all, and that be- 
fore the session in Atlanta adjourns, the member- 
ship of the Order will stand on an equal footing 
io every respect, regardless to seniority of Divi- 
sions or membership. 

Changes of a radical nature should be made if 
the Order is to live and prosper without discontent 
in its ranks. The laws governing the Benefit De 
partment will have to be remodeled. It is a gross 
injustice that our youDg membership are com- 
pelled to carry insurance when the membership 
prior to July *91 may or may not carry it as they 
see fit, and at the same time vote on all matters 
pertaining to the Benefit Department. I know of 
members of our Order that have no insurance, 


603, 

and were they disabled or to die they would at 
once become subjects of charity — that is, if their 
Divisions would allow them to. It stands every 
Division in hand to elect their delegates from act- 
ive and live mateiial men in actual service, and 
up to the spirit of the times, as men in other vo- 
cations are. in a great manner, ignorant as to our 
most vital interests, and see that all delegates are 
members of the Benefit Department. It is wrong 
that a member should be allowed to vote on ques- 
tions of insurance unless he is a member of that 
Department. 

Again, if the coming session of the Grand Divi- 
sion consults the best interests of the Order at 
large, permanent membership will be of the past. 

The permanent member is certainly omnivorous 
in our Order. Show me the justice in old Divi- 
sions having from two to four votes in the Grand 
Division when young Divisions have but one. I 
am aware that the permanents will think this bard 
lines, and will fight their exit to the bitter end. 

Yes, these old time sinners with nothing on their 
heads between them and Heaven, wjll hang to the 
floor of the bouse and tell you how much they 
have done for the Order in times gone past, when 
it was in its infancy; how they nursed it on kind- 
ness and hard cash, and stood by dear old Sam V 
through fair and foul weather, and actually made 
it what it is to day. I do not suppose they would 
like to be told there is little history connected 
with the Order of Railway Conductors of to-day 
worth relating prior to the St. Louis session of the 
Grand Division and the present administration. 
Were I to call them cynics it might hurt their 
feelings, and that I do not want to do. But it is 
because that cynics in our membership have been 
so numerous that the evil they did lived after 
them. And if all faith in our Order is lost, our 
Order itself vtill be worthless. Some permanent 
member may tell me the measure of my own soul 
is found in my opinion of others. ‘•True.’ 1 We 
look for that quality in others which most pre- 
dominates in ourselves, but a man can never rise 
above his best opinion of the world at large. But 
if that opinion is one step above the common herd 
of cynical humanity, then bis best opinion of the 
world at large is sufficient. If there were no 
cynics in the world, there would be no distinc- 
tions, and consequently no way. of rising. But, as 
it is, success depends upon what we can do for 
ourselves over others, and on what we can in- 
duce and compel others to do for us; it is there- 
fore clearly the duty of the membership at large 
to send men to Atlanta that will do without fear 
or favor that which is best for the Order at large. 

Yours in P. F. , 

Robert Duncan. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Chicago, III. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Grand Master Sargent's address, like that of 
other conservative labor leaders, is heavy with 
his. and their, perennial counsel to select law- 
making representatives who will serve the people 
rather than the trusts and other corporate monop- 
olies These are his words, but the sentiment is 
not more his than theirs: ‘'Intelligent wage 
workers will agree with me when I repeat that to- 
day we need radical changes in our national laws, 
a better protection for our labor, a curtailing of 
immigration till the thousands of idle toilers now 
in our land have found employment at good 
wages. * * * But if the idle workmen will 
pause to consider [as if they had not paused to 
consider] that these conditions are brought upon 
as by unjust legislation, the combination of trusts, 
the manipulation of stock jobbers and Wall street 
rulers, and more in the interest of foreign pow 
ers than of our own country. * * * If the 

leaders of labor will put away all selfishness and 
put off the cloak of hypocrisy that is worn by so 
many, and let their minds be centered on the 
needy people and not on an office they hope to 
reach, we firmly believe that it is within the 
power of wageworkers, through the influence of 
trades unions, to bring about prosperous condi- 
tions and make plenty of employment at good 
wages ” 

That has been accepted year after year with 
stolid indifference by wage-earners and their mas- 
ters alike. While in terms it is radical, even sub- 
versive, it is quite as inoffensive to conservatism 
as are The Conductor’s very interesting monthly 
contributions urging a new and better system of 
economics; and for precisely the same reason; it 
is understood that any concerted effort on the 
part of workmen to act upon these suggestions 
will be discouraged as impracticable, and de- 
feated by leaders of labor The most useful ad- 
jective in our language is "intelligent.” There 
seems to be but little call for any other to qualify 
such names as voter, workman, etc. If we are 
sufficiently intelligent (and we certainly are) to 
select the one of the two opposing candidates who 
will work for our good, we shall soon have the 
legislation desired. But every sane man — to say 
nothing of the intelligent ones — knows that neith- 
er of them will serve any but the looters and their 
plug-ugly adherents, by whose machinations they 
were selected as candidates; and an honest man 
can have no other motive in voting for either of 
them than a desire to defeat the other one — the 
worse of the two. If a sufficient number of gen- 
uine workmen do, in the desperation of their con- 
ditiqp, get together and threaten the existing in- 


dependent- American voter system by a nomina- 
tion of their own making, one of their leaders is 
easily induced to lend himself as a candidate to 
the opposing machine in order to split the vote in 
the interest of conservatism and corruption. 

Mr. Sargent predicts that "the future of the 
order wi.l be brighter than the pa*>t; that her 
membership will increase; a greater influence 
will be manifested, and many who have lost faith 
in the Brotherhood will return, as did the prodi- 
gal of old.” 

Of course. The most superficial observer 
knows that unionism thrives on defeat and op- 
pression — yes, stf/-pression. Its membership in- 
creases with the harshness of labor's condition 
It is fast becoming necessary to the existence of 
the individual workman. Its beneficence, how- 
ever, is not enlarged by the same mathematical 
law, but rather by the rule of inverse proportion 
It cannot aoate the fierce, brutish struggle of 
competition; it can only help the individual to re- 
tain his place or his pay, or aid him to obtaia an- 
other place, Within the union the member must 
still compete with an increasing number of bis 
own kind, for places not more desirable, but less 
so. A brotherhood of brothers becomes — a labor 
union, if you like — it cannot remain a brother 
hood. 

Is it surprising that the less scrupulous among 
us, those on whom the obligations of brother- 
hood, of mutual help, bear but lightly, if with 
any weight, in order to advance their persona) 
position in the estimation of their employers turn 
to the too willing magazines to advocate the hope 
lessness, the unrighteousness, of the cause for 
which we strive? 

You invite a careful reading of the address of 
President T. W. Thomas, of the N. C. & St. L. 
railway, who, as you say. is always ready to prac- 
tice what he preaches. This is what he preaches, 
as to the relations which should exist between 
labor and capital. He quotes the Golden Rule 
as the basis for the only true solution of tbe 
question — voluntary arbitration. He says, after 

suggesting a method of selecting the arbitrators 
"It has been urged that the decision of such a 
board could not be enforced. So far as tbe em- 
ployer is concerned, if he could not be forced by 
the courts to comply with his agreement, public 
opinion would compel him to do so. With the 
employes such a decision could be made binding 
* * * by disciplining Or expelling any mem- 
ber refusing to abide by the decision.*' Tbe 
Golden Rule, indeed ! If public opinion is not 
the visible expression of the newspapers, then no 
man has a means of estimating it. It is too 
cheap, as a penalty to offset your expulsion from 


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7 HE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


605 


your order. Mr. Thomas asserts every email’s 
right to sell his work for what price he can get 
and to quit if the conditions of employment do 
not suit him. I do not wish it understood ttyat I 
believe Mr. Thomas would not follow the Golden 
Rule in his relations with his employes. But our 
industrial system is such that he cannot, if he 
will, raise the condition of his workmen much 
beyond the standard fixed — and inevitably so be- 
cause of free competition and a superabundance 
of workmen — by those who acknowledge no rule 
but that of greed. 

It is quite true, as you say in your comment 
on Mr McNab’s magazine article, that both 
workmen and employer are interested in the 
profitableness of their undertaking; but their in- 
terests are not identical , whether the enterprise 
be that of transportation by railroad, or the mak- 
ing of garments by the iniquitous sweating sys- 
tem. as in New York, where the contractors un- 
der that system, competing for work among them* 
selves, had from time to time reduced the wages 
of their miserable employes until the point was 
reached where they positively could not work 
and live; it being always understood that without 
profitable work for the contractors there could be 
00 employment at any price for the wretched 
sweaters and their dying children. The price of 
ready-made clothing was reduced, but what was 
the cost in misery, despair, and death? 

Your brilliant Mr. Shriver, whose letters are 
always suggestive of buffalo grass and the grand 
old Rockies of Colorado, rather than the slavish- 
subserviency-breeding surroundings of the New 
Yorker, hints in his last, that in the New York 
state constitutional convention the interests of 
the New York Central are paramount to all other 
interests in the state; which seems to indicate 
that our interests, under the new constitution, 
will be served indirectly, through the prosperity 
of our employers, a la protective tariff system. 

Senator Wade Hampton, of South Carolina, 
commissioned to examine and report upon the 
general condition of the so-sailed Pacific roads, 
which he did in company with his family, pro- 
vided with all the luxuries incident to such a trip 
in a private car at the expense of the railroad 
companies, reported that he had found public 
opinion of the Pacific coast strongly in favor of a 
plan by which the government should assume 
title to the roads in satisf iction of the debt, as is 
usual in basiness transactions of a similar nature. 
But Gen. Hampton, a representative of South 
Carolina, a beneficiary of the railroad companies, 
recommended as more practicable the plan al- 
ready proposed by the railroad attorneys in 
Washington — that of renewing the mortgage 


without other security than that already held, 
that has as yet been inadequate to enforce the 
payment of one dollar of the immense indebted- 
ness Why should not the people of the Pacific 
coast stop their noise? They have a $5,000,000 
university out of the profits of the enterprise. 
The New York people are not noisy. Visit them, 
and they will treat yon to a ride on top (not in- 
side, mind you,) of a Fifth avenue stage, and will 
point out the Vanderbilt palaces with the same 
sense of ecstat c pride that glows in the Californi- 
an’s face when he his brought you to your first 
view of his Golden Gate or snow capped Sierras, 
and qaietly, modestly, but as one who appreciates 
his share of proprietorship, awaits the ejaculation 
that will express your emotions. 

We strenuously object to the terms of the va- 
rious injunctions issued by the federal courts iu 
restraint of our efforts to force a betterment of 
our condition, and quietly, possibly cheerfully, 
acquiesce in the right (I mean right , not legal 
authority,) of the courts to so enjoin us. It 
seems to me of the least importance whether we 
may or may not conspire to quit, or may or may 
not persuade others to quit, so long as the pun- 
ishment for contempt is limited only by the dis- 
cretion of the judge who issues the injunction, 
and who alone is competent to hear the evidence 
in support of the charge. Justice Harlan's de- 
cision simply establishes the new tyranny on a 
foundatioa that will endure till the iniquities of 
our constitution compel an overhauling of that 
outgrown instrument of oppression. “S." 


The Midland Monthly for November contains 
1 12 pages, crowded with interesting reading mat- 
ter and illustrations. “University Extension,' 
with portraits, by Professor Loos, will attract ed- 
ucators and learners everywhere. “Cedar Chips* 1 
is a thrilling story of Washington forest life. "A 
Story of Devastation” is told fjy Harvey Ingham 
and Rev. Dr. Gist, with 13 pictures of the wreck 
made by the recent cyclone in Iowa and Minne- 
sota. An editorial tribute to Holmes is accompa- 
nied by a portrait and by a fac simile of ‘ The 
Last Leaf," written by the author for the Ald|tfch 
Collection. A double installment of “Biatrigfe" is 
given this month. “Charlemagne in Legend and 
History,” by the editor, is fiaely illustrated. 
“Korea in Verse” is a humorous poem by an offi- 
cer on duty in Korea. The War Sketch for this 
month tells the story of Judge McKenzie, whose 
bravery suggested the song “Hold the Fort." 
The most profusely illustrated article is on the 
Iowa National Guard, with camp scenes and sixty 
or more portraits of prominent guardsmen, in- 
cluding Governor J ackson and his staff, brigade, 
regimental and company officers — a grouping of 
historic value, as the personnel of the guard is 
rapidly changing. 



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Afutual Life Insurance. 

i. fraternal Association — Status Declared — 
An insurance association having the character- 
istics of a fraternal organization, required as a 
condition of membership a physician’s certificate 
of good health. On admission each member re- 
ceived a certificate entitling his beneficiary to 
$2,000 on his death. Certificates were to be kept 
in force by the payment of an assessment on each 
death among the members. Held, that the asso- 
ciation was, and is, in effect, a mutual life com- 
pany, and the certificate an insurance contract. 

2 By-Laws — Forfeiture of Membership — 
Where the constitution and by laws provide that 
non payment of dues shall forfeit the membership, 
and that a member in default may be reinstated 
on payment of his arrears, an association which 
has accepted and retained assessments paid by a 
member with full knowledge that he is in default 
(for dues) and which has taken no action to effect 
a legal suspension under the by-laws, waives the 
forfeiture. 

3 Where the constitution and by-laws of an 
association provide for the payment of a fixed 
sum on the death of each member, and create a 
board of arbitration, to whom all claims against 
the association shall be submitted, and whose de- 
cision shall be final, such provisions constitute 
merely a revokable agreement to arbitrate, and do 
not preclude resort to the courts. 

4. A refusal to pay a death loss on the ground 
that the certificate of membership has been for- 
feited is a waiver of proofs of death 

Danphier v. Grand Lodge A. O. C. IV. ct al. 
Utah S C., June 4, 1894. 

Authority to do Business — Statutory Excep- 
tion. 

A corporation, with an insurance feature con 
sisting of the participation in a benefit fund by 
those members of its local branches who pay 
assessments, whose constitution declares ‘ secret 
work" to be one cf its functions, and whose 
branches are to meet with a "watchman” at the 
outer and a "vidette" at the inner door, is within 


General Statutes (sec. 2903) excepting every 
secret or fraternal society from the prohibition oi 
section 2892 against the doing of business witho 
the state, without authority from the insurance 
commissioner, by foreign corporations organized 
for the purpose of furnishing insurance on the 
assessment plan. 

Fawcett v . Order Iron HaU. Conn S C 
May 6, 1894. 

Mutual Benefit Insurance — Queer Puling « 

Partial Payment of An Assessment — Forfa.: 

ure Notice Void of Credit — Deposits. 

1. Where, in an action to recover on acertit 
cate it appeared that the by laws of the Asaocu 
tion issuing the same provided for forfeiture ci 
membership if the member failed to pay any & 
sessment "within 30 days from the date of ibt 
notice thereof." held that a notice mailed so m 
reach the insured Nov. 30th and which demands 
payment on or before Dec. 28th is not sofficiar 
to sustain a forfeiture, since the "date" of * 
notice is the time when it is or could be rece*<£ 

2. Where such Mutual Association urged r? 
members to deposit money in advance of the * 
sessments. and agrees to apply such deposit to 
the payment of future assessments, and to keef 
the account thereof ; a notice demanding three 
dollars from a member, that being the full anxmct 
of the assessment, when the member has one del | 
lar deposited with the society, is an invalid notice ' 
and assessment, because the amount demanded s 
greater than the amount due. Hence, no forfeit 
ure could be declared until the Association bad 
given notice of the correct amount assured wa> 
required to pay. 

U. S. Afut. Ben. Etc., Assn of New Vork .- 
Mueller , 111 S. C., July 19, 1894. 

Note. The keeping ot members' deposit ac- 
count was left with the Association conditioned 
that information would be given when deposit 
exhausted. In this case none was giVen. and the 
member was held not bound to know the condi 
tion of his deposit account. The annual dues 
were fixed at $1 and the assessments at $2. tusk- 
ing the $3 demanded. It was insisted that the 
member knowing the at sessments were fixed si 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


$2 by the by-laws should have offered to pay that 
amount. But the court ruled that the law would 
not allow a forfeiture on such contention. 

A notice requiring a member of an Association 
like this to pay an assessment before it is due is 
invalid. 

Haskin v. Assn, of Ky. L. R. 371; Frey v. 
Assn. 4 Ont. Afp. 293; Eddy v. Assn. 63 M. H. 

*7 

Benefit Societies — Provisions of the Constitu- 
tion — Members Right to Sue. 

Where the constitution of a beneficial society 
provides that members shall have the privilege of 
appealing to the officers of the Association be- 
fore suing for benefits, if they so desire, the mem- 
ber has the option to appeal or not before bring- 
ing suit. But beneficiaries of such Order, who 
were never members, would not be affected by 
such a provision, even if obligatory upon mem- 
bers, 

Dobson v , Halt and The Knights of Mystic 
Chain, Penna, Dist. C., June, 1894. 

Mote. A provision of an association declaring 
that all controversies as to the liability of the as- 
sociation for any claim made against it by those 
claiming to be the beneficiaries of deceased mem- 
bers shall be submitted to a board of arbitration, 
the decision of a majority thereof being final and 
conclusive, unless reversed by the action of the 
grand body, and providing how appeals may be 
taken, is intended to cover the whole subject and 
intended to deny claimants any recourse to courts 
of law. When individuals unite to form a volun- 
tary association, and adopt a constitution and by- 
laws, the relation which exists between the mem- 
bers is one of contract, and the constitution and 
by-laws form the terms of the agreement. Such 
agreement is valid and binding upon them, so 
long as it is not in contravention of the law of 
the land or of public policy. Provisions, how- 
ever. creating a tribunal with power to adjudicate 
upon all the property rights of members or bene- 
ficiaries by virtue of membership, such provisions 
would have no more effect than a revocable agree- 
ment to submit to an award, for otherwise, any 
attempt to oust the jurisdiction of courts will 
not be tolerated, for they alone have judicial 
power to whom all may appeal for justice and 
hearing. Such societies have no power to create 
judicial boards and deny the right of appeal 
therefrom. 

See Bacon Ben. Soc., Sec. 123; Whitney v. 
Assn. 34 H. W R. 184, and Crosby v. Assn. 27 
Fed. R. 30. 

Beneficial Organizations — Pennsylvania Act — 

Action on Certificate — Evidence — By-Laws. 

1 . A beneficial association is not an insurance 
company within the meaning of the Act of May 


607 

11, 188 1, and supplemental Act, June 1883. which 
provides for the formation of corporations "to in- 
sure lives on the assessment plan." 

2. In an action against such association on a 
mortuirycertificate.it is competent for the de- 
fendant association to give in evidence the by- 
laws of the association, followed by proof of such 
a failure to comply with them as would make the 
certificate void, notwithstanding that the by-laws 
were not attache 1 to the contract sued or under 
the within named act. 

Donlevey v. Supreme Order Shield of Honor, 
Phila. C. P., June, 1894. 

Insurance Certificate — Limitation of Time to 

Sue — Waiver — Estoppel — Hew Promise. 

Where a mutual accident insurance company, 
before the expiration of the period limited by the 
policy to bring suit, or afterwards, has, by its con- 
duct and promises to pay, misled the beneficiary 
named in the policy, and caused her to expend 
time, labor and money in prosecuting her claim, 
will be estopped from setting up as a defense the 
failure to bring suit within the time limited by 
the certificate. 

Further, a clear, distinct and unequivocal 
promise to pay, made after the expiration of the 
time limited in the policy for the bringing of suit, 
amounts to a new promise for a valuable consid- 
eration, and is enforceable. 

Harold v. People's Mut., etc., Ins. Co., Penn. 
C. P. C.. 3d Dist., R. 503. 

Benefit — To Whom Payable — Death of Benefici- 
ary. 

Held, under construction of the laws of the 
order, which provided that in the event of death 
of a beneficiary selected by a member before the 
decease of such member, if he should make no 
other disposition thereof, the benefit should be 
paid to the neirs of the deceased member. There- 
fore, a benefit certificate made payable to the 
wife of a member who survived her, and who died 
intestate without children, leaving brothers and 
sisters, and without changing the original certifi- 
cate, is payable to them (next of kin) and not sub- 
ject to the payment of his debts. And it is not 
material whether the certificate was issued by a 
foreign or domestic corporation An administra- 
tor having collected such benefit, cannot apply it 
to the payment of debts. 

Estate of Beyer v, Knights of Honor. Ohio 
Prob. C., 1 Goebel 241. 


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' Without Due Process ’ is the title of a book 
written by Brother S. E. Farnham, of Division 
1 17. The careers of several railway employes 
are woven ingeniously into a story of life, love 
and adventure with a special effort to show the 
far reaching, cruel and distressing effects of the 
inhuman practice, on the part of an official, of 
preventing a man from earning an honest living, 
by using official influence to prevent his employ- 
ment by others, out of spite for real or fancied 
wrongs. Read it. 

Trains have been running all the past summer 
on the Pennsylvania & Reading Railroad between 
Philadelphia and Atlantic City and return, which 
were the fastest trains ever run regularly on any 
railroad. The trains were not of the two or 
three car variety which is generally arranged for 
fast runs, but were composed of six or seven 
heavily loaded cars, the average weight of trains 
being4ii.7 tons. During the month of August 
these trains were run every day by engine "694," 
a four cylinder compound of the Vauclain type. 
The average speed from start to stoppage for the 
whole month was 59.1 miles per hour. — Locomo- 
tive Engineering. 

At the end of 1892 there were 20,325 miles of 
railroad open for traffic in the United Kingdom. 
In England and Wales alone, where the railroads 
are the thickest, there were 14,242 miles. In the 
United States there were about 172,000 miles of 
completed railroad at the end of the same year, 
and statistics of working were reported for a little 
less than 171,000. Actually, then, we have nearly 
nine times as many miles of railroad as the 
United Kingdom. But we are nearly twenty-five 
times as big (leaving out Alaska), and proportion- 
ately to area the United Kingdom has three times 
as much railroad as we have. Proportionately to 
population, however, our supply is greater; each 
inhabitant here has five times as much railroad as 
an Englishman has. Were we to compare lim- 
ited and thickly peopled regions the proportions 
would be somewhat different." — From "English 


Railroad Methods by Col. H. G. Front, in the 
November Scribner. 

After five years of labor, with the help of 247 
editors, and the enormous expenditure of nearly 
one million dollars, the Funk & Wagnalls Com- 
pany announce that the last page of the second, 
the concluding, volume of the new Standard Die* 
tionary, is now in type. This volume will be 
ready for delivery in November. The hearty re- 
ception extended it by the literary public in Eng- 
land is one of the literary surprises of the year 
The sales of the new Standard Dictionary are 
phenomenal. The publishers have a mathema- 
tician who has figured out that if the copies re- 
quired to fill the advance orders were laid one on 
top of the other, the stack would be over three 
miles high, and laid end to end would make a 
path over fifteen miles in length. A general 
agent in Michigan startled the publishers of the 
new Standard Dictionary by an order for two car 
loads — 43,000 pounds — of dictionaries, to be sent 
as soon as Volume II is ready. 

"The life of a Chinese woman must be some- 
thing in the nature of an affliction. She is of little 
value, save as a worker. Young girls are seldom 
educated, and those of the lower classes are not 
infrequently sold as slaves to married men and 
families. As in Japan, the marriages are man- 
aged by a go-between . The betrothals are some- 
times made when the pair are infants. They do 
not see each other until the marriage ceremony is 
performed. The wife, in higher class circles, 
leads a life of seclusion, never going anywhere, 
doing her husband's every bidding without ques- 
tion. Yet they are quite industrious. In form, 
face and costume, they are not pleasing. Their 
long, baggy trowsers, long gown and stumpy feet, 
would be sufficient to make a guy of any woman, 
to say nothing of a woman possessing the addi- 
tional advantages of a complexion like an ancient 
lemon s and features which look as if they bad 
been shaped in the dark with a rusty axe." — 
“ Lem's World Tour Au/heel." Outing for No* 
vember. 


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THE RAILWAY 

The November number of The Cosmopolitan 
presents even more than its usual list of attrac- 
tions to the reader. Among the articles that 
must appeal to the wider reading will be found 
"The Chiefs of the American Press,” a well con- 
sidered review of the lives and works of several 
of the men who have placed the American news* 
paper in the van of the world; a thoughtful dis- 
sertation upon "Public Control of Urban Tran- 
sit/' by Sylvester Baxter, and Wm. I. Fletcher on 
"The Public Library Movement.” "In the 
World of Art and Letters" and "The Progress of 
Science” are filled to overflowing with up-to date 
discussions of topics in their peculiar fields, 
making the two departments among the most in- 
teresting as well as the most valuable of the 
book. Both poetry and fiction are well repre- 
sented/and the multiplicity of admirable illustra- 
tions adorning almost every page rounds out 
what must be considered as one of the best num ■ 
bers of this popular magazine for the year. 

With the November number The Arena con- 
cludes its tenth volume, and it gives promise of 
even greater achievement and prosperity for the 
coming year than in the past. A glance at the in- 
dex for the past six months shows what an im- 
mense amount of reading on all subjects is afford- 
ed in one volume of this live and progressive re- 
view. The opening paper in this issue, which 
contains 164 pages of reading matter, more ihan 
any other American monthly, deals with "The Re- 
ligion of Emerson.” It is written by W. H. Sav- 
age, and it will attract the attention of all lovers 
of the grand old Concord philosopher. Kuma 
Oishi, A. M., Ph. D., a well-known Japanese 
scholar, educated in the United States and En- 
gland, writes on "The Causes which Led to the 
War in the East.” Congressman John Davis con- 
tributes a paper called "The New Slavery.” A 
student of occultism considers and criticises the 
Thibetan papers of Dr. Hensoldt, under the cap- 
tion of "The Brotherhood of India.” Catherine 
H. Spence, the Australian, whose lectures on pro- 
portional representation aroused so much interest 
this year, writes on "Effective Voting the Only 
Effective Moralizer of Politics.” W. L. Garver 
describes the Freeland University. Thomas E. 
Will, A. M., has a live and certainly timely sub- 
ject in "Political Corruption; its Methods and 
How to Defeat it.” Walter Blackburn Harte, 
who has been engaged to write a series of end- 
papers after the fashion of Harper's "Editor’s 
Study" and the "Point of View,” winds up a num- 
ber of solid worth and timeliness with a good 


CONDUCTOR. 609 

laugh in a humorous essay called "The Advent of 
the Young Man.” 

McClure's Magazine for Novembe^ opens the 
promised Napoleon series with fifteen portraits of 
Napoleon in early manhood, most of them repro- 
ductions of famous paintings, and portraits of his 
father and mother, and other persons closely re- 
lated to or intimately associated with him, accom- 
panying an interesting account by Miss Ida M. 
Tarbell, of his career down to the time he as- 
sumed command of the army in Italy. The por- 
traits are from a very large and carefully chosen 
collection made by the Hon. Gardiner G. Hub- 
bard, and Mr. Hubbard himself introduces them 
with a valuable letter describing the classification 
and varying merits of the existing portraits of 
Napoleon. If the succeeding parts of the series 
maintain the high level of this one — and there is 
every reason to believe that they will, for the ed- 
itors announce that they have a hundred and fifty 
notable Napoleon pictures yet to present — the 
series must make, as a whole, one of the most at- 
tractive products thus far of the recent Napoleon 
revival. In this number is presented also the 
first of a series of true detective stories, derived, 
by permission, from the official records of the 
Pinkerton detective bureau. It is the breathless 
story of the discovery and frustration, by Allan 
Pinkerton, of the plot to assassinate President 
Lincoln as be passed through Baltimore, on the 
way to Washington for his first inauguration. In- 
teresting portraits of Lincoln and Allan Pinker- 
ton, one of the Lincoln portraits being from an 
early daguerreotype never before published, ac- 
company the article. There are also four excel- 
lent short stories, all of them illustrated; one by 
Conan Doyle, one by Robert Barr, one by 
Charles F. Lummis, and one by Anna Robeson 
Brown. 

The Great Divide is one of the most original of 
American publications, and it is distinctively 
American in every feature. It occupies a new 
field and does it so well that it has readers in 
every portion of the continent. It is beautifully 
printed and illustrated, and is full of interesting 
reading matter from cover to cover. Its publish- 
ers claim for it the unique distinction of being the 
organ of the "kickers,” and invite all to join that 
great family and help it to remedy existing evils by 
pen and picture. It has already met with splen- 
did success, but no more than its genius aod en- 
terprise should command, and the present is un- 
doubtedly no more than the beginning of a great 
future. 


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ORGANIZATION AN INHERENT RIGHT 


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The contest between the Philadelphia & Read- 
ing Railroad Company aDd those of its men who 
are members of the Brotherhood of Railroad 
Trainmen, of which mention is made elsewhere 
in this issue, called forth an expression of opinion 
from Attorney General Olney in the shape of a 
letter to Judge Dallas of the United States Circuit 
Coart at Philadelphia, before whom the case is 
still pending. This contest opened on the 15th 
of August last when General Superintendent 
Sweigard of the road in question called eleven of 
the Trainmen before him and gave them notice 
that they must either give up their membership 
in their association or quit the service of the road. 
Grand Master Wilkinson took up the matter and 
on September 15 addressed a letter of remon- 
strance to the receivers, urging them to repudiate 
the policy announced by Mr. Sweigard. Two 
days later the receivers sent him a reply of which 
the substance was as follows: "The policy of 
this company is well known to be that it will not 
consent that persons in its service shall owe al- 
legiance to other organizations which may make 
claims upon them which are incompatible with 
their duties to their employers. Thu position 
was taken advisedly and we have no intention of 
departing from it. " 

The questions at issue were then taken before 
Judge Dallas, by whom the receivers had been 
appointed, in order to secure a reversal of this 
policy. Counsel for the petitioning trainmen pre- 
sented their case fully and with ability, the chief 
points in their argument beiog: Associations for 
mutual protection and relief of the character of 
the association to which the petitioners belong 
have been expressly legalized and sanctioned by 
both State and Federal legislation, while the ac- 
tion of the receivers would be a criminal offence 
in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, California and other states as well as in 
Great Britain. The receivers being the officers 
of the court, and their policy being the policy of 
the court, the question presented to the court for 


decision is whether a Federal court, sitting is 
equity, shall deliberately adopt and give its oft 
cial sanction to a policy that is so generally re 
garded as a violation of the criminal law 

It was during the progress of this argument 
that the letter by Attorney General Olney »» 
presented, it having been adopted by counsel for 
petitioners as a portion of their argument. The 
questions involved in this controversy are vital 
and for that reason the opinion of the Attorney 
General is of interest and should be given 3 
thoughtful reading by every member of every 
labor organization in the country. The fcllowir; 
is the fall text of the letter: 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OLNEY ON ORGANIZATION 

“Circuit Cunrt of the United States, District of Penn 
Bylvuuia, in equity. Thomas C. Platt vi the Phi!* 
delpliia and Reading Railroad Company, et al. Sneyu* 
lions respecting questions raised by petitions of Hicks 
Reilly ana oilier member* or the Board or Railway Trait 
men. 

“The pendency of this petition having been Incidental!* 
brought to my attention the issue* raised Impressed tr< 
as or great gravity and Importance, not only between 
the parlies Immediately concerned, but as 'regards Up 
country At large. In that view— in which l could out 
doubt ihe Court would share— It seemed to me ibatttx 
Court would not object to a brief discussion or ibecw* 
from a public point of view merely and uoii finer ced b» 
the wishes and interests *.f the particular litigants before 
it. Upon this suggestion being made to the Court It w** 
at once cordially adeemed to. The consideration a follow 
ing, therefore, are submitted by me as nmirwt * cyrut 
merely and bv express leave of the Couit. 

“I. The material facts may be briefly stated. The pe- 
titioners are members of the Brotherhood of Railroad 
Trainmen. Some of them have be* n members forstven 
or eight years: have each year paid annual does and as- 
sessments, which now amount to considerable eu« s ot 
money, and, by conrinui* g their membership, will, Id 
CA se of death or permanent disability, become entitled by 
themselves or tbelr representatives to largo pecuniary 
payments from the fund* of the Brotherhood. On the 
other hand, by ceasing to be members, they lose* al) benefit 
from the assessments and dues already paid and forfeit all 
claim upon the Brotherhood treasury. 

“The constitution and rules of the Brotherhood and ih* 
subordinate lodges are before the Court as part of the 
tition. No controversy or antagonism has t^er arisen or 
existed between the Heading Railroad and tbe Brother 
hood or any of Its lodges, or between the Reading Rail 
road and any members ot the Brotherhood as such o«n 
bers. If. as is claimed, the Reading Rallnad has for emae 
years adopted tbe rule that it would not have la Da ter 
vice any member of a labor organization, it la a rule whtrt 
has not been uniformly nor invariably acted npon, soar* 
there has been a Philadelphia lodge at tbe Brotherhoods* 
the Reading line for nearly eight rear*. and lix exlateec* 
cannot have been unknown to the ReadlDg officials. What 
has now happened and w*al has led to the pretest! veil 
tlon is this: The Reading receivers havw octlfled thr 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 611 


members of the Brotherhood on its line that unless they 
cea-e to be such members they will be discharged from 
their preseute nployment oa or before October 8c h. Tne 
receivers make uo complaint of the manner la which the 
Hrotberbuod employes discharge their respective duties. 
Toe notice has been giwn simply because of such em- 
ployes' membership of the Brotherhood cts is conclusively 
shown by the following telegram received by Grand Mas- 
ter Wilkinson In reply to his remonstrance against the 
coarse proposed to be taken: ‘The policy of this com- 
pany is well known to be that it will not c msent that per- 
sons in its service shall owe allegiance to otuei organiza- 
tion-* wuich may make c alms up n them which are in- 
compatible with their duties to their employers This 
posM>iu was ta*en advisedly. *nd we h *ve uo intention 
of departing from it. [Signed] Joseph S. Harri*, Presi- 
dent, and Receivers * Thus, if the Receivers are right and 
their rule is to prevail, membership of the Brotheruood 
byandoMt-elf incapacitates tor service on the Heading 
Railroad. It is respectfully submitted that the Receivers 
are wrong, and that the action proposed by them ought 
not to be sanctioned by the Court. 

“2. It wll help to make plain the precise question be- 
fore the Court to u ite the opeuing words or the telegram 
Jaat quoted: 'The policy of the company is well kaown 
to be/ etc., etc. Mr. Harris, who signs the te egra u both 
as P esident and R ceiver, evidently forgets that the com- 
pany is no longer iu control ; that it can nave n > present 
policy on the subject, aud that wldt its past policy was is 
of slight consequence. 

“Tne Reading Railroad being now 1 q the hands of Re- 
ceivers, t he Receivers and ail ihi employes of the com- 
pany are officers of the Court. The Court, therefore, aud 
not (be com pan v, is the employer of all the persona en- 
gaged (a the operation of the road. The present policy 
of Che Conrr, and not the past policy of the company, is 
the material ihlmr to be considered. Aud hence, the pre 
else ideation is, will the Cour now lay d iwn the rule that 
members of i he Brotherhood ot Traiuinen shall, because 
they are -nch members, be discharged from the service of 
the road? 

*‘8. The Court, it la submitted, ought not and cannot 
lay down *nv each rnio on the ground that either the pur- 
poses and objects or the Brotherhood, or the means by 
which they are to be attained, are shown to be illegal. 

"First. The general purpose* a d objects f the Broth- 
erhood are stated in the preamble to the coustltuiion, as 
follows: To unite the railroad trainmen; to promote 

their general we fare and advance their interest-, social, 
moral and intellectual ; to piotect i heir families by ihe 
exercise ol a systematic benevolence, very needfni in a 
calling so hazardous as ours, this fraternity has oeen or- 
ganized. 

** 'Persuaded that It is for the Interest both of our mem- 
bers aud tueir employers that a good understanding should 
at all times exist between the two, it will be the constant 
endeavor of this organization to establish mutual coori- 
de ce and create aud mal .tain harmonious relations. 

“ 'Such are the eud* and purposes of the Brotherhood 
of Rai i road Trainmen/ 

“Certainly, these objects must be regarded as laudable 
io the highest degree a id as de-erviug the approbation 
aud support of every good citizen. They are, iuueed, 
practically the same as tho«e tor which working people 
are expressly authorized io incorporate them -elves by act 
of Congress— the statutory de-criptton of Buch obj-cts be- 
ing 'for the purpose of aiding its members to become 
more skillful and efficient workers, the pro notion of their 
ge erul Intelligence, tne elevation of their charactei, the 
regulation ot their wages and their hours and conditions 
of labor, the protection of their lud vidnai rights iu the 

TO«6CU'toii of their trad-s, the raiding of funds for the 

en**flt of sick, disabled or unemployed members, ortho 
families of deceased members, or lor such other object or 
objects for which working peo.de may 1 iwfully c .moine, 
having In view their mutual protection or benefit/ 

'•Second. If the me&Q9 to these praUwonhy ends be 
now examined there I* nothing in them to which the most 
captions critic can object except the provisions made for 
strikes. 

“It Is well to note that even these provisions are of an 
eminently conservative character— tha great care is taken 
to guard against ihe abuse of a weapon which is a two- 
edg-d sword and generally proves as damaging to those 
who use it as to tho93 against wh »ra it is used 

“Thus, by the Brotherhood constitution vnd rules, a 
strike doss not take effect until unproved, flr*t, by the 
Local Grievance Committee: second, hv the General 
Grievance Committee; third, by a B >ard of Adjustment, 
and, fourth, be the Grand Mister, wl»h ihe consent of two- 
thirds of (he members iuvo’ red— while striking or incit- 
ing to strike oxceot In acc »rdance wbhthe bove rules is 
punished by expulsion from be Brotherhood. 

“Third. Nevertheless, among the raeaus of accom- 
plishing the ends of the Brotherhood is the bringing 


about of a 'strike/ As to what a 'strike' is is not defined 
by the Brotherhood constitution and rules; its precise 
nature must be determined by the Court, aud, as the 
Brotherhood is enti led to the ordinary presumption of 
lawfulness for its methods as well as Its objects until the 
cootrary is shown, the Court will hold the thing termed 
'strike' In the Brotherh »■ d constitution and rules to be 
something lawful, unless there cannot be such a thing as 
a lawful ‘strike/ 

“Fourth. Hut whatever may be the customary or prob- 
able incideuts or accompaniments of a strike, it cannot be 
ruled that there is no such a thing as a legal strike— that 
every strike must he unlawful. 

“The necessary elements of a strike are only three — 
(I) the quitting of work, («:) by concert between two or 
more, (4; simultaneously— and in and of themselves in- 
volve no taint of illegality. 

“A strike becomes illegal when to these necessary fea- 
tures are added others, such as malicious intent, followed 
by actual injury, intimidation, violence, the creation of a 
public nuisance, or a breuca of the peace of any sort. 

“Fifth. But tc Is unuecessary to elaborate the proposi- 
tion that a strike is not necessarily unlawful, since it is 
emphatically ^Detained by the recent decision of the cir- 
cuit Court of Appeals iu Farmers’ Loan aud Trust Com- 
pauy agdnst tUe Northern Pacific Railroad Company, 
just decided in Chicago. And it is hardly necessary to 
point out th tt the attending circumstances, which only 
too often make strikes uulawful, are none ol them pro- 
vided f ir by the Brotnerhood constitution and rules, and 
cannot theiefore be assumed to be necessary incidents to 
any strike occurlug pursuant to them. 

“4. if the rule that a member of the Brotherhood of 
Railroad Trainmen shall not work on the Reading road 
cannot be justified becau-e of anything inherently unlaw- 
ful iu the constitution and rules of the Brotherhood, the 
only remaining ground on which it can be defended is that 
of busiucss expediency. 

“That que.-tion is presented because, in operating the 
Reading Railroad so as to secure the best results for the 
ublic aud all private part-es interested, the Court is un- 
aiu pared by a«y statutory provision and has all the lib- 
erty of choice belonging to employers generally. 

“it is couceivab e, thereiore, though the spectacle 
would be s curious one, th »t a conrt of the United States 
may, oa business grounds, refuse employment to persona 
for no other reasou than thetr membership of au associa- 
tion whose purposes the laws of the United States ex- 
pressly sanction. 

• It is conceivable also that a court of the United States, 
ala » ou business grounds, may attach to employment by 
its Receivers a condiiion which employers of tabor gener- 
ally iu very many States of the Uutou are prohibited from 
imp »slug under penalty of fine aud imprisonment. 

“But it is safe to say that the considerations of business 
olicy impel ing the Court to the course suggested should 
e of the clearest aud most cogent character, and that the 
question presented is one which the Court will recognize 
as of the greatest interest aud importance. 

“It involves the right of labor to organize for the settle- 
ment of differences between it and capital, whose right to 
org mize is appare ntly not denied. 

“How the ordinary emplo.ver of labor may answer such 
a question, whether mUtakei ly or otherwise, is of com- 
paratively little c jusequeuce. 

“But. when the Court is the employer, any mistaken de- 
cision may wo-k Infinite mischief, both because until cor- 
rected it lays down a rule of action for other like cases, 
and because, so far as the mistake Is recognized, it im- 
pairs the confidence of either the employer or the em- 
ployed or both in the Impartiality or capacity of the ju- 
diciary. 

“Id considering the question of the business expediency 
of the employment of Brotherhood m^n, such objection 
as there is to it must arise from the fact mat, under its 
constitution and rule*, the employes may engage ia a 
strike, with all the natural and possible incidents and 
consequences. It can hardly be denied that otherwise the 
Brotherh od organization is not only not objectionable, 
but is salatary in its operation, both as regards the em- 
ployers and the employed. It is the strike feature, and 
that alone, which, from a business point of view, can in- 
duce the Court to brand the Brotherhood as unfit for its 
service. Ir is submitted that that feature should not be 
allowed to have that effect f *r various reasons. 

“It should be remembered, in the first place, that the 
risks of a strike are uot obviated by excluding the mem- 
bers of the Brotherhood from the Receivers’ service. Men 
deeming themselves aggrieved and seeking relief or re 
dress, though nor associated in any formal way or for any 
general purpose, may ca«l y un-te for the single purpose 
of a strike. In th it view the Brotherh »od constitution 
and rnle« mav well be regarded as operating In restraint 
of strikes. By compelling the question of st ike or no 
strike to be acted upon affirmatively by four or five differ- 


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612 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ent and independent tribunals, they certainly tend to pro- 
hibit a strike that is rash or reckless, or for 01 her than 
weighty cause . Let it be borne in miud in the same con- 
nection that when a railroad or any other bneiuesa con- 
cern ie operated by Receivers, the violence and lawless- 
ness and other abneee of a strike are both less likely to 
develop than in other cases, and, If developed, are much 
more readily dealt with Employes, who understand they 
are officers of the Court, will be slow to antagonize its 
authority, and if they do can be summarily controlled and 
punished through the process of contempt. 

“While, therefore, under the circumstances of the pres- 
ent case, the possible evils of a strike would seem to be 
minimized, it should not be forgotten, iu the second 
place, that the Receivers’ proposed remedy, to* wit, a rule 
excluding or discharging from service any or all members 
of the Brotherhood, is itself open to serious objections 
and disad vantages. The best service is not to be expected 
from employes who smart under a sepse of Injustice and 
are in a chronic state of discontent. Yet such is the in- 
evitable condition of employes whose right to organize 
for mutual protection ana benefit is attacked, and whose 
opportunity to labor is conditioned upon the sacrifice of 
that right. They cannot help noting that organized capl 
tal is not so restricted. And, when treatment so appar- 
ently unfair and discriminating is administered through 
the instrumentality of a Court, the resulting discontent 
and resentment of employes are inevitably intensified, 
believing the law itself to have got wrong aud In some 
unaccountable manner to have taken sides against them. 

“Thus, the mischiefs apprehended from membership ol 
the Brotherhood by the Receivers’ employes lie wholly in 
the future and are as small t<8 is possible in the nature ot 
things; while the mischiefs to arise from enforcing the 
Receivers’ proposed rule are real and immediate. Wncther 
and bow far they m*y be regarded as off-etiing one an- 
other need not be discussed. The rejection of the pro- 
posed rule may reasonably be expected to be attended 
with such suostantial advantages that the Court can 
hardly hesitate as to the course which sound business 
policy dictates. 

“To begin with, not the least of such advantages is the 
avoidance of the necessarily invidious, if not illegal, po- 
sition, that a man shall go without work unless he will 
give up a legal right— a right he may properly deem es- 
sential to his safety and welfare. 

“A correlative advantage is the conciliation ol the em- 
ployed through the full recognition of their rights and the 
clear Indication of an honest purpose that no injustice to 
them Is meditated. 

“Another advantage ie the practical proof thus given 
that the great social problem of the dav and the phase it 
has now assumed are fully appreciated. Whatever else 
may remain for the future to determine, it must now be 
regarded as substantially settled that the mass of wage- 
earners can no longer be dealt with by capital as so many 
isolated nuts. The time has passed when the individual 
workman is called upon to pit his feeble single strength 
against the migut of organized capital. Organized labor 
now confronts organized capital. They are best oft’ wheu 
friends, but are inevitably often at variance. As antagon- 
ists neither can afford to despise the other, and the burn- 
ing question of modern times is: How shall the ever re- 
curring controver-les between them be adjusted and 
terminated? If the combatants are left to fight out their 
battles between themselves by the ordinary agencies, 
nothing is more certain than that each will inflict incal- 
culable injury upon the other, while whichever may 
triumph will have won a victory only less disastrous and 
lees regretable than defeat. 

“No better mode for the settlement of contests between 


capital and labor has yet been devised or tried than arbi- 
tration, and another and crowning advantage of &u 
course of action here advocated ia that arbitration at the 
mode of settling differences between capital and labor 
must necessarily be applied in the course ol the Receiver 
ship and arbitration in its best and moat effective form 
The Court, by appointing Receivers, constitutes l>tff not 
only an employer of labor, but the arbitrator of all dis- 
putes between It and the Receivers, who may juaUy be 
regarded a« representatives of capital. It occupies the 
dual capacity of employer and arbitrator, naturally and 
inevitably. It is an arbitrator whose wisdom and Impar- 
tially are— certainly should be and must be assumed to 
be— beyond suspicion. It is an arbitrator capable of act- 
ing ranidly and summarily, if need be, and invested with 
power to enforce its own awards. It is an arbitrator wit b 
whom both parties have reason to be satisfied, both from 
its character and i»s ability to make its awards effective, 
and might well be expected to furnish, should circum- 
stances permit or require a conspicuous object lesson illus- 
trative of the value of the arbitration principle. 

‘ In short, the question being whether business policy 
requires the Court to approve the rule that a member of 
the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen is ifto facto inel- 
igible as an employe of the Receivers of the Reading 
Railroad and officers of the Court, the conclusive con- 
siderations against the rule may be summed up as fol 
lows: 

“1. Tbc rule is of doubtful value as a prevention of 
strikes, because it leaves employes to act upon impulse 
and from passion, aiul freed from the restraints of tbs 
Brotherhood regulations. 

“2 The rule is of doubtful value when the Court i* tht 
real emplover, both from the reluctance of the employ*^ 
to de'y the Court's authority aDd trom the power of the 
latter to speedily aud summarily vindicate it. 

“3. The rule is of positively Injurious tendency ic the 
disaffection and discontent e' gendered among employ** 
by the denial to them of rights erjoyed bv citizens gmer 
ally and deemed necessary for their security and com tort 

“4. The repudiation of the rule, on the other hano, has 
the positive merit (A) of tending to secure lor the eervic* 
the good will of employes, and thus promoting tx» 
efficiency: (B) of recognizing the real conditions of the 
capital and Itfoor problem and the fact that labor both ha# 
the right to organize and is organized; (C) of illustrating 
the working under the most favorable auspices of the 
principle of arbitration as the means of adjusting tbr 
differences between capital and labor; (D) of demonstrat- 
ing that there is not one law for one class of the commun- 
ity and another for another, but the same t< r all, and of 
thus tending to preserve for the lew and for the judiciary 
by which it is administered th'*t general respect and con 
fldence which have always been a marked characteristic 
as well as excellence of our lnstitutlor s. 

‘•Richard Oi^ceY.’' 

Iq this connection we call the especial atten- 
tion of our readers to the following recommenda- 
tion made by the United State* Strike Commis- 
sion, in their report on the Chicago strike and 
given to the public but a few days since: “Con- 
tracts requiring m9n to agree not to join labor or- 
ganizations or to leave them, as conditions of em- 
ployment. should be made illegal, as is already 
done in some of our states.” 


Brother John Covert, of Division 103, will 
learn something to his advantage by writing to 
his secretary. 

*** 

Brothers A. C. Brownell and G. L. Owen have 
accepted agencies for the Travelers' Accident In- 
surance Company, with headquarters respectively 
at Ennis and Tyler, Texas. 

* * 

* 

The wife of H. B. Pelham, late member of 
Division 108, inquires anxiously of his where- 
abouts. Any information sent her at Wooley, 
Washington, will be gratefully received. 


Brother F. J. Dorsey has resigned from the 
Board of Trustees and the vacancy thus caused 
has been filled by the appointment of Brother 
W. C. Wright, of Brockville, Ontario. 

# » 

* 

Michael W. Reynolds, of 394 Noble street. Chi- 
cago, 111., is anxious to learn the present where 
abouts of bis brother, John J. Reynolds, a con- 
d ictor, and former member of the Order 

♦ * 

* 

Brother A. E. Lloyd, secretary and treasurer 
of Division 86. will be grateful if some Brother 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR, 613 


will furnish him with the present address of 
J L Bailey, recently a member of that Division. 
Address him at 11x5 Ayers street, Escanaba, 
Mich 

V 

The International Railroader , published semi- 
monthly at 12x1 Masonic Temple, Chicago, 111 ., 
has reduced its subscription price to fifty cents a 
year, and offers liberal premiums in the shape of 
books. Full information can be secured by 
writing them. 

* * 

* 

Brothers T. Bullock, G. M. Gubernator, I. 
Killgore, J. W. Kanaley and T. O’Neil, of Divi- 
sion No. 53. should communicate at once with 
their Secretary, E. B. Kollert, as he has business 
matters of importance to arrange with them. 

V 


There is no discounting the fact that The Chi- 
cago Herald is the cleanest, neatest and ablest 
edited newspaper in the west, if not in the United 
States. Its news service is unsurpassed, and it 
‘'scoops" its rivals in this respect as in all others. 
The Herald has a larger sale than any other Chi- 
cago paper. * 

v 

Brother John Noonan, of Division. 13, will be 
glad to know the present address of his brother, 
D. L. Noonan, an old time conductor on the 
Northern Pacific. Any Brother possessing the 
desired information will confer a favor by ad- 
dressing John N >onan. box 2, Y. M. C. A , St. 
Thomas, Ont. 

V 

Assistant General Manager H. R. Nickerson, 
of the Mexican Central, has been appointed gen- 
eral manager of that road, with headquarters at 
the City of Mexico. Tae occasion for this pro- 
motion was the retiring of Mr. E. W. Jackson 
from the position of vice president and general 
manager which took effect on the 1st inst. 

* » 

* 

On the 5th inst. Brother Wilkins organized a 
new Division at Martinsburg, W. Va., under 
number 223. The new Division starts off with a 
membership of thirty-one, all active and ener- 
getic workers for the good of the Order, and 
from present indications the prospect for a suc- 
cessful future are unusually bright. 

*** 

A close observer cannot fail to notice the rapid- 
ity with which The Chicago Herald has come 
into general circulation. Traveling men have, 
perhaps, better opportunities for observation in 
such matters than any other class, and they are 


unanimous in declaring that The Herald has by 
far the largest circulation in the west of any Chi- 
cago daily. * 

V 

Mrs. F. W. Deitz, of 281 First street, Port- 
land, Oregon, is anxious to learn the present ad- 
dress of her husband, who left her last June to 
seek work in southern California. Any Brother 
having the desired information will confer a favor 
by writing to her at the address given. 

V 

Our readers' attention is called to the new ad- 
vertisement appearing in this issue of the Beetho- 
ven Piano & Organ Co. They make a fair and 
safe offer, and as the house is old and reliable, we 
think their proposition worthy of consideration. 

V 


Attention is called to the unusual offer made 
by the Watch Department of the Homes & 
Hearths Co., New York, in this issue. We have 
seen the Calendar Watch advertisement, and be- 
lieve it to be an excellent thing. Do not fail to 
read the advertisement, and avail yourself of the 
opportunity. 

* * 

* 

Brother F. J. Kinkead, of Division 232, would 
be pleased to learn the present address of his 
brother, B. H. Kinkead, who was in St. Louis, 
Mo., when last heard from. Anyone possessing 
the desired information will confer a favor by 
communicating with the Brother at 234-236 
Wisconsin street, Milwaukee, Wis., or with Mrs. 
Sarah Kinkead, 815 Wall street, Sioux City. 
Iowa. 


Ray Lee, a fourteen -year-old son of Brother 
A. D Lee of 342, miraculously escaped being 
killed in the Rock Island wreck near Seymour, 
Iowa, on the nth ult. The young gentleman 
was in charge of a valuable horse and was riding 
in a box car but a few cars back of the engine at 
the time the accident occurred. At first it was 
feared his injuries might prove fatal, but it is 
now stated that he will escape with a partial loss 
of hearing. 

V 

Invitations have been received at this office to 
attend the wedding of Mr. William J. Holden and 
Miss Theresa O. Marionneaux, held at Plague- 
mine, La., October 16 last. Brother Holden is a 
zealous member of Division No. 108, and to him 
and his estimable bride The Conductor extends 
heartfelt congratulations, hoping that their life 
together may be full of happiness and prosperity. 
They will be at home to their friends after the 


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614 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


20th inst., at 1539 Magazine St., New Orleans, 
La 

V 

At a meeting of the Lake Shore & Michigan 
Southern directors, held in New York, October 
30, Mr. D. W. Caldwell was chosen president of 
that road to succeed President John Newell, de- 
ceased. Mr. Caldwell retains his position as 
president of the New York, Chicago & St Louis, 
which he has held since Oct. i, 1887, and in 
which he has made an excellent reputation as an 
executive officer. 

V 

The editor wishes to acknowledge the receipt of 
invitations to the ' ‘reception and calico bah" to 
be given by the members of Division 54 on the 
evening of the 21st; to the “social assembly" to 
be given by Leeds Division on the evening of the 
20th, and to the “eighth annual ball and con- 
cert" of Chapman Division No. 45 on the even- 
ing of the 25th inst.; and can but regret that 
press of official business makes it impossible for 
him to accept any of these hospitable offers. 

V 

A rather ?mall man, short with dark hair and 
moustache and rather curly hair, representing 
himself as Bro. Frank Coppersmith of Div. 90, 
and exhibiting receipt in Bro. Coppersmith’s 
name, which must have been stolen, and a rather 
large man with sandy hair and moustache, prob- 
ably forty years of age, representing himself as 
Bro. Hartman of Div. 76, are endeavoring to im- 
pose upon members of the Order. They are 
frauds. 

# 

* * 

Friday, Oct. 26, was the eighteenth anniversary 
of the marriage of Brother G. W. Grander and 
wife, and his Brother members of Division No. 9 
made the occasion a memorable one to them. 
About sixty of the friends gathered at their 
pleasant Elmira home during the evening and the 
time was passed most pleasantly by all. The 
many good wishes extended this estimable couple 
on that occasion will find a ready response 
wherever they are known. May they live to see 
many more such happy anniversaries. 

V 

It is important that the members of our Order 
mike arrangements as early as possible with their 
secretaries to report them as being entitled to 
The Conductor for the coming year. All 
changes of address should be given at the same 
time. Those members who are now entitled to 
The Conductor and are not receiving it, will do 
well to bear in mind that it is because they have 
not presented the matter properly to their secre- 


taries or because we have not been furnished 
with their correct addresses. 

V 

Brother Harry Weston has been compelled, by 
the failure of his health, to leave railroad work 
for a time, and has undertaken the management 
of the Burlington Hotel, at Hot Springs, Atk. 
This bouse is nicely located, is comparatively 
new and fitted out with all the modern improve* 
ments, and under ths direction of Brother Wes- 
ton will be one of the best of its locality. Rail- 
road men will find an especially warm welcome 
at his hands and it will be to their interest to pat- 
ronize our Brother when visiting his city. 

V 

No library is complete without Harper's Pic- 
torial History of the Civil War, and none of 
our readers can afford to miss au opportunity for 
securing it. It is published in portfolio form, 
bound in paper, and contains 800 pages ix#xi 6 
inches, and more than 1,000 of the best illnstra* 
tions that appeared in Harper's Weekly daring 
the war. For $3 25 we will send The Railway 
Conductor one year and deliver to you this vol- 
ume post paid. For ten new subscribers at $1.00 
each, sent by one person, we will give the History 
free and post paid. Will quote prices on hand- 
somely bound copies in one and two volumes. 

V 

The meeting of Switchmen, called to meet in 
Kansas City on the 22d ult., resulted in the or- 
ganization of the Switchmen's Union of North 
America to take the place of the defunct S. M 
A. A. The officers chosen were: D. D Sweeney, 
of Jersey City, N. J., Grand Master; M. R- 
Conlon, of Kansas City, Kan., Vice Grand Mas- 
ter; James Dougherty, of St. Louis, Secretary 
and Treasurer; F. W. Wartinbee, of LaCrosse. 
Wis. , Harry C. Nelson, Kansas City, and M R 
Welsh, Omahi, Neb., Grand Directors Under 
its policy as announced through the daily papers 
the new Union will be strictly a class organization 
and its members will not be allowed to belong to 
other Orders having a mixed membership. 

V 


The attention of members of the Benefit De- 
partment is called to the fact that a number of 
times during our existence, and several times 
quite recently, the membership of members of 
the Department has been forfeited through the 
Division secretary neglecting to attend promptly 
to remittances which the members have delegated 
him to attend to. Members should distinctly 
understand that they alone are responsible for 
any failure on the part of any agent whom they 


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THE ' RAIL 1 VA ) 9 COND U CTO 11 


appoint. The Department's laws and practices 
all contemplate each member attending to his 
own remittances and the Department accepts no 
responsibility for neglect on the part of secreta- 
ries or others. 

V 

"Boys' and Girls’ New Pictorial Library of 
Prose. Poetry and Art” is a book. that appeals di- 
rectly to the young people. It is filled with arti- 
cles on travel, adventure, history, biography, etc., 
by eminent authors, making, with all its other 
departments, a perfect compendium of instructive 
and pleasure-giving reading. It is elegantly 
bound in red silk cloth and contains 132 fine 
illustrations, forty-one full page engravings and 
twenty-four full page illustrations in colors. The 
regular price of this work is $1.75, but by special 
arrangement with the publishers we are [enabled 
to offer it, together with Tils Railway Conduc- 
tor for one year, for that price. For four new 
subscribers to The Conductor at $1.00 each, 
sent by one person, we will give this handsome 
book free, in both instances it being delivered 
prepaid by express. We can make it an object 
for you to secure us soraj subscribers. 

*** 

We wish our readers to give particular considera- 
tion to the advertisements that appear for the first 
time with this issue We should not forget that 
wise doctrioe of patronizing those that patronize 
ns. Among the new advertisements there will be 
found that of the Reliable Incubator & Brooder 
Co., which is familiar to our readers as being a 
concern that merits the name reliable. M. M. 
Buck & Co. present their high grade lanterns 
from plainest to highest finish; this will be read 
with special interest by our brother conductors. 
The famous old watch manufacturers, the Elgin 
National Watch Co , offer a new watch especially 
designed for conductors. The Beethoven Piano 
& Organ Co. will be found noted elsewhere on 
these pages. Homes & Hearths Co. offer special 
holiday bargains in watches, which should be 
taken advantage of during the approaching Christ- 
mas tide. 

V 

The members of D. vision 40 are disposed to 
contest with 48 the honor of hiving the oldest 
conductor on the continent in a:tive service, as 
will be seen by the following n He from Brother 
M. N. Gjss: "I no ice in the OHobsr number of 
Thb Conductor that Division 48 claims to have 
the oldest conductor on this continent in actual 
service. I am obliged to contest their claim in 
behalf of Division 40. We have a member of 
this Division who began railroading when a lad 


and who is now seventy-six years of age. Brother 
Henry Finehout is the gentleman in question and 
he is in service as a passenger conductor on the 
C., St. P., M. & O. R. R. (Northwestern Sys- 
tem ) He is known to almost every conductor in 
the northwest and is as active as the majority of 
those who are bis j uni er by twenty years. He 
never loses any time and is good for another ten 
years unless disabled by accident." 


The home of Bro. A. B. Youngson, Assistant 
Grand Chief of the Brotherhood of Locomotive 
Engioeers, has been desolated by the death of his 
beloved wife. Mrs. Youngson was possessed in a 
rare degree of those womanly graces which make 
the model wife and mother and which made 
friends of all who knew her. Her sweet and en- 
during patience under the sufferings which pre- 
ceded the last rest was but characteristic of the 
life that bad been full of forgetfulness of self and 
of loving kindnesses for others and brought her 
nearer, if that were possible, to all whose lives 
had been crowned by her love. The blow of her 
death was an especially severe one to Brother 
Youngson and in his sorrow he will have the ten- 
derest sympathy, not only of those who were 
bound by the closer ties of relationship and af- 
fection, but of that vast army of friends, mem- 
bers of which are to be found in almost every 
community in the land. The funeral was held 
from the home in Meadville, Pa., and was attend- 
ed by all of the grand officers of the B. of L. E. 
Some measure of the high estimation in which 
the departed had been held was shown by the 
profusion of beautiful floral offerings from the 
Brotherhood and its officers and from other 
friends. 


Samuel Gompers, president of the American 
Federation of Labor, has issued a circular an- 
nouncing the fourteenth annual convention of 
that body. The Old Chamber of Commerce, 
14th and Lawrence streets, Denver, Colo., has 
been secured for the occasion and the convention 
will be called to order therein at 10 o'clock a. m., 
December 10 next. Representation in this con- 
vention will be upon the following basis: Inter- 
national and National unions with less than 4,000 
members, one delegate; 4,000 members or more, 
two delegates; 8,000 members or more, three 
delegates; 16,000 members or more, four dele- 
gates, and so on. Local, trade or federal labor 
unions, state federations, central labor unions, 
trades assemblies or trades councils, one delegate 
each. All organizations, to be entitled to repre- 
sentation must have a certificate of affiliation at 


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6i6 


7 HE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


least thirty days before the date upon which the 
convention is to be held, and delegates must be 
chosen at least two weeks before that time. A 
large attendance and enthusiastic and profitable 
sessions are confidently expected. Among the 
questions to be brought up for discussion, accord* 
ing to this circular, will be: the right of labor to 
organize for protection and the decisions of the 
judiciary *thereon; improper use of the federal 
troops; relief from the effects of the financial 
crisis; legislation and the onion of all the forces of 
labor. The Denver unions are preparing to give 
their guests a fitting reception and all present in* 
dications point to the complete success of the 
gathering. 

V 

Salem G. Worden, a member of the A. R. U., 
was found guilty of murder in the first degree by 
the court at Woodland, California, last Friday. 
Worden was charged with having assisted in 
wrecking a Southern Pacific tram in July last, 
whereby Engineer Clarke and four United States 
soldiers were killed. His trial has been a long 
one, and the proof must have been conclusive 
against him, as the jury returning the verdict 
made no recommendation for a modification of 
the penalty, death or life imprisonment. The 
crime of which this man stands convicted, was 
one of the most heinous in the history of the 
country, and it would seem impossible that men 
could be found so lost to every instinct of human* 
ity as to engage in such undertakings. In every 
instance of such cowardly assassination, every 
possible means should be employed in running 
down the perpetrators and bringing them to 
speedy and certain justice. Something of the 
odium for all such crimes attaches itself to rail- 
road men generally, and they should take such a 
stand and render such aid as would place the 
guilt where it of right belongs, and make it im- 
possible for them to again be burdened with the 
responsibility for acts which they deplore as 
deeply as anyone can. There are still others to 
be tried for this same crime, and all will hope 
that, if they are guilty, they may speedily be 
brought to pay the just penalty for what was at 
best a cowardly and cold-blooded murder. 

V 

A decision was recently rendered in the Circuit 
Court at Rock Island, 111 ., that will be found of 
special interest to all fraternal insurance orders 
and their members. From the published ac- 
counts of the case it appears that Albinus Brasher 
took out a certificate of insurance for $2,000 in 
the Home Forum Benefit Order, being a member 


of the local forum at Milan, 111 . This order » 
organized and chartered in Illinois, its principal 
offices being in Chicago, and it is conducted on 
the assessment plan. After Mr. Brasher had 
been a member more than a year he failed to pay 
three assessments which were levied between the 
months of August and December, 1893. He was 
taken sick on November 30 of that year and dar- 
ing that sickness and while his life was despaired 
of his friends tendered to the local treasurer of 
the order the amount of the three assessments 
then past due. the rules requiring each assess- 
ment to be paid within 30 days after notice. On 
December 6 the treasurer accepted the payment 
of these assessments and receipted therefor, not 
knowing that Mr. Brasher was ill and his life io 
danger at the time. Six days after Mr. Brasher 
died and the treasurer at once returned the money 
and took np bis receipts. The case was hotly 
contested in the courts and after a full bearing 
Judge Glenn instrocted the jury to find for the 
defense. He held that the certificate of mem- 
bership proved on its face that it was issued 00 
the general condition that the member should 
comply with the by-laws of the order, that the 
benefit assessments should be paid within thirty 
days from date of notice, and if not so paid the 
certificate would be null and void. The judge 
held that this constituted a continuing liability 
and not a specific contract, except as the continu- 
ing liabilities were discharged at the time provided 
for in the conditions of the certificate and the by 
laws; and that a failure to pay and thereby dis- 
charge the continuing liabilities, as required by 
the laws of the order, forfeited all rights under 
such membership. He instructed the jury to 
find for the order and the verdict was so re- 
turned. 


Workingmen are accused of being unreasonable 
and averse to their employers. After reading of 
the general intentions of the Caraegies, Sweigarts 
and other miscarriages of industrialism, it is 00 
wonder that men advise each other to be strong 
enough to wipe opt the disgrace forced on them 
by the plutocrats who know no law but force 
Pennsylvania can furnish a record of oppression and 
degradation that would put to shame the atrocities 
of the dark continent. We send missionaries 
there to teach the benighted heathen the way of 
peace and truth Why not send a whole fiock to 
our owe heathen kings ? — Railroad Tratnm^is 
Journal, 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


The engines of the Lehigh Valley are to toe 
painted black, excepting the number and the 
words, Lehigh Valley. A very proper perform- 
ance, and right in keeping with the ideas in gen- 
eral of the management and its very yellow ad- 
ministration. The Valley is certainly a symphony 
in black and yellow, and only awaits the advent 
of Archie McLeod to supply a deep blue tint to 
fanish the dream of color. That young "Nappy" 
has some old Reading paint left over from his me- 
teoric career, and will make good use of his brush 
in spreading it over the Valley if the directory 
will only give him a chance to use it from the 
general manager's chair. — Railroad Trainmen's 
Journal. 

It is bad enough that in this country we have a 
part of the people working twelve or fourteen 
hours a day, while another part are tramping the 
highways vainly seeking work, but that we should 
allow strong and willing hands to be idle while 
little children fill the factories, is a disgrace to 
our civilization. The place, and the only place, 
for children under fourteen years of age. is in the 
school room or in the home. This question of 
child labor should receive the earnest attention of 
the laboring people until the evil is abolished 
Wherever there are laws against it and penalties 
provided for offenders, the laboring people should 
see that they are rigidly enforced ; and where these 
laws are not, some should be enacted. — The Car_ 
penter 

Look for a moment at the brutal truth without 
blinking at its significance. J ipan by twj bloody 
battles has won in a month what would not have 
been accorded her by decades of peaceful prog- 
ress. Till yesterday she was marely an Asiatic 
state with whom, if the British government did 
conclude a new treaty, it was done more from a 
readiness to humor the vanity of her rulers than 
as a formal recognition of her rank. To-day she 
is everywhere recognized as one of the great 
powers — possibly in Eastern seas the greatest 
power. The Japanese are no longer humored or 
bullied, ridiculed or petted. They command the 
homage of respect, the recognition of awe. For 
Japan has shown that she can fight and win She 
has proved her capacity to wield the. thunder- 
hammer of the modern Thor, her generals can 
maneuver many legions, her admirals can win 
naval battles; alike on land and sea she has smit- 
ten down with leaden hail and iron shell the hosts 
of her enemies. And at once all nations bow be- 


617 

fore the apparition of Japan militant, and admit 
with some dismay that a new and incalculable 
displacement of the centre of gravity, has taken 
place, and that all political calculations will have 
to be reconsidered in the presence of this new 
factor in the politics of the world.* Was King 
Olaf then so far wrong when be chanted: 

Force rules the world. Has ruled it, will rule it. 
Meekness is weakness. Force is triumphant! 

It may not be so in the long run, but within the 
limited horizon visible to the conductors of Euro- 
pean newspapers it seems only too manifestly 
true, and that impression reinforces most inop- 
portunely all the forces which make for war in- 
the world. — Review of Reviews. 


A Belated Violet. 

Very dark the autumn sky, 

Dark the clouds that hurried by; 

Very rough the autumn breeze 
Shouting rudely to the trees. 

Listening, frightened, pale, and cold, 
Through the withered leaves and mold' 

Peer’d a violet all in dread — 

"Where, oh, where is spring?" she said. 

Sighed the trees, "Poor little thing! 

She may call in vain for spring.” 

And the grasses whispered low, 

"We must never let her know." 

"What’s this whispering?" roared the breeze. 
"Hush! a violet!" sobbed the trees, 

"Thinks it’s spring — poor child; we fear 
She will die if she should hear." 

Softly stole the wind away, 

Tenderly he murmured, "Stay!" 

To a late thrush on the wiog, 

"Stay with her one day and sing.” 

Sang the thrush so sweet and clear 
That the sun came out to hear,. 

And in answer to her song, 

Beamed on violet all day long, 

And the last leaves here and there 
Fluttered with a spring-like air, 

Then the violet raised her head — 

"Spring has come at last!" she said. 

Happy dreams had violet 

All that night — but happier yet, 

When the dawn came dark with snow, 

Violet never woke to know. 

— Oliver Herford in St. Nicholas 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


-618 


ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OF AMERICA. 


MUTUAL BENEFIT DEPARTMENT. 


Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Nov. i; Expires Dec. 31, 1894. 

Assessment No. 288 is tor death of A. Crossan, Oct. 15, 1894. 


BENEFITS PAID FROM SEPT. 21 TO OCT 20, INCLUSIVE. 


Ben. 

No. 

AMT. 

FOR 

OF 

CAUSE. 

Cert No. 

Series. 

DIV 

738 

$3 000 

Death 

A. Bathurst 

Accident 

4424 


ll 5 

739 

a.OOO 

Death 

H. C. Oliver 

Accident 

2611 


40 

740 

3,000 

Death 

A. B Lawrence 

Consumption 

3508 


X12 

74 i 

2,000 

Death 

J. I. Dwyer 

Consumption 

412 

B 

254 

742 

3.000 

Death 

F. Tooley 

Infi. Bowels 

3441 

C 

17 * 

743 

1,000 

Death 

S. F. Deyoe 

Pyrletis 

3077 

A 

225 

744 

1,000 

Dis. 

P. J. Fitzpatrick 

Loss of Leg 

4721 

A 

171 

745 

2,000 

Death 

R Hodges 

Congestion 

1018 

B 

32 

746 

1,000 

Death 


Accident 

3365 

A 

256 

747 

1,000 

Death 

R Goggin 

Accident 

5084 

A 

68 

748 


Death 

W. Fricker 

Accident 

2320 

C 

34 

749 


Death 

T. K Lemon 

Consumption 

37 i 

B 

212 

750 


Death 

P. T. Callahan 

Anemia 

1419 

B 

59 

751 




Consumption 

841 

C 

20 


ALL APPROVED CLAIMS ARE PAID. 


- NUMBER OF MEMBERS ASSESSED. 

Series A, 4,995; Series B, 2,736; Series C, 4,712; Series D, 359; Series E. 90. Amount of as- 
sessment No. 288. $26,469; Total number of members 12,893. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 

Received on Mortuary Assessments to September 30, 1894 $1,730,362 20 

•Received on Expense Assessments to September 30, 1894 25,993.00 

Received on Applications, etc., to September 30, 1894 28,095.79 


$1,784,452.99 

Total amount of benefits paid to September 30, 1894 $1,663,804.00 

Total amount of expenses paid to September 30, 1894 62,884 71 

Insurance cash on hand September 30, 1894 28.764.28 


$1,784.45299 

EXPENSES PAID DURING SEPTEMBER. 

Incidental, xocts. ; Fees returned, $2.00; Stationery and Printing, $10.75; Salaries, $380.00. 
Postage, $130.00; Total, $522.85. 

The above amounts were paid out during the month, but items of postage, printing, legal, etc., 
often cover supplies and work for more than one month, and sometimes several months. 


Received on Assessment No. 284 to Oct. 20 $24.40600 

Received on Assessment No. 285 to Oct. 20 10,508 20 

Received on Assessment No. 286 to Oct. 20 10,210.80 

Received on Assessment No 287 to Oct. 20 3,(85.20 


WM. P. DANIELS, Secretary 


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$tohr. 

For the first time in many years St. Albans 
Division, No. 24. O. R. C., has been called up- 
on to mourn the loss of one of her members. 
On October 7 about foity members of this 
Division met at Malone. N. Y., to attend the 
funeral of Brother Henry Stone, who was killed 
at Ellenburg, N. Y., while discharging his duty 
as conductor. Brother Stone was a true and 
beloved member of our Order, a kind husband 
and father, and leaves a multitude of friends 
to mourn bis loss, as was demonstrated by the 
very large attendance at his funeral. 

ODcmurvi). 

Margie K., wife of Bro. Thad. Tannery, died 
at their home in Hornellsville, N. Y , Decem- 
ber tg, iSg3, after a brief illness. Mrs. Tan- 
nery was thought to be recovering, but death 
came so unexpectedly that Bro. Tannery was 
not at her side, he having left an hour pre- 
viously on his trip. Mrs. Tannery was pos- 
sessed of many womanly graces that endeared 
her to a wide circle of friends, who sincerely 
mourn her loss and sympathize deeply with 
the bereaved husband. 

Peoria Division, No. 79, mourns the death of 
Brother H. C. Tannyhill, who departed this 
life on the 27th of October. Deceased was a 
worthy member of the Order, a kind and lov- 
ing husband, and an upright and respected 
citizen. At a subsequent meeting of his Divis- 
ion resolutions were adopted expressing the 
sorrow of the members and their sympathy 
with the bereaved family. 

on. 

At a recent meeting of Rochester Division 
resolutions were adopted expressing the grief 
of the members at the death of Bro. John Mc- 
Mahon, who died at the city of Corning, N. Y., 
September 26th last. Bro. McMahon was in 
every sense a worthy member of the Order and 
a true and loyal Brother. The deepest sym- 
pathy of the Order will be extended to the 
family of the departed Brother in their hour of 


Brother A. Bathurst, of Division No. 115, 
was killed while in the performance of bis 
duty on July 30 last. At the time of the acci- 
dent Brother Bathurst was standing on an 


empty flat car, and in attempting to fix the 
coupling, fell between the cars. One shoulder 
was crushed by the wheels, and when the 
train was stopped his body had also been 
caught. He was perfectly conscious when 
taken out, and lived three hours, exhibiting 
wonderful fortitude under his terrible suffer- 
ings. The body was taken to the home at To- 
males. Cal., where the funeral was held Au- 
gust 1. under the auspices of the I. O. O. F. 
In the death of Brother Bathurst Division No. 
115 loses an earnest and faithful worker, and 
the members a true friend and Brother. A de- 
voted husband, his death was a terrible blow 
to his beloved wife, and all will sympathize 
with her in this great grief. 

slrmfccre. 

On the night of October 31 Bro. Andrew San- 
ders, of Division 96, was shot and killed while 
in charge of his train on the Chicago & Great 
Western Rail road .running through the suburbs 
of Chicago. Bro. Sanders was alone in his ca- 
boose at the time and was cleaning the globe 
of his lantern when a man entered the door 
and, presenting a revolver, demanded his 
money Bro. Sanders hurled his lantern globe 
at his assailant and was feeling under the 
bench for a coupling pin when the robber fired 
three times with telling effect. One bullet 
lodged in the neck, severing the jugular vein, 
another bored a hole in his tar. and the third 
entered his breast. While in this helpless 
condition the thief took one hundred dollars 
in money and a watch from his pockets and 
then escaped from the train. Soon after Bro. 
Sanders was discovered by the train crew, ly- 
ing helpless on the caboose floor and was ta- 
ken to the Cook County Hospital, where he 
died at 1:30 that night. The remains were ta- 
ken to Oswego, where the luneral was con- 
ducted by the members of Belknap Division, 
of which Bro Sanders was a popular and 
honored member. His tragic death was a ter 
rible shock to his loving wife, and the sympa- 
thy of all the Order will be extended to her in 
her overwhelming grief 

Horton. 

Bro C. H. Norton has been called upon to 
mourn the loss of his beloved wife. At a re- 
cent meeting of Division 4 resolutions were 
adopted conveying to the bereaved Brother 
and his daughter the sympathy of the mem- 
bers in their hour of supreme sorrow. 


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OBITUARY. 


Bro. W. F. Thompson, of Division 230, was 
fatally injured while in the discharge of his 
duty as coupler in the Rome yard of the C. R. 
& C. R. R., on the night of the 24th ult. In at- 
tempting to make a coupling, Bro. Thompson 
stepped through the frame work of a track 
scales and was thrown under the wheels, re- 
ceiving injuries that resulted in liis death the 
next morning. In his death Divisiop 230 loses 
a valued member and the Brothers an honored 
friend. A wife and three little children are 
left to mourn his loss, and to them will be ex 
tended the kindly sympathy of all. The funer- 
al was held in Rome, Ga., October 26th, under 
the auspices of the O. R. C. and I. O. O. F., 
he having been an honored member of both 
organizations, and was largely attended. 

flivan. 

Bro. C. A. Dixon, of Division 263, died Wed- 
nesday, September 19th last", after two weeks 
of suffering from typhoid fever. Three days 
after his death his sister. Miss Ida B. Dixon, 
also passed away, having been afflicted with 
the same disease. The Division sympathizes 
with the wife aod parents in their double be- 
reavement. The funeral was held on Friday, 
the 21st, and was largely attended, members 
of the Ladies' Anxiliary and of the Order be- 
ing present in a body and the pall bearers be- 
ing Brothers from several Divisions. 

Bro. M. Wade, Chief Conductor of Division 
15, died at his home in Stratford, Ont., on 
Monday, Nov. 5th, after a brief illness. Bro. 
Wade had been out with his train the Satur- 
day before and was apparently in his usual 
good health when he returned. Shortly after 
he was stricken down with pneumonia, which 
resulted fatally at 2:30 p. m. the following 
Monday. Bro. Wade was an able and zealous 
worker for the good of our Order, a loyal 
Brother and a good citizen. His death brought 
sorrow to all who had known him in life and 
the keenest sympathy of all is extended to his 
relatives and friends. 

tPropev, 

George, the son of Bro. George B. Braper, 
of Division x, died at his home September 27th 
last, after nine days of terrible suffering. He 


was six years of age, a beautiful child, of lov- 
ing disposition and a general favorite. The 
sympathy of all go out to the parents in their 
deep bereavement. 

Bro. Arthur Crossan, secretary and treasur- 
er of Division 338, was killed while workingis 
the yards at Gate Center, Kas., on the 13th alt. 
Bro. Crossan was engaged in chaining coal 
cars, and in some way was caught between 
them, receiving the injuries which caused hit 
death. The remains were sent to Pan ora. 
Iowa, in charge of Bro. Frank Kelly, for buri- 
al. The deceased was one of the most active 
and efficient workers in his Division and one 
of its most popular members. His death win 
leave a vacancy, both officially and socially, 
which will be exceedingly difficult to fill. The 
sincere spmpathy of the entire Order will be 
extended to the grief stricken wife 

Died, at his late residence in Des Moines. 
Iowa, on September 4 last, Bro. O. T. John 
son, after a short illness of four days. Bro. 
Johnson was a native of Vermont, having been 
born there June 28, 1834. When still a youox 
man he came west and served as engineer on 
the old Keokuk & Des Moines for a great many 
years. While here loss of hearing compelled 
him to take a passenger run and finally made 
it necessary for him to quit the railroad work 
altogether. Since that time he has been en- 
gaged in the insurance business in Des 
Moines. He was widely known and most 
highly esteemed and his death has left a va- 
cancy in both social and fraternal circles that 
it will be difficult to fill. The sympathy of the 
entire Order will go out to his estimable wife 
in her hour of supreme sorrow. 

ItfaUace. • 

Died Sept. 2nd, 1894, in Denver, Colo , aft«r 
a protracted illness of consumption, Brother 
Samuel Eugene Wallace, a member of Garfield 
Division No. 20, O. R. C. Although Brother 
Wallace died far away from his home, hie last 
hours were soothed by the presence of hit 
mother and two sisters who accompanied him 
to Colorado in the vain search for health, and 
by the many kind and brotherly offices of the 
members of Division No. 44. 


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The Railway Conductor 


VOL. XI. CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, DEC., 1894. NO. 12. 



CONTRIBUTED. 


WHY STATE GOVERNMENTS ARE MAINTAINED. 


BY W. P. BORLAND. 


A shrewd British observer, the Hpn. James 
Bryoe. remarks: 

“It waa generally believed in Europe, when the North 
triumphed over accession in 1865, tnai the federal system 
was virtually at an end. The legal authority.of Congress 
and the President had been immensely developed during 
the struggle; a powerful army, Hashed with victory, stood 
ready to enforce that authority; and there seemed reason 
to think that the South, which had fought so stubbornly, 
would have to be kept down during manv years by mili- 
tary force. However, none of the^e apprehended results 
followed. The authority of the central government pres- 
ently aank back within its farmer limits, s^me of the leg- 
islation based on the constitutional amendments whirii 
had extended it for certain purposes, being cut down by 
judicial decision. The army was disbanded; self-govern- 
ment was soon restored in the lately insurgent States, and 
the upshot of the years of civil w irand reconstruction has 
been, while extinguishing the claim of State sovereignty, 
to replace the formerly admitted State rights upon a legal 
basis as firm as they ever occupied bef ire. [At this mo- 
ment State rights are not in question, nor has either party 
an interest in advocating the suppression of State action 
in any department of government. The conservatism of 
habit and well settled legal doctrine which would resist 
any such proposal, is very strong. State autonomy, as 
well as local government within each State, is prized by 
every class in the community, and bound up with the per 
sonal interest of those who feel that these comparatively 
limited spheres offer a scope to their ambition which a 
wider theatre might deny ] 

“It is nevertieless impossible to ignore the growing 
strength of the centripetal and unifying forces. There is 
an increasing tendency to invoke congressional legislation 
to deal with matters, such as railroads, which cannot be 
adequately handled by state laws, or to remove divergen- 
ces, such as those in bankrupt laws and the law of mar- 
riage and divorce, which give rise to practical inconveni- 
ences. The advocates of such proposals as liquor prohibi- 
tion and the restriction of toe hours of labor, are more 
and more apt to carry their action to the federal sphere, 
while admitting that the federal constitution would need 
amendment in order to enable congress to effect what 
they desire. State patriotism, State rivalry, State vanity, 
are no doubt still conspicuous, yet the political interest 
felt in State governments is slighter than It was forty 
years ago, while national patriotism is warmer and more 
pervasive. The role of the State is socially and morally, if 
not legally, smaller now than it was th^n, and ambitious 
men look on a State legislature as little mere than a step- 
ping stone to congress/' — The American Commonwealth, 
Vol. II, p.6tt$-4. 


Let the reader pay particular attention to the 
portion of this quotation which I have enclosed 
in brackets; it furnishes the text for what I shall 
give later on as, in my opinion, the real and only 
reason for the maintenance of State governments. 

Now, there is a want of uniformity in State leg- 
islation on matters which cannot fail to be of 
national interest, that gives rise to much inconven- 
ience of a practical and very annoying character. 
The diversity in marriage and divorce laws, and 
the statutes of insolvency, need not be dwelt 
upon, as the want of uniformity in state legisla- 
tion on these questions, has been sufficiently ex- 
ploited as to render it a familiar topic for discus- 
sion from Maine to Oregon . The want of uni- 
formity in State exemption laws, interest laws, 
laws regulating the property rights of married 
women, the law of limitations, of mortgages, deeds 
and wills, liens, etc., is also very great, and a 
source of much vexation at times; while, how- 
ever it may have been in the past, there is now 
no good reason that can be assigned fora want of 
uniformity in the laws governing any of these 
subjects. In the matter of adulteration of food 
products, State action exhibits a want of uniform- 
ity in regulation which is sufficient to defeat the 
end sought, and legislation by the general govern- 
ment is apparently the only effective weapon for 
this evil. On one of the most vital moral ques- 
tions that is attempted to be dealt with by legis- 
lation, the age at which a female is competent to 
freely consent to her own ruin, there is a bewil- 

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622 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


dering want of uniformity in state laws. That is 
a strange process of reasoning on a great moral 
question which makes a female of tender age 
competent to ireely consent to her own ruin in 
one place, when possibly ten feet distant from 
there, across an imaginary state line, she is ir.- 
compe’.ent The age of consent laws in some of 
our states are a disgrace to civilization; they need 
not be discussed further. In the matter of the 
public health in times of threatened epidemic, the 
conflicting quarantine regulations in the several 
states is a question of vital import to the health 
and safety of the people of the entire nation. We 
have recently had practical illustration of the 
conflict of such laws in the threatened small-pox 
epidemic in the states of Illinois and Michigan 
last summer, and in the cholera scare throughout 
the country two years ago. With reference to 
this matter, the Secretary of the Treasury's re- 
port for 1892 contains the following: 

“State laws cannot properly control or direct the man- 
agement of great quarantines where other states are inter- 
ested. The quarantines ot our seaboard are of equal in- 
terest to all our population The whole country should 
have a voice in their ownership and management, and 
this can only be accomplished by such legislative action 
as will forbid the collection of quarantine fees by state or 
municipal authority, and which shall direct the assump- 
tion of all quarantine duties by the United States. This 
duty rests under the same authority as that uuder which 
laws relating to emigration are fraiii d aud executed.” 

In matters directly aflectiog the interests of 
workingmen, the want of uniform state action 
renders much labor legislation a mere farce. Let 
a state pass laws forbidding convict labor, and its 
working citizens are benefited to no appreciable 
extent, for the reason that the products of convict 
labor may be shipped into the state which does 
not permit such labor, from all those states which 
do permit it, and the competition of the products 
of convict with free labor products — which is the 
thing sought to be avoided by state legislation — is 
as effective as ever. The incapacity of the states 
to afford relief in such matters as this, is recog- 
nized to the extent that the friends of labor have 
attempted to carry their action to the federal 
sphere. In the 53rd congress bills were intro 
duced, "To regulate the sale and transportation 
of prison made goods," and "For the protection 
of honest industries from unjust and ruinous com- 
petition of convict made goods transported from 
one state or territory into another." There is, of 
course, no recognized power in the feceral legis- 
lature to forbid the employment of convict labor 
in any of the states, hut it was hoped by the au- 
thors of these bills to use the recognized power 
of congress over the transportation interests of the 
country so as to render effective the laws against 
the employment of convict labor within those 
states, at least, which had adopted them. About 
ten years ago, in the 49th congress, among many 


other proposals for amending the federal consti- 
tution which were introduced, was one to forbid 
the states to hire out the labor of prisoners; but I 
am not aware that it was ever voted on The 
sweating system is also an evil that cannot be 
controlled by state action, for substantially the 
same reasons as those which apply to convict la- 
bor. As long as there is a market for the product 
of sweat shops, the p oduct will be furnished 
Congressional action on this question also was in- 
voked by a bill introduced into the 53rd congress 
"To prevent the manufacture of clothing in an* 
healthy places and the sale of clothing so raaoo- 
factured." In many other ways which will read- 
ily suggest themselves 10 the reader, do the inter- 
ests of workingmen suffer through the inadequacy 
of state action, and the increasing tendency of 
workingmen to invoke the aid of congress, is thus 
explained. The difficulties attending the want of 
uniformity in state legislation, have long been 
recognized, and numerous attempts have been 
made to remove them by voluntary action of the 
separate state legislatures; that is. attempts have 
been made to induce such legislatures to uniform 
ity of action on certain subjects, but always son 
necessarily so, without success On October 19 
during its last annual session, held in the city of 
Detroit, the Michigan Political Science Assoc** 
tion discussed an able paper on this subject by 
the Hon S. M. Cutcbeon, and as a result of the 
discussion arrived at the following; 

“Resolved, That the movement looking toward um 
form ity of state laws upon matters of common interest, 
not within federal juri-dlction, ha* fctio cordial approval oi 
this association, and that the reform should be 
until the deaired result 1* accomplished." 

Because it so nearly voiced ray own ideas on 
the subject, I was pleased to find the Detroit 
Nexus commenting on this action of the associa- 
tion. in its issue of Oct. 22. as follows: 

“It wa« well noted that commercial and social line* anr 
rapidly disappcmlug among the states, and noc world 
Ihlnkthat Hie most natural thing for the association 
would be a deruund for tTie disappearance also of such po 
lilical liuosasnre hindering the inevitable evolution of 
our nniionul life. Instead of demanding the rtcogniUon 
of the means that will most smoothly aud ea*dr aoc**m 
plish the uniformities of law that are really imperative 
throughout the land an a condition of cteveioumeor. rhe 
association called f r the mean* carrying with them th* 
most friction and difficulty. These means are the pro- 
posed creation of u voluntary machinery to Induce the mo- 
rions state legislatures to unilormity of legt« ati* -n on cer 
tain subjects. * * * * There must have been a *ih 
sprinkling of Jeffersonian democrats In the meeting 
which adopted ihi« resolution, otherwise the (vaolntioc 
would have taken a form more pr»cicai and more in 
coidance with the trend of our political evolution. To tn 
dertakc through all future time to bring 44 »o .Y» indepen 
dent legislatures to complete unity of purpose and se-f 
ment on the multifarious questions of common inter* *- 
they con e up, is both a moral aud physical tmpo**i' *' itv 
Though attempts have been made more than once ««> oj 
this with reference to particular matters, not one » 100**- 
ful issue has resulted ; it Is not llkclv tool one ever will 
The way to do it is to go about it is directly threneb lb*' 
federal constitution, tf changing our national LMrifftit?; 
tion comes hard, perpetually trotting around atnonr 
state legislatures and laboring wiln them *5*p*ra»slr 
comes still harder. The latter is no way of doing gor^rn 
mental business, and it will never i?ucce'ed •' 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 623 


So much for this phase of the question. Ic 
locU matters the influence of the state is still 
more baneful. The power of a state over all 
communities within its limits is absolute. It may 
grant or refuse local government as it pleases. 
In order to realize the extent of this power it 
may be stated that although the city of Chicago 
contains about one-third of the entire population 
of the state of Illinois, and the population of 
New York City is more than one-fifth of the 
population of the state of New York, the state 
might in either case extinguish the municipality 
and leave the city without any government, what- 
ever, or institute any particular form of govern- 
ment which pleased it, without reference to 
the wishes of the inhabitants of the city. This 
power of the state over the municipalities within 
its limits opens up a particularly tempting field 
for corrupt legislation. Cities grow so fast that 
all undertakings connected with them are espec- 
ially tempting to speculators, who find it a grpat 
advantage to themselves to be able to work their 
schemes through a foreign body, away from the 
notice of the people of the city whose interests 
are involved; and it has come to pass that the 
great bulk of the legislation in most of our states 
consists of special and private enactments re- 
lating to cities. Does a city desire to institute a 
change in its form of government, or enter into 
any undertaking which will inure to the benefit 
of its inhabitants, unless the terms of its charter 
are such as to clearly give it the right to go ahead 
it must go to the state legislature for appropriate 
legislation This state of affairs involves a dis- 
regard of one of the most fundamental principles 
of democratic government — the right of a com- 
munity to attend to its own affairs. There is an 
instinctive recognition of this violation of our 
traditions of government, in all of our state legis- 
latures, and the manner of this recognition is 
such as to breed a great deal of vicious legisla- 
tion. It seems to be a well established rule with 
members to cffer little or no opposition to legisla- 
tion of a local character whenever such legislation 
has the support of the member from the locality 
affected and as this rule has an all-round appli- 
cation, and serves the private interest of every 
member alike, state legislation is nothing more 
than a process of log-rolling, or political trading. 
Says Mr. Bryce. "Each member being the judge 
of the measure which touches his own constitu- 
ency, every other member supports that member 
in passing the measure, expecting in return the 
like support in a like cause. He who in the pub- 
lic interest opposes the bad bill of another, is 
certain to find that other opposing, and probably 
with success, his own bill, however good.” To 


secure a needed reform in city government, then, 
it may be necessary for the city member, or mem- 
bers, although they may be honest men and to do 
so is against their convictions, to support some 
other member's measure which is vicious in the 
extreme in order to accomplish their object. Is 
it sought, too, to foist a scheme of robbery upon 
the inhabitants of a city, it is only necessary to 
“fix" the city’s representatives and it is quite cer- 
tain that enough members from other parts of 
the state can be brought to support the scheme to 
carry it through; thus the fortunes of our cities 
are traded upon and controlled by men who have 
no interest in them, whatever. The New York 
commissioners appointed "to devise a plan for 
the government of the cities of the state of New 
York” reported, in 1877, on this matter, in part, 
as follows: 

“VThen a local bill Is under consideration in the legisla- 
ture, its care and explanation are left exclusively to the 
representatives of the locality to which it is applicable; 
and sometimes by express, more often by tacit under- 
standing, local bills are log-rolled through the honee. 
Thus legislative duty is delegated to the local representa- 
tives, who acting frequently in combination with the 
sinister elements of their constituency, shift the respon- 
sibility for wrong doing from themselves to the legisla- 
ture. But what i9 even more important, the general rep- 
resentatives have not that sense of personal interest and 
personal responsibility to their constituents which are 
Indispensable to the intelligent administration of local 
affairs. And yet the judgment of the local goveri ing 
bodies in various parts of the state, aud the wishes of 
their constituents, are liable to be overruled by the votes 
of legislators living at the distance of a hundred miles ” 


Tinkering with city charters has become a 
habit with most legislatures; they resort to it to 
fill out the session when they have nothing else 
to do, and it has come to pass that cities must be 
at the expense of maintaining lobbies at the state 
capital, not so much for the purpose of securing 
legislation as to protect themselves from the en- 
actment of legislation which would be injurious 
to them. Speaking of his experience while act- 
ing as mayor of Brooklyn, the Hon. Seth Low 
said: "The mayor found that not the least im- 
portant of his duties, as mayor, was to protect 
the city from unwise and adverse legislation on 
the part of the state,” This is true of every city 
of any considerable size in all the states of the 
union. The cities have more need to protect 
themselves against the states than they have to 
call upon the states to assist in making regula- 
tions for their government. Our cities are in- 
creasing both in number and population, and the 
evils springing from state interference in their 
affairs are bound to increase correspondingly. 
The evils are so well recognized that the cry of 
' Home rule for cities” resounds from all over the 
land, and as this class of useless and positively 
harmful legislation forms on an average about 
three fourths of the volume of state legislation 
throughout the country, what is there left for the 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


624 

states after cities are granted the right of man- 
aging their own affairs, which they onght to en- 
joy? Nothing of any consequence, whatever. 
General interests are better attended to by the 
general government than by the states, and local 
interests are better attended to by the localities 
immediately concerned. It would seem, then, as 
though the people might do a good stroke of gov- 
ernmental business by relieving themselves from 
the expense of maintaining forty -four useless 
state governments; and it is the more important 
that the people should do this because the exist- 
ing system operates to prevent the selection of the 
best men for the administration of national 
affairs. No matter though he might be a man of 
the very highest ability and character, it will be 
conceded that a citizen of Nevada or Rhode 
Island, for instance, stands a mighty poor show 
of becoming president of the United States or 
speaker of the house of representatives, or even 
of receiving an appointment to a highly important 
federal office. Men of very mediocre ability are 
either elected or appointed to high federal posi- 
tions, not because they are the best men obtain- 
able, but because they happen to be residents of 
a state having a large electoral vote, considered 
doubtful by the party managers, and necessary to 
obtain for the party in order to enable it to carry 
the election. It is much more important to know 
what state a candidate hails from than it is to 
know that he is a man of exceptional ability, high 
character, and exceeding fitness to do the busi- 
ness of the people in the office he aspires to. 
Even now, since the result of the fall election is 
known, Mr. Morton is being talked of as “the 
logical republican candidate for president in 
1896.“ Why? Simply because he carried the 
state of New York for his party, and it is reas- 
oned that he might do it again and thus decide 
the result of the next national election in favor 
of the republicans. It may be that Mr. Morton 
is a thoroughly fit man for president, but the 
question of his fitness for the office does not enter 
into the reasoning which places him forwaid as a 
presidential possibility at this time. Were be a 
thousand times less fit than he really is be would 
still be the “logical candidate," and were he the 
most fit man m the entire country he would have 
dropped into comparative political obscurity, and 
not been considered as a possibility, had he failed 
to carry his state in the election just past. We 
shall never secure a proper administration of 
national affairs until the best men are put in 
office, irrespective of what section of the country 
they hail from, and the best men will never be 
put forward for office as long as the state organi- 
zations are maintained. But, it is in connection 


with this very aspect of the question that v? 
shall find the sentiment which makes Cos thecae- 
servation of these useless organisms. The slat t 
governments are useful to the parties; they fora 
a link in the organization of the prevailing pan? 
system of politics; and neither party has ' an is 
terest in advocating the suppression of state 
action in aoy department of government," be 
cause the states are useful to both parties alike 
The elections for state officers in off-years keep 
the party machinery in working condition and 
always at its maximum efficiency; they also aa 
as a sort of barometer, to indicate the political 
situation of the country and enable the parties tt 
arrange their lines of battle tor the national at- 
test. The state offices form a very considerable 
share of party patronage to be distributed among 
political workers; no matter that they may not be 
useful to the people who foot the bills, they are 
useful to the party and aid in holding the worker* 
in line. Those who have a talent for organizing 
primaries and running party slates through 1 
nominating convention, but who lack all the 
essentials to statesmanship, are rewarded with 
state offices; and “these comparatively limited 
spheres offer a scope to their ambition which t 
wider theatre might deny." A unified federal 
party machinery would be hard to handle n 
would be too unwieldy and liable to break of its 
own weight. But by dividing it into sections 
one for each state, all united for the common 
purpose of controlling every department of gov- 
ernment, but each catering to the particular sen- 
timent which may be dominant in its locality 21 
the time being, and running the state elections ce 
the basis of national issues — although all que* 
tions of federal politics are entirely outside the 
sphere of state competence— the parties are en- 
abled to work their machinery smoothly and eas 
ly, and at the same time pick out the instruments 
most likely to enable them to gain advantage in a 
national contest. The state governments, then 
are useful to the political parties whether they 
axe of use to the people or not, and as this teems 
to be a government of, by and for the political 
parties, and the interests they stand for. that fact 
is probably sufficient reason for the maintenance 
of state governments. 

Again, “the conservatism of habit* 4 acts with 
most people to induce them to accept things as 
they are without questioning their right to exist 
and without troubling themselves to know 
whether or not they might be made better 
Through the influence of tradition they worship 
at the shrine of state and local autonomy without 
enjoying either, and with merely the faintest 
ideas concerning what the terms really involve 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR, 


The states exist by well-settled legal rigljt, and 
that seems to be enough for the people; the idea 
that moral right should be superior to legal does 
not seem to enter into their thoughts. In a gov- 
ernment such as ours, which moves only at the 
beck and call of party, where every question of 
politics must be made a party question in order 
to incorporate it into governmental policy, or 
even to gain for it a respectable hearing by the 
people, this attitude of mind is a great drawback 
to securing proper discussion of any such matter 
as this. Even if the state governments as they 
at present exist were not useful to the party or- 
ganisations, neither party would yet dare to take 
the question of their abolition before the country 
and attempt to secure a discussion of it on its 
merits. To do this would be to give the opposite 
party a chance to appeal to the prejudice of the 
people for its own advantage, and destroy the 
prestige of the party proposing the measure. It 
would be an extremely ticklish question for a 
party to handle, as it would jeopardize its chances 
to obtain, or retain, control of the government 
and the offices. And there are many other ques- 
tions of importance besides this one which the 
parties neither of them dare present to the peo- 
ple for fear of losing prestige and votes through 
the machinations of the opposite party. 

It may occur to some that the evils surrounding 
legislative business in our states, would be as apt 
to appear in the federal legislature; that to abol- 
ish the state governments would be only to extend 
the sphere of federal jobbery and robbery, with- 
out aff jrding the people any considerable relief. 
This is true, to a certain extent, and so far 
as the matter of special and private legislation is 
concerned, congress needs no instruction from 
any of the states. But there is the advantage 
that no measure can be run through congress 
without the people knowing something about it, 
as the proceedings of congress are reported regu- 
larly, which is true of none of the state legisla- 
tures. Then, too, federal legislation arouses 
greater interest throughout the country, and the 
people are accustomed to watch it more closely 
than they do the legislation cf the states; and 
there is the further advantage that the field in 
which legislative jobbery becomes effective, 
would be vastly contracted. It is easier to keep 
watch upon one legislature than upon half a hun- 
dred. The relegation cf purely local affairs to 
the localities directly interested, would compel 
. greater attention to local interests, and create an 
interest in governmental affairs which is now 
sadly lacking. The abolition of state courts 


625 

would greatly simplify our legal procedure and 
put an end to much useless and expensive litiga- 
tion, at the same time that uniformity of law 
would be attained throughout the entire country. 

We are now living under four systems of law: the 
state statutes, the common law as construed by 
the state courts, the federal statutes, and the 
common law as construed by the federal courts. 

This is enough to create friction and confusion in 
the working of any form of government; it is im- 
possible to tell what the law on any given subject 
is likely to be at any given time or place. We 
need but two* law making bodies and two courts 
— the national legislature and the municipal 
council, the federal supreme court and the federal 
circuit courts. The abolition of our electoral 
system and the selection of president by popular 
vote; either thj abolition of the senate or the se- 
lection of members of the upper house by direct 
vote of the people; and the inauguration of a sys- 
tem of proportional representation which would 
permit minorities to obtain representation in the 
legislative body, would remove all occasion of 
fear that too much power would be placed at the 
disposal of the general authority. When the peo- 
ple are not the recognized source of power, or 
when, being the recognized source of power, they 
are not in a position to exert that power effective- 
ly, a strong central government is a thing to be 
feared. But when the situation is as it is in this 
country, with the people the recognized source of 
power and with unexampled facilities for exerting 
that power effectively, a strong central govern- 
ment is just what we need. That is, the central 
government must possess power adequate for the 
accomplishment of its object, and the object of 
the central government is to attend to the com- 
mon interests of the people; it is, in fact, the only 
force that is competent to attend to them The 
enemies of the people have long recognized the 
superiority of the federal power as a governing 
force, and they have sought in many ways to con- 
trol that force and extend it in many ways for 
their own advantage and to break down the liber- 
ties of the people. To counteract this tendency 
the people have busied themselves with making a 
multitude of state regulations of no practical ac- 
count; they have virtually placed themselves in 
antagonism to the federal power instead of seek- 
ing to control and direct it for their own benefit, 
as they ought to have done. This tendency must 
cease; worn-out traditions must be laid aside; 
prejudices and blind political partisanship must 
be buried from sight; and the people must reor- 
ganize and take possession of their government if 
they would preserve this republic. 


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626 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


THE TAXING POWER. 


BY JOSB GROS. 


Whoever can tax can rule. And those alone 
have always roled who had the power to tax. 
Look back into history, as far back as you may 
see fit to go, among all races, under all social, 
political and industrial systems, and you will not 
find a single, solitary exception to that grand uni- 
versal fact among men in their national or tribal 
compacts. No matter what the especial develop- 
ments may have been, among savages, barbar- 
ians, semi civilized or civilized into destruction, 
as we are in our days; no matter what the gen- 
eral or specific conditions, and irrespective of all 
social tendencies, you can always find that the 
power who rules is the power that taxes, in some 
form or other, and fails to rule as soon as it loses 
the power to tax. Not one of the conquerors 
who have trod the earth has failed to understand 
that rule. They all have attained power, and 
kept it, through the mere taxing element in their 
own hands. 

And what about all the aristocracies or oligarch- 
ies, ancient or modern, heathen or Christian? 
They have never neglected the handling of taxa- 
tion for the purpose of keeping the masses hum- 
bly accepting all oppressions, open, or masked by 
a tincture of civil or political rights, with no in- 
dustrial rights to speak of, the latter being the 
most important by far. 

Notice also, that the taxation wheel has always 
been made to revolve around the same central 
conception as to-day's in our own nation. We 
mean that taxation has always rested on produc- 
tion and commerce; and thus absorbed as much 
as possible out of what labor produced, besides 
evolving monopoly in natural resources, for the 
few to privately tax the many, on the top of pub- 
lic taxation. 

The double process in question is all that is 
needed for some men to quietly grasp all the 
wealth the many may produce, over what the 
many should keep to be alive and able to work, 
that a few may revel in what they never pro- 
duced. The process is then extremely simple. 
Expressed in a single sentence is as follows: 

"Tax men in proportion to what they may 
create and consume, and make it as difficult as 
possible for the workers to freely possess 
the land on which they have to live and 
work, thus placing them under tribute to the 
few for the use of natural resources." 

As a matter of actual fact, the men who may 
have the power to tax, become the real possessors 
of all natural elements. Those two aspects of 
social phenomena are like the two sides of a leaf, 


or blade of grass, the one carries the other. That 
is what history tells ns. And history adds that 
those who control the imperishable tools of pro- 
duction, all natural elements, shall have no trouble 
whatever, to rapidly control most of the labor 
created wealth, most of the perishable produc- 
tions that labor creates. And all that is not only 
historical, but axiomatic. It springs up from the 
essence of things in natural phenomena among 
men. It is inherent in all social developments. 
You find it reproduced under simple as well as 

complex industrial combinations. 

* 

Now, it is not often that axioms or self-evident 
truth can be demonstrated; but, in the present 
case, we think it can be done. Let us try it, any 
how. 

For all practical purposes, this world of ours is 
occupied with two entities, viz : labor and monop* 
oly. So far, the latter has always managed to 
obtain the lion's share out of what the former 
has produced. Can that be reversed? Yes 
How? By simply giving to the working classes 
that double power that monopolists hive always 
had, that of controlling natural resources and the 
wheel of taxation. Let us embody labor and 
monopoly in two heads of two family groups, 
the only ones in the planet, or in any one nation. 
Call them Peter and Paul. Peter, the worker, 
decides to stand by his natural rights against 
Paul, the monopolist, and being physically 
stronger than Paul by at least ninety five to five, 
can enforce his rights, with sufficient intelligence 
to do so under correct processes, in accordance 
with freedom and ethics, the two poles of a solid 
social fabric. 

Paul, the monopolist, the capitalist in social- 
istic parlance, you know, is in possession of 
all the machinery of production and distribution. 
Call that $20,000, to represent the $20 000,000,000 
for the whole nation, as Paul represents our 
monopolists, and thus simplify the presentation 
of the problem, since Peter represents all our 
working millions. 

We are now ready for a bargain between labor 
and monopoly, Peter and Paul, the former con- 
trolling taxation and natural resources, the latter 
all the machinery of production and distribution. 
Peter could then tell Paul: My friend yon cannot 
use your capital but under the conditions I may 
see fit to fix for the use of my land. If yon de- 
cide not to accept my conditions, which shall 
rest on eternal ethics, I shall let you cart off all 
your capital, machinery, buildings and what-not. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 6 27 


to the sea shore, and there it may sink or float, 
away from my land. 

My conditions, for the use of my land, through 
your capital, $20,000, (representation of $20,000,- 
000.000, remember,) are simple enough. Through 
the use of your capital and my land, call it ours 
if you prefer, I shall produce, say, $4 000 per 
annum, because I am the worker, you know. 
The land your capital necessitates, I call it worth 
$12,000 at 5 per cent, $600 per annum, to be 
charged to you, since it is your machinery and 
capital that necessitates that land, those $600 to 
be for our public needs and to be paid by you 
out of the $1,000 I shall pay you for the use of 
your capital, 5 per cent on $20,000. Your net 
income shall be $400, and my own $3,000. I 
shall use $1,000 for my annual expenses, and the 
other $2,000 I shall lay aside for the purchase of 
your capital. It will only take me ten years to 
squeeze you dry, unless you want to set to work 
like an honest man in production or commerce. 

The above illustration exemplifies, anyhow, 
the omnipotence of the taxing power to be used 
in the control of natural resources for universal 
public good, and not for enriching the few, the 
loafers, at the expense of the workers, as we have 
been fools enough to do so far. 

Let us remember, in connection with our illus- 
tration, that the existence of economic land val- 
ues is interlinked with the fact that civilization 
means groups of men desiring to live and work 
in normal contact with each other, because of 
the greater earnings and advantages it envolves 
to . all of them. If men should prefer to live 
apart from each other in self-existing and very 
small colonies, each one composed of but a fam- 
ily group, with possibly a few servants, then no 
natural, economic land values could exist, and no 
need of public revenue or governmental ma- 
chinery would exist either, under such an abnor- 
mal social status. Each family head would make 
his own laws for his family group, just as each 
sea captain does for his crew in mid ocean. No 
need of roads or other public improvements, each 
small colony consuming its own productions and 
no more. But we know that such conditions 
never last very long, because too unnatural and 
.unprofitable. Hence, the folly of that socialistic 


conception about insufficient taxation from eco- 
nomic land values being possible, when they hap- 
pen to rise just in proportion to population and 
wealth, and hence in relation to the collective as- 
pirations that that will naturally evolve. 

Incidentally we may here refer to another of 
the rash assumptions from our socialistic friends. 
It is the idea of a necessary divorce between the 
worker and his tools, in our days, because of the 
greater cost of the tools used under present indus- 
trial developments. That is assuming the complete 
instability of natural laws, as if they had been 
left at the mercy of human caprices, or under 
the whims of the law and selfish instincts of the 
race. 

If 1000 years ago the average cost of the tools 
needed by the average worker was $ioo, and to- 
day is $700, as shown by our latest census, what 
does that prove? Simply that the average worker 
to-day produces seven times if not twenty or 
fifty times more per annum than a few centuries 
ago. And why should not the average worker 
keep that greater wealth he creates, and thus 
carry on production on a larger scale, through 
free association with other creators of wealth? 
That is what will take place as soon as we strangle 
the hydra of land monopoly right and left, the 
parent of that brood of economic monopolies 
through which we have evolved our modern wage 
slaves. That is simple enough to the mind not 
already poisoned or unhiDged by the socialistic 
creed, with its petty intricacies and silly de- 
vices. 

Return now to that double contrivance b> 
which monopoly has always victimized labor, 
and fully expounded in this short essay. Take 
that contrivance away from our monopolists and 
hand it to the people, as we have explained in 
that illustration of ours about Peter and Paul, as 
the symbols of the working masses and the loaf- 
ing or scheming classes, and you reverse the 
course of modern civilization, because diametri- 
cally opposed causes cannot fail to evolve diamet- 
rically opposed effects We would then accept 
the order of nature, which gives wealth to labor 
alone. We have so far repudiated that order. 
Hence, the colossal abnormality of wealth in 
large masses absorbed by schemers at the ex- 
pense of ' Honest Labor.” 


AFTER MANY YEARS. 


BY FRANK A. MYERS. 


"Get out of my house and never darken my money she’ll get when I'm gone. I know your 
tloor again, you p^or miserable hound — laying low-down, infernal designs. Now, go, sir, and 
'round here after my daughter — only after the never let me see you again — never! You hear 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


me. I'll mash every bone in yonr body, ii I ever 
see yon again." 

Such was the uncouth, strong language oi old 
Jake Monster to Hale Singleton. Old Monster 
was reputed to be very rich; Hale was a poor 
young railroader, but handsome, energetic and 
full of the elements that bring prosperity a little 
later in life. The old chap had so spent his life 
that he could see nothing but a dollar. If a man 
did not possess that, in his estimation he pos 
sessed nothing. There are many such men in 
the world, astounding as it may seem. They 
grow coarse and earthy — fastened to clay instead 
of heart and talent — by long study over the 
shining metal, which, after all, is nothing but 
base earth. They lose all sense, if they ever bad 
any, of the spiritual and refined They have 
thought so long about money — mere clay — that 
they become clay themselves. And the worst of 
it is, they don't know they are pitiable, despicable 
creatures — real Daniel Quilps in heart and mind. 
They hive always fed their minds on money, and 
they have never grown any higher than that. 
But this is according to the law of improvement 
— they have wrought out their own curse; their 
own damnation. 

Th is old heathen’s daughter's name was Stella 
(star — he meant she should shine; riches should 
be her brilliance). A rich banker’s son was pay- 
ing his regards to her at the time her beastly old 
father ordered Hale never to show his face in his 
house again, but Stella, more wise than her gold- 
headed pater, loved Hale and could scarcely 
brook the fine- haired, small-minded son of a 
banker. Hale was a young man rich in heart; 
the other a young man rich in pocket only. The 
poverty of head never could be made up, the 
poverty of purse might be. The want of one 
was a defect; of the other, a lack. 

Hale and Stella met secretly after this once or 
twice, but the stubborn, unreasonable old cur- 
mudgeon found it out and he put his daughter 
under lock and key and fed her for a month on 
nothing but bread and water. 

It was then that Hale wrote a note which she 
never received. In it he said: 

‘'Until the bitter opposition of your father 
to our marriage dies down a little, I 
will go west and try to make a raise. Per- 
haps he will like me better when I have 
more money. It cuts me to the heart to go away 
from you, Stella, but at present I can see no 
other way out of the difficulty. I will do any- 
thing for you, my sweet love, but die, for I want 
to live for you alone — only you. You know I am 
true to you, and I know you are true to me. Oar 
hearts are one, God knows — and you know, and I 


know. I will be gone bnt a couple of years, and 
then the trouble will all be blown over and we 
will marry. Do not grieve for me. It is sweet 
to think — it is so assuring, that the course of true 
love — you see I say true love — never did run 
smooth. Lysander was right when he said this. 
O, how my heart aches as I write! Good-by. 
Stella; good-by— only for a time — a short time. 
I hope. God bless you in my absence." 

In the wild, woolly west — the “rowdy west, * as 
the purists in the far east say — Hale found a 
position as conductor of a passenger train on one 
of the great through routes. He made many 
trips to the Pacific coast, and saw much of life, 
but he never forgot his darling Stella, far away 
across the fruitful Mississippi valley and over 
the blue Alleghanies. He wrote many letters 
back, but never a letter came to him from Her — 
not one. This disheartened him. But yet be 
did not think her unfaithful. He imagined— 
which was the truth — that perhaps *his letters 
never reached her (maybe intercepted by the 
irate old chap) or else none of her letters were 
ever posted. 

In her fine eastern home Stella moaned and 
pined, fretting at the cruel circumstances that 
sundered, far and wide, her from her lover. She 
could not conceive why he did not write. Oq 
many a page of paper she poured out the very 
bottom of her soul to him, and never a line to 
show how he received it. She wondered why he 
did not tell of his life out there, at any rate, and 
when he would return. Perish the thought that 
be had forgotten her. She would not believe it. 
It was not his nature to be guilty of such a fraud 
upon her best affections. 

Sbe wondered that her father was so quiet 
about it. She half suspected sometimes that be 
knew more than he let on. 

A year rolled by and still no breath of informa- 
tion about Hale. One day her old father, with a 
patronizing smile, came to her and said: 

“You see your poor lover has forgotten you. I 
told you so. These poor devils never amount to 
anything, any way, either in love or money." 

“How do you know so well he has forgotten 
me?" she questioned; a light of intelligence in* 
her eyes. 

“Poor in one, poor in all," be went on. ignor- 
ing her pointed question. 

“Do you know he has not written?" she per- 
sisted, anxiously and quickly. 

“Do you suppose that I, a man of sense and a 
man of business, have been asleep? Not much. 

I wrote to a friend out there — " 

“Out where?" 

“And he answered that Hale was a dissolute. 


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THE RAILWAY 

reckless character, unfaithful, and had forgotten 
all his eastern friends; always spoke of his girl 
he left behind him in a low, trifling way, and all 
that No; I've not been asleep, by any means." 

M I don't believe one word of it — not a word." 
She was real angry. '‘It is all false — false as 
sin. 1 wont believe it. " 

And yet he had planted poison in her mind. 
The mean old dog bad done what be wanted to 
do. 

“You had better get ready at once and marry 
Roy Randall. You know he wants you bad 
enough, and besides he's rich — rich as cream. 
Yon will do well to get him. You'd do poor to 
get Hale. He's an upstart without money. These 
upstarts never do amount to beans." 

“I will not bear such stuff — such lies — about 
Hale, and I will not marry Roy, the mind-poor 
son of a rich man. There's nothing in him. His 
money is only on the outside and can't be con- 
verted into brains. You can't make a bald, yel- 
low-knobbed set of brains grow sense by adding 
the bone-dust of gold. I wont marry him; that 
settles it. " 

“I say you shall,” in much anger, yelled the 
old skinflint. Without another word be strode 
away, leaving the poor, sorrowful girl to her own 
confusing reflections. 

Severe measures, force, and dire threats led the 
unwilling girl, like a slave, to marry Roy Ran- 
dall. Thenceforward earth was a hell to her. 
Certainly she had not made her life, her circum- 
stances, brilliant- typed philosophy to the con- 
trary notwithstanding. 

A newspaper from the east, sent to Hale by a 
friend, or one who meant to be, conveyed the 
stunning intelligence of Stella's marriage to Roy 
Randall. The report of the wedding had been 
"doctored" by the old father for the press, and it 
bore a false impression to Hale. Between the 
lines of the report he read that Stella was hap- 
pily married to 1 'one of the most worthy young 
society men of the tovo." All through the 
column long report he read that Stella had for- 
gotten him; forgotten so soon; a thing he never 
dreamed possible, and had of her own sweet will 
married ' 'the other fellow. " 

In abject disgust with life, and all the world, 
and all that is in it, he flung down the paper and 
went out — went out resolved to achieve money 
now. 

"Affections perish," he said, sadly, to himself, 
"but money endures. If she can forget, / can't." 

Then he battled hard with the world, the flesh, 
and the devil, but be was never untrue to him- 
self. He lived an abstemious life, worked hard, 
saved his money, and as the years went by ho had 


CONDUCTOR. 629 * 

the earthly satisfaction of seeing his money pile 
up, under his cautious, frugal hand. 

But life was dead to him. There was nothing 
in it. The sun had been blotted out. aud the 
rainbow of peace never appeared. Had there 
been war, like Francesco, he would have flung 
his life away in battle. There was nothing to do 
but live out his days, whether they be long or 
short. 

Faithful to the last, he never married, never 
saw a woman he could love and trust and cherish. 
So he centered his active energies on the getting of 
money, and money he got. He had money and 
houses and lands, a thing unusual for a railroad 
conductor whose wages are barely sufficient for a 
decent living. But in his early Bohemian days 
he was grasping, and saved every penny he got 
hold of. Often bis feasts were Barmecidal, but 
he cared not. Stella had been removed out of 
the world, as far as she related to him. He 
would rather she had died, for then he would not 
have lost faith in her human affections. Ah, 
what he patiently, secretly endured ! 

He never heard of her again, and did not want 
to know whether she were living or dead. What 
good was it to know, only to prolong the agony? 
But never a day passed over his head that he did 
not wonder about her, and live over again for a 
few minutes the sweet, forever-passed love-life 
of his youth. 

Many and many times he crossed and recrossed 
the Rockies, traversed the sterile plains, strag- 
gled up and down the wide west, engaged in spec- 
ulation that always brought him more money, 
ran into the fabled rich Black Hills, and even 
bought a gold mine that he eventually sold for ten 
times what he gave for it. It was gold, gold, 
everywhere, but — no Stella. 

Through all these years, in which he simply 
moved, not lived, he never laid down his punch.. 
That was the only thing he was married to, and 
he loved that as Barrie loved his pipe or Riley 
loved bachelorhood. They were inseparable 

Those who knew him at length came to speak 
of him as the Silent Man. He rarely spoke to 
any one, except in a business way. And he never 
told the story of the graveyard in his heart to 
any one. As always, there were some who said 
his manner of life was due to love disappoint- 
ment in early life. They were only surmising; 
they knew nothing. 

Everybody who knew him liked him, because 
he was such a kind-hearted man. The companies 
be worked for said they never bad a more honest 
or faithful man than Hale Singleton. He seemed 
not to care for compliments or anything that 
might be said for or against him. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


030 


He could not give up the punch. No style of 
life fitted him so well as that of conductor, 
Nothing seemed to have as much in it as that, 
and certainly nothing afforded him as much 
pleasure. Do not mistake me: he had not grown 
morose or cynical; on the contrary, he was gen- 
erous and considerate. No one cares to be with 
a cynic; everybody liked the warm heart of Hale. 
They came at last to say: “How would Hale do 
this?" or “Hale would not do that " When a 
man drops into a proverb among his friends, he 
most surely has made a lasting impression upon 
them, and if that impression be favorable it is no 
mean compliment to his real worth and kindly 
nature. 

Twenty years after Hale's last interview with 
Stella, he was running into Denver. The west 
was his adopted land now. 

Twenty years! A lifetime for young people ! 
Twenty long, long years ! 

It was a cold, bleak Christmas eve, the keen 
wind sweeping over the town from the northwest 
and sending shivers to the very marrow. The 
snow had been shoveled from the pavements, and 
the wind swept streets looked drear and forbid- 
ding. Christmas was at hand, and Denver had 
put on a winter overcoat. Day had departed, the 
street lamps had been lighted, and the wish of 
“Merry Christmas” resounded on the snow-cold, 
tingling air up and down the street. People were 
in the stores making Christmas purchases with 
which to make their friends happy with glad sur- 
prise. To Hale, as he passed along, carelessly 
looking at the beautiful exhibits in the windows, 
it seemed that the very natal day of Christ was a 
joy and gladness to Christian, gift making people. 

At length he noticed something in a window 
that drew his attention, and he went in to inquire 
what it was. It was a quaintly -shaped antique 
lamp stand. He simply said “yes" to the polite, 
but busy clerk, and walked out again. He 
mused: 

“Everybody seems to be making presents but 
me. I suppose I may conclude, therefore, that 
everybody has friends but me. Well, I don’t 
know who's to blame for this. For one thing 
sure, I'm not living the life I at first set out to 
live. For twenty years I have felt myself a 
stranger, away from home, in a strange land. 
Neither place nor people; neither land nor per- 
son, have caught and enchained my affections. I 
suppose if I had friends — and I think I could 
have had them, if I had not lived so much in 
myself — I'd be making presents now, too. Well, 
‘I've Hobson's choice, to live it out this way 
now." 

He strolled on in the biting cold. On his way 


back to the hotel be observed a poorly- clad h h* 
boy, perhaps ten years old, running along tk 
street, crying bitterly. The pains of yoni 
always did touch Hale. 

“What's the matter, my boy?" be asked, as the 
lad came up. 

“I'm cold," sobbed the little lad. The big- 
hearted Hale Singleton was touched. Instaat 
was bis action under such pitiable circumstance* 
This was some suffering, worthy poor boy wfc 0 
could not help his poverty, or he would do it, qq 
doubt. It seemed certain to him, from the intel- 
ligence observable in the lad's face, that his par 
ents would not let him suffer so if they could kelp 
it. The boy ought not, in a Christian land, par 
ticularly at Christmas time, suffer this way 
How glad he would be, had he a poor boy that 
way, if some one would make him comfortabk 
"I'll give the lad comfort, at least, as a Christinas 
present. I do not need friends to make presents 
to. The poor need it." 

After glancing a moment at the shivering, bln: 
little fellow, he said: 

“Come with me." 

The boy looked up at him in dubious sur- 
prise. But he saw nothing but kindness in the 
stranger's face. A boy can read such things very 
quickly. 

The lad danced briskly along at his safe 
They entered the first clothing store they cm 
to. 

“Give this boy a good warm suit of cloci* 
and a pair of mittens," Hale said to the clerl 

“All right, sir." 

The boy was fitted in a nice, good, warm mk 
and Hale paid for them. Then he took him to* 
shoe store and bought a pair of good, new shoe 
for him. The pleased lad looked bimsett il* 
over and said: 

"I'm some other boy now aint I ?" 

Hale answered him with a smile. 

“These things are my Christmas presents uj 
you. I hope you'll not be so cold again this 
winter." As they went out the door upon the 
street Hale asked him: 

“What is your name, my little man?" 

“Roy Randall," was the reply, looking op w 
the man's face with a grateful smile. 

Hale was thunderstruck. 

“Roy Randall 1" he cried, in a tone thatstartta 
the boy, who did not know what the stranger 
who had been so kind to biro, meant. He cocti 
not understand how his name could malm hie 
speak in that half agonizing, half regrefcag 
voice. 

“Yes," the boy answered. "What's the— 

“Do you live here in Denver?" 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 631 


“Yes, sir.” 

"Where are your father and mother?” 

"Father is dead," the boy replied. 

"And your mother?" 

"She lives here.” 

"Well, take me to your mother, then, as quick- 
ly as you can,” said Hale, excitedly. 

As they walked along, the lad asked : 

“Will you make them a Christmas present, 
Mister?” 

"Perhaps,” Hale returned. He was back 
twenty years ago in mind. What had happened 
in these long twenty years? But was this the 
same Roy Randall he once knew in the east, the 
son of a rich banker and the husband of old 
Jake Monster's Stella? It might be some other 
Roy Randall. Some very peculiar things some- 
times happened in this strange world. But, if 
this should be Stella, how she bad fallen from 
riches to poverty, and how he had grown from 
poverty to riches! How could it have happened 
that she fell to this low estate? 

"Pshaw; she's not worthy of visiting — one who 
could forget in one year. But I’m not sorry I 
helped her boy I’ll go on, and may be I can 
help her. It will be coals of fire on her head for 
me — me to help her. I wonder now in my soul 
if this is Stella.” His muttering caused the boy 
to look up and ask; 

"What you saying?” 

‘ Nothing, my boy," kindly. "Take me on to 
your mother." 

"We live almost out of town, in a poor house. 
Father died about two years ago, and left us very 
poor. He didn't know how to work — always had 
money, it came some way; and we are very 
poor.” The boy evidently had heard these senti- 
ments before; perhaps from his mother. Hale 
wondered whether the lad’s mother did say such 
things It might be, after all, that she did not 
think very much of him. What if — 

The idea startled him. It had never occurred 
to him before Could that old pinchpenny of a 
father have forced her to marry agiinst her will? 
Then she might not be as black as he had painted 
her. Ah, well; all that is over now! 

"Did you come from the east?” he inquired. 
They trudged on,* the stinging wind hurling drift- 
ID g snow in clouds against them. 

"Yes, we moved from the way-back some’ers a 
long time ago." 

"Who was your father?" 

"I don’t know — only my father, is all.” 

"What did he do?” 

"I — he did nothing. ” 

"Who was, or is, your mother?" 

"Why she — she — Oh, she don't like to talk of 


grandpa Monster. He's dead now. 

They finally reached the house. It was a poor, 
small, dilapidated old cottage; some of the 
weather-boarding off, a few window panes gone 
and pasted over with paper, and the ill-fitting 
door sagging on its hinges. Little Roy opened 
the creaking door, and it dragged upon a carpet- 
less floor, that was as clean as circumstances 
would admit. A dim kerosene lamp burned on an 
old bare table against the wall. A fiat bed stood 
in one corner of the room A few old chairs 
completed the household outfit. 

As Hale, the very type of a perfect gentleman, 
stepped into the room behind Roy and took in 
the situation at a glance, his very heart bled. He 
thought he had never before, in all bis life, be- 
held such touching squalor and abject want. He 
thought he knew how the world lived, but he 
confessed to himself that he did not. While he 
had seen much, he had never seen this before. 

Shivering around the old broken cooking stove, 
that scarcely had fuel enough in it to keep it 
warm, let alone warming the inmates of the 
room, sat a poorly clad woman ani a young girl 
in no better plight. These two were the sole 
occupants of the room. 

When they saw a tall man, neat and fine-look- 
ing, follow Roy into the room, they looked sur- 
prised and shocked. Hale thought he saw a feel- 
ing of awe and retreat upon their faces He 
stood perfectly still and awaited. In the faint 
light he thought he recognized some shadowy 
traces of the Stella he once loved, but this woman 
was pinched-looking and older, with traces of 
gray in her hair, as well as he could see It 
might not be her And yet — and yet — . How 
strangely he felt ! If it were she, what a fall, 
indeed, had she not encountered ! 

The young girl, perhaps sixteen, but so poorly 
clad that he could not judge of her age very well, 
looked more like Stella did as he recollected. It 
was so far back and dim, he could scarcely 
recall his old Stella — his Stella — at that age. 
This woman was not his Stella; she was another's. 
His Stella had forgotten him all too soon. But 
the two looked somewhat alike, as he could see, 
and the younger must be the daughter of the 
older. Roy scarcely had a feature of either, and 
yet his eyes were Stella's old eyes that still looked 
at him out of the dead past — looked somewhat as 
her’s did when she vowed eternal faithfulness to 
him. But how sad and hollow-eyed this woman 
looked ! It struck him that she had experienced 
the pangs of the damned. There was a mighty 
tragedy in her face. What if it had also been in 
her heart ! And what was the nature of it? 
Now she seemed to shrink away from him. It 


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-632 

must be the Stella he once knew. He did not 
know this Stella, with a twenty years' experience 
that he knew not a breath of. 

Roy instantly ran up to the woman and cried 
out in delight : 

"See what new clothes this man gave me." 

The mother looked at the boy, and then turned 
her quivering eyes to Hale, in astonishment. The 
young girl said : 

"O, Roy! Aint they nice?" And she turned 
her brother around to look at him. 

"And new shoes, too," he added, kicking out a 

foot. 

After a moment of struggling silence the 
mother said, in a voice that was and was not 
Stella's: 

"It is very good in you to help strangers, we 
are very poor." 

"Have you always been this way?" He thought 
he observed her start, as his voice fell upon her 
ears. At all events she arose from her chair and 
stood with an arm around the young girl, who 
was almost her size. 

"No," she answered, in trembling tone. 

"Pardon me, but did you once live in Maine, 
at or near Portland ?" 

What could he know about her? 

"Are you the daughter of Jacob Monster?" 

"Did you know him?" she asked. 

"Yes." 

'T am," in profound wonderment, her eyes 
dancing in eager inquiry. 

"The Stella that once professed she would love 
Hale Singleton always — forever?" 

It was almost cruel in him to ask this question. 
He saw it went to her heart like a dagger. She 
clutched her daughter in the pain of the shock 
she experienced. Her head bent forward, and 
her eyes fell on the naked floor, and in a muffled, 
pained voice, she answered: 

"The same. But he forgot me the moment he 
left, and never wrote me one single little word in 
all these long, loqely, horrid years." She paused, 
, as if for breath. 

"Go on," he said, in unspeakable earnestness, 
and gave one step nearer her. 


She looked up in questioning surprise. A sos 
picion had entered her pained, crushed, dead 
soul. 

"Who are you?" 

"A homeless wanderer," he answered, evas- 
ively. 

The boy and girl looked at him and then at 
their mother in bewilderment. 

"Did you — are you — ?" 

"Yes." 

"O, Hale !" she shrieked, and sank in a swooe 
upon the floor. 

He called for water, and wet her temples and 
face and chafed her bands. 

The brother and sister were utterly astounded 
They wondered in confounded amazement who 
Hale, as their mother called him was. 

When she revived sufficiently she told him all 
about herself, how he failed to write and how her 
father forced her to marry Randall in a year 
afterward. 

"About five years ago the bank failed and Rao- 
dall’s father and my father lost all they bad. 
Then we came west, but my husband, whom, 1 
am shamed to say I never loved, knew not bow to 
work, and we sank to the depths of want and 
misery. About two years ago he died. Since 
then I have washed for a living. These are oy 
only children. We have lived — in a way. I 
have prayed God to remove me from this wicked 
earth, but death was not a boon granted to me 

He related what the reader already knows — n 
lated that he wrote, but received no response, an! 
then in about a year afterward read her faithless 
ness to him in . the account of her marriage to 
Roy Randall. Since then he had lived single 
and almost alone, but fortune had smiled npoo 
him and he was rich. 

With these mutual explanations the old love 
returned. 

It was a happy Christmas to all. Want slunk 
away from Stella's door; peace came at last. 

Soon Roy and Maggie, the almost grown sister 
had a new father who was very kind, indeed, to 
them. 


OUR NEW YORK LETTER. 


We have been retrospecting for the most part 
during November, in the process of recovery 
from the excitennnt and surprises of the election, 
and shaking ourselves down to a return to the 
daily scramble for bread and butter, which for 
.most of us. even in this big and presumptively 
wealthy town, is after all the serious business of 


life. Our local issues looked astonishingly impor- 
tant for a week or so, but we are beginning to rt 
alize that they were really overbalanced in Ih* 
broader ones which concerned the whole oowcur 
and that the local results were only more or leo 
accidental incidents of the general current. Is 
what may be called the side shows of the ese- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


paign, both municipal rapid transit and the con- 
solidation of the suburbs were successful, and it 
is now a practically assured fact that in a com- 
paratively brief time. New York will contain in 
legal form as welf as in substance, by far the 
largest population of any city in the land, and 
that it will also definitely embark on the policy of 
owning its public works. Not without farther op- 
position, however, for the Gould* Sage combina- 
tion which controls the elevated roads, has by no 
means given up the fight; and there are signs that 
other cliques of capitalists are on the alert to 
grasp the fruits of success in the new sys- 
tem of municipal transit, as soon as the city 
has incurred all the risks. Among other signifi- 
cant features is the reappearance of ex Mayor 
Hewitt, who has always been one of our conspic- 
uous political reformers, and also— one might al- 
most say, has therefore been a conspicuous hum- 
bug; to try and divert the enterprise from the 
routes already chosen, to others by means of 
which the Vanderbilts will skim the cream of the 
whole business. The number of votes polled on 
neither of these propositions was very encourag- 
ing to the future of the referendum idea of legis- 
lation. Although they bad been widely discussed, 
were perfectly plain issues, free of the technical 
character of the ordinary constitutional amend- 
ment, and were, in addition, imbued with so 
much more of human interest than a strictly legal 
measure ever has for the majority, yet scarcely 
one-half of the electors took the trouble to cast a 
ballot either for or against them. And this, too, 
with a system of voting in force in which billots 
both for and against were supplied to every voter, 
and had to be disposed of in some way and re- 
turned to the inspectors, whether voted or not, 
the law forbidding that they should be destroyed. 

As one of the results of the election, though a 
far more incidental one than it is commonly made 
out to be, we are in for an era of municipal re- 
form, which it seems to be generally assumed 
will be largely carried on under the guidance of 
a sort of ecclesiastical director, in the person of 
Dr. Parkhurst, to whom a lot of hysterical adu- 
lation is just now being offered. As a matter of 
fact, the figures show that he and his agitation 
had a very minor effect on the voting, the candi- 
dates whom he supported being carried into 
office by the accident of their candidacy being 
co-incident with a general political overturn. 
Events count, however, and as he has happened to 
succeed, he is now fairly entitled to have his re- 
cent career characterized as a remarkable one. 
Up to a few years ago he had only been known 
a rather emotional preacher, and it is not yet 
quite clear how he came to be selected for the 


633 

head of one of the meddlesome societies through 
which the class of people exert their influence who 
are so firmly convinced that they alone are compe- 
tent to direct the lives of their fellow citizens — 
the class which, beyond doubt, will be iu control 
under a socialistic form of government, should 
we ever have such. Beginning with making him- 
self worse than ridiculous, by burrowing amongst 
the more disgusting forms of vice in a way 
which never led to anything except to awake the 
prurient tendencies that certain people are always 
subject to, he speedily developed into a full- 
fledged anti-Tammany politician, whose crusade 
against vice, rather than crime, was waged ob- 
viously with the purpose of promoting bis politi- 
cal ends; and as he has been lucky enough to do 
this, in the year when things were running his 
way, he is now a great hero with the people who 
would have voted against Tammany in any event. 

People are very slow to learn the distinction 
between vice and crime, lack of which makes 
this sort of humbug possible. It is, to great ex- 
tent, because the average man has not become 
civilized enough to abhor sham, and because 
most of us like to impose our ideas on other peo- 
ple, whenever we have the power to do so. Crime 
consists in such acts as injure other people with- 
out their consent, and should, therefore, properly 
be restrained by law. Vice consists in deeds evil 
in themselves, and which may, or may not injure 
others, and with which, unless by causing such 
injury they become crimes, the law has properly 
nothing to do. The practice of Sunday liquor 
selling, for instance, which is a crime under our 
law, although universally tolerated by our public 
opinion, may, or may not be vicious — that is a 
matter for opinion — but when conducted so as 
not to obtrude itself upon those who do not ap- 
prove of ^ it, it is clearly something that the law 
has no real right to meddle with. We have 
brothels and gambling places in profusion, which 
are bad things in themselves, but so long as they 
are managed in. such a way that no one need 
know of them who does net choose to go into 
them, it is certainly not within the true founda- 
tion of civil authority to interfere with them. 
We have constant infractions of municipal ordi- 
nances which are, beyond all question, not 
vicious, especially when, as in the case of certain 
forms of obstructing the streets they are made 
almost necessary by the bad way that the city is 
laid out; yet the law calls them crimes of the 
misdemeanor grade, and instead of distinguishing 
them as special privileges to be paid for by spec- 
ial fees to the city, it deliberately places them in 
the category of things which, being legally for- 
bidden and yet practically unavoidable. 

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634 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


are necessarily indulged in at the price of 
private blackmail. All those things, whether 
true vices or not, which are thus im- 
properly put under ban of the law as criminal, 
invariably became food for the blackmiil 
against which we have had such an outcry 
Were we to attempt to restrict only the offensive 
side of them, the side on which they injure those 
not voluntarily participating in them; vzere we, 
for instance, to conteot ourselves with the pro- 
hibition of publicly run gambling hells, of street 
walking or of saloon opening in localities whsre 
other residents objected to tt^em; we would then 
have a system of law possib'e of genuine eo force 
ment and impossible of being used for blackmail- 
ing purposes 

But we have gone very far in the other direc- 
tion in New York — further, perhaps, than in most 
places, because we have just such a curious med- 
ley of liberalism and narrowness as exists in 
London. We won’t tolerate actual suppression 
of our relaxations, such as the use of saloons, or 
infringement of our absolute enactments against 
Sunday sports. or even of our vices, such as 
gambling and dissoluteness; but, on the other 
hand, we have not got so far from our old tradi- 
tions that we are content to leave people to their 
o vn devices in such matters, even where they do 
not interfere with other people. And, as a nat- 
ural result, all forms of breaking the nominally 
existing law that can be practiced away from act- 
ual public observation, so that the restriction of 
them can only be effected by officers of the law, 
are never really interfered with; and as the op- 
portunity for blackmail is so great under these 
circumstances, blackmiil is very apt to follow — 
its recipients justifying themselves when they 
have any. qualms, with the reflection that the 
public is not being in the least injured and that 
they might as well make something out, of it. 
All this is what has chiefly produced the P.<rk- 
hurst cult, and while there are some signs that 
the politicians who made use of it to get into 
power, are now ready io toss it aside, we are still 
likely to get a nauseating dose of it for some time 
to come 

One of the minor burlesques to which we have 
been treated is the state of mind into which John 
Jacob Astor has been thrown by the adventure of 
a tramp Mr Astor is a rather dull young man. 
whose only bid for personal prominence hitherto 
has been the publication of a very absurdly crude 
book, written in weak imitation of Jules Verne; 
but he now comes boldly to the front, in stem 
vindication of the majesty of a millionaire house- 
owner. Although the contributions of the citi- 
zens of New York in the shape of rent paid for 


the privilege of adding increased value each year 
to the land owned by the Astors. has certanly 
been large enough to pay for locks to their doon 
and to support an army of servants to watch 
them besides, it seems that the Astor household 
is so badly organized that a tramp wandered in 
the other day and went to sleep in a bed rood 
He did not steal or injure anything, nor even at 
tempt to, and the law is perfectly clear that it 
was not a technical burglary, so he was let ofl 
with a fine, which some newspaper people paid 
for him, doubtless out of appreciation of the joke 
As a matter of fact, it is hard to see bow even 
this was legally liable; and from an ethical stand- 
point, it might fairly be argued that the Astors 
are not entitled to any protection from the city 
all their taxes even being furnished by the labcc 
of oiher people, who pay these and big rentals in 
addition for the privilege of using land, the raloe 
of which has been created wholly by them and 
other citizens Most people would be indired to 
look on the affair as a joke on themselves which 
they would like to be lost sight of. and while not 
regarding the incident as a pleasant one, would 
recognize that they h^9 only themselves and their 
defective establishments to blame for it Bo; 
Mr. Astor is highly indignant at so profane an 
intrusion upon the sacred precincts of a mao to 
whom about one- fifth of the citizens of New 
York pay daily tribute, and its shock to the ex- 
alted nerves of his family, and has insisted upon 
the man’s being arrested again; which was imme- 
diately done, the new regime being one of the 
elevated walks of life. 

Next to the Astors and the Rhinelanders, Trinity 
church is one of the largest landowners in this big 
town of ours, where landowning is so much more 
profitable an industry than anywhere else, sine* 
our values are ordinarily figured at rates that 
equal so many million dollars an acre, instead cd 
counting in thousands or hundreds as tbeydoelar 
where. And no landlord of them all cm display 
more typical hoggishness than does this ecclesi- 
astical one, as was recently illustrated again in a 
dispute which h as arisen over the conversion of on* 
of its former graveyards into a public park This 
had long been abandoned for interments, bat was 
still used for no other purpose, and the places, at 
least, of the old graves remained as they had tv*n 
years ago. Trinity had, of course, sold ail of n 
as burial lots, and for prices that aggregated 
probably four tim;s the original cost; but under 
the usual cemetery deeds, which, it seems, convey 
no fee to the land, but only an exclusive privilege 
of using it for burial. When it was decided in 
condemn and convert it, notwithstanding that ra 
ah this time the church had paid no taxes on it 


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and that it was sure to reap a benefit in increased 
value of its large holdings of othe real estate in 
the neighborhood, the chnrch bitterly fought the 
proceedings until i* had secured its full pouod of 
flesh to the tune of something like a half million 
of dollars for little over a quarter acre of ground. 
Considering that it was the growth of the city 
which had produced all this value, it might have 
been a graceful act to have fully donated it to the 
city's use; but this idea does not seem to have oc- 
curred to the vestrymen. 

We have been singularly apathetic to outside 
events, neither the Czar's death nor the Oriental 
war awakening more than a flutter of interest, ex- 
cept as to the latter among merchants who trade 
to any extent with China, which is in rather curi- 
ous contrast with the days when we were so much 
further away from the rest of the world and yet 
so much more keenly interested in their doings 
Perhaps it is that familiarity breeds contempt in 
this as in other things, and that when we can 
reach out by the cable and know each morning 
just what has happened across the ocean, we do 
not look upon those happenings as so eventful. 
Certainly, a generation ago, the life or death of 
such a ruler as that of Russia, would have been 
far more talked about than now; but then it is 
true also that it would have stirred Europe in a 
way which seem* unthought of now; and perhaps 
it is only that the world as \ whole is coming to 
the knowledge of how little real importance indi- 
vidual potentates are as compared with the great 


635 

mass of the people. But in the events of the 
East, there is another kind of interest still — not 
only the collapse of the effete Mongol, but in the 
progress of Western ideas there, as shown most 
graphically when we look at pictures of the war 
and see ho* far their military instruments, and 
especially their ships, have advanced from all our 
childish conceptions. 

The serai-barb irous nations are the only/ ones, 
however, who are actually using war-ships for 
their ostensible purpose; a curious instance of 
whit toys our own are having been shown in a 
recent proposal that the real serviceableness of 
one of the new cruisers, over which so much fuss 
has been made, should be tested by setting it to 
try and catch an Atlantic liner, on one of the lat- 
ter’s ordinary business voyages. We have heard 
so much talk of the war vessels' phenomenal 
speed that it is positively ludicrous to see the 
general doubt expressed as to whether the cruiser 
could accomplish the very service for which it 
was supposed to be built, unless specially 
groomed for the job in a way that would never 
be possible in actual warfare, and the indigna- 
tion am mg the "friends of the navy" at the mere 
suggestion, and their insistence that the new 
boats are not toys and, therefore, that it would 
be bsneatb their dignity to really test their power 
for being anything else. It really looks as if 
somebody was trying to make fun of this institu- 
tion that we have been spending so much good 
money on in the last few years. 

Edw. J Shrivbr. 


A CURIOUS MAN. 


BY R. M. WEBSTER. 


In a pleasant part of France there lived and 
labored a thrifty and enterprising people, who 
believed in the doctrine that, "every fellow for 
himself and the devil take the hindmost" is the 
right rule. It secures the greatest amount of ac- 
tivity. push, thrift and economy. And the fittest 
come to the front, where they ought to be. It 
was in this way, so they argued, that each one in 
the course of a lifetime, gets about what he has 
earned, or what he deserves. 

This was their working principle. Sometimes, 
in their schools or churches, one would hear a 
strain of different music. But this was their 
popular and usual tune. 

They were not always consistent, however. 
For while they would sometimes befriend people, 
and deliver them out of their distresses, who had 
fallen into trouble by their own folly or vice, they 
would repudiate and neglect such as bad suffered 


by the vice and folly of others, with scarcely a 
fault of their own. 

These thrifty and prudent souls would say, by 
way of apology for their own selfishness, "O, 
well; they deserve it, or it would not have come 
upon them. Men reap wbat they sow." In 
which there is usually just enough truth to make 
a sting. 

Sometimes, however, as in Job's case, there is 
no truth in it at all. Job’s three friends assured 
him that his calamities must be deserved, or they 
would not have come upon him. Yet the story 
shows that robbers, cyclones and invisible foes 
over whom he bad no control were the means 
of bis overthrow and misery. 

There lived a family called Mintanrue in the 
country above mentioned, who were famous in 
all that region for their ability to get on in 
world. 


A 


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636 


It was part of their cheerful philosophy that 
if, in the struggle to get on, the devil took a good 
many of the hindmost, it was better so. The 
devil might know what to do with them; nobody 
else did. Anyhow, there was no help for it. The 
procession must proceed, and if any could not 
keep op with it they must drop out and fall be- 
hind, and if the devil saw fit to pick them up, on 
the ground that he could get something out of 
them, it was well; for no one else could. 

The Mintanrues had possessed themselves of 
the best of the land and the best of everything. 
There bad been two very successful brothers. 
They had left, between them, ten sons and 
daughters who had grown to manhood and 
womanhood just at the time when steam power 
began to be applied to machinery, to the exclu- 
sion of hand labor. 

These ten married whatever property of value 
they did not possess themselves, and established 
ten families of thrifty, comfortable, well to-do 
people of the upper middle class From them 
sprang children and grandchildren in plenty. 
And certain of the families grew richer and more 
powerful than their fathers, chiefly by means of 
the tools and other capital left to them. 

Their wealth grew apace. “To him that hath 
shall be given and he shall have more abund- 
antly. but from him that hath not shall be taken 
even that which he hath.” 

They saw to it that whoever was left behind in 
the race for wealth it should not be they. Not if 
they could help it by any fair means; and of 
course “everything is fair in war” — as fair, that 

is, for one side as for the other. Which con- 
sideration is, in some cases, very soothing 

As machinery became more perfect and more 
expensive, less hand labor was needed, and the 
more capital it took to own and control a first 
rate ‘ plant.” For the silk industry, for ex 
ample. 

Thus, around the Mintanrues, who lived in 
palaces, there grew a crop of paupers, whose 
poverty grew more intense. For the machines 
did the work, and the paupers were not needed, 
not by the Mintanrues. These owners could pro- 
duce more goods than they could sell, without 
employing half the people who offered. 

Now, there was one of these capitalists who 
had inherited a fortune from one of the ten, who 
was considered, not to put too fine a point upon 

it. a little queer. 

His name was Volney. His friends called him 
Volley. But some of them said it should be 
Folly, because he never attended to business, 
and he let his partners fatten at his expense; and 


because he was always looking after everybody s 
business but his own. 

To be sure, he had. more than once, by hh 
treatment of working men, prevented a strike 
and saved the men who labored and their em 
ployers also from loss and trouble He had even 
done for the city and community very notable 
services. Through him and his sagacity and in 
fiuence the city had its own water supply and gas 
works, at only half the cost that other cities were 
paying to private companies And it was be 
cause he himself — being “on the inside' — had 
seen a chance to secure the monopoly, along with 
two or three others, and had deliberately 
‘ thrown it away” — that is. had refused to steal 
what properly belonged to the people, and had 
secured the people in possession, that one of his 
own brothers called him a “damned idiot 
“Don't you see,” said this servant of Mammon 
“that if we control the water and the light we 
have control of two of the necessaries of life, 
which every family must buy of us and pay ns 
our price? Don't you see tbat a franchise giving 
us such control of the streets and common neces- 
sities is better than a gold mine 7 Vol, you've 
not simply an unmitigated ass. you are a*'— ns 
quoted above. 

“Yes," said this queer man, calmly. “1 saw all 
that so clearly that I could not and would not see 
the people legally robbed to enricb two or three 
families who are already receiving much more 
than they earn. ” 

On another occasion there were to be sewers 
constructed, and Volney saw tbat two or three 
rich contractors were conspiring to get the job at 
snch prices as to cost the people twice what it 
should and make themselves still richer He 
immediately employed several expert engineers 
at his own expense, and told them to furnish him 
with careful estimates. These be published, ex- 
posing the plans of the contractors. When the 
bids were in, these very contractors were found 
to have put in their bid at* just half wbat they 
had planned to get. Again, one of his shrewd 
friends said to him, “Say, old Folly, you have 
saved the city half a million francs, but you are 
an intolerable donkey not to have put half of that 
in your own pocket." 

Such queer services did he render the city 

But he did other strange things: Standing one 
day at a street corner, he overheard a husband 
and wife who were passing, complain about 
losing a cow. He sauntered after them and 
caught the following: “It's no use, Jean, the cow 
must go, or we shall be turned ont. There's no 
other way to pay the rent this time ” 


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’But we can't live without the cow. We mast 
keep her till you find work again." 

Stepping up, quickly, he touched the man on 
the shoulder, and with the kindest face and tone, 
asked: "How much will pay your rent and save 
you your cow?" 

"Oh." said the wife, "he has been out of work 
and we are behind three months. It will take 
fifty francs/* 

’Here they are," said the queer man, pro* 
during gold and silver from his pocket. He put 
them into the woman's hand and was gone. 

Hearing one of his nephews telling of a work- 
man who had been crippled by an accident, he 
soughf out the home of the sufferer, and found 
the wife in even more distress than her crippled 
husband. "O. sir," said she. "you see he won't 
be able to work for months, aod what we'll get 
from his society will only pay the rent. And how 
we'll live I don't know." 

"Have you nothing laid by?" 

' We had, sir, but you know he has never more 
than six months' work in the year. The mills are 
closed half the time waiting for orders. The rest 
of the time is mostly wasted looking for odd jobs, 
and it's when he has been out of work that we 
were obliged to use up all our savings." 

Very well," said the queer man, "I have some 
of the money which you and others like you have 
earned. You earned it and I have it. I will pay 
you your regular wages till you are able to work 
again. Here is a month's pay in advance, I 
think." 

"O, sir," looking at it sharply, "he never got 
so much as that in a month." 

Just so; he earned it. but never got it. I got 
it or some other rich man." 

"I don’t understand you, sir; his wages have 
always been p^id." 

"Yes; his wages, but not his earnings. Let me 
explain. I and my father and other friends have 
great mills and machines. We employ your hus- 
band and others to use them and make silk. Each 
man produces for us. above all expenses— other 
than wages — about twelve francs each day. We 
pay each man six francs. That six francs is the 
man's wages But he earns the whole twelve. 
We pocket six of it, and, having a lot of men and 
getting six francs of each man's earnings, we get 
rich and have banks and palaces and fine car- 
riages and make a great show of being very im- 
portant people. Do you understand?" 

The two poor people were so astonished and 
dumfounded they could say nothing. But the 
queer man, one of whose curious freaks was his 
delight in telling the truth, laid the money on the 
table and said with a kindly smile: "I will not 


637 

forget you when the month comes. I am your 
brother, you know. Gxtdby!" And he was 
gone. 

One day in a quiet part of the city, Volney, 
whom his friends called Folly, was nearly hidden 
by a post as he stood on one side of the street, so 
that a man on the other side who, looking cau- 
tiously around and seeing no one, supposed him- 
self unseen, midetoff with a sack of flour from a 
grocer's door. But our queer man saw the theft 
and when the man who got safely away turned a 
corner, Volney followed him and kept within 
sight of him till he saw him enter a wretched 
place, which proved to be the thief's home. 

He entered the house without knocking and 
said pleasantly: "I have good news for you." 

"Who are you? ' said the man, in a scared way. 

"I am a brother of yours. I see that you are 
very hungry and your children also." (the two 
children were devouring the raw flour out of the 
sack) "and you are troubled because you imagine 
that you have in your desperation and hunger 
stolen a sack of flour. Be not disturbed. That 
flour was yours. I gave it to you the moment I 
saw you needed it, but could not tell you so quite 
soon enough. I shall pay for it after we have had 
our supper and explain it all to the grocer, who is 
my friend. And he will be glad, and will be your 
friend also. Now I will go and bring our supper 
ready cooked." Hs went. In a few minutes he 
returned with a basketful. 

Despite their tears and fears, his kindness and 
assurance gained their confidence. And they ate 
all together and were refreshed. 

Then our queer man took bis "brother," and 
they went to the grocer. The grocer knew Vol- 
ney. and was very pleasant to him, but did not 
notice the other. 

Then our queer man said: "Let me introduce a 
brother of mine." 

"A brother of yours?" said the grocer, per- 
plexed. 

"Yes; a brother of mine, and of yours, too. 
'Ooe is your Father, and all ye are brethren,' 
you know." 

The grocer smiled a rather sickly smile. But 
Volney went on. "There is no doubt about the 
relationship. But we have made so little of it ia 
the case of so many of our brothers and sisters, 
that we have forgotten it. The result is that a 
few of us have all the good things, and the many 
have less than they earn, and some are prevented 
from earning anything until hunger makes them 
desperate, and then they help themselves to that 
which a few of us claim as our own, but which 
we have neither produced nor deserved, they hav- 
ing earned very nearly all that ive have as well 


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638 THE RAIL WA 

as all we nave allowed them to have. So that if 
a hnngry brother helps himself to a sack of flour 
to save his starving children, he is not a thief. 
He is merely taking what is his own — that which, 
if we, who assume to own everything, had been 
true and faithful brothers, would have been in his 
possession, and not in ours I saw this brother 
of ours take a sack of your fl jur, an i I said to 
myself: 'That is a brave man wb<^ is doing a des 
perate thing for his children’s sake. 1 will give 
him that flour, and if he is the man I think him, 
I will put him beyond doing such a thing again. 
It is not we who are called upon to forgive such 
men. It is they who must forgive us for monop- 
olizing all the means of living, and driving them 
to madness and violence. ’ 

"Here, my brother, is the money for the dour," 
(he handed the grocer the pricej "and I want to 
pay now for two sacks more, and for whatever 


Y CONDUCTOR. 

you have that this our brother needs. And 1 
want you to let him have as iuuch as he needs 
from this on, and when be cannot pay. send your 
bill to me." 

The grocer, moved by all this, said to the poor 
man: 

' 'Well, since I am your brother, I must act like 
one. What can you do?" 

"I can do anything. Try me. You shall pay 
me your own price.” 

"But if I am your bro'her, it must be a fair 
price — all you earn." 

The queer man shone upon the grocer with a 
most benignant smile, and said: 

"Take my hand and my heart. We are breth- 
ren.” 

Space, or the lack of it, forbids the telling of 
other queernesses of this curious man. 

There actually is such a man 


COPIED. 

STRIKES— LEGAL ILLEGAL 

BY T. W. HARPER, IN LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN S MAGAZINE. 


Can there be a legal strike? This is an impor- 
tant question, and every man belonging to a union 
is interested in having the question finally and 
fully settled. Everyone is interested in knowing 
whether he can or cannot strike. Employers, as 
well as employes, are interested in knowing what 
are the rights of each when differences arise be- 
tween them. It is proposed in this article to set 
out, as clearly as possible, the rights of each of 
the parties in case of a strike. 

It has been declared, by a writer on the subject 
of strikes, (Cogley), that the wit of man could not 
conceive of a lawful strike. Judge Jenkins con- 
curred in that opinion. Other federal judges, 
since the passage of the “Interstate Commerce 
Act" and the "Anti-Tiust Act," have been in- 
clined to the same view. See opinion of Judge 
Spear in the case of Waterhouse vs. Comer, and 
Judge Pardee rw tc Higgins, 27 Fed. Rep., 444. 
But, to the writer it seems that these decisions 
were based upon a misunderstanding of what 
constitutes a * strike.” They seem to think that 
there could be no strike without violence or in- 
timidation. The idea of a peaceful strike, being 
a mere quitting of work, seems never to have 
occurred to them. 

In the argument of the case now known as the 
Jenkins case, Mr. Clark, of the Conductors, pre- 
pared and submitted to'the Grand Officers of the 
various brotherhoods, a definition of a "strike,” 
which was adopted by the heads of all the orga- 
nizations and submitted to the court as their un- 
derstanding of a strike It is as follows : 

"A strike is a concerted cessation of, or refusal 
to work until, or unless certain conditions which 
obtain or are incident to the terms of employment 
are changed. The employe declines to longer 
work, knowing full well that the employer may 
immediately employ another to fill his place, also 
knowing that he may or may not be re-employed 
or returned to service. The employer has the 


option of acceding to the demand and returning 
the old employe to service, of employing new 
men, or of forcing conditions under which the 
old men are glad to return to service under the 
old conditions.” 

Judge Jenkins refused to adopt this definition 
of a "strike” and said that a "strike” was: 

"A combined effort among workmen to com 
pel the master to the concession of a certain de- 
mand by preventing the conduct of his business 
until compliance with the demand. It is idle to 
talk of a peaceful strike. None such ever oc- 
curred. The suggestion is an impeachment of 
intelligence. All combinations to interfere with 
perfect freedom upon which such business shall 
be conducted, by means of threats or by inter- 
ference with property or traffic, or with the law- 
ful employment of others, are within the con- 
demnation of the law. It has beeto well said 
that the wit of man could not devise a legal 
strike, beaause compulsion is the leading idea of 
it. A strike is essentially a conspiracy to extort 
by violence; the means employed to effect the end 
bemg not only the cessation of labor by the con- 
spirators. but by the necessary prevention of la- 
bor by those who are willing to assume their 
places, and, as a last resort, and in many in- 
stances an essential element of success, tbe dis- 
abling and destruction of the property of tbe 
master; and so, by intimidation and b y tbe com- 
pulsion of force, to accomplish the end designed.' 

On appeal to the United States Court of Ap- 
peals, the court, Justice Harlan, of the United 
States Supreme Court, delivering the opinion, 
said: 

“If the word ‘strike’ means in law wbat the 
circuit court held it to mean, the order of injunc- 
tion, so far as it relates to ‘strikes. ’ is not liable 
to objection as being in excess of the power of a 
court of equity. But in our judgment the in- 
junction was not sufficiently specific in respect to 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


039 


sir ikes' IVe arc not prepared, in the absence 
of evidence, to hold as a matter of law that a 
combination among employes , having for its 
object their orderly withdrawal in large num- 
bers. or in a body from the service of their em- 
ployers, on account simply of a reduction of 
(heir wages, is not a strike within the meaning 
of that word as commonly used. Such a with- 
drawal, although amounting to a strike, is not, as 
we have already said, either illegal or criminal. 
In Farrar vs. Close, L. R. 4 Q B. Cases, 602, 
612, Sir James Hmnen, afterward Lord of Ap- 
peal in Ordinary, said: ‘I am, however, of opin- 
ion that strikes are not necessarily illegal. A 
strike is properly defined as a simultaneous ces- 
sation of work on the part of the workmen, and 
its legality or illegality must depend on the means 
by which it is enforced and on its objects. It 
may be criminal, as if it be a part of a combina- 
tion for the purpose of injuring or molesting 
either master or men; or it may be simply, as 
if it be the result of an agreement depriving those 
engaged in it of their liberty of action, similar 
to that by which the employers bound themselves 
in the case of Hilton vs. Eckerdy, 6 Ell & Bl. 
47, 66; or it may be perfectly innocent, as if it 
be the result of the voluntary combination of the 
men for the purpose only of benefiting them 
selves by raising their wages, or for the purpose 
of compelling the fulfillment of an engagement 
entered into between employers and employes, or 
any other lawful purpose.' " 

In the Jenkins case in the court below, Judge 
Jenkins had enjoined the employes of the North- 
ern Pacific Railroad Company "from so quitting 
the service of said receivers with or without no- 
tice. as to cripple the property or prevent or hin- 
der the operation of said railroad,” the court 
there holding that the men in employment of a 
railroad company had no right to combine to quit 
or strike in a body, even though the strike should 
be peaceful and unaccompanied by violence. 
The court of appeals, in passing upon this ques- 
tion, said: "Undoubtedly, the simultaneous 
cessation of work by any considerable number of 
the employes of a railroad corporation without 
previous notice, will have an injurious effect and 
lor a time inconvenience the public. But these 
evils, great as they are, and although arising in 
many cases from the inconsiderate conduct of 
employes and employers, both equally indifferent 
to the general welfare, are to be met and reme- 
died by legislation restraining alike employes 
and employers so far as necessary adequately to 
guard the rights of the public as involved in the 
existence, maintenance and safe management of 
public highways In the absence of legislation 
to the contrary, the right of one in the service of 
a quasi public corporation tn withdraw there- 
from at such time as he sees fit, and the right of the 
managers of such a corporation to discharge an 
employe from service whenever they see fit, must 
be deemed so far absolute that no court of equity 
will compel him against his will to remain in 
such service or actually to perform the personal 
acts required in such employment, or compel 
such managers against their will to keep a par- 
ticular employe in their service. It was compe- 
tent for the receivers in this case, subject to the. 
approval of the court, to adopt the schedule of 
wages or salaries, and say to the employes: We 


will pay according to this schedule, and if you 
are not willing to accept such wages you will be 
discharged.' It was competent for an employe to 
say: 'I will not remain in your service under that 
schedule, and if it is to be enforced I will with- 
draw, leaving you to manage the property as best 
you may, without my assistance.'” And the 
court thereupon held that Judge Jenkins had 
erred in restraining the men from so quitting. 

The court also held that if the employes should 
combine to quit the service of the receivers, not 
for the purpose of benefiting themselves , but 
simply for the purpose of impeding or hindering 
the management of the road in the haads of the 
receiver, that that would be a wrong which 
could be enjoined against. Upon that poin* the 
court said 

"But l hat is a very different matter from a 
combination and conspiracy among employes, 
with the object and intent not simply of quitting 
the service of the receivers because of the reduc- 
tion of wages, but of crippling the property in 
their hands and embarrassing the operation of the 
railroad.” 

The reason being that in that case they would 
do an injury to the road without any correspond- 
ing benefit to themselves, the quitting simply be- 
ing done for the malicious purpose of injuring 
the company. And the court said: 

"We do not interpret the words last above 
quoted as embracing the case of employes who. 
being dissatisfied with the proposed reduction of 
their wages, merely withdraw on that account, 
singly or by concerted action, from the service of 
the receivers, using neither force, threats, perse- 
cution nor intimidation towards employes who 
do not join them; nor any device to molest, hin- 
der, alarm or interfere with others who take, or 
desire to take, their places.” 

In the Ann Arbor case decided by Judge Taft, 
he held that the employes of a railroad company 
had, at any time, the right to quit the services of 
the company, but that if they remained in the 
service of the company they had no right to re- 
fuse to haul the cars of another company, be- 
cause that would be a boycott and not a strike, 
and in the 23d Fed. Rep , 547, the court said: 

"Anybody has a right to quit work, but in in- 
terfering with other persons working and pre- 
venting the owners of railroad trains from man- 
aging those trains as they see fit, there is where 
the wrong comes in. ” 

In the case of the United States vs. Kane, 
Judge Brewer held that "Every man has the 
right to work for whom he pleases and go where 
he pleases and do what he pleases, provided in so 
doing he does not trespass on the rights 0/ 
others . " 

In the Ann Arbor case above referred to. the 
language of the court is. "Herein is found the 
difference between the act of the employes of the 
complainant company in combining to withhold 
the benefit of their labor from it, and the act of 
employes of the defendant companies in combin- 
ing to withhold their labor from them; that is the 
difference between the strike and the boycott. 
The one combination, so far as its character is 
shown in the evidence, was lawful, because it was 
for the lawful purpose of selling the labor of 
those engaged in it for the highest price obtaina- 
ble. and on the best terms.” 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


640 

in the recent case of Thomas vs. Cincinnati, 
etc., Railroad, which was a proceeding for con- 
tempt against one Phelan, who was a member and 
•rganizer of the A. R. U., the Cincinnati. N. O. 
& T. P. Ry. Co. was in the hands of the receiver. 
The American Railway Union had a grievance 
against one George M. Pullman on account of his 
treatment of the employes in the car shops at 
Pullman. Phelan induced the employes of the 
receiver of the said railway to quit the service of 
the receiver because they were hauling Pullman 
•ars. The men on that road were not in the em- 
ployment of Pullman, and in no way sustained 
any relations to him as employer or employe. 
They had no grievance against the receiver of the 
road in whose employ they were, but went out on 
what is called a “ sympathetic strike." 

Judge Taft, in rendering the opinion sentencing 
Phelan to six months in jail for interference with 
a road in the hands of the receiver, said: "Now, 
it may be conceded in the outset that the employes 
of the receiver bad the right to organize into or to 
join a labor union which should take joint action 
as to their terms of employment. It is of benefit 
to them and to the public that laborers should 
unite in their common interest and for lawful 
purposes. They have labor to sell. If they stand 
together, they are often able, all of them, to com- 
mand better prices for their labor than when 
dealing singly with rich employers, because the 
necessities of the single employe may compel him 
to accept any terms offered him. The accumula- 
tion of a fund for the support of those who feel 
that the wages offered are below market prices, is 
one of the legitimate objects of such an organiza- 
tion. They have the right to appoint officers who 
shall advise them as to the course to be taken by 
them in their relations with their employer. They 
may unite with other unions. The officers they 
appoint, or any other person to whom they choose 
to listen, may advise them as to the proper course 
to be taken by them in regard to their employ- 
ment. It follows, therefore (to give an illustra- 
tion which will be understood), that if Phelan had 
come to this city when the receiver reduced the 
wages of his employes by 10 per cent , and had 
urged a peaceable strike, and bad succeeded in 
maintaining one, the loss to the business of the 
receiver would not be grounds for recovering 
damages, and Phelan would not have been liable 


to contempt, even if the strike much impeded the 
operation of the road under the control of the 
court His action in giving the advice, or issuing 
an order based on unsatisfactory terms of em- 
ployment, would have been entirely lawful. But 
his coming here, and his advice to the Southern 
Railway employes or to the employes of other 
reads, to quit, had nothing to do with their 
terms of employment. They were not dissafr\ 
fed with their service or their pay. ’ ’ 

The court proceeds to discuss the objects of the 
A. R. U. in attempting to cause the employes of 
the railway to quit when they bad themselves no 
cause for striking, except out of sympathy for the 
Pullman strikers, and says that ‘ ‘such a combina- 
tion is unlawful." He says, "It was a boycott 
The employes of the railway companies had no 
grievance against ‘heir employers. Handling and 
hauling Pullman cars did not render their service 
any more burdensome. They had no complaint 
against the use of the Pullman cars as cars. They 
came into no natural relation with Pullman in 
handling the cars. He paid them no wages. He 
did not regulate their hours, or in any way deter- 
mine their services. Simply to injure him in his 
business, they were incited and encouraged to 
compel the railway companies to withdraw cus- 
tom from him by threats of quitting their service, 
and actually quitting their service. This indicted 
an injury on the companies that was very great, 
and it was unlawful, because it was without 
lawful excuse. The distinction between an or- 
dinary lawful and peaceable strike entered npon 
to obtain concessions in the terms of the strikers 
employment, and a boycott, is not a fanciful 
one., " 

The court then proceeds to show that a boycott 
is illegal. 

Boycotts have always been held illegal. They 
were so before the passage of any act of congress 
on the subject of inter-state commerce. 

From the foregoing statements and authorities 
it will be seen that strikes may be lawful, as 
where they quit employments peaceably and for 
the purpose of bettering their own condition 
Then strikes are illegal where they quit not to 
better their own condition, but out of sympathy 
for other people, in which case the "strike" is not 
in fact a strike, but a boycott. 


Heredity. 


Your strictures are unmerited, 

Our follies are inherited, 

Directly from our gram'pas they all came; 
Our defects have been transmitted, 

And we should be acquitted 

Of all responsibility and blame. 

We are not depraved beginners, 

But hereditary sinners, 

For our fathers never acted as they should; 
'Tis the folly of our gram'pas 
That continually hampers — 

What a pity that our gram'pas weren't 
good ! 


Yes. we'd all be reverend senators. 

If our depraved progenitors 

Had all been prudent, studious and wise. 
But they were quite terrestrial, 

Or we would be celestial. 

Yes, we’d all be proper tenants for the 
skies ! 

If we re not all blameless sages, 

And beacons to the ages, 

And fit for principalities and powers. 

If we do not guide and man it, 

And engineer the planet, 

Tis the folly of our forefathers — not ours 
— Mildred Lancaster in Home and Count t \ 


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Oar readers who write to any of the firms advertising in these columns are requested to mention 

The Railway Conductor. 

& B CLARK and WM. P. DANIELS, Managers. E. B. CLARK, Editor-In-Chief. 

W. N. GATES, Advertising Manager, 99 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, O. 


B. R. T. 

In the controversy between the Brotherhood of 
Railway Trainmen and the Philadelphia and 
Reading Railway Company, before Judge Dallas, 
up to the time of writing but little that is new 
has developed. 

At the conclusion of the arguments, Attorney 
Rawle for the Brotherhood asked for and re- 
ceived permission to amend their petition. 

Amendments were filed setting forth the belief 
on part of petitioners that there were large num- 
bers of the employes of the P. & R. who were 
members of labor organizations at the time of the 
appointment of the receivers; that that fact was 
known to General Superintendent Sweigard and 
other officials of the company; that notwithstand- 
ing this knowledge, neither the receivers nor the 
company have (until the action which causes this 
suit) taken any action attempting to enforce any 
order prohibiting membership in a labor organi- 
zation. and that between 600 and 700 of the em- 
ployes of the receivers now hold membership in 
some Brotherhood or other labor organization. 

The receivers, answering, deny that any know- 
ledge that their employes were members of a la- 
bor organization was possessed by the higher of- 
ficials or by the receivers; that there has been no 
relaxation in enforcing the rule against member- 
ship in labor organizations, with the knowledge 
of the higher officials of the company; that all 
wbp entered the service of the company have 
been required to sign the agreement to forswear 
all allegiance to any organization and to refrain 
from becoming a member of same; and deny that 
any such number of their employes belong to la- 
bor organizations as claimed. 

Will the court uphold its officers in depriving 
their employes of the privileges specifically de- 
clared as lawful by United States statute? 
Would the court uphold its officers in re- 


vs. P. & R. 

quiring their employes to forswear allegi- 
ance to any church or fcrm of religion? 
Would the court uphold its officers in enforc- 
ing another one of "Wbiskerandos" Bonzano's 
orders directing how the hair and whiskers should 
be trimmed or worn? If it is agreed (and we be- 
lieve it is) that the receivers are officers of the 
court, and all employes under them are pro hoc 
vice officers of the court, in consistency and fair- 
ness let the court exercise some of its power or 
authority in protecting those employes in their in- 
dividual rights. The points at issue in this cause 
are clearly and forcibly set forth in the letter 
addressed to Judge Dallas by Attorney Gen- 
eral Olney and Judge Dallas’ answer, by his deci- 
sion, of Mr. Olney ’s question: •‘Will the court 
now lay down the rule that members of the Bro- 
therhood of Trainmen shall, because they are 
such members, be discharged from the service of 
the road?", is watched for with intense interest. 
If answered in the affirmative, such answer 
should not be accepted as final. 

ADDENDA. 

Since above was written the petition of the 
complaining employes has been dismissed by 
Judge Dallas. 

This Judge had already decided (in opposition 
to decisions before rendered by eminent judges), 
that the Brotherhood and its representatives had 
no standing in court and could not be recognized 
by the court. 

He now decides that it is consistent and proper 
for officers of the United States to remove from 
their service competent employes because the em- 
ploye is, and desires to remain, a member of an 
organization which is not unlawful or for an un- 
lawful purpose. If the property were not under 
the protecting wing of the United States govern- 
ment, operated by the government in the interest 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


64 2 

of its creditors, the employe would have do right 
to expect any protection from the courts and 
would have to submit unless he could find pro- 
tection elsewhere. 

The principal objectioa which seems to be en- 
tertained by the Judge agafnst the Brotherhood 
is that it is an unincorporated association. Truly 
this is a “corporation" age, and we can see so 
much of promise in incorporating our organiza- 
tions that we earnestly hope to see every member 
gird on his armor and stand ready to assist in the 
fight. We hope to see the organizations unitedly 
bring to bear their influence to secure the passage 
of such laws as may be necessary to place the in- 
corporated organization of brain, of muscle, of 
flesh and blood, of human life and human souls, 
upon as fair and liberal a basis as the incorpora- 
ted organization of money rests upon. The in- 
terests of the two should not be assimilated, but 
for the purposes of this hearing it cannot be ob- 
jected to. If not discriminated against, the labor 
organizations, incorporated or unincorporated, 
will care for their own interests without the as- 
sistance of special or class legislation. 

There can be no doubt but that by earnest and 
undivided effort the passage of such law as may 
be necessary can be secured. Labor has the 
power and the opportunity. Will it use it? 

The whole history of Ub^r and its troubles, of 
late years, points out to us the necessity of adopt- 
ing advanced ideas and policies. There is an old 
saying that one must 'fight fire with fire." Let 
us act on that suggestion, and, after securing the 
same security under the law as is enjoyed by 
other incorporated bodies, incorporate and meet 
the issue fairly, standing on a common plane 
with our opponent, whoever he may be, and 
adopting the same tactics we have to contend 
against. 

Judge Dallas evidently considered that his de- 
cision needed some apology as an accompaniment, 
and he endeavors to throw a sop in the follow- 
ing: 


“The rule complained of by the petitioners was pro- 
mulgated as long ago as the year 1887, and the receiver* 
emphatically assert their belief, which is not controverted, 
that no employe has since entered the service in Iftfio 
ranee of its existence or joined the Brotherhood of_ Rail- 
way Trainmen without being aware that by so doing he 
violated it. 

“It is possible there may be a few men— there cannot 
be many— to whom the strict enforcement of the rule 
would occasion some hardship. But no such case ha* 
been made known and the answer of the receivers dis 
lays no vindictive feeling or disposition to harshness. I 
ave no hesitation in relying upon them to deal fairly and 
discriminatingly with any case which may reasonable call 
for peculiar consideration.” 

The receivers assert the belief that no employe 
has been allowed to enter tbeir service without 
signing the “agreement;" they assert that there 
has been no relaxation in enforcing the rule 
against membership in a labor organization, and 
declare their intention to require every employe 
to sever his connection with the company or with 
such labor organization as he may be a member 
of, and the judge of a court in equity says he has 
“no hesitation in relying upon them to deal fairly 
and discriminatingly with any case which may 
reasonably call for peculiar consideration.' 

The hyena may also be expected to “deal 
fairly and discriminatingly" with such of the ani- 
mal kingdom as he feeds upon, if be comes across 
a “case which may reasonably call for peculiar 
consideration." 

The “consideration" of the Judge iu commend- 
ing the employes to the tender mercies of the 
officials of the P. & R. is truly “peculiar ” 

We have reverence for law equaling that which 
prompted Abrahim Lincoln to say: 

“Let reverence of law be breathed by ever^ mother to 
the lisping babe that prattles on her lap; let tt be taught 
in the schools, seminaries and colleges; let tl be written 
in primers and spelling books and almanacs; let it be 
preached from pulpits and proclaimed in legislative halls, 
and enforced in courts of justice; in short, lei it become 
the political religion of the nation." 

Law is, however, supposed to be based iu 
justice, and it will be a sorry day for tbe naliou 
if the people generally are forced into an accept 
ance of the theory that the law is not applied 
alike to the rich and the poor. 


REPORT OF THE NATIONAL STRIKE COMMISSION. 


The strike at Chicago has been, in a great 
measure, the thought centre for the labor world 
during the past year, and it was no more than 
natural that the report of the commission ap- 
pointed by President Cleveland to investigate it. 
sh )uld be availed with much interest. This re- 
port was handed down on the 14th ult , and was 
read with great eagerness in all portions of the 
country. Its length precludes the possibility of 
its reproduction entire, but a brief resume of its 


more salient features may not be without intefesi 
and value to our readers, even at this date 

After the usual purely formal references to the 
authority under which the commission was ap- 
pointed and operated, the report takes up tbe hi* 
tory of the strike generally from its inception, re- 
citing the “losses aod crimes" caused and com 
milled through it and the number of military, po- 
lice and deputy marshals called upon to assist ie 
preserving order. An extended history of ’ 'Pall- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


roan s Palace Car Company," of “The American 
Kailway Union." and of "The General Managers' 
Association," follows, with some general discus- 
sion of their right and wrong doing interpolated, 
after which the history of the strike is resumed in 
particular, the actions of each of the three parties 
in interest being considered under separate head* 
ings In this there is nothing more than has been 
given by all the newspapers of the country, times 
without number, and nothing that is not familiar 
to all The conclusion of this section of the re- 
port, however, will be found worth reading, being 
~as follows: 

The partictpaiion of alrikers in riotous proceedings is 
another and more serious matter. As to this, the commis- 
sion has before it not only the evidence of parties inter- 
ested for or against the strikers, but a vi.st amount of tes- 
timony from disinterested sources. Among these are the 
mayor and the officials of the police and fire departments 
of Chicago and the reporters of the newspapers of that 
city representing all shades of opinion as to tne strike 
question. These latter witnesses were in the midst of the 
occurrences from day to day, and observed events with 
keenly trained faculties. Prom this testimony it is fair to 
conclude that strikers were concerned in the outrages 
against law aud order, although the number was undoubt- 
edly small as compared with the whole number out. The 
strikers' experience and training were to be seen in the 
spiking and misplacing of switches, removing r*ils, crip- 
pling of interlocking systems, the detaching, side track- 
ing, aud derailing of cars and eagines, placing of coupling 
pins in engine machinery, blockading tracks with cars, 
and attempts to detach and run in mail care. The com- 
mission is of opinion that offenses of this character, as 
well as considerable threatening and intimidation of those 
taking strikers* places, were committed or Instigated by 
strikers. 

The mobs that took possession of railroad yards, tracks, 
and crossings after July 3, aud that stoned, tipped over, 
burned, and destroyed cars and stole their contents, were, 
by general concurrence in the testimony, composed gen- 
erally of hoodlums, women, a low class of foreiguers, and 
recruits from the criminal classes. Few strikers were 
recognized or arrested in these mobs, which were without 
leadership, and seemed simply beat on plunder and de- 
struction. They gathered wherever opportunity offered 
for their dastardly work, aud, as a rule, broke and melted 
away when force faced them, in the view that this rail- 
road strike was wrong; that such mobs are well known to 
be incidental to strikes, and are thereby given an excuse 
and incentive to gather and commit crime, the responsi- 
bility rests largely with the American Kailway Lnlon; 
otherwise that association, its leaders, and a very large 
majority of the railroad men on strike, are not shown to 
have had any connection therewith Labor advocates con- 
tend that strikes are the last resort: that they are the in 
duetrial war measures of labor to assert and obtain the 
rights which humanity, morality, aud chauged conditions 
demand; that labor cannot otherwise arouse interest in 
its demands, and that, hence, labor is no more responsible 
for ihe public disorders and calamities that attend strikes, 
than are the employers who provoke them. Many impar- 
tial observers are reaching the view that much of the real 
responsibility for these disorders rests wiih the people 
themselves and with i he government for not adequately 
controlling monopolies and corporations, and for failing 
to reasonably protect tbe rights of labor and redress its 
wrongs. None assert that laws can completely remedy 
contentions as to wages, etc., but many do insist that 
something substantial can be accomplished in this direc- 
tion if attempted honestly, reasonably, and in good faith. 

Io summarizing their report the commission find 
^encouragement m the general condemnation of all 
forms of warfare between employer and employe, 
as expressed to them by substantially all the m dn 
who stand in the very front ranks of the labor 
forces in this country to-day. Strikes, boycotts 
and lockouts are condemned as "barbarisms unfit 
ior tbe intelligence of the age, and as, economi- 


643 

cally considered, very injurious and destructive 
forces." Tbe right of labor to organize and tbe 
need for unity of action within such organization, 
are regarded as established, practically beyond 
question The subject of universal government 
ownership is considered and set aside as being 1 ‘too 
vast, many-sided, and far away, if attempted, to 
be considered as an immediate, practical remedy." 
The need for some form of compulsory settlement 
in case of trouble between employer and employe, 
is argued at considerable length, the result being 
found in the first of the "conclusions” with which 
the report ends, reading as follows: 

That there be a permanent United States strike com - 
mission of three members, with duties and powers oi in- 
vestigation and recommendation as to disputes between 
railroads aud their employes, similar to those vested in 
the Interstate Commerce Commission, as to rates, etc. 
That, as in the interstate commerce act, power be given 
to the Uuited States courts to compel railroads to obey 
the decisions of the commission. 

It will at once occur to all who have given the 
subject thought, that if tbe new commission, 
when formed, has no better success in compelling 
the roads to obey its mandates than has the inter- 
state commerce commissiou, it will speedily be 
reduced to the sole function of collecting statis- 
tics. There is much of good in the second subdi- 
vision of this recommendation, which is: 

That, whenever the parties to a controversy in a matter 
within the jurisdiction of the commission, are one or 
more railroads upon one side and one or more national 
trade unions, incorporated under chapter 567 of the 
Uuited States Statutes of 1885-86, or under state statutes, 
upon the other, each side shall have the right to select a 
representative, who shall be appointed by the President 
to serve as a temporary member of the commission in 
hearing, adjusting, and determining that particular con- 
troversy. (This provision would make it for the interest 
of labor organiz-ttions to incorporate under the law and to 
make the commission a practical board of conciliation. It 
would also tend to create confidence in the commission, 
and to give to that body in every hearing the benefit of 
practical knowledge of the situation upon both sides.) 

As a means of reinforcing these provisions, it is 
suggested that in all cases referred to the commis- 
sion both parties be required to maintain their old 
relations, the roads keeping the men in their em- 
ploy at least six months after decision, and the 
men giving at least thirty days’ written notice be- 
fore quitting. 

Secondly, the report recommends that labor 
organizations rigidly expel all members concerned 
in any form of violence or intimidation during a 
strike: "also that members shall be no more per- 
sonally liable for corporate acts than are stock- 
holders in corporations." This last suggestion is 
good, so far as it goes, but is not complete until it 
provides that an incorporated labor organization 
is no more liable for the acts of its individual 
members than is a railway corporation for the 
acts of its individual stockholders. Upon the 
question of license the commission makes no for- 
mal recommendation beyond the need for its 


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644 

careful consideration. The states generally are 
urged 'to adopt some such system of conciliation 
and arbitration as is now in force in Massachu- 
setts, and to make illegal all laws limiting in airy 
way the right of the men to organize. 

The press generally have criticised the report 
on account of inconsistencies between the evi- 
dence submitted and the findings of the commis- 
sion. Open letters have been addressed to the 
commission pointing out these inconsistencies, the 
most glaring being the statement, “Throughout 
the strike the strife was simply over handling 
Pullman cars, the men being ready to do their 
duty otherwise." On thecontrary.it is a fact, 
known to all, that hundreds of men absolutely re- 
fused to perform tbeir duties when such duties 
were in no way connected with the handling of 
Pallman cars, and this action extended to roads 
upon which Pullman cars are not used. 


There is much of good in this report, but to us 
it seems that the vital point in all the matters 
submitted to these gentlemen for consideration, 
has been completely ignored. We did not then 
nor do we now believe that there was any link 
connecting the Pallman employes closely enough 
with the railway employes to justify the latter in 
taking up the cause of the former and precipitat- 
ing this war. The question is not (nor has it at 
any time been), were the Pullman employes justi- 
fied in striking? But. was there justification for 
the strike on part of railway employes not in any 
way connected with the Pullman Company, and 
in direct and open violation of agreements entered 
into in good faith? We search in vain through 
their voluminous report for the expresfioo of an 
opinion or even direct mention regarding this all 
important point. 


THE TENTH PL \NK 


The platform, now under discussion by trades 
unions who are affiliated with the American Fed- 
eration of Labor and which will be passed upon 
by the fourteenth annual convention of that body 
at Denver, during the present month, in full, is: 

1. Compulsory education. 

2. Direct legislation. 

3. A legal eight hour work day 

4. Sanitary inspection of work shop, mine 
and home. 

5. Liability of employers for injury to health, 
body or life. 

fi. The abolition of contract system in all pub- 
lic works. 

7. The abolition of the sweating system. 

8. The municipal ownership of street cars 
and gas and electric plants for public distribution 
of light, heat and power. 

9. The nationalization of telegraphs, tele- 
phones, railroads and mines. 

10. The collective ownership by the people of 
all means of production and distribution. 

11. The principle of referendum in all legisla- 
tion. 

These propositions furnish material for study, 
thought and discussion, unlimited. Some of the 
planks propose reforms which are so sadly 
needed and which must prove so purely beneficial 
that he who would oppose, must of necessity, 
search carefully for a peg upon which to bang his 
argument Among these are the first, third, 
fourth and seventh. 

We do not favor direct legislation because the 
privilege of franchise is held too lightly by the 
average voter. We do not want thoughtless ex- 


periments in legislation and we believe it better 
to leave that work to representatives chosen for 
the purpose, bending our energies toward reform 
in this connection, in the direction of a more 
careful choice of representatives. Our good 
friends who advocate the “initiative and referen- 
dum" tell us that the more the right of franchise 
is exercised the higher will be the standard of in- 
telligence under which it is exercised. This is 
true if the voters would study the questions, and 
fit themselves to pass intelligently upon those re- 
ferred, but we believe they will not do so. A 
man desirous of becoming a skillful athlete, fits 
himself by patient and regular physical exercise 
training, dieting and selfdenial, and finally, bis 
splendid physical condition, as well as his feats 
of strength, command our admiratiofi. We 
know that if we would apply ourselves in the 
same way and with the same degree of persever- 
ance, we could develop much of that same 
strength and health; but, do we do it? No! We 
have not the time; it is too much trouble; there 
is no money in it for me; and a hundred other 
reasons are assigned. We fear if this plan be- 
comes law. the army of indifferent, stay-at home 
voters will be largely ircreased. 

Whenever the employer is responsible for in- 
jury to health, life or limb, on account of neglect, 
on his part, to furnish every knovn means of 
avoiding the same, or where for any plausible reas- 
on, responsibility can be traced to his door, the 
proposition in plank five should apply 

If all government contract work is to be full of 
“blow holes," it would be well to adopt plank 
six, but would not its adoption kill a large 


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amount of competition? And with competition 
removed, would not the same corruption and in 
difference creep in? 

We have expressed our opinion before, oppos- 
ing the idea of nationalizing railroads. 

The question in plank eight is, in a degree, the 
same as that contained in plank nine. 

The plank which contemplates the most radical 
changes and which contains more of danger and 
viciousness than all the rest of the platform put 
together, is plank ten. This plank means noth- 
ing. more nor less, than 9tate socialism, a policy 
that we do not believe the American people are 
willing to experiment with. We do not believe 
it is necessary to the welfare of any large num- 
ber of the people. We do not believe that it would 
be productive of any good to the people at large. 
It sounds very nice to talk about ‘ ownership by 
the people of all means of production and dis- 
tribution." Toe idea is naturally carried with it 
that all of the people would have a voice in con- 
ducting its affairs more than they have at the 
present time. In arguments in support of this 
plank it is admitted that it would not be possible 
under our union of states, but it is argued that 
the state lines could easily be erased and affairs 
be directed from a central government, and there 
is unmasked the anarchy sought to be cloaked by 
socialism Put into practice, it would mean that 
the people at large would have much less to say 
in the conduct of their affairs than they have at 
the present time. The tenth plank is based on 
the idea that the means of production and distri- 
bution are naturally the property of the human 
race and that every individual has a right to a 
share therein. Paternalism on the part of the 
general government can never be productive of 
the highest good to the individuals who go to 
make up the government. When the most liberal 
opportunities consistent with good government 
have been opened to each of the citizens, the 
whole has done for the individuil all that can be 
consistently done, and he must, after that, de- 
pend upon his individual efforts. The advocates 
of socialism and of a co-operative commonwealth, 
tell us that under that plan every man will do 
what he chooses to do, that all will be a 
part of a community, each performing his pro- 
portion of the labor necessary to the highest wel- 
fare of the community. We have never yet seen 
any proposition in this connection which pre- 
tends to furnish a means of compelling the 
drones to work, and that there are at the present 
time a very large number of honest, industrious 
workingmen who are unable to find employment, 
does not alter the fact that at the same time we 
have a large number of able-bodied men who 


64 s. 

would not work if work was offered them Is it 
proposed to pattern after the honey bee and put 
the drones to death? 

A conviction has taken firm root in the minds 
of the people that the laboring and producing 
classes have not been receiving and are not now 
receiving their fair proportion of the wealth 
which they create. In that conviction we share, 
and the supreme question at this time is, what 
are the best means, possible of adoption, through 
which to bring about that condition of affairs 
which should obtain and secure for the producers 
their fair proportion? Under our form of govern- 
ment abuses have grown up. There is undoubt- 
edly much that is wrong, but whatever is wrong 
is the growth of years, and it is so because the 
American people have been so busy making 
money and have felt so sure that good times had 
become chronic, they have not noticed the 
growth. They have been and are so far ahead of 
the rest of the world, that laws framed by our 
forefathers and which have proved adequate in 
the emergencies which have heretofore confronted 
us, are, under changing conditions, no longer suffi- 
cient to meet the wants or satisfy the righteous 
demands of the people. 

We hear a great deal as to methods and means 
of rectifying the evils and remedying all that is 
wrong. We are told on the one hand that all that 
is necessary is free coinage, and on the other 
hand, that all that the country needed to redeem' 
it from the difficulties in which it found itself, 
was the repeal of the Sherman law. One party 
tells us that immediate emancipation from all our 
wrongs will follow the adoption of the policy of 
free trade, while another party tells us that our 
only salvation lies in the direction of a high pro- 
tective tariff. One party tells us that our legisla- 
tors are corrupt and that they are no longer to be 
trusted, and that we must take legislation in our 
own hands. Another tells us that the wrongs of 
the people will be righted and the evils that exist 
will be remedied by gathering up an immense 
army of the unemployed and marching them to 
Washington for the purpose of entering them 
there as a living protest against certain evils, and 
demand for legislation upon certain lines. One 
party tells us that all of the ills which the Ameri- 
can people suffer will be promptly cured by the 
adoption of “the single tax ’ system, and another 
party tells us that all that is necessary to bring 
about a comparative millennium is “the owner- 
ship by the pebple of all means of production and 
distribution.” None of these theories will cure 
what is wrong or bring about a condition of affairs 
that will satisfy the American people any more 
than the various patent medicines which we see 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


• fy q/> i 

advertised every time we open a newspaper, will 
cure all of the long list of diseases which taey are 
recommended for and guaranteed to cure What 
is wanted above all else is honest, incorruptible 
legislators, and an unbiased judiciary. The idea 
that it is necessary for a congressman or a United 
States senator to spend each year a great deal 
more in maintaining himself in the accepted style 
in Washington, than his salary as a national leg* 
islator amounts to, should be dispelled. Men 
who have demonstrated the fact that they have 
the interests of their fellow men and of their asso- 
ciates at heart, should be sent to the legislative 
halls to protect and further the interests of the 
masses, instead of filling those halls with million* 
aires whose interests are entirely with the classes. 

We would adopt most heroic measures in puri- 
fying American politics. The immense 
appointive power vested in the execu- 
tive of the United States government 
and the unreasonably liberal laws of the 
states, governing corporations, are the means of 
bringiag more corruption into American politics 
than all other things put together. We believe in 
the wise exercise of the franchise on the part of 
every intelligent citizen. We believe that a man 
who would purchase or sell a vote, in a legislative 
body or out of it. should bs disfranchised for life 
and, if necessary, branded so that be might be 

• known of all men. We band ourselves together 
into labor organizations, and we protest strenu- 
ously (and rightly) against the dismissal of one of 
our members unless it is clearly shown that he 
has been guilty of some act which fully justifies 
such action, and at the same time neglect to regis- 


ter our protest against the policy of indiscrimi- 
nate dismissal of efficient, faithful, competent of* 
fice holders or employes of the government for no 
other reason than that their political faith is of a 
different complexion to that of the party in 
power, and because those who manage the affairs 
of the parties demand that °to the victor shall be- 
long the spoils.” Have we any right to assume 
that these conditions will be improved under *‘na 
tionalization of telegraphs, telephones, railroads 
and mines,” or "the collective ownership by the 
people of all means of production and distribu- 
tion ” 5 Unless this theory of state socialism can 
change human nature, the conditions would grow 
tenfold worse under its rule. 

It is pleasing to note that in many places the 
"tenth plank” has been pronounced against. Ib 
submitting the proposition to discussion and vote 
it is done under the "Whereas, the trade-union- 
ists of Great Britain” have adopted certain lines 
of action, and "Whereas, such action has resulted 
in the most gratifying success,” and the declara- 
tion that their position is based upon the platform 
copied at the beginning of this article. It is pos- 
sible that that is true in Great Biitain. . It might 
be true in Germany, in France or in Russia 
This theory will not be accepted by the true 
American except under compulsion. It can only 
be established through confiscation and ruthless 
trampling upon rights which have always beeo 
recognized as sovereign. Does any thinking mas 
suppose, even for a moment, that the American 
people will submit to that and declare that tbs 
wot k of the founders, supporters and saviors of 
the republic has been in vain and upon mistakes 
lines? We want evolution, not revolution 


There is much of hope iu the present revival of 
business for the railroad man. When the strin 
.gency began something like a year and a half ago 
there was an almost immediate cessation of all 
kinds of construction, and a system of the most 
rigid economy was inaugurated in every depart- 
ment of railroad work. This naturally was felt 
most acutely by the employes, aod has occasioned 
them no little loss. No particular branch of busi- 
ness has responded to the improved conditions 
more readily than the railroads, and the results 
are already being felt throughout the country. 
Every issue of the daily papers contains accounts 
of new roads being projected and of improve 
ments contemplated to those now in operation. 
Every mile of new road means employment for 
more men, and when we add to the ones thus 
provided for those who are constantly being taken 
into service again because of increase in the regu- 


lar business, it gives to all cause for encourage- 
ment. 


The report of Postmaster General Bissell« re* 
cently made public, recommends some chaugesia 
the postal laws that congress may consider with 
profit There can be no question but the laxity 
of the laws, as they now stand, permits great 
abuses through the rates allowed the newspaper* 
and periodical publications. A wise public policy 
demands that the newspapers, periodicals and all 
legitimate publications of that class, be carried at 
the lowest possible rate, they being among th* 
most necessary of the educational and pleasure 
giving factors of modern civilized life. This w*» 
unquestionably the purpose of the laws node* 
consideration, and in so far as they carry out that 
purpose they will hardly be subject to criticis® 
Either through loose construction or tnconsider- 


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THh RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ate ratings on the part of the heads of the depart- 
ment. the limits have been extended far beyond 
the original intention, until now the mails are 
loaded down with an enormous amount of matter 
never intended by the framers of the law to be 
taken under the newspaper rate. The time has 
come when this wrong should be righted and the 
line be sharply drawn between the publications 
legitimately in this class and the concerns that are 
daily clogging the mails and adding to the annual 
deficit the people are called upon to pay, without 
being in any way entitled to the service. 

• 

It has been but a short time since the newspa 
pers of the country were heralding abroad the 
cheering intelligence that the bakers in the large 
cities bad cut the price of their bread in half, 
thereby doing much to ameliorate the condition 
of the unfortunate poor in those communities 
Now the word comes from New York that some 
six hundred figuring mills have entered into a 
combination and have shut down in the hope of 
being able to restore *the price to its old basis. 
So far as the outsider can see there was absolutely 
nothing in the market conditions to warrant this 
action. The price of wheat never ranged so low, 
and the cost of manufacturing and handling has 
never been so small a per cent, of the total. The 
demand, both foreign and domestic, has steadily 
increased, leaving no excuse for the action save 
the unlimited greed of those in the combination. 
It may be no worse for the millers to thus force 
up the price of one of the necessities of life and 
grind additional gain out of the helpless and un- 
fortunate, than it is for the meat packer and coal 
operator, but it seems to appeal more directly to 
the sympathies of the people when the loaf of the 
poor man is made the subject of such an unholy 
combine. Public sentiment is steadily growing 
stronger in condemnation of all attempts to force 
tribute from the common people, and every such 
instance as this but adds to the bitterness of the 
feeling. A day of final settlement is surely ap- 
proaching, apd these gentlemen will have nothing 
but their own unbridled rapacity to thank if, on 
that day. their payment should seem to them to 
be beyond the measure of their iniquity. 


How often do we see what might be laudable 
reform movements brought into disrepute and 
ideas which in themselves are good and for good, 
held up to ridicule as a result of the extreme opin- 
ions which prompt and control the actions of 
those who interest themselves in the movement. 
There is no grander reform idea than that of tem- 
perance, but no real good can come to the tem- 
perance cause by such actions as have been in- 


647 

dulged in by the W. C T U. over the christen- 
ing of the St. Louis. The appeal to Mrs. Cleve- 
land to refuse to use a bottle of wine for that pur- 
pose. was nothing short of fanaticism Mrs. 
Cleveland has long since given ample proof of 
her belief in temperance, and her loyalty to the 
temperance cause. She gave additional evidence 
of her good sense by christening the St. Louis 
with the contents of the bottle furnished her for 
that purpose by those whose guest she was. The 
adoption of resolutions condemning her action, 
by the W C. T. U . or any part of it. is an exhi- 
bition of bad taste, bad temper, as well as poor 
judgment, and it leads us to suggest that it is well 
to be temperate in other things as well as in the 
use of intoxicants. “Consistency, thou art a 
jewel.” 


As we write, the columns of the daily press 
bring to hs sensational reports ot efforts being 
made to secure the defeat of Mr. Gompers in the 
race for the presidency of the American Federa- 
tion of Labor. The burden of these reports is to 
the effect that the dissatisfaction with Mr. Gom- 
pers' administration is chiefly on account of his 
position when appealed to, to direct or advise a 
general strike, on part of the members of the or 
ganizations which make up the Federation, in 
sympathy for and support of the employes of the 
Pullman company, and such railway employes as 
had already struck in sympathy for the Pullman 
employes. 

The position taken by Mr Gompers and his as- 
sociates was given to the world, and was endorsed 
by all the better class of newspapers and trade 
journals The position was sensible and the 
ground taken tenable. 

The claim is advanced that in this action the 
will of the membership was not expressed. We 
presume this was true so far as it applies to a part 
of the membership, but are unwilling to believe 
that any large portion of the membership failed 
to endorse Mr. Gompers’ action or were itching . 
for a sympathetic strike. If they were they dif- 
fered very widely from the membership of the 
Knights of Labor, who with practical unanimity 
ignored the bugle call of Mr Sovereign ordering 
them to strike. 

Mr. Gompers is conservative, but not unreasona- 
bly or dangerously so. If it be true that the mem- 
bership of the A. F. of L. generally clamor for 
his official decapitation for the reasons given, the 
dissolution of the Federation, as a result of in- 
temperately radical action, is assured in the near 
future. We have met Mr. Gompers, and enter- 
tain a very kind and friendly feeling for him, as. 
well as for Mr. Maguire, of the United Brother- 


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7 HE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


648 

hood of Carpenters and joiners, who is criticised 
with eqttal severity in this same connection. This 
will not appear until after the election, so it can- 
not be considered as campaign matter or interfer- 
ence in the affairs of the Federation. We have an 
abiding faith in the perspicacity and level-head- 
edness of the representatives who will make up 
the convention of the A. F. of L. , and predict a 
strong vindication for Mr. Gompers and his offi- 
cial action. 


Judge A J Ricks, who first became a national 
.character through his connection with the Ann 
Arbor strike, is now being brought to book, and 
judging from present indications, his past record 
will eventually be shown to be in perfect keeping 
with his arbitrary action in that case. It will be 
remembered that the railroads then found in him 
a pliant tool for the carrying out of their pur- 
poses, his ride to Toledo in their private car no 
less than the orders there issued at their com 
mand, after a star chamber hearing, bringing 
down upon him general condemnation. Some 
time after that the charge was openly made that 
irregularities had been found in his accounts 
when serving as clerk of the court, before his ele 
ration to the bench, and a committee was ap 
pointed by congress to investigate the matter. 
Something of the results of this investigation may 
be gathered from the following associated press 
dispatch, sent out from Cleveland under date of 
Nov, 27. last: 

"Under a searching cross-examination by 
Chairman Bailey, of the congressional committee, 
Judge A. ]. Ricks hesitated this afternoon and 
finally pleaded ignorance of the law regulating 
the collection of fees, the misappropriation of 
which is charged There was consternation 
among the six lawyers who are defending the 


judge, and a lively tilt between Mr Bailey aad 
Judge Stevenson Burke followed, in which the 
latter came out second best, The hearing was re- 
sumed at 2 p. m , with the court room crowded to 
the doors. Miss Minnie Lillis, who was employed 
by Judge Ricks to make the record in the Birdsell 
cases, testified that she had signed a voucher for 
$300 for work done by herself in making the rec- 
ords of the Birdsell cases, when, as a matter of 
fact, she had received but $153 for the work 
Judge Ricks was called to the witness chair, and 
admitted collecting clerk's fees after quitting the 
office, in accordance with a usual custom The 
evidence all being in at 5 o'clock, the committee 
adjourned, after allowing Judge Ricks' attorneys 
fifteen days in which to file explanations of the 
various charges and briefs with the committee in 
Washington ." 

Placing the most favorable construction possi- 
ble upon this evidence and admitting, for the sake 
of the argument, that whatever mistakes may be 
found resulted purely from ignorance, the com 
mon people may still be allowed to ask how a mas 
who did not know enough law to run the office of 
clerk without being in constant danger of prose- 
cution, could be expected to confer any great 
honor on the bench. If he knew no more law 
than his confession would prove, what weight 
should be given his decisions when the rights of 
hundreds of men and immense property interests 
were involved? It has been well said that "the 
chief and enduring safeguard of our national in- 
stitutions is to be found in a learned and upright 
judiciary," and so long as our judges merit that 
description they will meet with universal respect 
and obedience. Every taint upon the ermine, 
however, tends to destroy the reverence that 
should surround the office of judge, and is a pub- 
lic calamity to be greatly deplored 


COMMENT 


The report of the strike commission is a docu- 
ment that ought to be in the hands of every per 
son in the United States who is in any way inter- 
ested in the labor question. And who is not? 
Never before has a government commission 
completely recognized the fallacy of ap- 
plying the standard, laissez fairt, economic doc- 
trine to present industrial conditions, nor fully 
admitted the complete break-down of the theory 
of competition through the perversion of the laws 
of supply and demand by the employers of labor. 
In this respect, the report of the strike commis- 
sion is unique, and we may hope that it marks a 
new era in the treatment of industrial matters in 


the United States Putting on one side all refer 
ence t:> the Pullman matter, the most suggestive 
fact brought out by the comnission, and the one 
that most vitally concerns the welfare of raffway 
employes, is that among the twenty-four roads 
represented by the General Managers' Association, 
operating nearly forty -one thousand miles of 
track, capitalized for more than two billion dol- 
lars, and having more than two hundred thousand 
employes, competition in all matters affecting 
labor and wages has practically ceased. "They 
have ceased competing with each other; they are 
no longer twenty -four separate and competing 
employers; they are virtually one." This sabsti- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


tutioo of combination for competition in matters 
affecting labor, is by no means confined to the 
twenty ‘four roads represented by the association, 
but is constantly advancing so as to cover the 
whole field of railway labor supply. The report 
notes that 'the action of the association has great 
weight with outside lines, and thus tends to estab- 
lish one uniform scale throughout the country," 
and remarks: "That the farther single step of ad- 
mitting lines not running into Chicago to mem- 
bership would certainly have the effect of com- 
bining all railroads in wage contentions against 
all employes thereon.” The law of competition 
as it is constantly being applied to workingmen, 
does not contemplate any such condition as this, 
and glittering generalities about the benefits of 
competition serve no purpose whatever, save to 
discredit competition, while the condition exists. 
The laws of supply and demand can work natu- 
rally only when there is * 'competition for labor 
between those who 'demand' it as well as among 
those who supply it,” and the report points out 
that, "While competition among railroad employ- 
ers of labor is gradually disappearing, competi- 
tion among those who supply labor goes on with 
increasing severity ” It is this perversion of 
economic laws, sound in themselves, that hah 
turned the doctrine of laissez fa ire into a howl- 
ing farce, and made the word "individualism,” a 
stench in the nostrils of honest men. The report 
speaks of "stimulating legislative conditions” in 
connection with those combinations of capital; 
are railway employes prepared to combat those 
combinations that are slowly but surely depriving 
them of all vestiges of independent manhood by 
securing "stimulating legislative conditions” for 
themselves? "In view of this progressive perver- 
sion of the laws of supply and demand by capital 
and changed conditions,” says the report, "no 
man can well deny the right nor dispute the wis- 
dom of unity for legislative and protective pur- 
poses among those who supply labor.” It were 
certainly folly to deny that there is both right and 
wisdom on the side of any movement for the 
unity of railway labor to combat these conditions; 
the assertion of such right and wisdom is super- 
fluous; but of what avail is it that right and wis- 
dom point the way? What benefit is it to concede 
ibis much *to railway employes when they refuse 
to recognize the trend of industrial evolution, as 
it has been pointed out by social reformers for 
years past? Even now we hear leaders speak of 
the interests of employes and employers as being 
identical . It should be understood that as long 
as the theory of competition holds sway, and in 
so far as it is attempted to be applied to these di- 
vergent conditions, the interests of railway em- 


649 

ployes and their employers are not identical. 
The sooner that fact is recognized and acted 
upon, the better it will be for railway employes. 

# * * 

As long as labor is treated as a commodity 
there can be no such thing as identity of interests 
between employers and employes. No amount of 
word jugglery can alter the facts. It is the inter- 
est of buyers to buy cheap; of sellers to sell dear. 
There is no process by which these divergent in- 
terests may be brought together on the same 
plane in a mere matter of purchase and sale. 
Patting aside the fact that capital is an inert 
thing, incapable of having "interests” of any 
kind, the assertion of identity of interests between 
capital and labor is true. But the struggle of la- 
boring men for their rights is not with capital. 
When will workingmen come to understand their 
true position and act upon the facts? It is with 
capitalists who absolutely control the capital 
which is necessary for the workingmen’s exis- 
tence; it is with such associations of capitalists as 
are pilloried by the report of the strike commis- 
sion. It is the progressive extension of these as- 
sociations of capitalists , under ' stimulating legis- 
lative conditions,” that forms the great danger to 
the natural rights and the independence of work- 
ingmen. The strike report well says of the Gen- 
eral Managers' Association: "An extension of this 
association, as above suggested (admitting lines 
not running into Chicago), and the proposed 
legalization of ‘pooling,’ would result in an aggre- 
gation of power and capital dangerous to the peo- 
ple and their liberties, as well as to employes and 
their rights. The question would then certainly 
arise as to which shall control, the government or 
the railroads, and the end would inevitably be 
government ownership. Unless ready for that re- 
sult and all that it implies, the government must 
restrain corporations within the law and prevent 
them from forming unlawful and dangerous com- 
binations. At least, as long as railroads are thus 
permitted to combine to fix wages and for their 
joint protection, it would be rank injustice to 
deny the right of all labor upon railroads to unite 
for a similar purpose.” 

There are certain constitutional political privi- 
leges which workingmen in this country enjoy 
that may be used so as to ward off the danger 
here outlined. When will they be used? There 
is one point that should engage the attention of 
workingmen right speedily. When the time 
comes, as come it must, that government owner- 
ship of the railroads is forced upon the people of 
this country as a measure of self defence, it will 
be of the most vital importance that the peopl 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


650 

shall then be in a condition where they may cer- 
tainly control the government . Government 
ownership of the railroads without control of the 
government by the people, would be jumping out 
of the frying-pan into the fire. This needs to be 
thoroughly understood 

* * * 

As a matter of fact, it is idle to talk of any re- 
form of consequence to the economic side of the 
industrial question without first bringing about 
vast changes in the political structure of our gov- 
ernment The political and economic issues bear- 
ing upon the condition of the people, are so inex- 
tricably bound up with each other that effective 
economic reform cannot be brought about with- 
out political reforms of the most radical charac 
ter To entrust the administration of economic 
measures of the character demanded by our 
changed conditions, to the present miscalled rep- 
resentative government of ours, would be ex- 
tremely absurd; it would be merely to deliver the 
people over, bound hand and foot, to a different 
set of masters; they would receive no berefit. 
The political boss is but the agent of the corpora- 
tion boss; he must disappear before the corpora- 
tion boss can be sheared of his power to oppress. 
To talk of this government restraining corpora- 
tions within the law, is arrant nonsense; there 
must first be such a reorganization of our politi- 
cal system as will insure the fact that when the 
people’s representatives enact a law, that it is a 
law. In other words, the people's laws must not 
be juggled with, must not be subject to interpre- 
tation and repeal by an irresponsible judiciary, 
but must stand as law until repealed by the au- 
thority that enacted them Secondly, and this is 
of the highest importance, there must bd such a 
rearrangement of our electoral system as will en- 
able the people to elect representatives who rep- 
resent. We are rapidly approaching a crisis in 
this country, and it needs to be intelligently dealt 
with; it needs to be dealt with without reference 


to any antiquated theories of politics or eco- 
nomics, but in the full light of the facts and con- 
ditions that actually exist To go on as we are 
means the d-atb of liberty Old traditions must 
be thrown aside and an advance made toward ab 
solute freedom, or we shall surely sink into a des 
potism the most galling. There is a world of 
truth in this sentence from the strike report “We 
need to fear everything revolutionary and wrong 
but we need fear nothing that any nation can sue 
cess fully attempt in directions made necessary dv 
changed economic or industrial conditions . ” 

# * # 

The recommendation of the commission That 
there be a permanent United States strike com- 
mission of three members, with duties and 
powers of investigation and recommendation as to 
disputes between railroads and their employes 
similar to those vested in the inter-state commerce 
commission as to rates.” etc., is sensible, and 
ought to be acted* upon. Such a commission 
might do a world of good in bringing to light the 
actual conditions surrounding workingmen, and 
in educating the people up to a proper under- 
standing of the limitations of their government 
thus preparing them to intelligently enter upon 
the changes that are inevitable in the near fu- 
ture. Th3 recommendation to the states to estab- 
lish arbitration tribunals is useless. The states 
are powerless to properly deal with vast general 
industrial interests, and such tribunals as they 
might set up would only conflict with the neces- 
sary federal authority, to the latter's detriment 
The recommendation to employers, too. to volun 
tarily raise wages when economic conditions will 
permit, and to otherwise deal justly by employes, 
is rather more sentimental than practical, and is 
not likely to be much heeded. But, entirely 
apart from any conclusions reached by the com 
missioners, this report is an epoch-making doco 
ment. It marks the beginning of intelligent treat 
ment of labor interests in the United States. 


BORROWED OPINION. 


The recem train robberies have revived the 
question whether such offenses should not, by 
proper legislation, be made crimes against the 
United States. The opinion is growing that this 
should be done. It is manifest that this much- 
needed legislation would have a potent tendency 
in decreasing the number of such crimes. State 
lines and county lines should not act as barriers 
in the pursuit of train bandits. The United 
States authorities should have full power to pur- 
sue and capture these gentry. — Cincinnati Post. 

Several times we have commented on the fact 
that railroad companies who incited their men to 


fight for the possession of crossings, or to prevent 
crossings being laid, were setting an example of 
lawlessne«s and anarchy, and should* be dealt 
with accordingly. Something of this kind was 
done not long ago in Massachusetts, where some 
employes of the Old Colony road were sentenced 
to jail for being implicated in the Abtngton riots 
in August, 1893. They had tried to prevent an 
electric road from making a crossing. There are 
worktngmen. railroad officials, college students, 
and others who seem to need to be taught that 
laws must be enforced and good order preserved, 
and that to make exceptions to this is dangerous, 
and in the end disastrous — American Machinist 


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WlLXBSBARRB, Pa. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Since my term as correspondent for Division 
No. 20 will soon expire, I will write one letter to 
let yon know that we are still in existence. I see 
Brother Finley makes mention of ns in his letters 
to Thb Conductor for September and October. 
We regretted exceedingly that there were no 
more of ns in attendance when Brother and Sister 
Wallace buried their son, bnt the death was 
known to only three of onr number, and they 
lived in the immediate neighborhood. Otherwise 
onr foil membership would have been present. 

Brother Finley also speaks of our Division hav- 
ing had a falling off in membership. When we 
were organized we had sixteen, and now we have 
nineteen members. It is true that we have not 
gained very largely, but if we had the hearty co- 
operation of the members of Division No. 160, as 
we have a right to expect, there is no reason why 
we should not have a large Division in this city. 
The Brothers seem to be afraid to let their wives 
join the Auxiliary; at least, they act in that way. 
We have a social planned, to which a cordial in* 
vitation will be extended all the conductors and 
their wives, and we hope in this way to arouse 
something of interest in the Order. 

The new by-laws are now in force, and we have 
a beneficial fund from which we pay $1.50 per 
week as a sick benefit, and this should increase 
oar membership. Our meetings are held at 2:30 
p. m., on the first and third Wednesdays of each 
month, and a cordial welcome will be extended 
any visiting Sister. One of our grand officers has 
been residing in this city ever since her election 
at Toledo, and she has yet to make her first visit 
to our Division. 

Please allow me to thank the Sisters of Springer 
Division for their many kindnesses to me during 
a recent illness, also for the beautiful flowers 
they sent. I never before fully appreciated all 
that flowers meant to the sick, and could not bear 
to let those go out of my sight. Hoping that you 


may hear oftener from my successor, and with 
best wishes for all, I remain 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. J. H. Krithlinb. 


St. Albans, Vt. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Vermont Division has not been idle during 
these weeks that have passed since my last report. 
Our last venture by way of adding to our treasury 
was in the giving of a series of dances, which 
proved a success beyond our most sanguine expec- 
tation. The music which we secured for the oc- 
casion was of the best, Parker's orchestra drawing 
out a nice company, while the interest was fur- 
thermore enhanced by the awarding of prizes, 
which consisted of a pretty mounted easel and 
handsome oak foot-rest presented to the gentle- 
man and lady who proved themselves to be the 
best waltzers. A handsome bamboo rocker, up- 
holstered in blue velvet, drew the attention of all. 
The tickets thus sold netted us a nice little sum, 
while the refreshments which were served, not 
many cared to refuse. All in all, it proved a 
grand success, and many were the requests to re- 
peat our series, or, at least, give them one more 
dance. 

We workers found it hard work, but felt well 
repaid, knowing that the means thus gained will 
help us to further the good work so well begun. 
We have at the present time over one handred 
dollars in our treasury, and as we have been or- 
ganized only since last June, we feel much satisfac- 
tion in the result of our efforts. Some of this will 
be used to purchase dishes, a cupboard, tables, and 
other necessary articles for the use of the Divi- 
sion. Our entertainments promote sociability, 
drawing the ties of friendship and good will more 
closely, adding new links to the chain already 
formed. Influences for good have led others to 
look upon our Order not with a critical eye and 
disinterested air. but regarding it most favorably, 
as something real and tangible, fraught with good 


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6s 2 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

will and earnestness of effort whose influence will Jackson, Tbnn. 


tell for good. And looking onward, far out in the 
years, like Edward Bellamy peering into the fu- 
ture, we predict for our Division not oblivion, 
but in benefits realized, in final effort, in deeds of 
love and, mercy broadcast over this fair land of 
ours, an “in memoriam," long after the will to 
do and bands to < xecute have ceased to exist. 

We have just given a banquet to assist Division 
No. 24 in entertaining and in honor of visiting 
Assistant Grand Chief Conductor Charles H. Wil- 
kins. After the business meeting was over, which 
was a prolonged and, no doubt, very interesting 
session, the banquet room was eagerly sought, 
where the tables were spread with a most bounti- 
ful repast. After the inner man was satisfied, and 
I notice that is a call that is usually well re- 
sponded to, next in order Assistant Grand Chief 
Wilkins gave us some knowledge of the Order at 
large, which numbered, he said, about 370 Divi- 
sions and 23,000 members, and extended through- 
out the United States, Canada and Mexico. Rec- 
ognized as co workers in the Order, the Ladies’ 
Auxiliary then had the pleasure of personally 
meeting Mr. Wilkins. J. W. Hurly responded 
for Division No. 24, F. W. Flint for the Ladies' 
Auxiliary, who, we remember, gave us much en- 
couragement at the time of organization. J. W. 
Sturtevant predicted a bright future for the Divi- 
sion, more especially on account of the assistance 
rendered it by the Ladies' Auxiliary. From the 
helps given us by Mr. Sturtevant we can but feel 
that he is sincere in this, aside from the fact that 
his sympathy would naturally tend in that direc- 
tion, his wife being our president. To her much 
credit is due for the constant attendance, energy 
and push which with the united efforts of the 
other members have made the Auxiliary so suc- 
cessful. Any organization must have a good 
leader in order to insure success. We hope we 
may always be as fortunate. Brothers White. 
Jackson, Peck and others would have had a word 
for us, no doubt, had there been time for further 
remarks, as they have already been of great help 
to us in our Auxiliary. Others have, no doubt, 
djoesimuch indirectly, though they have not 
been able to be with us. E. H. Jackson as toast- 
master on this occasion introduced a quartette, 
which was a most pleasing feature to all lovers of 
good music. One other speaker on this occasion 
deserves special mention, viz.: Mr. Frank L. 
Greene, associated editor of The St Albans Mes- 
senger. He spoke in high praise of the efficient 
Railway Conductor, but I have not space to 
mention more, as I fear this letter has been al- 
ready too lengthy. With greetings, 

Yours in T. F. , 

Mrs. G. H. Peck. 


Editor Railway Conductor: 

With much pleasure I again write in behalf of 
Ideal Division No. 39. Our long hot summer is 
ended, and we are gathering our forces for active 
work in the approaching winter. Not that we 
have any special reasons to complain of lack of 
interest, but so many of our members were away, 
and those who were not so fortunate as to get 
away, had many other duties. Our Division now 
numbers forty members, with one candidate for 
initiation. At our next meeting the election of 
officers for the ensuing year will occur, and we 
earnestly hope those who may be elected will 
make a record of faithfulness equal to the present 
incumbents. 

We have not missed a meeting during the year, 
and always the officers were in place; this in- 
creases the interest of our meetings, as well as giv- 
ing to the business dignity and importance. In 
October we had The Milkmaid Convention, 
which resulted in a handsome sum for our treas- 
ury. The entertainment was held two nights, and 
everyone enjoyed the experiences of the milk- 
maids. Some of their trials were unique and Irre- 
sistibly funny. 

Last winter we conferred the “Ob! Why?" de- 
gree on all the conductors but two or more. and. 
as a result, one of the members, Mr. Charles 
Shearrin, was married to a charming bride, who is 
so much pleased with her husband she will join 
our Order. We commend the “Oh! Why?" de- 
gree to all our unmarried members. 

In the way of benevolence we will comfortably 
clothe a number of poor children who go to the 
public schools, and we make a monthly donation 
to the home for aged and disabled railroad men in 
Chicago. 

We have cared for our sick and visited the 
stranger coming to our city. We have no break 
in our ranks by death, and but two of our mem- 
bers have been injured, and they are now recov- 
ered. More and more we are coming to see the 
value of our Division, morally, socially and finan- 
cially, and we should give our best work to pro- 
mote every interest and make our Order in fact 
what it is in ideal. Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. W. J. Murphy 


Frankfort, Ind. 

Editor Railway Cotiductor : 

I am well aware that in my duties as corre- 
spondent I have been sadly remiss, as many 
months have passed by since writing anything 
concerning our little Division here, but the trou- 
blous times of the past few months have had a 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


very depressing effect upon us and our small band 
of workers. Some of our members were out of 
town ihrongb the summer time, and we were un- 
able to hold meetings with any degree of satisfac- 
tion. At last, when the time came when we could 
all meet together again, we were almost ready to 
dissolve and declare the Auxiliary a failure in 
this place. But when our Sister President re- 
turned from her summer outing, her determined 
spirit and cheering words of encouragement gave 
ns a new impetus to struggle on for higher 
achievements, relying upon the words, "Not in 
numbers but in strength are battles won.” 

Sister Partridge has removed to Bloomington, 
111., her future home. She has been our Senior 
Sister ever since this Division was organized, and 
her removal was a serious loss to us. Sister Gil- 
pen has returned to dwell among us. Thus, while 
we do not gain in membership, we do not lose. 
This Division in all probability will never be 
much larger, but that it has been one of lasting 
benefit and much pleasure, I, at least, am able to 
testify. 

Can anyone tell us aught of Logansport Di- 
vision? ^They are very near us, and we would be 
happy to hear from them through the columns of 
the ever-welcome Conductor. 

With cordial greetings to all sister Divisions, I 
remain, Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. Wm. Businger. 


A Young Wife’s Soliloquy. 

"Let me see,” said sweet Luella, " *tis just two 
years ago this coming Halloween, that George and 
I have shared the same home. How well I re- 
member how all the young girls in our town en- 
vied me, and even the staid old mothers wished I 
had not had such good fortune, and each wished, 
in her inmost heart, that her Ann, or Marie, or 
Lucy, were placed in my stead. However, mine 
was the good fortune to win George. 'Tis true 
my face wore its sweetest smiles when in his 
presence; 'tis also true that our home, humble 
though it was, always seemed more ho me -like 
and much tidier, when George was expected, than 
at other times. Well, I must admit that I never 
did like work, anyway, and mother was always 
tired, and had nearly all the work to superintend 
and the children to oversee. Ma was one of the 
best of mothers, I will say; she was always good, 
^nd, indulgent to me. Often has she said to me, 
after I had been at school all day and practiced 
an hour on my return: 'Now, Luella, you may 
do the tea things and tidy up the kitchen for 
morning, if you will.' I would look up with a 
frown, and she would immediately say, in a kind 
mid gentle tone: 'Oh, well, never mind, dear, if 


653 

you are too tired you may go into the parlor and 
rest, if you wish.' The fact was this: I expected 
Gsorge that evening and wished to straighten up 
the rooms a little, and get things in readiness to 
entertain him in a propsr way. I also wished to 
dress my hair in the most becoming manner and 
appear in his presence at my best, for I must ad- 
mit that, though George had long since declared 
his love for me (I have the letter yet he wrote to 
father asking my hand; it shows him to be all 
that is good and coble, and is full of love, deep 
and true, for me), yet, in my heart. I had fears 
that before we were saiely married, some of the 
girls, his old admirers, might yet win him away 
from me. So I left ma in the kitchen and do 
you wonder that, with the baby at her heels and 
other domestic duties, the kitchen was left in 
rather a disordered state? I believe that was one 
of ma's failings, anyway, b3cause I overheard 
Ella Lee's mother say, at one time, that 'Mrs. 
Richards was a sort of housekeeper that always 
had the parlor and front part of the house in ap- 
ple-pie order, in case anyone would drop in, but 
her kitchen was in a most unpresentable condi- 
tion all the time.' She would often say: 'Please 
don't look at my kitchen; I was just going to tidy 
it up.' It fact it was never neat and clean. 

"Well, to my story. I always look forward to 
George's return at night from work. George is 
in business for himself now and doing well; of 
course he has to work very hard, but he is a 
hustler, as all his friends say, and I think it is 
about right, for he is always on the alert to see 
wherein he can make his business prosper. He 
always has a kiss of welcome for me, or at least I 
do for him — I think all young wives should be 
kind and loving to their husbands — and then we 
sit on the porch and chat a little while, till all of 
a sudden I say, 'Ob, George, take the baby (our 
sweet little Ruth, who is one year old to-day), till 
I run in and see about the supper.’ Needless to 
say, I was away too long, and the potatoes 
scorched in the kettle and were consequently 
spoiled, and the meat burned to a crisp. Do I 
hear you say, 'What a tempting repast for a tired 
husband?' Well, I don't care, I never did like 
work, anyway. George comes in, sits down, and 
tries to swallow, as best he can, what is set before 
him. I notice that he looks absently across the 
table, and apparently seems dreaming somehow. 
I imagine George doesn't love me as he did when 
we were first made one, and I can't understand it. 

' 'Many a time, when George has been at work 
at his books the night previous, have we over- 
slept, and he rushes off to the store without his 
breakfast; but I can’t help it, I won’t build the 
fire, and that is all there is about it. I know he 


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654 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


has everything in readiness, but that makes no 
difference, I think a woman is a fool to do such 
work. 

"Mrs. Jones, my neighbor, is ruining her hus- 
band. Just think; she slips up quietly in the 
morning, gets a nice and tasty breakfast, and calls 
him up just in time to dress comfortably, eat his 
breakfast leisurely, and get the car, without rush- 
ing himself to death. No wonder Jones wears 
soch a smile, seated at the table opposite his wife. 

I can't see what that man saw in that woman; 
she is homely as a hedge fence. 

“George forgot my good-bye kiss this morning 
—he will wait for his sapper to-night; he will see 
that I am not to be trifled with. 

“I wonder why he likes to go to lodge so often 
and leave me here alone. I can't bear to stay 
alone, and I won't — so there. 

“Jones never goes out unless his wife goes too. 

I wonder if 1 am too careless about my house and 
my meals. 

“Oh, here comes old Aunt Hetty. She lived 
with her husband over fifty years. I will ask her 
and tell her all about it. 

•‘Dear Aunt Hetty 1 How sweet she looks with 
that angelic smile on her face! She is one of 
God's own loved ones. She casts a ray of sun- 
light wherever she goes. There is comfort, and 
gladness, and sweet cheer in her very voice, 

“She takes off her glasses and wipes a moist- 
ened tear from her dimmed eyes, and says: 

“ 'Yes, Luella, I was young and careless at one 
time, just as you are, and, oh, my dear child, ere 
yon drift farther apart, let me warn you, to think 
well before you do anything you may regret 
deeply in after years. Your husband is good, 
true and noble, and it lies in your absolute power 
to have him remain so, and still grow, each day, 
more devoted to you In the first place, dear, 
chase that ugly frown from your brow, dress a 
little more neatly, look a little tidier, and take 
more pains with your little one. Wnat man, 
however loving he may be, can fondle and caress 
a babe whose very presence can but be disgusting? 
You have all the comforts of a home in your 
house. No young couple began life under more 
favorable circumstances. But, see! I can write 
my name on both your piano and sideboard. Is 
this right? Are you£doing yourself justice to go 
on at this rate? My£dear child, let story books 
and fiction alone and take more time in studying 
how to make your home more pleasant. And 
lastly, but not leastly, keep your kitchen in ex- 
treme neatness; be careful to have your meals 
always ready and the viands temptingly cooked; 
have some little surprise each day on your hus- 
band’s return, and let him see that his interests 


are your interests, and I dare say all will be well . 
If you do as I say, he will do nothing but what 
you can readily sanction, and, where discord 
reigned supreme, peace and harmony will at once 
dwell together.’ 

“Dear friends, I can thank Aunt Hetty for her 
timely advice, and shall heartily accept it, and 
hope all my young friends will do likewise." 

Fantasma. 


Elkhart, Ind. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

It may be that some of the Sister Divisions are 
saying: “What has become of Andrews Division 
No. 42?" As our correspondent has been unable 
to attend our meetings this summer on account of 
sickness, I will take the liberty of writing a few 
lines in answer to this question. We have been a 
little slack about holding our meetings regularly 
this summer, but will try to make up for lost 
time. We have but twenty-one members at pres- 
ent, and one to initiate at our next regular meet- 
ing day. 

Sister Moore, our Grand President, ups with 
us Nov. 9, which was a very stormy day, but 
there were eight of the Sisters who faced the 
storm, and I am sorry there were not more to 
hear the good advice and encouraging words she 
gave us. 

We have our teas once a month. The last one 
Sister Wells gave, and it was on their fifteenth 
anniversary. Quite a number of the Brothers 
were there, and it netted a nice little sum for our 
treasury. On the 22nd of November we gave a 
supper for the benefit of the Y. M. C. A., which 
amounted to a little over $21.00. We are now 
selling chances on a chair at ten cents a ticket, 
which, I hope, will swell our treasury for future 
use. We thank the ladies of Banner Division for 
their patronage at our Y. M. C. A. supper. With 
kindest and best wishes to all L. A. to O. R. C . 1 
remain Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. M. W. 


Denison, Texas. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

As the members of Turner Division No. *8 
are asking so many questions as to the fate of 
their correspondent, I want to say in her behalf 
that she is very much alive and able to write one 
more letter anyhow before election day rolls 
around. I hope the future correspondent will 
write better letters and oftener than the present 
one has done. 

Well, our Division has been increasing gradti 
ally in numbers in the last few months, but not 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 655 


doing the work that we hope to do in the future. 

Oar members gave an “experience party" at 
the residence of Sister Littlefield not long ago, 
which was quite a success, socially anyhow. Sis- 
ters Hastings and Williams wrote their experi- 
ences in poetry, which were very good. Ye scribe 
tried to gain possession of them for publication in 
The Conductor, but the writtrs were too bash- 
ful, and hid them where they couldn't be found. 
Sister Tygard “experienced" $1.25 by raffling off 
a glass box at 5c. a ticket. Other Sisters earned 
their experience money by keeping boarders, cut- 
ting hair, patching clothes, selling eggs, and other 
things too numerous to mention. The experience 
party made quite an addition to our treasury, so, 
by the time the convention rolls around Turner 
Division will be well represented by a real live 
delegate. With the interest of our Order at 
heart, and willing to do all in her power to make 
our Division numbered with the best in the land, 
Yours in T. F. , 

Turner Div. No 28. 


Augusta, Ga. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Perhaps you have expected to hear from us, 
the “Magnolia Division," before this time, par- 
ticularly as Sister Dustan made so mkny happy 
allusions to us in her beautiful letter which ap- 
peared in your September number. 

“The Magnolia" is certainly proud of her 
“Foster Mother," and sincerely trusts that her 
most sanguine hopes concerning us may be real- 
ized. If she were to visit us now, we would sup- 
plement the "effusions of roses," so appreciatingly 
mentioned, with the varied and gorgeous-hue d 
chrisanthemums, with which our fair land 
has so becomingly bedecked herself. 

We would also let her see how well we are offi- 
cered, and how easily each one has dropped into 
her new duties, from our queenly president down 
to the laughing-eyed, fun-loving inside guard. 
We are all learning to love each other, and, you 
know, that is the key-note to every good enter- 
prise. 

Quite a number of our members reside in Har- 
lem, a suburban town, and were subject to extra 
expense in attending the meetings. The general 
manager was made aware of the situation and 
removed the trouble, by granting free transporta- 
tion to those Sisters. 

We learn that Atlanta has already begun active 
preparation preparatory to the great O. R. C. 
■convention of May next. Success attend them. 
We are not forgetting the golden motto, * in 
honor preferring one another," nevertheless we 
are cherishing the hope that “ our time" will 


come some day, and that we will be as fully 
equal to the occasion. 

We are having a suspicion of {“orange blos- 
soms" and a hint of no very distant chime of 
“wedding bells," and “Madame Rumor" has* 
softly whispered in our ears that some of our 
young, handsome conductors will shortly take 
unto themselves “lovely brides. "□ Of course, we 
are interested ; that is human nature. Perhaps 
the interest is a little selfish, however, from the 
fact we are hoping to have those "young brides" 
as new members. 

As the year is waning we wish you, Con- 
ductor, a most happy Christmas and a prosper- 
perous New Year. 

As we wish to occupy ajwarm place in the great 
heart of this institution, weo trust that you will 
hear from us frequently. 

Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. ]. W. Bell. 


Collin wood, Ohio. 
Editor Railway Conductor : 

As the year is drawing to a close, I thought 
perhaps a few words from Aura Division would 
convince you that we are not all napping, bat 
have been trying to push onward, and hope oar 
efforts have not all been in vain. 


We have not added to our membership, as we 
hoped to do. Although the conductors have 
quite a large Division here, we have not yet suc- 
ceeded in getting their wives to join us. Several 
of them have small children, and feel that they 
cannot attend iegularly, therefore do not care to 
join. 

We have given several socials, a lawn fete, and 
celebrated our second anniversary, all of which 
were pleasant gatherings, but ‘as yet we have 
failed to have many Garfield Division Brothers 
to meet with us. 

Since writing to you last, I have passed through 
a long and severe sickness, and wish to say, that 
each month as The Conductor came to oar 
home, I scanned each page with much interest, 
often reading and rereading the letters from Sis- 
ters and Brothers, many of whom lived hun- 
dreds and thousands of miles away. I could not 
help but think how little those Sisters and Broth- 
ers thought when writing those few lines for The 
Conductor, that they were helping to brighten 
the lonely hours for a sick Sister, whom they had 
never seen; but such is our motto, "Charity and 
True Friendship," and does not that mean a 
helping hand and a cheering word ? Aura Divis- 
ion was not to be found wanting, and many a 
cheering word and loving token found its way Uf 


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656 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


my sick room, and I am tinly thankful for them 
all. 

As it is the time of the year for Thanksgiving 
offerings, I will mention a few, which we, as an 
# Order, are thankful for: 

That our Division is as flourishing as it is; 

That we have a president that serves us so 
faithfully — she having been absent but two meet- 
ings in two years; 

That we can begin the new year with a surplus 
in our treasury; 

That some of our worthy Brothers enjoyed 
themselves so well riding bicycles last summer; 

That although several of our Sisters have been 
nick during the past year, all are yet spared 
to us; 

That Brother Moulton is such a good escort 
from the sccials, (if they go his way); 

That our husbands have found out that their 
wives can keep a secret ; 

And I guess all who read this will he thankful 
that next meeting is election of officers. 
v Yours in T. F., 

Mrs. T. E. Barnett. 


Logansport, Ind. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

As nothing has appeared in The Conductor 
from Bridge City Division, No. 42, since our or- 
ganization, I have decided to assume the role of 
correspondent, to let our distant Sisters hear 
from us, on this our first anniversary. We cele- 
brated the event at the pleasant home of our 
president, Mrs. F. C. Murphy, by a social enter- 
tainment, at which the members of the O. R. C. 
and their families were delightfully entertained 
by Brother and Sister Murphy. It proved to be 
one of the most enjoyable occasions of the sea- 
son, and one long to be remembered by everyone 
who was there. The first part of the evening 
was spent at progressive pedro and vocal and in- 
strumental music, after which elaborate refresh- 
ments were served. The honors were bestowed 
upon Miss Lilly Bacon and Mrs. Jos. Kenney. 

On September 27, 1893, our Grand President, 
Mrs. J. H. Moore, instituted our Division in the 
B. of L. E. hall, with eighteen charter members. 
The following officers were installed : President, 
Mrs. F. C. Murphy; Vice-President, Mrs. Wm. 
Parks; Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs, J. W. 
Hamilton; Senior Sister, Mrs. I. T. Bacon; 
Junior Sister, Mrs J. W. Fairman; Guard, Mrs. 
H. S. Coats. We now have twenty-five mem- 
bers, all of whom seem very much interested 
and ever ready to assist in whatever they are 
called upon to do. I am sure we have bad as 
f;ood and as well qualified officers as could have 


been selected, and they deserve great praise for 
the good work they have achieved. To our 
president too much praise cannot be given, for 
the efficient manner in which she has discharged 
her duties. Upon her official management and 
excellent judgment rest the success and welfare 
of this Division, for in an organization there are 
many phases of character to contend with, and 
unless there is a firm hand to direct affairs, pros- 
perity is impossible. 

We are holding socials alphabetically at our 
homes, which enables us to meet our Sisters* hus- 
bands and to become better acquainted. They 
tend to draw us nearer together and create with- 
in our hearts a feeling that our interests are the 
same. 

We meet the first and third Wednesday of each 
month, in the Progress Hall, at 2:30, and should 
any of our Sisters be visiting in our city they 
will find "the latch string is always out," and can 
be assured that a cordial welcome awaits them 
within. I shall not venture to give you a history 
of the doings of our Division, for I fear it would 
occupy too much space. 

Hoping this will be a prosperous year for us 
all, I remain 

Yours in T. F., 

" Sister ” 


Detroit, Mich, 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

Detroit Division No. 44. although silent, is not 
slumbering, but, like the busy bee, is improving 
each shining hour. We have taken in several 
new members of late and will enter the contest 
for the "Dustan Medal" next year if we can. 

Having read in the September number of Mrs. 
A. E. F.'s trouble, we extend to her our deepest 
sympathy. It was a sad lesson, but it should 
prove to be a valuable one to those who were 
obliged to go through with it. We can but 
think of the homes left desolate, the little ones 
hungry and cold, and the wives fretting for their 
noble breadwinners, who may now be roaming 
this continent over in search of the work they 
cannot get, and all because of a moment's foolish 
and impulsive action. Some went so far as to go 
back and plead for their old places, and a few 
were fortunate enough to get them, though many 
were given but a cold reception. If these Broth- 
ers had been true to their Order and to their ob- 
ligation, all this "might not have been." The 
man who would seek to tear down what it has 
taken twenty or twenty-five years of earnest and 
constant effort to build up, is, in my estimation, 
fit for anything rather than leadership. 
Right here in our Wolverine State a great 
many of the Brothers went out, and to 
most of them it has been a bitter lesson. In 
future, dear Brothers, think twice before you 
leap, especially when you have no real cause. 
Never forsake the noble Order, which will alwajv 
care for you in trouble and distress. 

With the sincerest wishes for the continued 
prosperity of all the O. R C. and L. A., 1 am. 
Yours iu T, Fm 

Mrs. J. E. Tremsla\ 


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Seymour, Ind. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

Another year is drawing to a close. One of 
profit to many, and one of reverses to others. 
Some have ascended several rounds higher on the 
ladder of fame, while some have not gracefully 
descended, but have fallen from the topmost 
point with a “kerplunk" like a bear. Just as regu- 
larly as the world revolves on its axis, these 
changes are occurring in railroad circles. To-day 
you may be up in the railroad world; to-morrow, 
those who were wont to be your boon friends do 
not know you. To those who see, hear, read and 
think, daily lessons are being taught. Some profit 
by them, and others do not. Regarding the 
Order, presumably the leading one of all organi- 
zitions, it is in good shape for the new year. 
Some few Divisions, perhaps, are running closely, 
but the majority are in good financial standing, a 
thing, of itself, that should encourage all to. do 
their best and help the cause along by their regu- 
lar attendance at their meetings One marked 
improvement among others in the last Conduc- 
tor, was the increased number of letters from the 
various Divisions. The editorials are always in- 
structive and to the point, but much other matter 
of no importance to railroad men could be omit- 
ted if the members of the Order would see that 
their Divisions were regularly represented each 
month. This is just what The Conductor is for. 
Before another copy will be read many elections 
will have taken place, and the selection for good 
or bad made, and here is where many mistakes 
are made, by not electing the best qualified, re- 
gardless of rank, station, or position in life. Just 
as strict discipline and the same regard of parlia- 
mentary rules should be iu effect at each meeting 
as in any convention. Business is business, and 
should be attended to. 

Speaking ill of no organization, we know that 
the policy as adopted and carried out by our 
Grand Chief Conductor in trying times, has been 
good, and he is loyal in every sense and wide 
awake to the interests of the Conductors. The 
Order is not a striking one except in rare cases, 


and 'tis well There is one lone individual who 
speaks for himself now in this matter, and his 
idea is that strikes are to be discouraged in every 
particular. There never was a strike won by 
railroad men without many, very many sacrifices 
made on the part of some of the employes, and 
usually the lot fell to those least able to stand it. 
IVe speak from experience . Oftentimes a false 
sense of loyalty will prompt m?n, in the absence 
of cooler heads, to engage in a strike, and while 
the fever heat is on, excitement up, etc., every- 
thing is flying. But when you search the country 
over after your job is lost, when you are willing 
to accept even of a menial position, something 
like that of a $9.00 a week job as reporter on a 
Seymour paper, and you find that “you couldn’t 
have struck them in a worse time," when your 
bills begin to run up on you, and you have to 
chew mail pouch in place of plug, when you have 
to buy the brand of smoking that sells for ten 
cents a package, and a cob pipe inside, 
in place of smoking a ch lice brand in a meer- 
schaum, you then begin to realize that you are on 
the wrong track. “The boys" to whom you have 
been loyal will — hardly ever — help you to a posi- 
tion, even if they could. It’s nice to be a hero — 
in print — but when it comes to the reality, how 
your title was earned, a glance at your bank ac- 
count and your last summer’s clothes, through 
which the winds of a chilly November day are 
singing "Home, Sweet Home," the glamour of 
the scene disappears, and you would be glad to 
get a job on local, even on the B. & O. S. W., 
where they never go in over eight hours late. 

Speaking of locals, they are good runs now out 
of Seymour. The Conductors tell me you leave 
Seymour at 7 a. ra., and get in — well, when they 
used to have old O. & M. times they would arrive 
at Storrs at 4 :30 p m., their card time. The run 
is 85 miles. Of course, now, with the B. & O. S. 
W.. they get in a little later , sometimes at 7:16 
and 8:27 p. m., but then, business has increased 
wonderfully, and the crews cheerfully give them 
the extra labor that makes the company extra 
earnings, just in order to help them out. The 
local men now are all selected from those who are 


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658 THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


robust and willing to work tbess extra boars for 
"something better" was the remark of "one who 
used to ran," bat this is all wrong. Engineers 
and firemen are getting paid for extra time on 
local, and the brakemen and Conductors will too, 
"so they say." A careful investigation has dis- 
closed the fact that the latter is a campaign lie 
calculated to injure Jason Brown. But then, as 
we are not allowed to discuss politics, etc., in 
open session, we will "apply tha air" and wake 
the conductor up. 

Yours in P. F., W. C. M. 


Jersey Shore, Pa. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Although you have not heard of us for some 
time through the columns of The Conductor, 
we are still alive. and "in it" to 
stay. Division' No. 168 is prospering, 
both spiritually and financially, and gaining 
in membership right along. We have nearly all 
the eligible material gathered into the fold, and 
system federation cannot come too soon. Our 
meetings are held on the first and third Sundays 
of each month in Torberts Hall, at 2:30 p. m., 
where we are always glad to welcome visiting 
Brothers. If any of you happen to be in our vi- 
cinity on meeting days, come and meet with us. 

We have a good attendance at meetings, and 
nothing is lacking except, perhaps, some new 
theme for discussion . Business is fairly good on 
the Beech Creek, crews on the rounds making 
four and five trips a week. 

It is with sincere regret that I chronicle the 
death of our late Brother, Jas. H. Reed, who was 
run over by his own train at Gorton, about 1 1 
o'clock the morning of the 7th inst., and died 
from his injuries at his home in Viaduct that 
same evening. Brother Reed was exceedingly 
popular wherever known, and had lots of friends 
on the road. A wife and three small children are 
left to mourn the loss of a kind husband and lov- 
ing father. Fraternally yours, 

G. D. Gray. 


Toledo, Ohio. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

Noticing a communication in the November 
Conductor from Chattanooga, relative to the 
Grand Division taking some action toward placing 
our insurance on an endowment basis, I would say 
that I, for one, agree with the writer that something 
should be done. I believe it would be for the 
betterment of the insurance department as well 
as of the insured. I think, however, that instead 
of the member drawing out, say at the end of ten 


years, a given amount, and being thereafter de- 
barred from any farther benefits, that the mem- 
ber who shall pay all assessments on his insur- 
ance, all protective assessments, and also shall 
have been a member of a Division of the Order, 
at the end of that time should be entitled to a 
certain percentage of the amount insured for. say 
one tenth, and that he should still retain his 
membership in the insurance department and 
pay his assessments as usual. But in the event 
of his decease later, that he should, or his benefi- 
ciary, rather, be entitled to the remaining nine- 
tenths of his policy; and. further, should he live 
and still continue to pay all assessments for five 
years longer, or at the end of fifteen years, that 
he should again draw one-tentb of the amount in- 
sured for, and so on. at intervals of five years, 
until his death, when his beneficiary would only 
receive the balance due. I would not reduce his 
assessments on that policy at any time; that is, he 
should pay just as much the last year as he did 
the first. We will take, for instance, a conductor 
carrying a $3,000 policy. At the expiration of ten 
years he receives $300, leaving due him in the 
event of his death $2,700. At the expiration of 
fifteen years he draws another tenth, leaving a 
balance of $2,400, and so on. But you will say: 
‘ 'Where does this money come from to pay all 
these claims?" I would simply say: "Make an 
assessment to cover it." Think of the amount of 
good this little one, two or three hundred dollars 
might do some well deserving Brother. That 
amount might put him on his feet and stem him 
over some dark days, and in reality do both him- 
self and family more good than the whole amount 
would in the event of his death. I also believe 
such a law would be the means of inducing all 
members to pay promptly and not allow their pol- 
icies to lapse. Hoping that all Brothers will give 
their views on this subject, I will watch each issue 
of The Conductor eagerly. 

I also noticed the article from Colorado Springs 
relative to permanent membership. Now I am 
not a permanent member, but I do think that all 
honor should be given to those conductors who 
laid the corner stone of our beloved Order, and 
that they be given all the courtesies and powers 
of any member of the Grand Division. I under- 
stand that there are to be no more permanent 
members created. In that case it is only a case of 
a few years, anyway, for as our permanent mem- 
bers quit active service and engage in other busi- 
ness, they will not be as likely to attend the meet- 
ing of the Grand Division. Don't disfranchise 
anyone from a voice in the Grand Division; let 
everybody talk and work and vote. 

On the evening of December tst Toledo 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 659 


Division No. 26 had the honor of entertaining 
oar Assistant Grand Chief Cond actor. There 
was a goodly number of our boys present, and 
Brother Wilkins gave us a very interesting talk 
and some good sound advice, as did also some of 
our own Brothers. About 9:30, having an alarm 
at the outer door, the sentinel attended to it, and 
found we were besieged by a large number of the 
L». A, to O. R. C., who demanded admittance, 
but the outside sentinel was a mean man, and 
could not be coaxed or bought, and would not ad- 
mit them. However, after the Division closed 
we repaired to the dining hall, where plates were 
laid for over a hundred, and an elegant repast 
was served, after which we again listened to Bro- 
ther Wilkins and also to Sister Moore, Grand 
President of the L. A. to O. R. C. Mrs. Moore 
spoke very feelingly, thanking Brother Wilkins 
for the encouragement he had given, and also 
Division No. 26 for the help we had been to Ban- 
ner Division No. 6, L. A. Right here I would 
say, that while Toledo Division admits that three 
or four years ago we might have put our shoul- 
ders to the wheel and helped the ladies a little, 
we have been repaid fourfold for all that we have 
•done, for they are not only an auxiliary by name, 
but are in reality, and one of the very best helps 
any Division could have. 

We also had music, singing and recitations, 
after which we said good-night and separated, 
everybody well pleased with the evening's enter- 
tainment. Yours truly in P. F., 

Toledo. 


Salida, Colo. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

Your article under the head of licensing em- 
ployes. appearing in the September number of 
The Conductor, called to mind the scenes 
through which we passed and the discussion ex- 
cited in 1887 and later in the Grand Division held 
in Toronto. Whatever objection there may be to 
this scheme, it merits careful C3Usideration just 
now. As I recall it, the O. R. C. was not a pro- 
tective organization in the full sense at this time. 
I don't know that we had any fixed or settled pol- 
icy, and the matter of licensing conductors and 
enginemen was taken up at that time, and re- 
ceived its stimulus from the fact that it was our 
only apparent source of relief or protection. I 
need not go into detail as to the death of the bill, 
it is known to all. The rapid pace we have trav- 
eled since that time, a fixed policy, an adherence 
to the laws of the Order under the superior gen- 
eralship of our Grand Officers, has done much to 
bury the license bill and, for the time, hush its 


advocates. But here it is again, and this time, 
like "Banquo's ghost, will not down." 

What we have passed through in the last few 
months, the conditions which confront the indus- 
trial classes at this time, must change the opinions 
of many who oppose the licensing of employes. 
We are confronted by a changed condition, and it 
behooves us to fashion our policy to suit that con- 
dition. The system of examining employes has 
had a marked effect, especially on a well known 
western line which followed the practice of exam- 
ining all employes from track walker to superin- 
tendent. Not only was the efficiency of the em- 
ployes increased, but it had the effect of weeding 
out that dangerous element, those who will not 
think for themselves. I speak of examining in 
this connection because it is a species of license, 
a license from a railway company to perform a 
certain service for them. 


Now comes the objection. It is claimed any 
school-boy can study the rules of any company 
and pass their examination. Anyone using this 
argument has never put in four or five hours be- 
fore a competent examiner who has laid aside the 
’ ‘code" and has drawn out his idea and applica- 
tion of each rule; in other words, has practically 
put you into service. That class of employes who 
are too dunb or indifferent to leirn, should have 
no place in the ranks. The service; the men 
who remain in it are bettered by his being out of 
it. Let the reader recall the accidents coming 
under his own observation directly trace ible to 
ignorance on the pirt of some fellow servant, and 
the loss of property, and perhaps of life, follow- 
ing in its wake. We are all liable to err, but 
when error comes through absolute ignorance, 
there is no excuse for it. Much better, much 
safer, must be the service where an employe must 
pass an ex imination before a board who are 
amenable to the great people, or. if you please, 
after a competent committee have enquired into 
the capability and character of the applicant, for 
it must be remembered not only is a knowledge 
of the duties of the particular branch of service 
essential, but character most be behind it all. A 
fellow traveling with letters galore, signed by 
some unknown official on the P. D. Q., or some 
such line, will not find it as easy to fall into a good 
position as you may imagine. 

I doubt if the number of applicants and those 
holding certificates can be restricted under the 
present conditions, the railroads to the contrary, 
notwithstanding, and their argument that "it 
would enable labor organizations to restrict the 
number of available men," must be au admission 
on their part that there are incompetent men now 
in their employ. There are many roads wb 


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66o 7 HE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR . 


have never given their employes a fair chance to 
thoroughly understand their own rules, and who 
treat their rules as though they were made to be 
broken or construed at will. 

The railways can find no valid objection to li- 
cense save those using other than standard rules. 
As you say in the article referred to, the whistle 
of a steamboat means the same to the listener, no 
matter where it is beard. 

This should apply to railroads. I entertain no 
fear for the many good men who work under the 
old style rules, when it comes to standard rules. 
A man capable of getting a train over a division 
under some ‘ ‘codes” now in use, can work any* 
where. He can be recommended as a mind 
reader in addition, as he is supposed to have a 
knowledge of what the other fellow is going to do. 
Custom in many localities has established an un- 
written law to which we often take kindly, but 
this serves no purpose, should we change our ad- 
dress. First of all, standard rules must be 
adopted, and the licensing of conductors, engin- 
eers, dispatchers and operators, must be made a 
part of the same act. M 'Tis a consummation de- 
voutly to be wished.” Rocky. 


Portland, Me. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

Pine Tree Division No. 66, is in a flourishing 
condition at the present time, and the chief part 
of our rejoicing is because of the success that at- 
tended our third annual ball. The first and sec- 
ond of these entertainments were held in Lewis- 
ton, but this year we voted to go to Bangor, and 
that it was the right thing to do the results fully 
show. Bangor's new city hall was decorated in 
fine shape for the occasion, the verdict of all 
who saw it being, ' ‘it can't be beat.” Pullen’s 
orchestra did themselves proud in their con- 
cert, and the dance music made some of the older 
guests, who had not been on the floor for years, 
think they really could accomplish the ' ’double 
shuffle.” To us the most pleasing feature was 
the large attendance, more than 1,200 people 
being in the hall. The net proceeds turned over 
to the treasurer were $415.18, a pretty good 
showing for one entertainment. 

Division 66 is wide awake, several new mem 
bers having been taken in during the past year. 
This, together with a good set of officers, helps 
to make our meetings attractive and to keep up 
the interest. We will next have our annual 
meeting and election of officers with public in- 
stallation, followed by an entertainment of vocal 
and instrumental music. 


We understand that Bro. Tulley will buy an- 
other "broncho” in the spring. 

Yours in P. F., 

C. C. Berry. 


Lima, Ohio. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

In reading The Conductor I never see any- 
thing from or said about Lima Division No. 299. 
We do not want the Brothers of other Divisions 
to think for a moment that we are all dead, for 
we are not. Division No. 299 is doing nicely and 
increasing in numbers slowly but surely. We 
have a membership of fifty-seven. The number 
is not large, but they are composed of the right 
kind of metal. Our election of officers will occur 
the 9th of December. The present officers are 
good men but not so good but what they can im- 
prove themselves considerably. 

Another year is almost numbered with the past, 
and how many Brothers can say, "I have done 
my duty as a member of the Order?” I hope all 
can, but I fear a great many cannot honestly say, 
"I have done my whole duty.” Let all make res- 
olutions to give more attention to the work of our 
Divisions in the years to come, and when they 
are past we will have no regrets. A better attend- 
ance at our Division meetings would be pleasing 
to the officers and beneficial to the members. 

The members and officers of Lima Division de- 
sire to make public acknowledgement of their 
gratitude to the ladies of Lima'Division No. 27, L. 
A. to O. R. C , for the beautiful presents which 
recently so completely and overwhelmingly sur- 
prised them. One of the gifts is a magnificent 
case of officers' jewels, of which our officers and 
members may well be proud, and they need not 
be ashamed to wear them, no matter who is a vis- 
itor at the Division. They also presented the 
Division with two magnificent floor pillows, which 
are doubly prized, as they are the handiwork of 
the dearest friends we have on earth. They were 
presented at our last regular meeting in Novem- 
ber, a very eloquent presentation 9 peech being 
made by the President of the Auxiliary, Mrs. £. 
H. Mattice. The following officers and members 
of the Auxiliary attended the presentation, and 
all seemed to enjoy themselves, as well they 
might after such an exhibition of generosity: Mrs. 

J P. Jackson, Past President; Mrs. E. H. Mat- 
tice, President; Mrs. A. L. Heath, Vice Presi- 
dent; Mrs. A. N. Ridenour, Secretary and Treas- 
urer; Mrs. Thos. Strobl, Senior Sister; Mrs. 
Lynch, Junior Sister; Mrs. J L. Ed mis ton, Guard; 
Mrs. C. O. Eagy, Mrs. Thos O'Donnell, Mrs. 
Thos. Mulcahy, Mrs. John Darby, and Mrs. 
Gunther. 


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We all join in thanking the ladies for the It is to be hoped that the next time the boys go 


many favors they have bestowed upon as. 

Yours in P. F., 

J. L. Edmiston. 

In Memory of Arthur Crossan. 

DECEMBER I, 1858— OCTOBER 1 5, 1894. 

Written for The Conductor. 

When he gave the "back up” signal, 

And he did not step aside, 

Then we knew the cars had caught him, 

In their easy, backward glide. 

Swiftly turned his thoughts that instant, 
Back, methinks, through vision dim, 

Where the wife would listen vainly 
For the "local's whistling in." 

No one but the 1 'Great Conductor” 
Understood the meaning, all, 

Of that "signal,” last and grandest, 

*'1 am coming at Your call 1 ” 

O, our Father, did you need him? 

He was such a joy to us; 

Teach us how to bear this parting, 

Since it is Your will we must ! 

Hope is crushed — is still — is lifeless — 
Comrade, husband, dearest friend, 

O, good-bye; may thy pure spirit, 

Crown and cheer our journey's end ! 

Flora Pool. 


Ottumwa, Iowa. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

At the last regular meeting of Ottumwa Divi- 
sion No. 216 the following officers were chosen 
for the ensuing year: J W. Reed, C. C.; H. L. 
Lewis. A. C. C.; F. N. Cline. S. and T.; J. A. 
Sullivan, S. C.; M. T. Patton, J. C. ; W. A. Dill, 
I. S.; V. S. Winslow, O. S. Brother E. J. Wor- 
den was elected delegate to the next Grand Di- 
vision, with Brother ]. W. Reed as alternate. All 
were well pleased with these gentlemen for officers, 
and we hope to prosper as well under their direc- 
tion as we have under the retiring officials. At 
the opening of the meeting a box of fine cigars 
was presented to the members by J. F. Erbecker, 
an ex- member of 216. who was for many years a 
conductor on the old Burlington. You may be 
sure his remembrance was thankfully received. 

Brothers Williams and Price, of Division 83, 
were present, and gave us a kind invitation to at- 
tend their election of officers, which will be held 
at Galesburg on the 19th inst. The invitation 
was accepted in the same spirit by Brother F. M. 
Price, our retiring C. C. 


into Brother Heifer's way-car they will not nail 
his shoes to the floor, as he put the blame all on 
Brother Lewis, and says he will get even if he has 
to steal the blankets on which that Brother prides 
himself so much. 

With greetings to all the Brothers, I remain, 
Yours in P. F., "W. A. D.” 


Martinsburg, W. Va. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

The conductors of Martinsburg. and members 
of the Order of Railway Conductors from various 
places on the West Virginia Central railroad, 
Western Maryland railroad and C. & P. R. R, 
in all numbering about forty-five, met in Mar- 
tinsburg, W. Va., on November 5, last. Assist- 
ant Grand Chief Conductor C. H. Wilkins, took 
the chair for the purpose of organizing a branch 
of the Order of Railway Conductors. The fol- 
lowing officers were duly elected: E. C. Caskey, 
Chief; W. T. Darby, Assistant Chief; J. H, 
Smith, Junior Conductor; G. W. Ridings, Senior 
Conductor; James Hartley, Inside Sentinel; C. B. 
Dailey, Outside Sentinel; E. E. Entler, Secre- 
tary and Treasurer, andW. A. Burkhart, Corres- 
pondent. 

After organization the entire body adjourned to- 
the Continental Hotel, where a most sumptuous 
dinner was prepared, of which all t partook 
heartily. After the feast all proceeded to the hall 
for the purpose of initiating Brother R. J. Gor- 
don. The initiation was a most gratifying one; 
the initiate was "done up” in fine style, the new 
cab, regalia and paraphernalia greatly increasing 
the interest of all. After initiation, and the 
transaction of some routine business, another ad- 
journment was had to the Valley House, where 
Mr. W. W. Westphall, the proprietor, served a 
delicious supper. Thirty members surrounded 
the board, and no little fun and enjoyment was 
bad. 

Our Division is now in full blast with about 
thirty members. We are known as Martinsburg 
Division No. 223. 

Yours in P. F., 

Wm. A. Burkhart. 


Harrisburg, Pa. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

Dauphin Division No. 143 is busy at the pres- 
ent time trying to do some work for the good of 
the Order. Our last meeting was not so well at- 
tended as it might have been, but some business 
of general interest was transacted, A gloom was 


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662 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


cast upon the gathering by the offering of resolu- 
tions of sympathy with Bro. H. Hohensh'elt in 
the death of his estimable wife. Mrs. Hohen- 
shelt died October 26 last, in her fifty-second 
year, and was buried on the 30th of that month. 
She leaves a husband and seven children to 
mourn the loss of a kind and loving wife and 
mother. The illness which ended in her death 
was long and painful and the patience with which 
she endured the suffering attendant thereon was 
but one of the many womanly traits that made 
her character so lovable. The resolutions in 
•question will be spread upon the records of the 
Division and a copy will be sent to the family of 
the deceased. Yours in P. F., 

"Mox." 


Minneapolis, Minn. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

A fe n days since I had the pleasure of a visit 
with Bro. H. E. Cochran, one of our conductors 
on the M. & St. L. I found Bro. Cochran con- 
fined to his room, he having had the misfortune 
to fall from his train and break his leg, on the 
8th of November last. As he is a popular mem- 
ber of 47, I have no doubt the boys will be glad 
to learn that he is progressing nicely and will 
doubtless be with us again before many weeks. 

In spite of the hard times, business has been 
better on the St. L. this fall than ever before. 
The boys have been busy aud everything has 
worked smoothly. As a consequence of this we 
are greatly encouraged, and as we have a splendid 
lot of members the future of our Division is 
bright. With best wishes for The Conductor, 
and for all the O. R. C., I remain 
Yours in P F , 

W. Buttre. 


Grapton, W. Va. 

Editor Railway Conductor : 

From the wilds of West Virginia I send you 
greeting, and it will be a greeting, since it will be 
the first time in many years that anything from 
Division 190 has appeared in The Conductor. 
I cannot hope that this will be of any special in- 
terest to your readers, as composition is not in 
my line, but will do the best possible under the 
circumstances, hoping it may prove an incentive 
4 o those who can write with credit. We have an 
abundance of Brothers who could write interest- 
ingly if they would. Brothers Eisminger and 
Walker should be able to give you an especially 
interesting letter, as they have but recently re- 
turned from a trip of thirty days' duration in the 
west, where they went ip search of health. 


About all we can get them to say is that they 
found the Brothers in the west most hospitable, 
doing everything in their power to give their vis- 
itors a pleasant time. They were, evidently very 
favorably impressed by the boys they found in 
the west. 

A warm rivalry exists between Brothers Dean 
and Rannie, regarding the respective merits of 
their infant sons, and a lively time is promised 
when these youthful champions are brought to- 
gether. 

Dame Rumor has recently been busy accusing 
one of our most popular Brothers of having mat- 
rimonial designs, and as this is the third report 
of the kind about this one candidate for those 
honors, it must be true. Taking the truth for 
granted, we extend the Brother our warmest well- 
wishes. 

Hoping that this may induce some Brother 
who is better qualified to take up his pen in be- 
half of 190, I remain, 

Yours in P. F., 

"Bill." 


Cumberland, Md. 
Editor Railway Conductor: 

Cumberland Division has been so seldom beard 
from that it is surely necessary to say something 
to keep it up with the times. On last Saturday 
night we had the pleasure of meeting with one 
of our Grand Officers, Brother C. H. Wilkins, a 
special meeting having been called for that pur* 
pose. The Brothers enjoyed the excellent lec- 
ture he gave us and the opportunity to greet their 
Assistant Grand Chief Conductor as well. Bra 
Wilkins is always a welcome visitor to the mem- 
bers of 263. 

When the meeting was over and we were leav- 
ing the hall, a perfect swarm of ladies surrounded 
the party, taking every man captive. It was a 
genuine surprise, and that surprise was deepened 
when we found that the ladies had prepared a 
sumptuous oyster supper for the entertainment 
of our guest and ourselves. You may be sure we 
enjoyed the feast to the full limit, and we now 
wish our Grand Officers would visit us oftener, in 
order that we might be surprised in the same 
way again. Our best thanks are certainly due 
the ladies for their hospitable entertainment. 

Several of the Brothers went with Bro. Wil- 
kins to Martinsburg, W. Va., the following Mon- 
day, to help him curry the goat and get him ready 
for the organization of a new Division. I can 
only hope the goat kicked hard enough to make 
the new men remember their obligations and the 
rules of the Order. 

Our little Division stands at forty-nine mem- 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ben, and the prospects are good for taking in 
five or six more by the first of the year. Good 
fortune has certainly attended ns as we have had 
bat one death since our organization in 1890, and 
we hope that the next four years may deal even 
more kindly with us. The Brothers think the 
insurance for the past year has been heavy, but 
the prospects for the coming twelve months are 
so bright that doubtless more of them will give 
their families the benefit of this protection. 

Bro. W. W. Dunlap, who has been sick at the 
hospital in Baltimore for the past four weeks, is 
now home again, and is improving nicely. Bro. 
G. H. Gormer has also had some seven weeks of 
illness, but is now at work again. 

Our officers at the last installation were: ]. S. 
Knee, C. C.; C. A. Schmutz, A. C. C ; ]. W. 
Walsh, S. C.; W. E. Law, J. C.; C. J. Miller, 
I. S.; C. E. Walsh, O. S.; G. J. Schmutz, Cor. 
respondent, and G. W. Messman, Sec. and Treas. 

Yours in P. F., 

G. W. M. 


Tucson, Ariz. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

To build castles in the air is not such an idle 
occupation as one would think. All great men 
have indulged in this happy occupation, but have 
turned their dreams into realization. There are 
few castles of this kind that cannot be made reali- 
ties, as they are founded upon desires inspired by 
what has been accomplished, and what man has 
done man can do. Can you think now of some 
task you undertook and would have accomplished 
with success, if you had had but the courage to 
complete it? "Decision" is akin to this, but quite 
apart; it takes a decisive character to know what to 
do and how to do it. To make up one's mind 
firmly to do a thing or not to do it, is "decision." 

This is my air castle: that we decide to make 
our Order what it should be in every respect. We 
can do it if we go about it in the right way and 
practice generosity, kindness, sociability and 
charity one towards another, thus living up in de- 
tail to the true meaning of our obligations. 
Shaftesbury tells us: "He who on the advent of a 
new hope, shuddering at the past, makes pledge 
to his own soul of a new and better life, with pur- 
pose strong enough to command its fulfillment, 
brings a smile to the face of the recording angel 
and places himself under the sheltering wing of 
the Almighty." 

Let us come in closer fellowship with one an- 
other, and all that are careless and uninterested 
in matters appertaining to th* Order, should be 
counseled with and encouraged to wake up to an 
understanding of our vital interests of to-day. 


66j 

Life is too short, death comes too unexpectedly to 
all of us. Like ships that pass in the night and 
speak each other in passing, only a signal given 
and a distant voice in the darkness, so it is on the 
ocean of life. We pass and speak each other only 
a look, a voice, then darkness and silence. A 
generation hence and the finger of history will be 
pointing backward at the actions of the railway 
orders of to-day. Shall that finger point at us 
with pride or scorn? There can be no mistake if 
we regard our Order as one family and deal 
kindly and generously with each member of it. 
We can be generous without making a sacrifice. 
Sociability is generous; the lack of it is selfish. A 
strange Brother needs an encouraging smile and 
a welcome grasp of the hand when he visits your 
locality or enters your Division room for the first 
time. Indication of friendly feeling brings out 
the good in a man, while a cool reserve often un- 
folds the meaner nature. Let us give due regard 
to sociability; it is to our credit to lighten the 
burdens of life for our Brothers by a kind smile r 
a friendly chat or any feeling of a brotherly inter- 
est. It costs nothing to develop the better side 
of our fellow beings, and it makes character of 
the right kind for ourselves. 

There is too little sociability in our Order. 
Selfishness is too often the foremost element of 
our human nature. Sociability develops generos- 
ity; it is generosity itself, and a species of favor 
that is inexpensive — the more we give the more 
we have left. If we find a Brother far from what 
he ought to be in the Division, do not put him 
down as altogether worthless. Go to such a one, 
talk with him, and the chances are he will tell 
you the members are against him and that no one 
cares if he is in the Order or out of it. There is 
no member that does not appreciate a kindly in- 
terest in his welfare if properly shown, although 
all would resent unwarrantable meddling. We all 
have a liking for friendly sympathy, and we 
should freely extend that sympathy amongst our- 
selves. True sympathy will often light on life's 
dusty road some weary Brother. It costs nothing 
to aid others in a hundred ways, while a mean, 
narrow disposition will shrink from yielding to 
another even the little courtesies that make up the 
sweetness of life. 

The earnest, kindly face, the sincere voice 
speaking the right words at the right time, are 
brighter jewels in the pathway of a discouraged 
Brother than a new empire would b9 to a victori- 
ous general. As far as the financial part of this 
question is concerned, there are many times when 
kind words and generosity cost no more than self- 
ishness, and for every endeavor made to ennoble 
those around us, we ourselves grow twofold in V 


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664 

same direction, ft is not a necessity to acquire a 
radical species of philosophical nature to be able 
to adapt ourselves to do that which is our duty. 
And if we are not doing the best we can. there is 
a fault somewhere. 

Let us pursue our daily life to the best of our 
ability and make all things tell for a better end, 
thus living in command of ourselves and from 
day to day being able to say we have lived, 
whether clouds obscure or the sun illuminates the 
following day, that which is past is beyond re- 
call. On the other hand let it be known that we 
are uninterested one towards another, and it rele- 
gates us to a place of unpopularity in the opinion 
of the outside world, and such an opinion is 
weakening to self-respect, neither of which we 
can afford. There is a time in the lives of all of 
ns when opportunities come for bettering our con- 
ditions. We ought to seize upon such opportu- 
nities, as they often become the stepping stones 
whereby we may rise still higher, or in other 
words we are generally what we make ourselves. 
It is all the same in the garden of our Order as 
in the garden of the earth, "without care" weeds 
will grow faster than fruit and flowers. No his- 
toric college walls can furnish grander environ- 
ments, no alma mater sweeter memories than the 
places and hours we have devoted to kind words, 
sociability and generosity towards one another, 
thus giving to ourselves a personal pleasure that 
might have otherwise lain hidden forever. 

Yours in P. F., 

R. Duncan. 


Retreat, Ga. 

Editor Railway Conductor: 

In a letter to The Conductor for November I 
notice Brother J. V. Russ brings up the question 
of Division cards beiitg given to retired conduct- 
ors. Now this is a matter f have thought of often. 
I left the road nearly four years ago, and have 
kept my dues paid up, but for the last two years 
have had no card, as I doubted my having a right 
to one. I would like to have the question settled 
definitely before the Grand Division, for I should 
regret to do anything wrong in the matter. I 
always have taken an interest in the Order, and 


expect to continue to do so. I should like to have 
the editor's opinion on this subject. I am of the 
opinion of Brother Russ — the retired member's 
card should be different from that of the con- 
ductor in active service. I should be glad to 
have a card for each year, as a memento more 
than anything else. 

Yours in P. F., 

R. P. Williams. 


In Dreamland. 

Written for The Railway Conductor. 
Dream on, fair dreamer, while the stars 
Above thee brightly shine; 

Dream on amidst the silent night 
Of joys that once were thine. 

Sweet thoughts may come to fill thy heart, 

And still its deep unrest, 

But with the downing of the morn, 

Dark shadows there will rest. 

Dream ou, of other days more fair, 

Of vanished joys long past, 

Of hopes that once lived in the soul, 

Ere sorrow's clouds had cast 
Their shadows o'er thy pathways here 
That time can ne'er dispel — 

To all thy dreams the morning light 
Will bring a mute farewell. 

Dream on, fair dreamer, sad will be 
Thine awakening with the dawn; 

Forgotten is the world by thee; 

In tranquil rest sleep on. 

May visions bright of happier days 
Be thine in sleep's sweet realm — 

'Tis only in the land of dreams 
Thou wilt know of joy again. 

Mrs. Nellie Bloom. 


How well do I remember, 

'Twas in a bright September, 

That I went out for a walk with Elinore; 

And she steered me to a table 
And ate oysters till the sable 
Waiter gobbled all my cash and wanted more. 

— Buffalo Courier. 


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Mutual Benefit Life Insurance . 

Expulsion From Membership — Right of Appeal 

— Neglect — Acquiescence — By-Lazus. 

In the action the evidence showed that the in- 
sured member suffered himself to be expelled 
from his local branch. No appeal from the ac- 
tion of his branch expelling him was ever taken 
by the complaining member. The by-laws of his 
association provide, that “every member who 
does not take an appeal in any case affecting his 
rights or interest in the order within the time 
allowed, shall be deemed to have thereby agreed 
to abide by such decision or enforcement of the 
laws or rules of the Order.” On appeal, held, 
that the deceased having failed to take auy ap- 
peal from the action of his branch expelling him, 
thereby acquiesced in the decision of expulsion, 
and that it is just and reasonable to hold that 
when a member of such society has a remedy, 
under the rules of his Order, from any supposed 
erroneous action, injurious to himself, he should 
first exhaust that remedy before appealing to the 
courts for relief. 

Jeane vs. Grand Lodge A. O. U. W., SC. of 
Me., Oct io, 1894. 

Note: After death is a poor time to ask courts 
to correct alleged erroneous acts of a relief as- 
sociation. As a rule courts insist that members 
follow the prescribed mode of correcting supposed 
erroneous action; failing in this without a rea- 
sonable excuse, courts hesitate to remedy the 
wrong, if any exists. 

Suspension — Reinstatement, Hoiv Accomplished 

— Non-Payment of Assessment — Effect. 

1. In an action where the complaint alleges 
that deceased, having been suspended, for non- 
payment of assessment, in order to reinstate him- 
self according to the provisions of the constitution 
of the Order, and in conformity with a notice 
from the secretary thereof, tendered to the official 
the amount he owed for assessments, and, that 
by reason of his refusal to receive the amount, 
deceased was deprived of the right to apply for 
reinstatement by a vote of his branch. Held , 
allegations sufficient declaration that deceased 
performed all the conditions required on his part 
to secure his reinstatement, notwithstanding the 


constitution of the Order provides that, after pay- 
ment of the assessment, deceased could not be re- 
instated except by vote of his branch. 

2. When a certificate provides that if the as- 
sured member fails to pay his assessments, he 
shall be suspended, and can be reinstated only by 
a majority vote of the subordinate branch to which 
he belongs, after paying all assessments due from 
him. Held, that the refusal of the 'officer of the 
branch to which he belonged, whose duty it is to 
collect assessments, to accept those due from the 
assured after bis suspension, does not waive the 
provision of the certificate requiring a vote of his 
branch, where there is no evidence that if the 
question had been submitted to the local branch, 
it would have voted for reinstatement, especially 
where the constitution of the society provides 
that the officers of the subordinate branch, in col- 
lecting assessments, are not agents of the su- 
preme body Judgment for plaintiff reversed. 

Supreme Lodge A. O. U. W. of Indiana vs. 

King. Ind. App. C , Oct. 11, 1894. 

Note : One of the most vital questions that 
arises in relation to the rights of members of ben- 
eficial orders is that concerning the power of sus- 
pension and expulsion. It is quite unnecessary to 
inquire when and under what circumstances a 
member may be expelled* and what procedure 
must be observed in the exercise by a society of 
this power. This fact must be remembered. 
There may be an expulsion from membership in 
the subordinate branch for violation of the penal 
provisions of its laws, which generally carries ex^ 
pulsion from the society itself with it, and there 
may be a conditional expulsion, or suspension, 
for non payment at the prescribed time of an as- 
sessment by the superior body. In the first case 
the local branch may act as an independent body, 
in the latter as agent of the superior body, if an 
affirmative act is required to perfect the ex- 
pulsion. The members should know that, gen- 
erally, if an assessment is not paid at the fixed 
time, the non-payment, by the laws of the order, 
works a suspension, which is in fact an expulsion, 
although the member may be restored to mem- 
bership by compliance with certain requirements 
of the laws of the order. But if the member is 
by some affirmative act suspended by his branch, 
and has notice of such act and does not exercise 
the right of appeal secured him by the laws of the 
order, the action of his branch is final and can- 
not be assailed in an action on the certificate after 
a member's death. (See cases reported in 137 
Mass., 368; 129 Mass., 70, and 28 Mo. App., 463.) 


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Outing for December opens with a charming 
story, "A Jamestown Romance." No truer or 
more fascinating picture has been drawn of life in 
the brave old Virginia days, when cargoes of 
yonng women gathered from the crowded homes 
of England, were sent out by the "London Com- 
pany" to the infant colony as wives for snch of 
the bachelor settlers as should choose to pay for 
spouses in good tobacco. The happy blending of 
naturalness, historical correctness and admirable 
character drawing make this story a gem indeed. 
It well deserves its prominent position in the 
opening pages of this excellent number of Outing. 
The illustrations are superb, especially the full 
page portraying the hero and heroine of the story 
at the landing place. In grouping of its many 
figures this illustration, a masterpiece indeed, is 
well worth the price of the number. 


its literature, indicate its extending influence and 
prosperity. In the December issue there are con- 
tributions from some of the greatest writers of 
our day, and some of the most delightful and en- 
tertaining of the younger American essayists and 
fictionists. In the former class are Professor 
Max Muller, the great Oriental scholar and au- 
thority on language and comparative religion, of 
Oxford University, and Count Leo Tolstoi, the 
famous Russian novelist and social reformer. In 
the latter are Hamlin Garland, the author of 
"Main Traveled Roads," Will Allen Dromgoole, 
the Southern story writer; Rev. Minot ]. Savage, 
the famous Boston preacher; B. O. Flower, the 
editor of the Review\ Walter Blackburn Harte, 
author of "Meditations in Motley;" Henry Latch- 
ford and Helen H. Gardner, the popular nov- 
elist. 


"The political Economy of Natural Law," is 
the title of a new book by Henry Wood, author 
of "Ideal Suggestions," "God's Image in Man" 
and a number of similar works. As is indicated 
by the title, the purpose of this work is to outline 
a political economy that is practical rather than 
theoretical, one based upon the laws of nature 
rather than upon the deductions of the human 
reason. Mr. Wood has evidently given the sub- 
ject much thought, and handles it not only with 
originality, but with a skill that gives an ever 
present interest to the dryest facts. However 
much the reader may differ from the conclusions 
reached he cannot but enjoy the book, and must 
pronounce it a pleasing and forceful presentation 
of the theory of evolution as applied to political 
economy. Those who have been inclined to avoid 
such questions as dry and uninteresting, will be 
surprised to find how charming they can be 
made when skillfully bandied. The book is pub- 
lished by Lee & Shepard of Boston. 

The Arena, with its big Christmas number of 
over 200 pages, opens the eleventh volume, and 
its increasing bulk as well as the repute of its 
contributors and the standard and character of 


The Review of Reviews for December bring* 
to the attention of its readers a remarkable state 
of things in South American international rela- 
tions. It has been known for years that Great 
Britain has persistently encroached on territory 
belonging to the little republic of Venezuela; bnt 
few Americans have been aware of the extent of 
those encroachments. The editor of the Rttnew 
of Reviews asserts that England is now occupy- 
ing a vast region which only a few years ago she 
acknowledged to belong to Venezuela, and that 
in fact she has no lawful claim to any territory 
whatever west of the Essequibo river, although 
she has acquired the coast line as far west as the 
Orinoco. The editor's charges seem to be sup- 
ported by the statements of reliable English pub- 
lications; the Cyclopedia of Geography, for ex- 
ample, computed the area of British Guiana a few 
years ago as 50.000 square miles, while the pres- 
ent area is given as 109 000 square miles by all 
British statistical works, although there have 
been no cessions to England in that region. As 
Great Britain has refused arbitration of the points 
in dispute, the Rei’iew of Reviews advocates the 
appointment of a joint commission by the United 
States, Mexico, and the Sjuth American repub- 
lics, to investigate Venezuela's claims, and that 
such as may appear well founded be sustained by 
the united American powers against England 


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r 

l 


) 





A new Division of the Order was instituted by 
Grand Chief Conductor £. £. Clark at Danville, 
111., on the 2nd inst. 


Brother Thomas Hinkley, of Division No. 305, 
will learn of something to his advantage by com* 
municating with his secretary. 

v 

The wife of H. B. Pelham, late a member of 
Division No. 108, is anxious to learn bis present 
address. Any information sent to her at Woolley 
Washington, will be thankfully received. 

V* 

Brother T. F. Clancy will be grateful if some 
Brother will send the address of one George B. 
Flanders, late an employe of the Pullman com- 
pany in St. Paul, to him at 2954 13th ave., Rock 
Island. 111 . 

# # 

* 

The editor acknowledges receipt of kindly re- 
membrances in form of invitations and compli- 
mentary tickets to entertainments to be given by 
Divisions 5 and 106, on November 27 and Decem- 
ber 19. respectively. 


Anyone knowing the present location of F. M. 
Burlison, who was running a train out of Raw- 
lins, Wyo., when last heard from, will confer a 
favor by notifying Brother J. W. Moreland, 
Room 32 Dearborn Station, Chicago, 111 . 

# * 

* 

The Citizen, of Albuquerque, N. M., says: 
"Our good governor is writing a book entitled 
•Ships That Pass in the Night.’” The Rincon 
Shaft says: "Tom, dear boy, you’re mistaken: 
it should be 'Chips That Pass in the Night.’” 
That’s good. 

V 

Brother J. Mackenzie. Secretary of Division 
No. 13, would be pleased 10 learn the present ad- 
dress of Jno. McGregor formerly a conductor on 
the M. C. R. R. Any Brother having the desired 
information will confer a favor by addressing 
Brother Mackenzie at St. Thomas, Ont. 


The Conductor has learned of some instances 
where those who were suspended from the Order 
and who have never reinstated themselves, are 
posing as members in good standing. This is not 
honest or manly, and if necessary in order to stop 
it The Conductor will give some names. 

# * # 

The Legislative Board of the B. of R. T. for 
Illinois will meet at Springfield on the second 
Monday in January, 1895. Representatives of 
other organizations are invited to meet and co- 
operate with them. Brother W. G. Edens, of 
Galesburg, 111 ., will gladly give any desired in- 
formation. 

v 

Brother E. J. Woolheater, Secretary of Divi- 
sion No. 244, was so unfortunate as to have one 
of his hands caught while making a coupling on 
the 8th inst. His many friends will learn with 
pleasure that the injury is not serious, and that 
he will escape without losing any portion of the 
hand. 

v 

Any one knowing the present address of Ed- 
ward Russell, formerly a member of Cincinnati 
Division No. 107, of the Order of Railway Con- 
ductors, will confer a great favor by sending it to 
his sister, Mrs. Maggie Gansley, Covington, Ky. 
Russell is supposed to be in South America. His 
daughter Edna is very sick and not likely to re- 
cover. 

* * 

* 

Brother J. D. Condit, Chief Conductor of Divi- 
sion No. 40, has been promoted to the position of 
traveling passenger agent for the Cbicago, St. 
Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha, with headquarters 
at St. Paul. This is a well-earned advancement, 
and the many friends of Brother Condit will hope 
that it may prove to be but the first step toward 
the full reward of his merits. 


Invitations have been received at this office to 
the wedding of Brother J. H. Smith and Miss 
Fannie Marshall, to be held on the evening of the 


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668 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


igfth inst. at Charlotte, N. C. Brother Smith is 
the efficient Secretary of Divisisn No. 221, and 
has many friends in the Order who will rejoice in 
his good fortune, and will wish continued happi- 
ness and prosperity for him and his charming 
bride. 

* * 

# 

Any Brother having the index numbers of vol- 
umes 1 and 6. which he does not care to preserve, 
will confer a favor by sending them to this 
office. 

v 

Brother C. L. Beeland, of Division 284, was so 
unfortunate as to have his right toot crushed by 
the wheels of his caboose, on the 14th ult. Every- 
thing possible was done for him, but it was found 
necessary to amputate the foot on the following 
Sunday. Brother Beeland will have the sym- 
pathy of all in his misfortune, and all will hope 
for his speedy recovery. 

v 

Ten grain cars without a known owner are be- 
ing used in the northern part of Indiana by any 
road which happens to get hold of them. They 
bear the letters F. W., J. & S., and were origin- 
ally the property of the Fort Wayne, Jackson & 
Saginaw, but when this road passed into the con- 
trol of the Lake Shore, these ten cars were, in 
some manner, left ont of the deal, and the Lake 
Shore disowns them rather than enter into litiga- 
tion which would likely follow their claiming the 
cars. — St. Louis Republic. 

V 

It is important that the members of our Order 
make arrangements as early as possible with their 
secretaries to report them as being entitled to 
Thb Conductor for the coming year. All 
changes of address should be given at the same 
time. Those members who are now entitled to 
Tub Conductor and are not receiving it, will do 
well to bear in mind that it is because they have 
not presented the matter properly to their secre- 
taries, or because we have not been furnished 
with their correct addresses. 

v 

No library is complete without Harper's Pic- 
torial History of the Civil War, and none of 
our readers can afford to miss an opportunity for 
securing it. It is published in portfolio form, 
bound in paper, and contains 800 pages 11^x16 
inches, and more than 1,000 of the best illustra- 
tions that appeared in Harper's Weekly during 
the war. For $3 25 we will send The Railway 
Conductor one year and deliver to you this vol- 
ume post paid. For ten new subscribers at $1.00 
each, sent by one person, we will give the History 
free and post paid. Will quote prices on hand- 
somely bound copies in one and two volumes. 


The Quarterly Illustrator enters upon its 
third volume with the current number, and the 
number begins with a subject very dear to the av- 
erage heart. The American girl has been our 
most important national characteristic since 
James expounded that abnormal specimen, Daisy 
Miller. Since then the variety and number of 
American girl types have been limited only by 
the number of authors to write about them. 
Undtr the title of “The Origin of a Type of the 
American Girl," Richard Harding Davis tells 
with his judiciously injudicious levity of how 
Charles Dana Gibson became the originator of a 
popular type. 

v 

There is and must be a clearly drawn line be- 
tween a lawful and an unlawful strike. Where 
that line is should be definitely decided and thor- 
oughly understood. Mr. T. W. Harper, one of 
the attorneys for us in the appeal from the “Jen- 
kins" decision, and in the U. P. case before Judge 
Caldwell, has given this question much study, 
and in another column will be found an article 
written by him for the Locomotive Firemen's 
Magazine , which is stripped of legal phraseology 
and written especially for the members of labor 
organizations. It is worth careful perusal and 
consideration. 

* # 

# 

“Boys' and Girls' New Pictorial Library of 
Prose, Poetry and Art" is a book that appeals di- 
rectly to the young people. It is filled with arti- 
cles on travel, adventure, history, biography, etc. , 
by eminent authors, making with all its other de- 
partments a perfect compendium of instructive 
and pleasure- giving reading. It is elegantly 
bound in red silk cloth and contains 132 fine 
illustrations, forty-one full page engravings and 
twenty-four full page illustrations in colors. The 
regular price of this work is $1.75, but by special 
arrangement with the publishers we are enabled 
to offer it, together with The Railway Conduc- 
tor for one year, for that price. For four new 
subscribers to Thb Conductor at $1.00 each, 
sent by one person, we will give this handsome 
book free, in both instances it being delivered 
prepaid by express. We can make it an object 
for you to secure us some subscribers. 

V* 

A prominent railroad official of Texas is au- 
thority for the statement that the splendid crops 
of the present year have practically cleared the 
farms of that state from mortgages. The roads 
as well as the farmers are reaping a benefit from 
this unexampled prosperity. 


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THE RAIL WA l^ONDUCTOR. 


669 


ORDER OP RAILWAY CONDUCTORS OF AMERICA. 
MUTUAL BENEFIT DEPARTMENT. 

Cedar kapids, Iowa, Dec. 1, 1894; Expires Jan. 31, 1895. 

Assessment No. 289 is tor death of G. W. Minear, Nov. 7, 1894. 

Assessment No. 290 is for death of W. A. Wampler. Nov. 15, 1894. 


BENEFITS PAID FROM OCT. 21 TO NOV. 20, INCLUSIVE. 


Ben. 

No. 

AM'T. 

FOR 

OF 

CAUSE. 

Cert No. 

Series. 

DIV. 

752 

$2,000 

Death 

J. H. McGuire 

Diabetes 

104 

B 

196 

753 

1,000 

Death 

M. J. Wilson 

Accident 

4243 

A 

316 

754 

3.000 

Death 

P. W. Kalihur 

Consumption 

3273 

C 

89 

755 

2,000 

Death 

Geo. Galvin 

Consumption 

2084 

B 

loo 

756 

1,000 

Dis. 

D Wildin 

Loss of Foot 

2894 

A 

170 

757 

3.000 

Death 

John McMahon 

Consumption 

3219 

C 

8 

758 

1.000 

Death 

H. B Call 

Accident 

2851 

A 

1 57 

759 

3.000 

Death 

J. S. Rosse 

Paralysis 

1650 

C 

105 

760 

3,000 

Dis. 

J H. Evans 

Loss of Arm 

1222 

C 

1 

761 

i.ooq, 

Dis. 

J. S. Brandon 

Loss of Leg 

3159 

A 

4 

762 

1,000 

Death , 

C. E. Bohr 

Accident 

392 

A 

259 

763 

I 000 

Death ' 

A F. Dutton 

Pneumonia 

2678 

A 

81 

764 

3,000 

Death W. L. Davenport 

Consumption 

4206 

C 

52 

765 

2,000 

Death 

G. E. Connit 

Bright's Dis. 

1430 

B 

46 

766 

1.000 

Death 

J A. Houseworth 

Pleurisy 

4828 

A 

180 

767 

1,000 

Death 

C. M. Mode r ell 

Accident 

4677 

A 

297 

768 

1,000 

Death 

J E. Moore 

Typhoid Fever 

400 

A 

3 

769 

3.000 

Death 

D. Shoop 

Typhoid Fever 

404 

C 

138 

770 

1,000 

Death 

C. A. Dixon 

Typhoid ,Fever 

3335 

A 

263 

771 

1.000 

Death 

A. B. Gibson 

Typhoid Fever 

4176 

A 

3 


ALL APPROVED CLAIMS ARE PAID. 


NUMBER OF MEMBERS ASSESSED. 

Series A, 4,897; Series B, 2,714; Series C, 4,648; Series D, 350; Series E, 80. Amount of as- 
sessment No. 289. $25,949; No. 290, $25,989; Total number of members 12,753. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 


Received on Mortuary Assessments to October 31, 1894 $1,773,799.20 

Received on- Expense Assessments to October 31, 1894 25,995.00 

Received on Applications, etc., to October 31, 1894 28,282.04 


$1,828,076. 24 

Total amount of benefits paid to October 31, 1894 $1,720,854.00 

Total amount of expenses paid to October 31, 1894 63.503.81 

Insurance cash on hand October 31, 1894 43.718.43 


EXPENSES PAID DURING OCTOBER. 


$1,828,076.24 


Postage, $131.00; Incidental, 25cts.; Salaries, $355.00; Fees returned, $7.00; Stationery and 
Printing, $10.85; Assessments returned, $15.00; Legal, $100; Total, $619.10. 

The above amounts were paid out during the month, but items of postage, printing, legal, etc., 
often cover supplies and work for more than one month, and sometimes several months. 


Received on Assessment No. 285 to Nov. 20. 
Received on Assessment No. 286 to Nov. 20. 
Received on Assessment No. 287 to Nov. 20. 
Received on Assessment No 288 to Nov. 20. 


$24,286.20 
24,207.30 
, 10,605.00 
3,467.00 


WM. P. DANIELS, Secretary. 


Digitized by boogie 



inline ar. 

Brolher G. W. Minear, of Division No. 263, 
met with death in a collision near Cumber- 
land, Md., on the 6th tilt. He was in charge of 
a stock train, and was running rapidly to 
make his point for meeting a limited express. 
Through a mistake the two trains met on a 
sharp curve while going at top speed, six of 
the trainmen losing their lives in the wreck. 
Brother Minear was but 28 years of age, and 
was one of the most popular members of his 
Division. The sympathy of all the Order will 
be extended the grief stricken wife and par- 
ents. The funeral was held at Cumberland 
under the auspices of the various orders of 
which deceased was an honored member, and 
was largely attended. 

$0 turner*. 

Brother Peter J. Sommers, of Division No. 
119, was killed on Nov. 8, last, at Montpelier, 
lnd.. while in the performance of his duties 
on the L. E. & W. R. R. At the time of the 
accident deceased was attempting to pull a : 
pin in front of the engine, and was caught in 
some way by the pilot, being so badly crushed 
that death ensued two hours later. A wife and 
two small boys are left to mourn his loss. 
Brother Sommers had been conductor on the 
G. R. & I R. R for seventeen years, and was 
one of the most popular men in that portion 
of the state. The funeral was conducted by 
the Order and by the Catholic Benevolent Le- 
gion. 

The charter of Division No. 168 is draped in 
mourning in memory of Brother J. H. Reed, 
who was killed while m the performance of 
his duty at Gorton. Pa. Although but a young 
man Brother Reed was one of the most active 
workers of his Division, and was deservedly 
popular wherever known. The most profound 
sympathy of the Brothers was extended the 
sorrowing wife and family in their grievous 
affliction. 

Ittarren. 

The sympathy of all the Order will be ex- 
tended to Brother John Warren, Chief Con- 
ductor of Division No. 367. who is mourning 
the death of his mother. Mrs. Warren had 
been for many years a rt sident of La Harpe, 
111., and it was to the family home in that city 
the final and irrevocable summons came. 
Dowered by nature with the chief of those 
graces which go to make up the most perfect 
womanhood, her life was a constant benefac- 
tion, and her death will be mourned wherever 
that blessed influence radiated. 


OStffori*. 

Brother S. C. Gifford, of Division No. 106, 
has been called upon to mourn the loss of his 
wife, who died at the family home in Rock 
Island, Nov. 11, last. The sympathy of every 
member of the Divishon and of the many 
friends was extended the bereaved ones in 
their loss of that most priceless of all earthly 
treasures, a loving wife and mother. 


Hull* 

M. J. Lull, a member of Division No 10. 
died Oct. 29, 1894, at Towanda, Pa., of heart 
disease. Brother Lull had been an employe 
of the L. V. R. R. for twenty-five years, at the 
time of his death was a member of the Penn- 
sylvania State Legislature, and one of the 
trustees of the Soldiers’ Home at Erie. Pa. 
He was widelv known and highly esteemed, 
and his death has cast a gloom over the entire 
community. He was a member of the ft. A. 

R. , also of the Northern Commandery K. T. of 
Towanda, which body had charge of burial 
service. He left an invalid wife who has the 
sympathy of all in the loss which she has sus- 
tained. 

(Eaton, 

At a regular meeting of Pocatello Division 
No. 209, resolutions were adopted expressing 
their sympathy with Brother L. A. Eaton ta 
the death of his beloved wife. Katherine 
Eaton, who passed away in the prime of life 
at WiUiamston, Michigan, Oct. 10th. I894,. A 
true wife and devoted mother— no higher eu- 
logv can be pronounced on any woman. Three 
little children are left with their father ta 
mourn her loss. 

$0a«tpUr. 

Brother William A. Wampler, of Division 
No. 179. was killed near Elizabeth Kas., on 
the A. T. & S. F. Ry. , on the night of Nov. 13, 
1894, while in the performance of his duty. 
He was passing over the top of his train, and 
is supposed to have fallen between the cars, 
a portion of his train, the entire second sec- 
tion and part of the third section passing over 
him befoie he was found. He leaves a father 
94 and a mother 76 years of age, but well pro- 
vided for in their old age. as Brother Wam- 
pler held a certificate in the Benefit Depart- 
ment of $3,000, made payable to his mother. 
Would that more parents of railroad men had 
such a son He was buried from the residence 
of his sister, Mrs. J. H Griffith, Friday, Nov 
16, by Topeka Division No. 179, O. R. C., and 
Lincoln Post, G. A. R., of which he was a 
member. Brother Wampler was a faithful 
member of our Order, and held the office of I. 

S. at the time of his death. 

3JWc(Egtricii. 

Pike’s Peak Division No. 244 mourns the 
loss of Brother Thomas McGetrich, who was 
killed in the active discharge of his duties at 
Florrisant, on the line of the Colorado Mid- 
land Ry, at 12:00 m. on Tuesday, Nov 27. 1894. 
Deceased was a worthy member of the Order, 
of high character, and a loyal Brother, At a 
meeting of his Division, resolutions were 
adopted expressing the sorrow of the mem- 
bers with and sympathy for his bereaved and 
loving wife. 


The members of Division No. 153, at their 
first regular meeting in November, adopted 
resolutions condoling with Brother H. M. 
Haggerty in the death of his beloved wife. 


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GEO. WESTINGHOUSE. Jr., President. JOHN CALDWELL, Treasurer. 

T. W. WELSH, Superintendent. W. W. CARD Secretary. 

H. H. WESTINGHOUSE, General Manager 


sSSSSmiESSr 

Westinghouse Air Brake Company, 

PITTSBURGH , PA., U. S. A. 

MANUFACTURERS OF THE 

Westinghouse Automatic Brake. 


The WESTINGHOUSE AUTOMATIC BRAKE is now in use on 24,000 engines and 325.000 
cars. This includes (with plain brakes) 232,000 freight cars, which is about 23 per cent o) 
the entire freight car equipment of the country, and about 80 per cent of these are engaged is 
nter-state traffic, affording the opportunity of controlling the speed of trains by their use 00 
railways over which they may pass. Orders have been received for 173,000 of the improved 
quick action brakes since December. 1887. 


The best results are obtained in freight train braking from having all the cars in a train fitted 
with power brakes, but several years’ experience has proven conclusively that brakes can be suc- 
cessfully and profitably used on freight trains where a portion of the cars are so equipped. 


E. L. ADREON, Manager. JOHN B. GRAY, Agent. C, C. HIGHAM Gen’l Supt. 

— tTHIE 


American jj^ JP C ompany, 

The Westinghouse Air Brake Co., Lessee. 


New York Office: 

160 Broadway, John B. Gray, Agent. 


Chicago Office: 
Grand Pacipc Hotil. 


MANUFACTURERS OF 

LOCOMOTIVE BRAKES 

General Offices, SI. Louis, Mo ,(J. 6. A. 


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Artificial 

Limbs. 

PAl'ENT ADJUSTABLE 
SLIP SOCKET : 

WARRANTED NOT TO 
CHAFE THE STUMP. 


LARGEST FIRM (excepting one) IN THE WORLD. 

The Inner Socket, seen outside the limb in cut, is made 
over a plaster cast of the stump, giving an exact fit, be- 
iog held permanently upon the stump by elastic fastened 
to lacer above, and in act of walking moves up and down 
in the Outer Socket, bringing all the friction between 
the two sockets,- instead of between the stump and the 
socket as is thecase in all single and wooden socket limbs. 
With our SLIP SOCKET the most tender and sensitive 
stump can be fitted and limb worn with perfect ease and 
comfort. 

Endorsed and purchased by U. S. Government. 

L Send for our new 1893 Catalogue with illustrati ns. 



Switch On 


The Winkley Artificial Limb Co., 

Room No. 20, Palace Building, 

MINNEAPOLIS, BIINN, 


And use this soap only, if you 
want a quick cleaning, coal and oil- 
stain removing, healing soap. 


THE JUDGES »' 

WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION 

Have made the 

HIGHEST AWARDS 

(Medals and Diplomas) to 

WALTER BAKER & CO. 

On each of the following named articles: 

BREAKFAST COCOA, 
Premium No. 1 Chocolate, . 
Vanilla Chocolate, . . . . 
German Sweet Chocolate, . 
Cocoa Butter, 

For “purity of material,” “excellent flavor,” and 
“uniform even composition.” 

W. BRKEB t CO., Dorchester, mass. 


yY n Efficient 

|-Jealth Officer 

ALWAYS READY FOR DUTY 

POND'S EXTRACT 

Wherever inflammation exists 
POND’S EXTRACT will find 
and will allay it. It is in- 
valuable for CATARRH, 
PILES, COLDS, SORE 
EYES, SORE THROAT, 
HOARSENESS, RHEU- 
MATISM' WOUNDS, 
BRUISES, SPRAINS, 
ail HEMORRHAGES and 
INFLAMMATIONS. 
REFUSE SUBSTITUTES. 

Genuine goods manufactured only by 
Pond’s Extract Co., 76 Fifth Avenue, New 
York. 


Digitized by boogie 



ESTABLISHED IS77. 



J. S. TOWNSEND, 


Railroaders’ Jeweler, 

1554 Wabash Ave., CHICAGO. 


We carry one of the finest stocks in the coun- 
try, Diamonds, Watches, Jewelry and elegant 
novelties for presentations. Goods shipped to 
any address C. O. D. approval. Satisfaction 
guaranteed 

Our 236 p?er/' illustrated catalogue sent on ap- 
plication. send ioc for agents terms, etc. 

Lappel buttons, emblems and Brotherhood 
goods of every description. 

J v 8. TOWNSEND, 

1554 WABASH AVB., CHICAGO 


if’S A . Ctfowwa 

CxO^^body 





North Carolina 

Plug Cut. 

The undisputed leader of plug cut smoking 
Tobaccos throughout the world. 

MARBURG BROS. 


Perfect Baby Heal 

ought to 
mean glow- 
ing health 
throughout 
childhood, 
and robust 
health in the 
years to 
come. When we see in children 
tendencies to weakness, we know 
they are missing the life of food 
taken. This loss is overcome by 

Scott’s Emulsion 

of Cod Liver Oil, with Hypophos- 
phites, a^at-food that builds up 
appetite and produces flesh at a 
rate that appears magical. 

Almost as palatable as milk . 

Prepared by Scott A Bowrne. N. Y All druggist*. 



9-6 



FARRAND & VOTEY, 

DETROIT, MICH.. 

Are Builders of the Highest Grade Organs 


In the market to-day, and for durability and every day 
satisfaction, cannot be surpassed. Every home is made 
more cheerful when graced with an F. & V. organ. For 
quality of tone and general utility, it is excelled by none. 
If you cannot purchase one in your locality, write direct 
to our factory at Detroit, Mich 
By sending a two cent stamp, we will send to any ad- 
dress our Daily Memorandum Calendar, which ia almost 
invaluable to railroad men as a time-book. 


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When Writing to Advertisers Mention 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 

“WORTH A GUINEA A BOX.” 



The Favourite of # 

All Railroad Men. 


A Standard RerAedy the World over 

FOR AL2. 

BILIOUS AND NERVOUS 

DISORDERS, 

Such as Sick Headache, 
Weak Stomach, 

• Impaired Digestion, 

Liver Complaint, 

Constipation, 

and all Similar Ailments. 

totered with a Tasteless and Soluble Coating. 

Of all druggists. Price, cents a box. 
New York Depot, B. V. Allen Co., 

365 Canal St. 

Send postal for nnrv. lnnble b«’nk. “^'-nnsHnatlon. 


For Scalded Hands 


For Bruised Fingers 
For Chapped Hands 
For Sore Hands 


For Open Sores and Cuts 


There is no such soothing and healing 
lemedy as a simple wash with 

Glenn's Sulphur Soap • 

It is suited for all the wants of Railroad 
men — as well as his wife or children — for 
the immediate relief of all Skin Troubles. 
It removes grease and dirt, yet heals at 
the same time. Your Druggist keeps it. 


To the 

IVERS & POND 

Plano Company. 

I have one of your upright pianos, and I 
am pleased to say it is a very line instrument 
and stands at the head of all others. 

HENRY L. WILDES, 

Bay State Div. 4J9 B. of L. E. 
Boston, May a, 1893. 

Do you want a PIANO? 

Do you want to know about the Ivers & Pond? 

Information and Catalogue are free, but you must writ' for thorn. 

All sorts of prices, according to the Style -only one sort of workmanshtp - the best 

there is. . . 

We send on approval -2 miles or 2000 — and pay freight out and return if piano is not 

all we claim — and perfectly satisfactory too. 

IVERS & POND PIANO CO., 



183 Tremont Street. 


BOSTON. MASS. 


Digitized by ^.oooie 


List ot Divisions bu States and Provinces. 




Mo 


LOCATION. 


LOCATION. Wo. 


LOOATXQY. 


LOOATZOH. 


LOCI TOW- Wo. 


Alabama* 


310 

& 


3*3 

85 


Avondale 

Birmingham 

Mobile 

Montgomery 

Selma 

Tuscumbia 


Arizona. 


Florida. 


Jacksonville 

Pensacola 

Sanford 


VeorgUt 


Tucson 

Williams 


Arlcaneae. 


33*| 

13 * 

* 5 i 

59| 

869 


Jonesboro 
Little Rock 
Pine Bluff 
Texarkana ' 
Van Buren 


California. 


ZII 

*82 

*95 

3i* 

*15 


Los Angeles 
fNeedles 
Sacramento . 
,San Bernardino! 
San Francisco 


Canada. 


*67 


47 


**4 

**9| 


*55 


*031 


355 

283 

886 

*7 

z 6 

350 

843 

39 

189 

35* 

*3 

*5 

*7 

345 

344 


I British Columbia. 

Vancouver 

Manitoba. 

|Winnipeg 

Mow Brunswick. 

Moncton 
I St. John 

N.-W. Territory. 

Medicine Hat 

Mora Beotia. 

| Truro 

Ontario. 
Allendale 
Chap lean 
Ft. William 
Hamilton 
London 
Niagara Falls 
North Bay 
I Ottawa 
Pt. Edward 
Rat Portage 
St. Thomas 
Stratford 
Toronto 
Toronto June. 
York 

Quebee. 
Farnham 
Montreal 
Point Levis 

| Quebec 

Colorado. 


Araericus 

Atlanta 

Augusta 

Cedartown 

Columbus 

Macon 

Savannah 

Way Cross 


Idaho. 


Hope 

Pocatello 


Illinois. 


1**7 

96 

81 

■ 8? ) 

II* **i 
[398 
t 
4* 

1 1*93 1 
,337 
I 282 

63 

Il8 

74 
3*7 
260 
! *35 
83 
101 
l308l 
1 79 ! 
!io6 
9 

, 7 

206 


Amboy 

Aurora 

Beardstown 

Bloomington 

Centralia 

Champaign 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chicago 

Chillicothe 

Clinton * 

Danville 

Decatur 

Effingham 

Forrest 

Freeport 

Galesburg 

Mattoon 

Mt. Carmel 

Peoria 

Rock Island 

Roodhouse 

Savanna 

Springfield 


Indiana. 


Iowa. 


*44 

63 

44 

3*5 

352 

36 

232 

*47 


Colo. Springs 
| Durango 
Denver 
Grand Junct’n 
Leadville 
Pueblo 
Salida 
Trinidad 


Connecticut 


50 

3*7 


Hartford 
New Haven 


Deleware. 


224 


1 Wilmington 


228 

34 

58 | 
, 33 
328 
1 21 

I 38 

347 

164 

333 

iUll 

1 1*68 

16 

84 

22 

llf 32 

lfe 


Mleeonri. 


N. Carolina. 


Tennessee. 


Andrews 

Ashley 

Elkhart 

Evansville 

Frankfort* 

Ft. Wayne 
'Garrett 
Huntington 
New Albany 
Indianapolis 
La Fayette 
Logansport 
Michigan City 
Seymour 
|Terre Haute 
Washington 


*65 

300 

338 

330 

*65 

276 

Its 

34* 

*5* 

XI 

1 * 37 1 
161 
*791 


Arkansas City 

Atchison 

Chanute 

Dodge City 

Eldorado 

Emporia 

Ft. Scott 

Goodland 

Herington 

Horton 

Junction City 

Neodesha 

Newton 

Osawatomie 

Parsons 

Topeka 


Kentucky! 


Bowling Green] 
Covington 
Lexington 
Louisville 
Padurah 
Somerset , 


Loulslaaa. 


New Orleans 


Brookfield 

Chillicothe 

De Soto 

Hannibal » 

Kansas City 

Moberly 

Sedalia 

Slater 

Springfield 

Springfield 

Stanberry 

St. Joseph 

St. Louis 

Trenton 


MieelaelppI 


Canton 

Meridian 

Vicksburg 


Montana. 


Glasgow 
Glendive 
Livingston 
Missoula 
So. Butte 


Nebraska 


Maine. 


66 


Portland 


Maryland. 


*73 

343 

220 | 

**7 

95 

1 3 5 
126 
[246 


Chadron 

Fairbury 

Fremont 

Lincoln 

McCook 

North Platte 

Omaha 

Wymore 


Asheville 

Charlotte 

Raleigh 

Wilmington 


N. Dakota. 


Dickinson 

Fargo 

Grand Forks 


Ohio. 


Baltimore 

Brunswick 

Cumberland 

Hagerstown 


Nevada. 


Wadsworth 


Minaohuiftti. 


N. Ha 


Boston 

Boston 

Fitchburg 

Springfield 

Worcester 


p35| 


Concord 


New Jeraey. 


Camden 

Hoboken 

i ersey City 
ersey City 
’hilhpsburg 


Mexico. 


Belle Plaine 

Boone 

Burlington 

Cedar Rapids 

Clinton 

Council Bluffs 

Creston 

Des Moines 

Dubuque 

Eagle Grove 

Estherville 

Ft. Dodge 

Fort Madison 

Marshal ltwn 

Mariono 

Ottumwa 

Perry 

Sanborn 

Sioux City 

Stuart 

Waterloo 


City of Mexico 
San Luis Potosi 


New Mexico 


Albuquerque 
Las Vegas 
Raton 


Michigan. 


Battle Creek 
Detroit 
East Saginaw 
Escanaba 
Gladstone 
Grand Rapids 
Fort Gratiot 
Jackson 
Marquette 
W. Bay City 


New York. 


Minnesota. 


Duluth 
Minneapolis 
Staples 
St. Cloud 
St. Paul 
Waseca 


1*56] 

Nl 

*44 
*47 

[281 
i*9] 
1*741 
*431 
168 
*53 
, 3* 

b*6 

162 

1*94 1 

65| 
i* 4 
229 
333 
10 

309 

12 
187 
*3 
5*, 
160 


Alliance 

Ashtabula 

Bellevue 

Bucyrus 

Chicago Tunct. 

Chillicothe 

Cincinnati 

Cleveland 

Collinwood 

Columbus 

Conneaut 

Dayton 

Dennison 

Gallon 

Lima 

Newark 

Springfield 

Toledo 

Youngstown 


Oregon. 


La Grande 
Portland 


Pewytmla. 


Albany 

Binghamton 

Buffalo 

Corning 

East Albany 

East Syracuse 

East Buffalo 

Elmira 

Homellsville 

Middletown 

New York 

Norwich 

Oneonta 

Oswego 

PortJervi 

Rochester 

Syracuse 

Troy 

Utica 

Watertown 


Alleghany City 

Altoona 

Bennett 

Bradford 

Carbondale 

Char tiers 

Columbia 

{Connellaville 

Derry Station 

Easton 

Erie 

Glenwood 
Great Bend 
Greensburg 
Harrisburg 

i ersey Shore 
lauch Chunk 
Meadville 
New Castle 
Oil City 
Philadelphia 
Philadelphia 
Pittston 
Pittsburg 
Reading 
Renoro 
Sayre 
Scottdale 
Scranton 
Sunbury 
Shamokin 
Tyrone 
Wilkes-Barre 


S. Carolina 


Central 

Charleston 

Columbia 


8. Dakota. 


Aberdeen 

Huron 

Milbank 


184 


Bristol 

Chattanooga 

Jackson 

Knoxville 

Memphis 

Nashville 

Texas. 

Big Spring 

Cleburne 

Denison 

El Paso 

Ennis 

Fort Worth 

Houston 

Palestine 

San Antonio 
Taylor 

Temple 

Tyler 

Yoakum 

Utah. 

Ogden 

Vermont. 

Bellows Falls 
Lyndonville 

St. Albans 

Virginia. 

Alexandria 
Clifton Forge 
Crewe 

No. Danville- 
Portsmouth 
Richmond 
Roanoke 

Waehlngt’n 

EUensburg 

Sprague 

Tacoma 

Tekoa 

W. Virginia 

Bluefield 

Grafton 

Hinton 

Huntington 

Kenova 

Keyser 

Wheeling 

• 

\ 

a 

! 

t 

Ashland 

Babcock 

Baraboo 

Janesville 

La Crosse 

Madison 

Milwaukee 

So. Kaukauna 
Stevens Point 
Waukesha 

Wyoming. 


Cheyenne 

Rawlins 


Digitized by 


Google 



THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


3 


ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS--DIRECTORY. 


GRAND OFFICERS, 

Grand Chief Conductor — E. E. Clark, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

Assistant Grand Chief Conductor — Charles H. Wilkins, 4800 Dearborn street, Chicago, 111 , 
Grand Secretary and Treasurer — Wm. P. Daniels, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

Grand Senior Conductor — A. B. Garretson, Osceola, Iowa. 

Grand Junior Conductor — E. W. Purrett, 514 Magnolia St., Toledo, O. 

Grand Inside Sentinel— R. E. Maleady, 16 W. 2d street, Corning, N. Y. 

Grand Outside Sentinel — W. C. Bradley, Box 256, City of Mexico, Mexico. 

TRUSTEES. 

Martin Clancy, Chairman, - - - Kent, Ohio 

F. J. Dorsey, - - - 46 Lilly Street, Winnipeg, Man. 

W. R. Mooney, - - - 34 Merrimack St., Nashua, N. H. 

INSURANCE COMMITTEE. 

Wm. J. Durbin, Chairman, - 726 Clybourn St., Milwaukee, Wis. 

J. H. Latimer, - • 36 Wall St,, Atlanta, Ga. 

W. K. Maxwell, - - - 15Z6 Morgan Ave., Parsons, Kas. 

Names in FULL FACE type are Cipher Correspondents. 


Name, No. and location. | 

OFFICERS. 

TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING. 

Chicago No. 1, 

Chicago, Ills. 

C. C., C. H. Warren. Grand Central Depot. 

Sec., J. H. Penfield, 851 72nd Place 

Will. Kilpatrick, 166 Park ave. 

First and Third Sundays, 10:30 a.m. 

83 Madison st.,opp. McVicker's theater. 

Buffalo No 2, 

Buffalo, N. Y. 

C. C., S. H. McDonough, 179 Morris st. 

Sec., H.*.« liupniaii, 71 Prospect st., Lockport 

First, second and fourth Sunday, 2:00 
p. m., over 120 E. Seneca street. 

St. Louis No. 3, 

St. Louis, Mo. 

C. C.. Dell Robinson, 1300 Dolman st. 

Sec.. W. F. Lcwl*, 2849 Russell avenue. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 1:00 p. m. 
Elk’s Hall, over Hogan Theatre, cor. 
10th and Pine sts. 

Marshall No. i, 

Marshalltown, la. 

C. C., F. M. Laudon, 311 south 4th st. 

Sec., H. McFarlane, 103 S. First st. 

First and Third Sundays, 3:00 p. m. 

I. O. O. F. Hall, over :st Nat. Bank. 

Collins No. 5, 

Baltimore, Md. 

C. C., H Long, 1135 Mount st. 

Sec., R. Stapleton, St. Denis, Md. 

TIiom. J. Henri x 

xst and 3d Tuesdays, 8 p. m. 

s. e. cor. Liberty & Barnet sts. 

Ba.tle Creek No. 6, 

Battle Creek, Mich. 

C. C., C. W. Shauman, 222 E. Main st. 

Sec., C. K. Martin, Mass av. & New Engl’d st. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:30 p. m. 
Elk’s Hall, cor. Jeff. & Canal st. 

Houston No. 7. 

Houston, Texas. 

C. C.,J. E. Archer, 1416 Jackson st. 

Sec , R. M. Hoover, lock box 258. 

Jl. E. Carey, 1819 Maury st. 

Every Monday, 2:00 p. m. 

Rochester No. 8, 

Rochester, N. Y. 

C' C.. J. O. Spelman. 

Sec., I>. E. Phillip*, 4 Rundel Park. 

Every Sunday. 3:00 p. m. 

Reynolds Arcade 

Elmira No. 9, 

Elmira, N. Y. 

C. C.. J. T. Walsh, 1303 Pratt st. 

Sec., T. B. Hewitt, 555 Franklin st. 

H. C. Hoagland, 614 Park Place. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 3:00 p. m. 

I. O. O. F. Temple. 

Southern Tier No. 10, C. C., J. Gailipan, Waverly, N. Y 

Sayre, Pa- Sec., G. A. Kennedy, box 297. 

\V, K. ttaynioiid. 

First Thursday ^: 3 o p. m. and Third 
Sunday 3 p. m. Richard’s Hall. 

Newton No. ix, 

Ne wton, Kas! 

C. C., L. L. Bigler. 

Sec.. J. J. Berry. 

C \\ Kankln. 205 W. Broadway. 

First and Third Mondays, 2:00 p. m. 

K. of P. Hall. 

Lackawanna No. 12. 

Scranton, Pa. 

C. C., Frank Transue. 

Sec., jno* Henchler, 529 north Lincoln ave. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:30 p. m. 

German I. O. O. F. Hall. 

Union No. 13, 

St. Thomas, Ont. 

C. C., T. Lowry. 

Sec.. J Mackenzie, box 887. 

Every Sunday, 2.00 p. m. Masonic Blk. 

Cleveland No. 14, 

Cleveland, Ohio 

C. C., John F. McVean, 92 Dunham av. 

Sec., (?. P. Hodges. 5 Fairfield st. 

(Tirlw CorleU, I47 Seely ave. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 1:00 p. m. 

City Hall, Superior St. 

Stratford No. 15, 

Stratford, Ont. 

C. Cm M. Wade. 

Sec . K. T. Itiiehanaii, box 488. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:30 p. m. 

Shakespere Hall. 

London No. 16, 

London, Ont. 

C. C., Geo. Woods, 103 Cartright st. 

Sec., Job I* .Tie A til IfTe, 256 Hill st. 

First and Third Sundays, 2:30 p. m. 

K. of P. Hall 

Toronto No. 17, 

Toronto. Ont. 

C. C., A. Riley. 

Sec., W. 1. Gray, 39 Beverly st. 

W. K Hill. 291 Palmerston ave. 

First and Third Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

I. O. O. F. Hall. 

Magnolia No. 18 

Temple. Texas. 

C. C.. S. E. Camp. 

Sec.. C’lia*. Wrontliam. 


Elkhart No. 19, 

Elkhart, Ind. 

C. C., S. J. Guyer, Marion st. 

Sec . J T. Wishart, 210 St. Joe st. 

W. D. Anderson, 123 St. Joe St. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

K. of P. Hall. 

Garfield No. 20, 

Collinwood, Ohio 

C. C., W. H. Moulton, box 191. 

Sec., G. Mitchell. C. A. Hammond. 

tst and 3d Tuesday, 2:00 p. m. 

I. O. O. F. Hall. 

Creston No. 21. 

Creston. Iowa. 

C.C., J. B. Rutlierlord, 212 N. Y. ave, 

Sec.. W. E. Cartwright. 204 W. Popular st. 

Fourth Sunday, 2:30 p. m., 2d Monday, 
9:30 a. m. G. A. R. Hall. 

Mason City No. 22, 

Sanborn, Iowa. 

C. C., lieu. im. jTIcCnllow. 

Sec.. A. Nelson.grs Rawlins st., Mason City, la. 

Second and Fourth Sunday, 10 a. m. 

Masonic Hall. 

Sylv&nia No. 23, 

Shamokin, Pa. 

C. C , S. E. Tllller, 924 E. Sunbury st. 

Sec , E. M. Seitzinger. 230 W. Dewart st 

First and Third Sundays, 10:00 a. m. 

j Kern’s Hall. 

Digitized by VjUOyIL 



4 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


NAME, NO. AND LOCATION. 

OFFICERS. 

TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING. 

St. Albans No. 24. 

St. Albans, Vt. 

C. C., A. F. Rock. 

Sec., JT H. Wiley, 34 Upper Weldon st. 


Maple City No. 25, 

Watertown, N. Y. 

C. C., O. A. Hiue, 3 Arcade street. 

Sec., P. Redmond, 127 Arsenal st. 

Ed Steven*, Carthage, N. Y. 

First and Third Sundays. 

Good Templar's Hall. 

Toledo No. 26, 

Toledo, Ohio. 

C. C., B. 0 . Smith, 1132 Ontario st. 

Sec., H. O. Write lit, care Penn depot. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2100 p. m. 

Odd Fellows Temple. 

Araum No. 27, . 

Hamilton, Ont. 

C. C., E. Connors, 26 Harriet st. 

Sec., A. Cameron. 179 Hess st. No. 

Jan. Ogllvle, Barton st. E. 

First Monday, 7:30 p. m.; Third Sun- 
day, 2:30 p. in. St. George's Hall. 

Carver No. a8. 

Atchison, Kas. 

C. C., W. J. Brownson, 401 Parallel st. 

Sec., H. Nesbit. Box 72. W. ft*. Ctleytfii moth st 

Second aqd Fourth Saturday, yw p. m. 

Masonic Hall. 

Randolph No. 29, 

Ottawa, Ont. 

C. C., D. Hopkins, 63 Cedar st. 

Sec., H. T. F. IHoore, 411 Nepean st. 

2d and 4th Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Wellington Hall 

Ozark No. 30, 

Springfield, Mo. 

C. C... W . ftft. Breese, Station A. 

Sec., J. L. Litten, 2102 N. Jefferson st. 

Second and Fourth Tuesdays, 2:00 p.m. 

Masonic Hall. 

Star No. 31, 

Burlington, Iowa. 

C. C., P. R. Kelley, 1309 Division st. 

Sec., M. W. Robinson, 1008 S. Third st. 

Il« H. Goodell, 613 Sumner st. 

First and Third Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Cor. 4th & Jefferson sts. 

Keystone No. 32, 

Meadville, Pa. 

C. C., M* Rough, 117 Dock st. 

Sec., G. A. Thompson, 356 Pine st. 

Every .Sunday, 2:00 p. m. 

K. of P Hall. 

Clinton No. 33, 

Clinton, Iowa. 

C. C., N. J. Oakes, 411 8th av. 

Sec., D. Abbott, 709 6th st. 

C. Wescott, 602 north First st. 

First Sunday, Third Monday. 

K. of P. Hall. 

Boone No. 34, 

Boone, Iowa. 

C. C., F. Champlin. 

Sec.. Wm. L. Butler, W. H. Parkin. 

2d Monday 10:00 a. m. 4th Sunday, 
2:00 p. m. I. O. O. F. Hau. 

North Platte No. 35, 

North Platte, Neb. 

C. C., N. ftft. iTlcBrlde, 318 east 8th st.. Grand 
Sec., W. R. Vernon, box 378. [Island, Neb. 

First Sunday, 8:00 p. m. 

Masonic Hall. 

Arkansas Valley No. 36, 

Pueblo, Colo. 

C. C., Harry Hart. 

Sec.. Ira Collin. C* J. Wilson, Triangle blk. 

Every Sunday, 2:00 p. m„ 3d floor 

Riverside blk.ioj^ N. Union ave. 

Delaware No. 37, 

Phillipsburg, N. J. 

C. C., E. C. Miller. 

Sec., Samuel Phipps, Box 319. 

First and Third Sundays, 

B. & D. Depot building. 

Des Moines No. 38, 

Des Moines, Iowa. 

C. C., E. J. Cavanaugh. 

Acting Sec., E. J. Cavanaugh, 1442 w. Locust. 

2d &. 4th Sundays. 2:00 p. tn. 

Cor. W- 6th & Walnut. 

Hannibal No. 39, 

Hannibal, Mo. 

C. C., F. A. Maloy. 

Sec.. L. R. Carver, 202 S. 8th st. 

B. W. Sliuttw, 316 Church st. 

First and Third Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

I. O. O. F. Hall. 

St. Paul, No. 40, 

St. Paul, Minn. 

C. C., J. D. Condit, 300 St. Petenst. 

Sec., ML N. Goal, 377 Starkey st. 

Sundays 624 Ohio st. 

First and Third Sundays, 3:00 p. m. 
Masonic Hall, Wabasha street, bet. 3rd 
and 4th avenue. 

Major Morris No. 41, 

Blue Island, Ills. 

C. C.. W. M Coffee. 

Se:.. G. D. Cruely, Blue Island, 111 . 

A. J. Anr**nd, 4706 Wentworth av. 

2d and 4th Sundays, 1:30 p. tn. 

I. O. 6. F. Hall, Com. Blk 

Trenton No. 42, 

Trenton, Mo. 

C. C., C. C. Hatch. 

Sec., E. A. Stone, box 174. 

S. W. Klnard, lock box 131. 

First and Third Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

17 Elm street. 

Central No. 43, 

East Syracuse, N. Y. 

C. C., J. H. Sanders. 

Sec., E. G. Andrews, box 157 

Every Sunday, 4 p.'m. 

Manahan’s Hall. 

Denver No. 44, 

Denver, Colo. 

C. C., D. A. Clark' 1727 Humboldt st. 

Sec., C. H. Gardner, 1406 17th st. 

J. J* Breanalian, 2712 Stout st. 

First and Third Sunday, 1:30 p. m. 

1343 Champa street. 

Chapman No. 43, 

Oneonta, N. Y. 

C. C., «!• Bedford* 30 south Main st. 

Sec., W. C. Gurney, box 133. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:30 p. m. 

Odd Fellows Hall. 

Milwaukee No. 46, 

Milwaukee, Wis. 

C. C.. P. W. O'Neil, 150 5th st. 

Sec., E. A. Sims, 584 21st st. 

W. J* Durbin, 726 Clybourn st. 

First and Third Sundays, a p. m. 

No. 1 Grand avenue. 

North Star No. 47, 

Winnipeg, Man. 

C. C., AV. G. Cheater, 122 Harriet st. 

Sec., F. J. Dorsey. 46 Lilly st. 

Second Saturday, 4th Friday, 8:oop. m. 
Forrester’s Hall, cor. Logan & Main st. 

International No. 48, 

Detroit, Mich. 

C. C., E. D. Schaffer, 417 24th st. 

Sec., P* C. Emilia, 70 Woodward avenue. 

First and Third Sunday, ft p. m. 

Elks Hall, Woodward av. Sc Larned st. 

Moberly No. 49. 

Moberly, Mo. 

C. C., J. W. Canatsy. 

Sec., H. H. Brewer. 423 Reed st. 

C. G. Copeland, 321 Rollins st. 

1st and 3d Sundays, i:ood. m. 

Hannah's Hall. 

Hartford No. 50, 

Hartford, Conn. 

C. C., W. 1 . Wallace. 47 Brook st. 

Sec., C* Si. Brigham, 161 Capital avenue. 

Second Sunday 2:00 p. m. K. P. Hall. 

297 Main st. 

Tyrone No. 51, | 

Tyrone, Pa. 

C. C., J- S. Benson. 

Sec., S. C. Cowen. b 124. B. B. Fry, E. Tyrone. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:00 p m. 

I. O. O. F. Hall. 

Neversink No. 52, 

Port Jervis. N. Y. 

C. C.. N. Decker, Erie depot, Jersey City, N. J 
Sec., I* H. Cole* 26 Prospect st. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, troop, m. 

Engineers' Hall 88 Pike st. 

Lone Star No. 53, 

Denison, Texas 

C. C., W. S. Oldham. 

Sec.. E. B. Kollert, 41 1 west Walker st. 

H. J* Miller. 

ist and 3rd Sundays, 7:300. m., and anti 
4th Sundays, 2:00 p, m. I. O. O. F. Hall. 

New York City No. 54, 

New York, N. Y. 

C. C., A J. Clow, 1785 Amsterdam Ave. [lyn. 

Sec., C. F. H el tzmH 11,880 Flushing ave, Brook- 

2d Sunday. 12:00 m. 

too W. 24th, st. 

Kaw Valiev No. 55, 

Kansas City Mo. 

C. C.. S. C. Clark, 2621 Holmes st. 

Sec., Geo. W. Ro»e, 128 w 5th st. 

Every Monday, 2 p. m. 

tot3 Walnut st. 

Z. C. Priest No. 56, 

Albany. N. Y. 

C. C., J. C. Sheldon, bx 89 Coeyman’s Jet., N. Y. 
Sec., Jfio. ITf. Stearns, 556 Central avenue. 

Third Sunday, 7:30 p. tn. 

73 State st. 

Evergreen No. 57, 

Fort Worth, Texas. 

C. C., W. R. Bell* 3*2 Broadway. 

Sec., R. M. Higgs. 317 s. Calhoun st. 

Every Monday, 2:00 p. m. 

K.ofP. Hall, Mainst. 

Valley City No. 58, 

Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

C. C., W. D. Francis, 393 2d av. west. 

Sec., !*• IB. Peck, 142 3th av. 

First and Third Sundays, 2:30 p. tn. 

K . of P. Hall, ist Ave. 

Alamo No. 59, 

Texatkana, Ark. 

C. C., W.H. Nicely, L. & P. tk. ofee. Ft.Worth.Tx. 
Sec., W. B. Crouch, Texarkana. Ark. 

John Carmichael, box 33. Texarkana, Tex. 

Every Tuesday, 7:30 p. m. 

7 gitizea oy Hall 



THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


5 


NAME. NO. AND LOCATION. 

OPKICKRS. 

TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING. 

Queen City No. 60, 

Sedalia, Mo. 

C. C., R. Richards. V. P. Hart. 

Sec., D. A. Williams, 3C9 E. Third st. 

1st, 2d, 3d and 4th Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

I. O. O. F. Hall, 303 Ohio st. 

La Ciosse No. 61. 

La Crosse. Wir. 

C. C . Ja« (-alley. 926 so. 5th st. 

Sec., E. A. Sloane. 

First and Third Sundays, 2:30 P- tn. 

903 Rose st. 

Triumph No. 62. 

Lvndonville, Vt. 

C. C., E. Bigelow. 

Sec., E. ]. Hill, Newport, Ver. 

K IS \\ etlierbee. West Lebanon, N. H. 


San Juan No. 63. 

Durango. Colo. 

C. C . W. T. Shirey, box 71. 

Secv.. R. A. Lowe, Box 634. Paul Meredith. 

2d and 4th Saturday 8:00 p. m. 

Odd Fellows Hall. 

Erie No. 64, 

Erie, Pa. 

C. C., T. J. Downing, 1509 Chestnut st. 

Sec., Jas. Harris, 1051 w. 18th st. 

Han Scarry, 218 W. 17th st. 

First and Third Sundays, 1:30 p. m. 

B. of L. E. Hall, 1220 State st. 

Campbell's Ledge No. 65, 
Pitlston, Pa. 

C. C., D. W. Howell. 43 Montgomery st. 

Sec.. \\ . 11, Mallie v%*on, 539 Montgomery st., 
W. Pittston, Pa. 


Pine Tree No. 66, 

Portland. Maine. 

C. C.. C. C. Berrv, 28 May st. 

Sec., S. S. Cahill, box 1063, Brunswick, Maine*. 

W. Sprague, 36 Spring st.. Auburn, Me. 

Third Sunday, 10:00 a. in. 

Rosini Hall. ♦ 

Johnson No. 67, 

Waterloo, Iowa. 

C. C-. lieu. (*. Miller, 119 Man«on st. 

Sec.. J. D. Hayes. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 3:00 p. m. 

A. 0. U. W. Hall. 

Baraboo No. 63 , 

Baraboo. Wis. 

C. C., iv H ► endall 

Sec.. J. P. Donahue, box 242. 

First and Third Mondays, 2:00 p. m. 

O. R C. Hall. Y. M. C A. Building. 

El Paso No. 69. 

El Paso, Texas. 

C. C.. S. O. Lesser. 

Sec., Dug Rose. IM. Oil Ion. 

Every Sunday, 2 p. m. 

G. A. R. Hall, San Antonio St. 

Montezuma No. 70. 

Las Vegas, N . M. 

C. C.. R S. Hays, E. Las Veg*s. 

Sec., C. H. Stevenson, box 171, E. Las Vegas, N. M 
C. Oder. East Las Vegas. N M. 

Everv Sunday, 2:00 p. m. 

K. of P. Hall. 

Chattahoochee No. 71, 

Columbus, Ga. 

C. C., C. J. Birdsong. 

Sec.. R. B. Coleman. 1106 Fifth avenue. 

>V. If Br|tilagliHin,ii 2 15th st 


Greer No. 72, 

Fargo, N. Dak. 

C. C., O. S. Hume, 2 Columbia Row. 

Sec.. UI. Walith, box 806. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:30 p. m. 

G. A. R. Hall. 

Ashtabula No. 73, 

Ashtabula. Ohio. 

C. C., J. A. McGritt, box 593. 

Sec., V. P. Harvey, 6s Fisk st. 

A. K. Belden, Sup"t office L. S. & M. S. R. R., 
Youngstown, Ohio. 

First Sunday, 9:30 a. m. 

K. of H. Hall. 

Henwood No. 74. 

Decatur,, Ills. 

C. C., A. E. Hughes. 932 e. North st. 

Sec.. Dan O’Brien, 254 So Union st. 

J 10 . ('rnu>liHW, 1076 E. William st. 

First and Third Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

K. of P. Hall. 

Mt. Royal No. 75, 

Montreal, Que. 

C. C., E. Mundv, 492 Seigneur st. 

Sec., H. McMillan. 159 Magdalen st. 

1*. Connor*, 72 Knox st. 

Second and last Tuesday, 1:00 p. m. 

St. Charles club house. Pt. St. Charles. 

San Antonio No. 76. 

San Antonio, Texas 

C. C . J. Hollon*, 720 Nolan st. 

Sec.. W. A. Shafer, box 313. 

Every Saturday, 10:00 a. m. 

I. O. O. F. Hall: 

Palestine No. 77, 

Palestine. Texas 

C. C.. F. E. Denison. 

Sec... B. F. Blount, box 65. W. C. Calloway. 

Every Saturday 7:30 p. in. 

O. R. C. Hall. 

Robinson No. 78, 

Savanna. Ills. 

C. 1 ., A. \V. Si 111*, lock box 78. 

Sec.. M. D. Downs. 

Second Monday & Fourth Sunday 2:00 
p. m. O. R. C. Hall. 

Peoria No. 79. 

Peoria, Ills. 

C. C.. W E Bell, 502 Fisher st. 

Sec. J. It. Nel*on, 317 Morgan st. 

Second and 4th Sundays, 10:00 a. m. 

Castle Hall. 5th floor Observatory bd’g 

West Farnham No. So, 

Montreal, P. Q 

C. C.. T. G. Martin. 

Sec.. H. W. Cutter, box 276, Farnham, P. Q. 

II. Wallace. 

Third Sunday 1:00 p. m. 

G. A. R. 411 St. James st. 

Friendship No. 81, 

Beardstown. Ills 

C. C., C. Ireland. 

Sec., T. M. Cook. C. C. Parker. 

Second and Fourth Sunday, 2:00 p. m. 

Durbin No. 82, 

Madison ; Wis. 

C. C., G. E. Willott, 348 w main st. 

Sec., Jerry Mullen, 405 W. Washington ave. 

Second and Fourth Sundays. 

Galesburg No. 83, 

Galesburg, Ills. 

C. C.. G. F. Conley. 710 Knoxville Road. 

Sec.. C. E. Smith, 708 E. Brooks st. 

1 O. N. IMarwtiall, 216 Ferris st. 

Second and Fourth Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. 

O R. C. hall, 31 N. Prairie st. 

Perry No, 84, 

Perry, Iowa. 

C. C., H- P. Ward, box 621. 

1 Sec.. W. C. Kelly, box 360. 

r. Welch, box 2. 

Second and fourth Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Masonic Hall. 

Aztec No. 85, 

Williams A. T. 

1 C. C., A. S. Coon. Peach Springs, A. T. 

Sec.. C. Iff. H leliardMon. 

Every Sunday, 2:00 p. m. 

O. R. C Hall. 

Delta No. 86, 

Escanaba, Mich 

C. C., S. J. Murphy, box 119. 

Sec., K. A. Lloyd, 308 Jennie st 

Second and Fourth Sundays. 

B of L. E. Hall. 

Bloomington No. 87. 

Bloomington. Ills 

C. C.. |. E. Krichbauin. 509 no Mason st. 

Sec.. J. F.. Gallivan, 1302 w. Mulberry st. 

Second and last Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

I. O. O. F. Hall. 

Ennis No. 88, 

Ennis, Texas 

C. C., Geo. A. Helm. Corsicana, Texas. 

Sec II. P. liarklay, Ennis. Texas 


Monon No. 89. 

Louisville, Ky. 

C. C., J. 6* Harrison, 1342 12th st. 

Sec.. C. S. Dodson. 216 E. Oak st. 

Every Sunday at 9:30 a. m. 

Fall City Hall. Market st. 

Waseca No. 90, 

Waseca, Minn. 
Mt. Hood No. 91, 

Portland, Ore. 

C. C. W. A. Miller. 

Sec.. Jas. Casey. M. J. IlaiiMon, 110x47. 

C. C.. Sam Stewart, Union depot. 

Sec., J. M Poorman, Woodburn, Ore. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Hall over P. O. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Elk’s Hall 2d, st. 

Terre Haute No. 92, 

Terre Haute. Ind. 

C. C., F. L. Campbell, 1240 N. 12th st. 

Sec W. J. StraiiK. 674 Wabash ave. 

First and Third Sundays. 9:30 a. m. 

Redmen’s hall, 22^ S. Third st. 

Ft. Dodge No. 93. 

Ft. Dodge, la 

C C.. E. A. Weston, box 576. 

Sec., Alfred Harrington. 

J A. nicGonasle, 713 Neb. st.. Sioux City, la. 

Every Fourth Sunday, 10:00 a. m. 

Odd Fellow’s hall, cor. 6th & Market st. 
^v^vrvlo 


6 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


HAMS, NO. AND LOCATION. 

OFFICERS. 

TIME AND PLACE OF MEST 1 NO. 

Geo. C. Cornwall No. 94, 
Wadsworth, Nev. 

C. C., G. E. McClure, Winnemucca, Nevada. 

Sec., H. I. Charter. <»eo. Shultz. 

Second A Fourth Sunday each month. 
3:00 p. in. Staunton's hall. 

Harvey No. 95. 

McCook, Neb. 

C. C.. A. G. Kine, box 404 

Sec., W. H. Brown, box 573. 

V. \V HroiiMon. 

Second and fourth Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Masonic ball 

Belknap No. 96, 

Aurora, 111 . 

C. C., C. D. Judd, 54 Black Hawk st. 

Sec., C. D. Rossetter, 387 Linden ave. 

Tito*. Fly mi, 279 Grant st 

First and Third Sundays. 3:00 p. m. 

Main A Broadway, 3d floor 

Roodhouse No. 97, 

Rood ho use, 111 . 

C. C., A. J. Fell 

Sec.. W. K. S. 

Every Saturday. K. of P. hall. 

at 7:30 p. m. 

Montgomery No. 9b, 

Montgomery, Ala. 

C. C., T. H. Mi/ell, 511 Columbus, st. 

Sec.. J. C. Ivliiott, 325 Catoma st. 

Alternate Thursdays 2:30 p. m. 

Commencing June 8. 1893. 

Milbank No. 99, 

Montevideo, Minn. 

C. C., Win. Crooker. 

Sec., Chas. Aggus. Fred llol/er. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Masonic hall. 

Hollingsworth No. too, 

Columbus, O. 

C. C., iTlttrK UllJ 200 Stanrin g st. 

Sec., Chas. Ragon, 38 W. Moundst. 

Second and Fourth Sundays 

I. O. O. F hall, So. High st 

Mattoon No. 101, 

Mattoon, III. 

C. C., J. W. Mans held. 

Sec., W . \\ , Mni|>»on, 10 Shelby st. 

Meets First and Third Sundays. 1:00 
p in. »K. of P. h hall. 

Oatley No. 102, 

Grand Rapids, Mich. 

C. C., w . J. Pnngborn, 219 Henry st. 

Sec., S. H. Walli/e, 601 S. Ionia st. 

Fust and third Sundays, 10:00 a. m. 
Campan blk.. S. Division st. 

Indianapolis No. 103, 

Indianapolis. Ind. 

C. C., O. M. Lemon, 297 n. Alabama st. 

Sec.. H. iTI. Mount's 45° Broadway. 

First and Third Sundays. 2:00 p. m. 
Hammond blk cor. New York st. and 
Massachusetts ave. 

Millard No. 104. 

Middletown. N. Y. 

C. C., J . F. Kra zee, 26 Broad st. 

Sec., G. F. Close, Prince st and Grand av. 

First Sunday, 2:00 p. m. 

K. of H. hall. 

Ogilvie No. 105. 

Meridian, Miss. 

C. C.. W. W. Cocke, Hast End. 

Sec.. K. K. Harrn*, 8th st. 

second and Fourth Sundays. 2:00 d. n. 

Cor Johnson & High st. 

Rock Island No. 106, 

Rock Island, 111 . 

C. C., J. C. Cuinn ings, 1308 Park Ave. Racine, Wis 

Sec.. Ed. Fenwick, 537 351I1 st. 

ii. 'IV Sewall, box 529, Eldon. Ia. 

2d Sunday, 7:00 p. in.; Fourth Sun* 
day, 2:00 p. m. 

Reynold's hall. 16th st. A 3d av. 

Cincinnati No. 107, 

Cincinnati, O 

C. C., John Devening. 4th and Center av. 

Sec., Ij. I>. t Ooke, 217 Carlisle av. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:00 p.w. 
Odd Fellows hall, 6th and Walnut 
streets. 

Crescent City No. 108. 

New Orleans, La. 

C. C.. W. Quinn, 161 Carondelet st. 

Sec.. E. M. Moales, 325 so. Franklin st. 

IU. It. Neil tiau*er, 335 Marias street. 

First and Third Mondays, 11:00 a. m. 

193 GravieT at. 

•Crawford No 109, 

Galion, Ohio. 

C. C , F. D. Holjoke, Marion. O. 

Sec.. L. S. Nelson, 507 n. Detroit st., Bellfontaine. 
Kobe. Crowley. (Ohio. 

First and third Sundays, 2:00p.m. 

Logan No. no, 

Logansport. Ind. 

C. C., P E. Weise, 1128 High st 

Sec . II. >. C«»Ht*», 2013 Spear st 

Second Sunday, 327 Market st. 

2:00 p in. Fourth Tuesday 7:30 p. ru. 

Los Angeles No. in 

Los Angeles, Cali 

C. C., E. F. Haggin. 1719 ea*t First st. 

Sec., J. W. Me i»j Hilt In. box 933. 

First and Third Saturday 7:30. 

107H North Main street. 

Centralia No. 112, 

Centralia, 111 . 

C C 7 , C C Davis. 

Sec.. J. L. Uavllk 1 box 32. 

First and Thiid Sunday, 2:30c 111 

L O. O. F. ball. 

Bower City No. 113, 

Janesville. Wis. 

C. C.. 1 *. HI Tlion»a*,58 Lincoln ,for C A N.W 
Sec., J 11 Dower. 221 so. Main st. 

Fourth Sundays, 2:00 p. in 

1.0 O F. Hall. 61 Milwaukeest. west. 

R. B. Hawkins No. 114, 

Pittsburg. Pa. 

C. ( V. 1 < > 1 i 1 1 Walters, room 11 Union Station 

Sec., G. E. Vance. 1309 nth St.. Altoona. Pa 
(■eo. <*. bood, room 1 z . Union Station. 

First and third Sundays, to:oo a. m. U. 
V. L. Hall, 77 Sixth avenue. 

El Capitan No. 115, C C.. T. Billingslea, 317 Turk st 

San Francisco. Cali. Sec., J. »i«rr, 3<>4 E. 1 1 tii st. Oakland Cal. 

ist, and 3d,Satuiday. 7:30 p. tn. 

Washington hall. 35 Eddy st. 

Tyler No. 116. C. C.. E. E. Haddix, box 31. 

Tyler. Texas. Sec.. \V. J. %% rlt&lil. 112 no. Boren st 


Minneapolis No 117. C. C., C. E. l it/gerals, 421 Bryant av. no. 

Minneapolis. Minn. Sec., John H. Pierce. 804 14'h av no. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 
F;iks hall 101 Washington avenue. S. 

Danville No. 118, 

Danville. Ill 

C. C., Z. Hamer. 

Sec.. F. S. !»*• vl*, 610 N Kimball st 

second and Fourtli Sundays, 2:00 p. tn. 

K. of H hall. 

Wayne No. 119, 

Ft. Wayne, Ind 

C. C., Chas. Zeigler, 303 W. Superior. 

Sec., C. N. Taylor. 86 Wells st. 

\\ . C. Smith, 9 north Cass. 

Every Sunday, 

106 Calhoun street. 

Atlantic No. 120. 

Huntington. Ind. 

C. C.. W. Mall. 61 S Jetteison st. 

Sec.. A C. Abbott, 64 east Matilda st. 

Every Sunday. 2 00 p. m. 

O R C. hail 

Huron No. 121, 

Huron, S. Dak 

C C.. F\ L. Hosac. 225 Beach st. 

Sec.. HI. M. .tlarkey , 4 iv Beach -t 

Second and Fourtli Sundays, 9:30 a. tn 
Masonic hall, 312 Dak. a **. 

Boston No. 122, 

Boston, Mass 

C. C.. W. F. Boynton, 44 Everett st, Everett, Mass. 
Sec... C. II. Raker, iq Mvstic Somerville 

Third Sunday, 2:00 p, ra, 

K. of H. hall. 730 Wash. m. 

Macon No. 123, 

Macon, Ga. 

C. C., A. N. Kendrick. 

Sec., T. K. Hunsaker. J. H. Hull 

First and Tuird Sundays 2.*oo p. nt. 3«i 
and 4th Sunday 10:15 *• tn. LO< O. V. 
hall, cor Mulberry st and Cotton av. 

Wahsatch No 124, 

Ogden, Utah 

C. C. E. S. Crocker. 663 21st st. 

Sec , J H McCoy, box 331. 

J . 1*. Sprinit. 

First Sunday, 1:30 p. m. Third Satur- 
day, 730 p. m , Castle hall, 427 «tli si 

Friendly Hand No. 125. 

Andrews, Ind 

C. C.. F. S. Beals, box 331 

Sec . H N. Creason. box 24 

C. II. Thornburg. 

First and Third Wednesday, and Sec* 
ond and Fourth Tuesday, 7:30 p. tn. 

Fireman's bail 

Omaha No. 126, 

Omaha, Neb 

C. C.. C. C Kiser, 1624 S. Tenth st. 

. Sec., ITI. J. Kot he, 1436 so. 9th st. 

First and Third Sundays, 2 00 p. tn 
Continental blk . cor 15th and Douglas. 

> 

Digitized by CjOOQIc 



THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


NAME. NO. AND LOCATION. 

OFFICERS. 

TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING. 

Wylie No. 127, 

Amboy. 111 . 

C C., A. A. Graves, box 438. 

Sec., C. D. Knowles box 343. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:00 p, m. 

I. O. O. F. hall. 

Cheyenne No. 128, 

Cheyenne. Wyo. 

C. C.. E. D. Woodmansee, 1912 Central ave. 

Sec.. E. B. Bond. 

\V. A. Mill*. 

1st, 9th, 17th and 25th of each month. 

2 p. m. K. P. hall. 

Great Bend No. 129. 

Great Bend, Pa. 

C. C.,Chas. Lawrence, Halstead, Pa. 

Sec., Thos Summer:on, box 104. 

K. F. Wilmol, Halstead, Pa. 

First and Third Sundays, 12:30 p.m. 

W. J. Day's hall. Main st. 

Stadacona No. 130, 

Quebec, P. Q. 

C. C., E. Reynolds. 2J2 Palace street. 

Sec., Eugeue McKenna, 15 St. Famille st. 


Little Rock No. 131, 

Little Rock, Ark. 

C. C., J. T. Wilson. Argenta, Ark. 

Sec.. . H. Llodge, 1408 w 4th st. 

Second, and Fourth Sundays, at 2:00 
p.m, First and Third Sundays 7:30 
p. m. O. R. C. hall, 1000 W. Mark- 
ham st. 

Salida No. 1^. 

Salida. Colo. 

C. C., Hugh Long, box 483. 

Sec., Li. *hlvely, box 512. 

Second and Fourth Sundays. 10:00 a. m 

I. O. O. F. Hall. 

Bowling Green No. 133, 

Bowling Green. Ky. 

C. C., J. L. Hockersmith, 1107 Adams st. 

Sec.. \Vm. Lewi*. 1 107 Adams st. 

Every Sunday, 9:30 a, m. 

Wrights hall. 

Bellevue No. 134. 

Bellevue, Ohio 

C. C., F. Scheaffer. 

Sec.. L. C. Krown, box 177. 

Every Monday, 2:00. 

K. of P. hall. 

Rock City No. 13$, 

Nashville. Tenn. 

C. C., Sam’l H. Allin, 434 Humphries st. 

Sec.. XV, N. Killing*, 1209 S. Market st. 

First and third Sunday i:3op. m. Pyth- 
ian Hall, Union street. 

Ashton No. 136, 

Huntington. W. Va. 

C. C . It II ftlllaniMon, 724 6th av 

Sec., H. M. Mitchell. 7286th ave. 

First and Third Tuesdays at 7 d. m. 

Flooding hall, 3d av. 

Osawatomie No. 137, 

Osawatomie. Kans. 

C. C., A. 1 . Scow, lock box 44. 

Sec., S. E. litrilon lock box 2. 

tst and 3d Monday at 7:00 p. m. 

Workman hah. 

Britton No. 138, 

Garrett, Ind. 

C. C., W. K. Hayes, box 254. 

Sec.. J. H. Barniville, 1 box ^4. 

J. M. Elder, Chicago Junction, O. 

Second and Fourth Sundays. 

6. R. C. hall. 

Stanton No. 139, 

Knoxville. Tenn. 

C. C., R. B. Ragsdale. 

Sec.. T. E. McLean. 

It. J. 1 ear wood, 45 Broad st. 

1st and 3d Sundays, 1:30 p. m.; 2d and 
4th Wednesdays, 7:30 p. m. 

K of P. Hall. 

New River No. 140, 

Hinton, W. Va 

C. C., A. A. Riddleberger. 

Sec., J. G. Cooke box 91. F. L. Cox. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

St. Joseph No 141, 

St Joseph, Mo. 

C. C., J. Painter, 2014 so. 10th st. 

Sec.. I. N. Miller, 1710 Sacramento st. 

II. L. Spangler, 1137 LaFayette si 

Evtry Sunday, 2:00 p. m. 

Geiwitz Hall cor. 10th & Olive sts. 

Laramie No. 142. 

Rawlins. Wyo. 

C. C.. J. H. Sullivan. 

Sec.. Harvey Simpson, box 64, 

L. C. Kelley. 

1st & 3d Wednesday, 7:30 p. ni. 

I. O. O. F. hall. 

Dauphin No. 143, 

Harrisburg. Pa. 

C. C., Thos. B. Gilliland, 614 Riley st. 

Sec., Geo. I. Wood. 1624 No. Third st. 

Alex H. Em*i rlglii, 1221 Wallace st. 

First and Third Sunday at 7:30. 

Clark Sibles’ hall, S. E. corner Third 
& Cumberland sts. 

Derry No. 144 

Derry Station, Pa. 

C. C.,. Robt. Kern. 

Sec., C. S. Shaffer, box 28. Ju*. A. Berrj. 

1st & 3d Sunday, 2:00 p. m. 

Chosen Friend’s hall. 

Nickle Plate No. 145. 

Conneaut, 0. 

C. C., P. O. Moore 

Sec.. W. E. Peters, box 438. 

tV. E. Bender, box 251. 

istand 3d Wednesdays, 7:30 p. m.; 2d 
and 4th Wednesdays, 2:co p. in. 

G. A. R. hall. Main st, 

E. A. Smith No. 146. 

Fitchburg, Mass. 

C. C., John E Storer. 

Sec . J J. Sullivan, 2 Avon place. 

| First and Third Sunday, 11:30 a. m. 

G. A. R. hall. 

Ira C. Sherry No 147. 

Easton, Pa. 

C. C., Edwaid Dorsheimer, Berwick st. so. Easton 
Sec E. Sunderland. 35 no. warren st. 

Second and Fourth Sunday. 2:00 p. m. 

Drake's Bld g. S. Third st. 

Lookout No 148, 

Chattanooga, Tenn, 

C. C., J. A. Stone, 125 Florence st. 

Sec It. It. Stegall, 417 Gillespie st 

First and Third Sunday, 2:00 p. tn. 

Jackson No. 149, 

Jackson. Tenn 

C. C.. W s. Mar. 1*. 

Sec.. J. E. Barry. 418 S. Market St. 

Every Saturday, 7:00 p. m. 

Elk’s hall, Hurt blocic. 

Kincaid No. 150. 

Utica. N. Y. 

C. C.,J. T. Excell, 38 Steuben st. 

Sec. F. E. Tewksbury, 82 Roberts st 

second & Fourth Sunday, 2:00 p. m. 

I. O. O.F. hall. 

Two Harbors. No 151, 

Neodesha, Kansas. 

C C., C. W. Thompson. 

Sec , E. Colebaugh. 


Richmond No. 152. 

Richmond, Va. 

C. C., J. T. Cook. Manchester. Va., care R &D. y’d 
Sec . Ja*. E. Fuller, 1812 E. Broad st. 

Third Sunday, 2:00 p, in.; First Monday 
10:00 a. in. , 

I. 0 . 0 . F. hall. corFranklin & Mayo sts. 

Division No. 153, 

Mauch Chunk, Pa 

C. C.. Wm. Zerbey. 

Sec I>. I.l>ugiiii, box 271, E. Mauch Chunk, Pa. 

First and Third Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Odd Fellows Temple. 

Binghamton No. 154, 

Binghamton. N Y. 

C. C.. Polk Fanner. Susquehanna, Pa 

Sec., W. E. Carpenter. Montrose. Pa. 

Third Sunday, 3:00 p. m. 

103 Court street. 

Syracuse No. 155, 

Syracuse. N Y. 

C. C . M. J. McCormick. 

Sec. By rou Mm ri, 212 Fitch st. 

First and Third Sunday. 2 00 p. m. 

Over D. L. & W. Depot 

Pennsylvania No. 156. 

Carbondale. Pa. 

C. C., J. F. Roberts, 10 Salem ave. 

Sec.. A. C. Lowii, 5 Chestnut av 

Boyd C'a*e, 16 Darte ave. 

First and Third Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Assembly hall, 32 n. Main st. 

New England No. 157. 

Boston. Mass. 

C.C , A. H Brown, 86 High st. Charlestown Dist 
Sec. XV, K. Mooney, 32 Washington st.. 

Concord. N. H. 

Fourth Sunday 10:30 a. in. 

K. of H. hall. 730 Washington st. 

Alexandria No. 158. 

Alexandria. Va. 

C. C., F. G. Faulkner, Payne st. 

Sec , O. Mank in, 210 no. Patrick st 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 

I. O. O. F. hall. 

-Cityof Mexico No. 159. 

City of Mexico, Mexico. 

C. C , H. H. Greenleaf. box 256 

Sec W. C. Bradley, box 256. 

First and Third Saturdays, 8:30 p. m. 

I. 0 . O. F. hall. 2d Calle Independen 
cia No. 3. 

Digitized by CjOOQIc 


8 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


NAME, NO. AND LOCATION. 

OFFICEKS. 

TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING. 

Wyoming Valley No. ibo, 
Wilkesbarre. Pa. 

C. C.. W. H. Hubble, 422 N. 7th st., Scranton, Pa. 
Sec., J. H.Keithline, 235 South st. 

Jhn. Finley. 26 Pearl st. 

1st & 3 Sunday, 1:30 p.m. K. P. balL 
14 so. main st. 

Parsons No. 161, 

Parsons, Kans. 

C. C., E. L. Green, 1419 Forest ave. 

Sec., H. E. Brown, 1800 Morgan ave. 

W. K. Maxwell, 1526 Morgan ave. 

Every Thursday 7:30 p. in. 

I. O. O. F. hall. 

West Philadelphia No. 162. 
' Philadelphia, Pa. 

C. C.. John H. Mooney. Chestnut Hill. 

Sec., \V . J. .Maxwell, 144 Highland avenue. 

Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia 

2d Thuisday, 8:00 p. m.; 4th Sunday. 

2:000. in., commencing Aug. t. 
Dental hall, N. E. cor 13th & Arch sta 

Oil Ciiy No. 163, 

Oil City. Pa. 

C. C.,Jas Shaughnesscy. 

Sec , P. O. Briggs, 316 Plumer st. 

C. \V. Slone*, 418 North st. 

First Sunday, 2.30 p. m. 

G. A. R hall. 

Eagle Grove No. 164, 

Eagle Grove, la. 

C. C., Jaw. Mcrllng, box 822. 

Sec., W. R. Hammond, lock box 835. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2.00 p m. 

K. of P.hall. 

Ft. Scott No. 165, 

Ft. Scott, Kans. 

C. C.. C. B. Tnompson, 732 so. Wilson st 

Sec., U. G. Marvel, 1124 E. Wall st. 

J. A. MnliihU 24 so. Little st. 

1st Sunday and 3d Monday at 1 p. m. 

I. O. O. F. hall, 10 Scott avenue. 

Licking No. 166 

Newark, Ohio 

| C. C.. F. M. Harris, 102 Valley st. 

Sec., Grant Ferguson. 47 Buena Vista st. 

K. F. Moore, 33 Clinton st. 

First and third Sunday, 1:30 p m. 

O. R. C. Hall. 17M S. Side Pub. Sq. 

Frontier City No. 167, 

Oswego, N. Y. 

1 C. C.. J. Cochrane, 185^ w. 8th st. 

Sec.. J. Donovan, 239 W. 7th st. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, at 4:00 

1 pui. Engineer's hall, 

N. Y. O. & W.bldg, East Oswego. 

Shore No. 168. 

Jersey Shore. Pa. 

i C.C..\v. S. Caraher. 

! Sec.. . 1 . L Boyer. 

First and Third Sundays, 2:00 p. tn. 

Neptune No. 169. 

Jersey City, N. J. 

| C. C., H. D. Staats, 79 west 92d st. N. Y City. 

Sec., A. Mitchell, 313^ 6th st.. Jersey City, N, J. 
Kobt. Me Dona hi, 335 Vanck st’ 

First and Third Sundays, 2:30 p. m. 

Elk’s Hall, 96 Montgomery st. 

Camden No. 170. 

Camden. N. J. 

C. C., A. E. Ludlow, 366 Carman st. 

Sec.. . 1 . P. Amkwr, box478 Mt. Holly. N. J. 

First and Third Sunday, 1:30 p. m. 
Fourth Monday, 10:30 a. m. 

O. R. C. hall, From & Market si 

Thos. Dickson No. 171. 

Troy, N. Y. 

C. C., Win. McKinney, 85 George st. Green Island. 
Sec.. D. O. Gibbs, 244 Ninth avenue. 

W. D. Hall, 1 10 1 25th st.. W. Troy, N Y. 

First and Third Saturdays, 7 30 p. m 

Odd Fellow's hall. 

Mountain City No. 172, 

Altoona. Pa. 

C. C., L. Wissenger, 21139th ave. 

Sec.. Win. Bowen, Conemaugh. Pa. 

Every 3d Sunday 2:30 p. m. 

mh Ave. and 13th st. 

Long Pine No. 173, 

Chadron, Neb. 

C. C.,J. B. Leader, lock box 53. 

Sec., C. O. Greene, box 376. A M. Wrlglit, 

Every Sunday. 9:00 a. m. 

Castle hall. 

Greensburg No. 174, 

Greensbnrg. Pa. 

C. C.. J. Baughman. 

Sec., C. F. Keeley. 

Second and Fourth Sundays. 2:00 p. in. 

Memphis No. 17s. 

Memphis, Tenn. 

C. C.. W. B. Learnard. 354 Virginia ave. 

Sec.. J. B. Stewart, 603 Shelby st. 

J (*oodwin, 281 Georgia st. 

Every Sunday, 2:00p.m. 

K. of P. hall, Hernando st. 

Corning No. 176, 

Corning. N. Y. 

C. C., J. D. Carlton. 295 E. Erie avenue. 

Sec., act’g, R. E. Maleady, 14 w, istst. 

k. Lallirop, box 254. 

First and Third Sundays, 3x10 p. m. 

Gruber Hall. 

Alliance No. 177, 

Alliance, Ohio. 

C. C.. H. R. Bowden, 645 Arch av. 

Sec.. M. 14 Mallicw*, 734 east Patterson st. 

First and third Sunday, 1:00 p. m. 

K. of P. hall, E. Main st 

Great Northern No. 178. 
Grand Forks, N. Dak. 

C. C., S. C. Jones. 

Sec., L. F. YaiiDtiwcn, 521 0.4th st Gr’d Forks. 

1st & 2d Sunday. 

K. of P. Hall. Third street. 

Topeka No, 179, 

Topeka, Kans. 

C. C., J. M. Woodward. 

Sec.. ’1*. P. Kelly, 227 Taylor st 

First, 2d. 3d, and 4th Sunday*, jo e. m 
Redmen’shall, 620 Kansas 

Atlanta No. 180. 

Atlanta, Ga. 

C. C., J. W. Humphries, 21 r E. Hunter st. 

Sec., C. J. Adair, 203 E. Hunter st. 

E. II. Acker, 318 E. Fair st. 

Every Sunday, 2:00 p. m. I. O. O. F 
hall. Alabama and Whitehall st*. 

Chillicothe No. 181, 

Chillicothe, O. 

C. C . A. F. Cleveland. 

Sec. C- J. McCoy, 341 e. Main st. f 

Second and Third Sunday. 

1 O. O. P. bail. 

Wolverine No. 182, 

Jackson. Mich. 

C. C.. F. A. Birdsall, 110 Seymour ave. 

Sec., J. W. Dutton, box 13 62. 

A. Nwidenwky, 31 1 Oak street. 

Alternate Mondays, commencing Jan 
6th, at 2 00 p. in. 

A.O.U.W. hall, Mechanic and Main stf. 

Knobley No. 183. 

Keyser. W. Va. 

C. C.. John Avers. 

Sec., C. J. Welch. J. M. Catlier*. 

First and Third Sunday 1:30 p, m 
Clemen’s hall cor. Main and Cet’t st*. 

Blue Ridge No. 184, 

Clifton Forge, Va. 

C. C.,S. C. Buster. 

Sec., C. E. Pugh W. li. Lewi* 

Second Monday, t:oo p. m. Fourib 
Monday, 8:00 p. m. Masonic hall . 

Lanier No. 185. 

Selma. Ala 

C. C., John D. Riggs. 

Sec., W. F. Stoddard, Church & Dallas sis 

First and Third Sunday, 2:00 p. m 

1. O. O F. ball. 

Birmingham No. 186. 

Birmingham. Ala 

C. C., R. W. Arnold, 912 so. 22d st. 

Sec., Geo. Lumpkin, box 757. 

J S Brook*, Southern Hotel. 

Second and Fourth Suudays. zjoo p. m. 
K. P. hall, 1st ^ve. between 19th and 

20th streets. 

Sunbury No. 187, 

Sunburv, Pa. 

C. C.. N. Fertich . 

Sec., E. M. McAlpine, Noithumberland. Pa 

(ioo Ainnierman 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:oop 01 

P O. S of A hall, over Snyder & 

Co.. Market st. 

Stanberry No. 188, 

Stanberry, Mo 

C. C , A D. Alcott. box 241. 

Sec.. H. II . Wheeler, box 403. 

Ed Mulligan, Stanberry. Mo. 

Second and Fourth Sundays 2000 tn 
Trainmen's hall- 

Frontier No. 189, 

Pi. Edward, Ont. 

C. C., Henry Bell, box 60. 

Sec.. A. Manley, lock box 3. 

First and Third Tuesdays, ixw p. tu 

1. O O. F hall. 

Grafton No. 190, 

Grafton, W. Va. 

C. C , J. L. Newlon. 

Sec., J. C. Du fry. 

Every Saturday & 1st Monday 7,30 p m 
Brinkman'* hall 

Yellowstone No. 191, 

Glendive. Mont. 

C C.. J. M. Rapelje. box 18. 

Sec.. \V . \V. Berry, box 43. 

First and Third Wednesday, 2:co p tn 
Masanie Temple 

East Saginaw No. 19*, 

East Saginaw, Mich. 

C C.. Win. Bills. 

Sec.. G. W. Smith. 1409 Carroll st., E. Saginaw 

B. J. Corrigan, Saginaw, E.S. F.&P.M. depot 

Fiist and Third Sunday, iroup 00 

k P hall. N. W<uhtft#'oo ti 

Digitized by CjOOQLC 



THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


9 


NAME. NO. AND LOCATION. 

OFFICERS- 

TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING. 

Bu cyrus No. 193, 

Bucyrus. O. 

C. C., E. F. Morse. 

Sec., W. B. Baylor, 230 west Charles st. 

A. 11 . Gardner 

First and third Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Masonic Hall 

Boookfield No. 194, 

Brookfield, Mo. 

C. C., J. F. Doan. 

Sec., J. J. Bryant, 1 box 406. J Dailey. 

First and Third Sundays, 2:30 p. m. 

Wheeler’s hall. 

Sierra Nevada No. 195, 

Sacramento. Cali. 

C. C., M. V. Murray, 1216 P st. 

Sec., Geo. W. Lewis, 701 I st. 

J. C. Me.' Vlaftler, 1510 19th st. 

Second and Fourth Sunday, 7:30 p. nr 
Y. M. 1 . hall, 7th st. 

St. Johns No. 196. 

Jacksonville, Fla. 

C. C., C«eOi 1 Floyd, 100 w Bay st. 

Sec , S. L. Earle. 

First and Third Sundays, 9:30 a. m. 

K. of P. hall. Reed bldg, 

Brainerd No. 197, 

Staples. Minn. 

C. C.. W. J. Flynn. 

Sec.. J. B. Quimby, 1 box 126. 

II. J. Porter. 

First and Third Sunday, 9:30 a. m.^ 

I. O. O. F. hall. 

Springfield No. 198. 

Springfield, Mass. 

C. C., C. D. Anderson, 18 Bond st. 

Sec.. A. P. Abbott, 34 Greenwood st. 

F 11 Ne%vtoii,34Creenwood st, 

2d Sunday, 2:00 p. m. t 

B. & A. Granite building. 

Pensacola No. 199. 

Pensacola. Fla. 

C. C.. E. A. Wallace, 614 N Haynes st. 

Frank Tliitilicus. 

First and Third Saturdays. 8:00 p. m. 

K. of P. hall, W. Government st. 

Bradford No. 200, 

Bradford. Pa. 

C. C., F M. Brown, 30 Elm st. 

Sec.. 11 N. It Icliiiiotid, care B. B. & K. R‘y 

First and Third Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Odd Fellows' Hall, Main st. 

McKees Rocks No. 201. 

Chartiers, Pa. 

C. C-. Win. Boate, McKees Rocks, Pa. 

Sec.. M * Mineox, McKees Rocks Pa. 

First and third Sunday 7:30 p. m. 

Genche's hall. 

Augusta No. 202, 

Augusta. Ga. 

C. C., J C. Wages, care Ga. ry. Atlanta, Ga. 

Sec.,*. L. Holllngwtvorlli, 933 Talcott st., 

Augusta, Ga. 

Second and Fourth Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. 
I. O. O. F. hall, cor Ellis & Jackson st. 

Howe No 203, 

Truro. N. S. 

C. C., H. D. Archbald. 

Sec , W. McClafferty, box 110 J. J. Dally. 

[McKay's hall, Inglis st. 

Quaker City No. 204. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

C. C., J. G. Happersett, 3728 Locust si. 

Sec., H. C. Rohrer, 836 No. 41st st. 

It H Tldeniaii Darby. Pa. 

Second and fourth Tuesday at 8.00 a.m 
Dental hall N. W. cor 13th and Arch sts 

R. E. Lee No. 205. 

Portsmouth. Va. 

C.C..H. Morris, 305 Henry st. 

Sec . E. B. Lewi*. 8ot Washington st. 

2d & 4th Sunday 1:30 p. m. 

Ashton hall. 305 High st. 

Lincoln No. 206. 

Springfield. Ills. 

C C , W. P Sheehan, 121 1 E Cook st. 

Sec , G. B. Oder, 607 so. nth st. 

Win Kelli), 1409 E. Washington st. 

2d & 4th Sunday, at 2:00 p. m. 
Redmen’s hall, cor. 5th and Monroe sts. 

Butler No. 207. 

Ashley, Ind. 

C. C., M. Garrison, box 307, Butler, Ind. 

Sec., Alton D. Wells. Ashley. Ind 
<>eo. F. Moner, box 388, Butler. Ind. 

Second & Fourth Sundays, at 9:00 a.m. 
First and Third Mondays at 7:00 p. m. 

Palmetto No. 208. 

Charleston. S. C. 

C. C., T. A. Sellers. 

Sec H. L. •Mnekney, 83 Wentworth st. 

Fir*»t and Third Sundays at 11 a. m. 

Irish Vol. Hall, Vanderhorst st. 

Pocatello No. 209, 

Pocatello, Idaho. 

C. C. Tim Farrell. 

Sec., John Scott, box 421. 

Every Monday, a:oo p. m. 

Masonic hall. 

Stonewall Jackson No. 210, 
Roanoke, Va. 

C C., J. \V. Bond Ilia ill, care N & W R. R. 

Sec., H. L. Fulwede. 

First, Second and Fourth Sundays, at 
2:00 p. in. I. O. O. F. hall 

Stevens Point No. 21 1, 

Stevens Point, Wis. 

C. C.. ii. Murray, 4tojDixon st. 

Sec., B F. Bowen, cor. Shaurett and Div. ns. 

Every Wednesday, 7:30 p. m. 

Adam's Hall, South Side. 

Slater No. 212. 

Slater, Mo. 

C. C., A. C. Reynerson, box 515. 

Sec.. H. C. Park . 1 . IM. Hllea, box 526. 

Second and Fourth Mondays, 2:00 p.m. 
1st and 3d Sundays, K. of P. ball. 

Barker No 213, 

Michigan City, Ind.l 

C. C.. Wm. Bouchard, 115 Cedar st. 

Sec . W.C. Bii*Ii, box 320. 

2d and 4th Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

I. O. O. F. hall, cor. Mich, and Frank- 
lin streets. 

Bartlett No. 214, 

Moncton. N. B. 

C. Cm John Cotfey. 

Sec.. P. K. Heine, box 102. 

Every Sunday, 2:00 p. m. 

Pythian hall. 

Columbia No. 215, 

Columbia, S. C. 

C 1 C., O. E. Hughes, 54 Harden st. 

Sec , M. B. Gr**en, Go Senate st. 

P.C milliard, Jerome hotel. 

2d & 4th Saturday, 8:00 p‘m 

K. of P. hall, Opera House bldg. 

Ottumwa No 216. 

Ottutnwa. Ia. 

C. C., VV. L. Love. 933 e. Main st. 

Sec., F. N. Cline, 1537 east Main st. 

F. M. Prlee. 

Every Monday 2:00 p.m. 

131 cor. Main and Market sts, 

Anchor Line No. 217, 

Bennett. Pa 

C. C., K. K Emery, 24744th st, Pittsburg. Pa. 
Sec .John Huebner. 

2d & 4th Sunday, 1:00 p.m. 

Opera House Block. 

Savannah No. 218, 

Savannah, Ga. 

C.C., W. H. Wright. 

Sec . Jnle* Karol, 188 Lincoln st. 

Every Saturday at 8 p. m. 

K. of P. hall. cor. Barnand and York sts. 

New Brunswick. No. 219 

St. John. N B. 

C. C.. M. Burgess, 210 Paradise Row. 

E. W. <a»*ld>. 

Sec. k F. J. McPeake. St. John street, West Side. 

Second Sunday, 2:00 p. in. 

I. O. O. F. hall, Union st 

Fremont No. 220. 

Fremont, Nebr. 

C. C., F. G. Pierce. 

Sec., F. Cummings, 436 E 2d st. 

First and Third Sundays. 

Charlotte No. 221, 

Charlotte. N. C. 

C. C.. R. W. Moore, box 132 N. Danville, Va. 

Sec ... J- H. Smith. 501 no. Graham st. 

T. P Ko**, 515 N. Church st. 

First aad Third Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Masonic hall. 

Illinois Valley No. 222, 

Chillicothe, III. 

C C.. T. M. Thatcher, 

Sec., F. W. Kimball, 422 44th st., Chicago. 

John C Klddell 

Every other Sunday 2:30 p. m. 

Frederick's hall. 

Algoma No. 223. 

Chapleau. Ont. 

C. C-. G. Hennard 

Sec.. I. Hartley, box 108. 

Second and Fourth Wednesdays. 

O. R. C. hall. 

Wilmington No. 224. 

Wilmington, Del. 

C C.. Robt. E. Boylan, 115 n. Franklin st. 

Sec F. J. Boylan, 9*4 Linden street. 

First and Third Sundays. 

U. V. L. Hall, 605 Market st. 

Steuben No. 225, 

Homellsville, N. Y 

C. Cm B F. Collins, 2 East ave. 

Sec . W. E. Curd*, 253 Canisteo st. 

Alternate Tuesdays 7:30 p. m. 

B. of L. E. hall, 137 Main st. 

Horton No. 226, 

Horton, Kans. 

C. C., F. G. Bassenger. 

Sec.. Cm. P Pugh. F II Plltenjier, bx 337. 



THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR 


NAME, NU. AND LOCATON 

OFFICERS 

TIME AND FLACK OF MEETING. 

Claude Champion No. 227, 
Lincoln, Nebr. 

C. C., I. T. Wiesinan, 515 No. 13th st. 

Sec., O. S. Ward, 112 N. Eleventh st 

1 ft. K. Prentice, 812 H street. 

First and Third Sundays, 2.-30 p. m. 

Red Men,s hall. 13th & P sta 

Belle Plaine No. 228, 

Belle Plaine, la. 

C. C.. T. Stoik. 

Sec., J. W. Speer 

First and Third Sundays, 2:00 p a*. 

I. O. O. F. ball 

Nicolls No. 229, 

Heading, Pa. 

C. C.. J. W. Scott, 1 1 7 Franklin st. 

Sec.. J. ill. Bryan 25 S. Front si. 

Third Sunday, 10:00 a. m. 

Breneiser’s hall. Sth and Penn sis 

Rome No. 230, 

Cedartown. Ga. 

C. C.. J C. Glo/.ier. 

Sec.. H. N. Ifiarr!*. 

2d and 4th Sundays, 2:00 p. in 1st and 
3d Sunday 8 p. m. K. of P. Hall 

Vicksburg No. 231, 

Vicksburg, Miss. 

C. C., G. L Gurley. Y. & M V. K y. 

Sec.. A. L. Jaqullh, 207 Walnut st. 

2d Hi 4th Sunday. 8;oo p in. 

Cor. Washington & Clay sts 

Sioux Cuy No. 232. 

Sioux City. la. 

C. C.. E. Frazier, 1222 Jennings st. 

Sec H. A. Mialer, 1410 Market st 

First and Tmrd Sundays, 2:00 p. m 
Krummann’s ball, 4th and Court sts 

Bellows Palls No. 233. 

Bellows Falls, Vt. 

C. C.. Tlieo Allen. 

Sec.. A. Hlanrliurd. 

Second Sunday. 2.00 p. m.: Fourth Sat 
urday, 7:30 p. in. G. A R. hall 

Berkeley No. 23*, 

Brunswick. Md. 

C C . A. R. Martin. Martinsburg, W. Va. 

Sec., <■. % . It n 1 li inn 11, box 108. 

Martinsburg. W. Va 

Alternate Thursdays and Wednesdays, 
7:30 p. m.. commencing Aug. y. 

Bretz and Kamberger Hall. 

Freeport No. 235. 

Freeport, III. 

C. C . G. G. McCarty. 78 Clay st 

Sec.. H C. Shaler, 1S6 Galena st 

F L Jlurpliy, 168 Wainui st 

Second and Fourth Sundays, *30 p. ui 

K.. of P. ball, 

St. Cloud No. 236, 

St. Cloud. Minn. 

C. C., H. J. Work. 12^ 6th ave no. 

See.. T. .1 Kelly, box 216 

Second Mondays, 7:30 p. 114 , Fourth 
Sunday, 2:30 p. m. 

Worcester No. 237. 

Worcester, Mass. 

C. C.. C- D. Balcom. 

Sec.. D. W. Parkhurst, Blackstone st. freight office. 
H n I*re»*«e y « care B. & A. R. R. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, stun 
a. m. Castle hall 

Sheridan No. 238. 

Chillicothe. Mo 

C. c.. 1 P. Wright. F II. Wheeler 

Sec., A. F. Scott. 

First and Third Monday. 1:30 p. m 

1 . O. O. F. hall. 

Lexingion No. 259, 

Lexington, Ky. 

C. C.. J. R. Carmichael, box 213. 

Sec., J. H. Stephenson. t8t Rose st. 

II. Pctry. L box 356, Mt. Sterling. Ky. 

First and Third Sunday, 2:00 p. tu. 

Odd Fellow's hall. 

Hiawatha No. 240. 

Marquette, Mich. , 

C. C . J. E. Connell. 135 W. Ridge st. 

Sec , Sam'l Gibson, 244 Aich st. W. 

John J TleeliHii, 112 Washington st. 

Second Sunday. 2:00 p.m. 

Fourth Sunday, 7:00 p. m. 

DeSoto No. 241, 

DeSoto, Mo. 

C. C.. A. M. Robertson. 

Sec.. W. L Perce. 

First and Third Sundays, 7:30 p. in. 

K. ot P. Hall 

Nipissing No. 242, 

North Bay. Ont. 

C. C.. Thos. Jackson. Clirl*. X. Koyce. 

Sec., J. H. Hughes, box 45. 

Every Sunday 2:00 p. m. 

MissoulaNo. 243. 

Missoula. Mont. 

C. C., Win. Dyson. 

Sec., HI. B. if 1 lie*, box 591 

First and Third Sundays, 1:00 p. in. 

1. O. O. F hall 

Pike’s Peak No. 244. 

Colorado Springs. Colo. 

C. C-, E. M Harner, 706 Huerfano st. 

Sec., K. J. Woolheater, 305 e. Cucharras st. 

ftfl. J Manley, 021. 1 Kiowa st. 

Every Friday night, K. of P. hall. 

Winfield No. 245. 

Arkansas City, Kans^ 

cTcTTTa. Sterling, care Fifth Avenue Hotel. 
Sec., T. B. Watts. 419 s. A street. X. 4 '. Hlyern. 


John McComtt noT 246. 

Wymore, Nebr 

C. C.. H. Scott 

Sec . 1 L. •£. Frail box 212. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:30 p. m. 

Odd Fellow’s hall 

Fishers Peak No. 247. 

Trinidad, Colo. 

C. C.. W. E. Gorman. 4^5 West M ain street. 

Sec ftl.X. Harrell, Mi Nevada ave. 

First and Third Sundays. 

K. P. hall. 

Tuscumbia No. 248. 

Tuscumbia, Ala. 

C. C., J . L) Perryuian. 

Sec . . 1 . T. Nolan. 

First and Third Sundays, 7.30 p. no. 

2d and 4th Sundays, 2.30 p. m. K. P. halt 

Mt. Tacoma No. 219- 

Tacoma. Washington. 

CTC~J. W. Stamper, 1525 E. st. 

Sec , . 1 . If. W. .loliiifclon, 1344 L m. Box 976. 

Second and Fourth Sundays. t:3op m. 

1 2t 1 1 st. bet. Pacific av. & A st. Elk'shall 

Twin City No. 250. 

Bristol. Tenn. 

C. C , W. W. OsVeii. 

Sec . H. D. Millard. W. ftV Kerin 

Second Thursday 8:00 p.m. and Fourth 
Sundays, 2:00 p. m. 

Cotton Bell No. 251, 

Pine Bluff. Ark. 

C. C.. S. A. Nicholas 

Sec.. W Olcotl. 


Holv Cross No. 252, 

Leadville, ( o!o. 

C. C.. D. Daly, box 683. 

Sec.. D. F. McPherson, 60x683. 

Will, . 1 ft c Hole, 1 31 x Poplar st. 

Fust and Thud Sundays. 

K P. hall, 127 B. Fifth st 

Gogebic No. 253, 

Ashland. Wis. 

C. C , 1 U Cat 1 iii. 722 Sth av. west. 

Sec . X. ki'iiimly, 72., Mb ave. west 

Commencing Sept. 14th, 1890. will 

meet alternate Sundays at 1000 a* o» 
Meets Second it Fourth Sundays. 

Old Masonic Hall. 

Clover Leal No. 254. 

Frankfort, Ind. 

C C.. F. M . Beard- ley . -S3 so. Clay st. 

Sec Win. Itiiwliiirer. 600 Gentry st. 

Mountain No. 255, 

Medicine Hat, N . W 1. 

C. C.. II. R. W ess el. 

Sec X 4 ' Blatrhford. box 43. 

First and Third Wednesday, l« o’clock 
Masonic hall 

1st and 3d Sundays. 2 00 p. m. 

2d and 4th Snnaay 100 p. m 

lO.OFb.il 

Sail Gabriel No. 25b- 

1 lyli 1 . rexas, 

C~C~ 4 .. W. Ha rtliokomew • 

Sec.. Ed Dwyer, lock box i.S. 

Herington No. 257- 

Hcringt on, h&ns 

C.’cTw. 11 . Thomas. 

Sec ft*:. J . 4 ‘la rk. box 391 

Aberdeen No. 258. 

Aberdeen, S Dak. 

C. C.. B. J. GiMiannoit, 303 Nicollet av L 

Sec.. J. D. Knox. 203 n. Main st. 

.1 no. s lict liii 11 

Second Sunday. 2:00 p. m. 

1.0 O F Hall 

. - —77 

Waukesha No. 259 

Waukesha. W is. 

Wabash No. se6o, 

Forrest. Ills 

San Luis No. 261. 

San Luis Potosi Mex 

c. C.. F. G Wtbb. 207 Barnev st 

Sec.. Ira YantK ’,20 Oakland ave 

W. X. IBtlMlt, 217J 

1 r . H l Bn ntiait; 

1 Sec.. K. A. Valiev, lock box 51. IW. W lftoele 
C. C , | F Wilson, box 15. 

Sec.. W. T Provence. 

1 hi A ;d Sunday. 2 p m Govt % hall. 

! Main st. bet. Clinton st. AGranda* 



! Second and fourth Sundays, 7:00 p. 01 

K. of P Hall 

'IF ust and third Wednesdays. 

in 0 R. C. hall. 8:00 p « 

Red River" No 262, 

Cleburne, Pexas. 

cXWrn. McPike. box 55 W II Havl*. 

Sec., VV. F. Smith, box 55 j 

. First and tjmd Saturday, 7130 P » . 



THE £ AIL WAY CONDUCTOR. 


ii 


NAME NO. AND LOCATION. 

OPFICERS. 

TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING. 

Cumberland No. 263, 

Cumberland. Md. 

C. C . G. J. Schumtz. 41 Decatur st. 

Sec., J. E. McBeth. 113 n. Center st. 

U. Lerli liter, 57 Bedford street. 

Every Sunday, 9:00 a. in. 

I. O. O. F. Hall. 

Raleigh No. 264. 

Raleigh, N. C. 

C. C., D. B. Jones, care R. At D. R. R. 

Sec., C. K. Gntlirie, 41 1 e. Lee st. Greensboro. 

Second and fourth Sundays, 2:00 p. rn. 

Odd Fellows’ Hall. 

Ghanute No. 265, 

Chanute. Kan. 

C. C . John C. Ramsey, 1 box 36. Girard, Kas. 

Sec., P Farrell, box 242. Geo, T. Krldijo*. 

1st and 3d Monday, 12:30 p. m. 

I. O. O. F. hall, Center and 4th sts. 

Staked Plains No. 266, 

Big Spring, Texas. 

C. C., Otto Elliott. 

Sec.. JeN*e Kncki*. box 3. 

First and Third Sunday, 2:00 n. m. 

Hall in Bressie building. 

Terminal City No. 267. 

Vancouver. B. C. 

C. C., P. A. Barnhart, box 663. 

Sec. A. B. Forrest, box 859. G. F. Ktt*leei). 

Second Sunday. 

Marion No. 26b. 

Marion, Iowa. 

C. C , F. tl . Howard 

Sec.. E. B. Sutton. 

Second and Fourth Sundavs, 3:30 p.m. 

A. O.'U. W. hall. 

Bofder City No. 269. 

Van Buren. Ark. 

C.C.. K. >. Ilarucftt. 

Sec.. F. D. Stuart, lock box 346. 

First, Second. Third and Fourth Sun- 
day. 2:00 p. m. K. of P. hall. 

Youngstown No. 270, 

Youngstown. O. 

C. C., J. Moms, 542 Geoige st. 

Sec., J. W. Hoover, 1018 Marshall st. 

Geo. Hopper, 529 Crossman ave. 

First and Third Sunday, second and 
fourth Wednesdays 1:00 p. in. 

B. R. T.hall 

Cape Hear No. 271, 

Wilmington. N. C. 

C. C., W. L. Harlow, cor. market and 3d st. 

Sec.. J. P. Russell 518 Mulberry st 

W. L. Beery, care C. C. R y. 

First and Third Sunday, 2:30 p. m. 

K. P. hall. 

Montana No. 272. 

Havre. Mont. 

C. C , A. E. Logan. Glasgow, Mont. 

Sec.. S li llowd, Glasgow, Mont* lock box 5. 

First and Third Sunday 2:30 p. m. 

Drckinson No. 273. 

Dickinson. N. Dak. 

C. C., S. P. Cota. 

Sec.. Will. Gallagher 

Second and fourth Fridays, 1:30 p. m. 

K. P. Hall. 

Kaukauna No. 274. 

So. Kaukauna. Wis. 

C. C.. J. M. Elliott. 

Sec , C. E. Bushey. 

G. 1* O’Connell. 

First and Third Sunday, 2:00 p. in. 

A. O. U. W. hail. 

Gaudalupe No 275, 

Yoakum, Texas. 

C.C., P A. O’Connor. 

Sec., H. B Garrison. 

Every Sunday. 1:00 p. m. 

Engineers* hall 

Prairie View No. 276. 

Goodland. Kas. 

C. C . S. A. Miller. 

Sec.,J. B. Kintz, 1 box 13. Grant Thorp. 

Every Sunday, 2:00 p. in. 

Sanford No. 277. 

Sanford. Fla. 

C. C.. L. L. Elkins, box 7. 

Sec., C. L. Mosby, box 7. .1. P. Scarlet. I 

Second and Fourth Sunday. 

Dennison No. 278, 

Dennison. Ohio. 

C. C.. C. O. Pogue. 

Sec., W. M. Rees. .71. Keldy, box 26. 

2d, 3d and4ih Sunday, 1 00 p. m. 

B. L. E. Hall, Grant and 2d st. 

Stuart No. 279. 

Stuart. Iowa. 

C. C.. Thos. Kane. 

Sec., H. E. Drew-, box 251. J A. TlorrlHOii I 

Second Monday and Fourth Sunday, 
2:00 p. m. 

Hope No. 280. 

Hope, Idaho. 

C. C., W. J. Pillings, box 39. 

Sec.. G W Gunn. 


Glenwood. No. 281, 

Glenwood, Pa. 

C. C.. W. N. Herrold, Dyke st.. 23d Ward, 

Pittsburg, Pa. 

Sec., W. M. Shipley, cor. Renova and Lytle sts. 

I>. K. Tlarwh. 23d Ward. Pittsburgh. Pa. 

First Sunday and Third Monday, 9: 
a. in. 

Needles No. 282, 

Needles, Cal. 

C.C.. A. 71 . Klee. 

Sec.. W. H. Mills. 

Meet every Thursday, 2:00 p. m. t 

B L. E. hall. 

Marceline Div. No. 2S3, 

Ft. Madison, Iowa. 

C. C 1 O WUkiiiMon, 1123 2d st., Ft. Madi- 
Sec., R. Prichett, 315 Johnson st. Ison. Ia. 


S. A. M. 284. 

Americus, Ga. 

C. C., J. O. Lewis, box 123. 

Sec.. L. L. Chapman. 821 Lee st. 

E. Galbraith. 3 Jackson ave. 

Second and fourth Sundays. 

K. of P. Hall. 

Spokane No. 285, 

Spokane. Wash. 

C. C., T. H. McIntosh, lock box 415. Tekoa, Wash.] 
Sec.. C. P Chamberlain, box 1580. 

Second and Fourth Sunday. 

Kakabeka No 286. 

Ft. William. Ont. 

C. C . 

Sec.. W. G. Niblock. 

Second and fourth Friday. 

Obi ar No. 287, 

Albuquerque, N. M. 

C. C., Wm. H. Barney. 

Sec.. L. W. Roberta, 218 Broadway 

Meet every Sunday in K. P. Hall 2 p m 

No. Danville No. 288, 

No. Danville. Va. 

I C. C., O. W. Loving, ioi So. st. Charlottesville, Va 
Sec J . F. Morton, R. & D. R’y, Danville, Va. 

Second and fourth Sunday 2p m, 

Steeger hall, Main. 

Wheeling No. 289. 

Wheeling, W. Va. 

C. C.. C. O Hallett, Bellaire, O. 

Sec., Wm Hotfner, box 81, Bridgeport, O. 

K N Eberllue. Bellaire, Ohio. 

First and third Sunday, 1:30 p m. K. P. 
Hall 1223 Market St. 

Wingo No. 290. 

Paducah, Ky. 

1 C. C., J- H. Costello, lock box 316. 

Sec., T* J. 7 Ioore, 61 1 n. 6th st. 

Every Monday 10 a. in. 

Folk’s Hall, Broadway. 

Moms No. 291, 

Hoboken N.J 

C. C.. John Long. South Orange, N. J. 

Sec.. H. H. Holtman. 112 3d st. Newark, N. J. 

IV. T. FA 11 nd io, box 5, S. Orange. N.J. 

Alternate 2d Monday and 2d Tuesdsy, 
commencing January. 73 Hudson st. 

Deer Lick No. 292, 

Chicago Junction, Ohio. 

C. C.. D. F:. H ilgartner. box 243. 

Sec., C. B. Tompkins, box 236. 

\V. II. Rudd, l><>\ 293 

1st & 3d Sunday, 2 00 p in 

O. R. C. Hall 

Chas. Murray No. 2*53. 

Chicago. Ills. 

C. C.. M. P. Cross< ;t. 

Sec v A. L. Fl*l», 35 Maplewood ave. 

2d Thursday and 4th Monday 2 p 
m. Dordon hall, 1180 W. Lake st. 

Butte No. 294, 

So. Butte. Mont. 

C. C.. O. L. Chapman. 

Sec., Jas. Stark, box 9 

Thou. SleK»man, Montana Union R y. 

2d & 4th Sunday, 8:co p. m. 

I. O. O. F. hall. 

Snowy Range No. 295, 

Livingston. Mont, 

C. C., A. Loasby, 1234 Boulder ave. Helena. Mont 
Sec. J. A. Henley, lock box 352. 

1st and 3d Sunday 7:30 p. m. 

Miles Block 

La Junta No. 296, 

Rat<, : 

| C C- J L. Crotty, 1 bx 32. 

71 . B. Heffner, 1 bx 3*- 

Every Wednesday 8:00 p. in. 

K P. Hall 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR, 


I 2 


N AM K AND LOCATION. 

OFFICERS. 

TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING. 

Somerset No. 297. 

Somerset. Ky. 

C. C., B. Mitzenberg. 

Sec If. T. Welch, box C. 

Every Sunday 2:00 p. m. 

Champaign No. 29S, 

Champaign. Ills. 

C. C., Geo. R. Hays. 

Sec . F Cooper, no W. Springfield ave. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 2:30 p tn 

G. A. R. hall 

Lima No. 299. 

Lima. Ohio. 

C. C.. A. L. Heath, 1 83 so. Main st. 

Sec., J. L. Edrniston, 942 Hughes av. 

A Jl. Joli iiwton, 606 east North st. 

Second and fourth Spndays 2:30 p. m 

Dodge City No. 300, 

Dodge City, Kas. 

C. C., W. M. Riley, lock box 134. 

Sec.. J. R. O’Day. E. tfrown 

Hustedt’s Hall. cor. 2d and Ewing st« 

Seymour No. 301, 

Seymour, lnd. 

C. C., las. H. McGinnis. 

Sec., E. E. Gaskell, box 419. 

Jl. C. Whitcomb, box 313. 

Second and fourth Sundays 2 pm. 

Odd Fellows hall, 2d and Chestnut sts 

La Fayette No. 302, 

LaFayette, lnd. 

C. C.. J. E. Long, 159 Union st 

Sec., R H. Strong, 56 no. 5th st. 

\V. A. Hrlwwcudcn, care Lahr House. 

First anJ third Sunday 2:30 p tn. 

Cor.. 4th and Ferry sts., R. M. Hall 

New Albany No 303. 

New Albany, lnd. 

C. C.. * iT| Mather*, 151 Bank st. 

Sec.. G. T. Weddell, 38 w Market st. 

1 st four Sundays each month 9:30 a 
m. Brigg s hal cor. Market Sc Pearl 

Pearl River No. 304, 

Canton, Miss. 

C. C.. A. O. Harrison. 

Sec.. C. B. Box. 

X%\ It. M ke*, box 405. 

Every Sunday at 2 p. m. 

I. O. O. F. Hall 

LaGrande No. 305. 

LaGrande, Oregon. 

C. C., W. H. Kelsey, box 178. 

Sec.. J A. Muloit box 148. 

First and third Sundays 2 pm. 

K. P. Hall 

Bay No. 306. 

W. Bay City, Mich. 

C. C., F Marshall. 

Sec.. W. C. McGlone, 307 no. Dean st. 

Calvin Campbell, Grayling, Mich. 

Second and Fourth Sunday 2 p. tn. 

I. O. O. F Hall 

Jersey Central No. 307, 

Jersey City, N. J. 

C. C.. W. E. Ditts. Roselle, N. J. 

Sec O. J. Freeman, 139 Madison st.. 

So. Easton, Pa. 

Second Wednesday and 4th Sunday. 
10-30 a in. 

Bluff City No. 30b, 

Mt. Carmel. Ills. 

C. C., A. C. Church. 

Sec.. W. B. Wright, box 455. 

It. F. Shively 

First and Third Sunday 1:30 p. m. 

‘ Union Hall. 

Scottdale Div. No. 309, 

Scottdale, Pa. 

C. C.. Win Frost. 

Sec. I>. 11. It a re. Box 192. 

First and third Sundays at 2:00 p. m 
in Burns’ hall. 

Mobile No. 310, 

Mobile, Ala. 

C. C., P. |. Collins, 303 Beaureguar st. 

Sec.. J. P. 4 olltiiM, t)2 Dauphin st. 

First and third Sunday 2:00 p. tn 

1. O. O F Hall 

New Year No. 311. 

Way Cross, Ga. 

SanBernarcfino, No. 312, 
San Bernardino, Calif. 

C. C.. . 'I'. Forrester. 

Sec., G. A. Croom. box 100. 

Second and Fourth Sunday, 7:30 p. tn. 

B. of L. E. hall 

C. C.. 1*. H. Harmon. 

Sec.. S. !▼!. Iflarriw, 467 H st. 

istand 3d Monday 7:30 p. m. 

Allen’s hall 4 th and D sts 

San Xavier No. 313. 

Tucson, Ariz. 

C. C., 1). F. Brown. 

Sec., A. E. Came, box 133. 

L. W. Locke. 

Wednesday 2:00 p. m- Masonic hafj. 

Allegheny City. No. 3x4, 

Allegheny. Pa 

C. C.. S. H. Henry, 213 Market st. 

Sec K. F. Itrown, 351 Chartiers st. 

Second and 4th Sunday, 9 a m. 
Enterprise hall Beaver ave and Frank- 
lin sts. 

Evansville No. 315, 

Evansville. Ind. 

4i HI chard*. 1207 W Penna st. 

Sec., J. N Frost, 420 Upper 6th st. 

Second and Fourth Sundays, 10 a. m 

St. Clair Tunnel No. 316, 

Fort Gratiot. Mich. 

C. C , A. \\ . Loveland, box 32. 

Sec , A. J. Hemingway, box 147. 

Every Sunday 1:30 p m. 

Elm City No. 317- 

New Haven Conn. 

C C., E. A. Lithgow, 263 Greenwich ave. 

C. C. Kown, 21 Orange st. 

Second and Fourth Sunday 1 p m 

Masonic Halt 

Asheville No. 31b, 

Asheville. N. C 

( C W. S I h. 'mason, 73 Depot st. 

Sec.., W. W. Barber, 14 1 Hill st. 

J W A lll*oii, care Glen Rock hotel. 

First and 3d Sundays, 10 a 01. 

Central No. 319, 

Central. S. C. 

j C C.. F. V. Falls. 

| Sec It. F. ( ox. 


Miami Valley, No. 320, 

Dayton Ohio. 

C. C . P J. Sweeney, 14 Folkerth st 

1 Sec.. J J. White, 1442 Wayne ave. 


Easter No. 321. 

Springfield. Mo 

C. C\. C. Unwell, 420 south Grant st. 

Sec., W. O. Clarkson. 854 n Main st. 

First and Third Tuesday, 2:00 p. tn. 

Board of Trade building 

Blue Grass No. 322. 

Covington Ky. 

i C. C , T. A. Johnston. 2b w. 15th st. 

Sec.. M I). Felkner, 65 W. 15th st 

TI 10 *. McLaughlin. 24 Rowell st 

1st & 3d Sunday. 

S. E. cor. 7th st. & Madison av 

Sprague, No. 323. 

Sprague, Wash 

C. C., j (. Pembroke, 
j Sec.. R. E. Samis. 

J . L lie Force. 

Second and Fourth Sunday, i.jop. in 

M asonic hall 

Bluefield No. 324. 

Minefield. W Va. 

C. C. , R. B. Lowder. 

Sec.. D. Woodside. box 167 

A . J. ea ro. 

t st Sunday. 10 a. in.; 3d Sunday, 2 p.m 
A. F. A A M. baB 

Grand Junction N 

Grand Junction, Colo. 

€. .1 . Cam pbell . 

Se< 1 B. B- dwell. 

1st and 4th Wednesdays, 9:00 Jfc. 

k of P II., Main %l 

New Cast Ip No. 326. 

Mahoningtown, Pa. 

C. C.. O Irwin. 

Sec., Jas. E. Reed, box 71. 

W. J. Green, Mahoningtown, Pa 

1st Tuesday, 7:00 p tn. A 3d Snndat 

2:00 p.m. Jr O. W. A M. hall 

Golden Rule, No. 327. 

Effingham. Ills. 

C. C.. F". O Gteen. 

Sec.. T. II. Keith, box 286 

S n Smith. 

Second and Fourth Sundays 9 a tn 

Potawattainie No. 32b. 

Council Bluffs. Iowa. 

C. C . L. Kendall 622 3d st 

Ser. |) J (ialCN, 

2d & 4th Sunday, a p. tn. 

K P. H all. 102 Main *L 

Champion City No 329. 

Springfield, Ohio.' 

C. C., J. C. Carney, Harrison st 

L. A. II owe, 105 n. Fountain ave. 

I ir*t and Third Sunday, 2 p. pi 

K P. hall, Main*. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOK 


*3 


NAME AMD LOCATION. 

OFFICERS. 

TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING. 

Emporia, No. 330. 

Emporia. Kas. 

C. C., J. W. Lyon*, 1 Elm St. 

Sec., H VV. Heagecock, 226 Emporia st. 

2d & 4th Saturday, 

7:30 p‘. m. Federation hall. 

Susquehanna, No. 331. 

Columbia, Pa. 

C. C., C. J. McCarty, 543 Union st. 

Sec.. J. A. Rowan, 34 so. 4th st. 

H. K. Haefner, 20 n. 5th st. 

Second and Fourth Sunday, 4 p. m. 

Fendricn’s hall. 

Jonesboro, No. 332. 

Jonesboro, Ark. 

C. C„U. Li t'lemeut. 

Sec.. T. J. Green, care G. L. Clement. 

First aud Third Sunday, 7:30 p. m 
Odd Fellows hall 

Renovo, No. 333. 

Renovo, Pa. 

C. C.,J. J. Gallagher, box 308. 

Sec.. J. B. Crispin. 

Alternate Saturdays, 7:30 p. m. 

Avondale, No. 334. 

Avondale, Ala. 

C. C., T, S. Richardson, Anniston, Ala. 

Sec.. W. W. Westmoreland, Lunsford hotel, Bham, 
T. 1 ’. IV] 11 lid y, box 76. Avondale. [Ala. 

ist and 3d Sunday 9:30 a. m 

Daniel’s hall 

Concord, No. 335. 

Concord, N. H. 

C. C., J. T. Woodbury, 12 Pearl st. 

Sec., A. H. Burbank, 102 so. State st. 

C M. Coitant. 

ist and 3d Sunday in each mo. at 2:00 
P- m. K. of P. Hall, Main st. 

Duluth Div. No. 336, 

Duluth. Minn. 

C. C., TIiimi. Ilauuon, Two Haibors, Minn. 
Sec., Geo. L. Woolen, Flat G, 829 e ist st., Duluth. 

First and third Sunday, 10.00 a. m. 

Third floor 18 west Superior st. 

Illinois Div. No. 337, 

Chicago, Ills. 

C. C.. C. D. Collins, 241 Springfield ave. 

Sec., Jno. H. Leahy, 174 north Halstead. 

W A Gilew* 167 n. Hamlin ave. 

Meets 4th Sunday at 2:00 p. m. 

LeGrand Hall. 

Eldorado Div. No. 338, 

Eldorado, Kans. 

C. C., F. Stearns, 1551 Fairview st., Wichita, Kan. 
Sec., A. Crossan Eldorado, Kan. 

Lee Orr 

Meets everv Monday at 7:30 p. m. 

A. O. U. W. Hall 

Washington Div. No 339. 

Washington, Ind. 

C. C., W. J. Clark, box 384. 

Sec., n . B HoIIIn. 

Second and Fourth Sunday 9:00 p. m. 

Red Men’s Hall. 

Gladstone Div. No. 340. 

Gladstone, Mich. 

C. C., Geo P. Towne, box 324. 

Sec , F* Ei N wifi, box 264. 

2d and 4th Sunday 2:00 p. m. 

Canadawaran Div. No. 341 
Norwich, N. Y. 

C. C.| J. T. Close. 

Sec.. A. B. Y ou tier, 46 Mitchell st. 

2d and 4th Saturdays, 8:00 p. m. 

I. O. O. F. Hall. 

Overland Div. No. 342. 

Junction City, Kas. 

C. C., J. J. Barnes, box 339. 

Sec., A. D. Lee, box 474. 

1st and 3d Sunday, 1:00 p. m. 

Masonic hall. 

Blue Valley Div. No. 343. 

Fairbury, Neb. 

C. C., C. A. Ransom, Fanbury, Neb. 

Sec., C. A. Kmlley, lock box 46. 

ist Sunday, 1:30 p. in.; 3d Sunday, 7:20 
p. m. Lindiey hall. 

East Toronto Div. No. 344. 

York, Out. 

C. C.. E. Seller. 23 Beverly st.. Toronto, Ont. 

Sec.. H* Doyle, Coleman, Ont. box 18. 

2d and 4th Monday, 7:30 p. m. 
Stephenson's hall. E Toronto. Ont. 

Toronto Junction Div. No. 
345 - 

Toronto Junction, Ont. 

C. C., C. S. Maharg, box 332. 

Sec . W. A. Barclay, box 588. 

J. H. Hall* 73 Melbourn ave., Toronto. Ont. 

2d Monday and 4th Tuesday 2:00 p. m. 

Thompson’s block. 

Yellow River Valley Div. 
No. 346. Babcock,. Wis. 

C. C., Jno. Gleis. 

Sec., H. H. Seymour. P. J. ncCormick. 

1st and 3d Sunday 2:00 p. in. 

O’Brien’s Hall. 

Julien Div. No. 347. 

Dubuque. Iowa. 

C. C., W. F. Reinvehl, 346 Eagle Point ave. 

Sec.. W. E. Thayer, 906 Rhomberg av. 

C. H* Grans, 43 Garfield ave. 

2d and 4th Sunday :o:oo a. m. 

Facade Hall, oppo. P. O. 

Stampede Div. No. 348. 

Ellensburg, Wash. 

C. C., M. L. Clark. 

Sec.. P. S. Clement. J. C. Haynes., 

ist and 3d Sunday^, 2:00 p. m. 

K. of P. Hall. 

Crewe Div. No. 349. 

Crewe, Va. 

C. C., C. B. Armes, box 42. 

Sec., K. K. Dance, box 42. 1 

ist and 3d Sunday 10:00 a. m. 

Masonic Hall. 

Niagara Falls Div. No. 350. 
Niagara Falls. Ont. 

C. C., H. A. Neil, Box 153. 

Secy., Jos. Gunter, Niaeara Falls, Ont. 

ist and 3d bundays, 2 p. m. 

Three States Div. No. 351. 

Kenova, W. Va. 

C. C.. L J Duvall. 

Sec., Val Fitzpatrick, 737 Neil ave.. Columbus, O. 

ist and 3d Sunday, 2d and 4th Sunday 
1:30 p. m. K. of P. Hall. 

Keewatin Div. No. 352 

Rat Portage, Ont. 

C. C., E. Becker. 

Sec.. W. C Risteen. J. E. Dice. 


Minne-Waukon Div. 353. 

Estherville. Iowa. 

C. C., A. E. Gaylord. 

S' j c.. E. M. Crosby. Wm. Maxwell. 

Fourth Sunday 10 a. m. 

I. 0 . O. F. Hall. 

Hagerstown Div. No. 354. 

Hagerstown. Md. 

C. C.. J. L. Clements, 46 East North st. 

Sec.. Geo. H. Sheels box 28, Williamsport, Md. 

ist and 3d Sundays, 1:00 p. m. 

Red Men’s Hall. 

Allandale Div. No. 355. 

Allandale. Ont. 

C. C.. Thou. Pegg. 

Sec., Alfred Lee, Bradford st., Barrie, Ont. 

First Thursday at 7:30 p. m. 

Third Sunday at 2 p. m. 

Div. No. 356. 

East Buffalo. N. Y. 



Connellsville Div. No. 357. 

Connellsville. Pa. 

C. C., S. H. Atkinson. J. R. Wortro 11, 

Sec.. C. E. Reinhard, box 299. [Yardm’r B. & O. 

ist Thursday, 7:30 p m.; 3d Sunday. 
9:00 a. m. Public Hall, Main st. 

Div. No. 358. 

Denver. Colo. 



Div. No. 339. 

East Albany, N. Y. 



Div. No. 360. 

Burnside III. 



Div. No. 361. 

Valley {unction, Iowa. 



Div. No. 362. 

Monterev. Mexico. 



Div. No. 363. 

Norfolk. Neb. 



Div. No. 364. 



Div. No. 365. 


T 

Div No. 


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14 


THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Ladies Auxiliary to the Order of Raiiwau Conductors- - Directory. 

GRAND OFFICERS. . 

GRAND PRESIDENT— Mrs. J. H. Moore, 423 Langdon street, Toledo, O. 

GRAND VICE-PRESIDENT— Mrs. O. N. Marshall, Galesburg, 111 . 

GRAND SECRETARY AND TREASURER— Mrs. E. Higgins, 689 South Front street, Columbus, O. 

GRAND SENIOR SISTER— Mrs. W. C. Turner, DeSoto, Mo. 

GRAND JUNIOR SISTER— Mrs. J. B. Van Dyke, Wilks-Barre. Pa. 

GRAND GUARD — Mrs. Dell Robinson, St. Louis, Mo. 

DEPUTY GRAND PRESIDENTS— Mrs. C. P. Hodges, 5 Fairfield street, Cleveland, O.; Mrs. E. N. Foote 
; Mrs. J. L. Kissick, Denver, Col.; Mrs. E. J. Palmer, Spokane, Wash., Mrs. 

rs. C. P. Hodges, 5 Fairfield street, Cleveland, O.; Mrs T. E. Hockaday. 
:dar Rapids, Iowa. 


1204 South 9th street, St. Joseph, Mo. 
Robt. Kline, Sunbury, Pa. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE— M 
Andrews, Ind.; Mrs. W. Watson, Ct 


Name, No. and Location. 

OFFICERS. 

TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING 

Bethlcham, No. 1. 

Cleveland, Ohio. 

President— Mrs. S. N. Pennell. 

Secretary— Mrs. S. L. McCutcbin, 67 University st. 

2d and 4th Thursday 2:30 p. m. 

Room 212 City Hall 

Loyalty Division No. 2, 

Creston, Iowa. 

President — Mrs. K. Holderness. 

Secretary— 

First and third Saturdays, *30 p. m 
Potter Post Hall, E. Montgomery Si 

Capital City Div. No. 3, 

Columbus, O. 

President — Mrs. T. N evil, 1041 Dension ave. 
Secretary — Mrs. Chas. Southard. 

Second and fourth Thursdays, 2:30 
p. m. 1.0 O.F. hall, South High street 

Andrews Div. No. 4, 

Elkhart, Ind. 

President— MYs. A, W. brown, 313 Jefferson st. 
Secretary — Mrs. Mrs. D. Carpenter, j.16 Mid' by st 

2d & 4th Friday, 2:30 p.m. 

Odd Fellows' Temple. 

Erickson Div. No. s. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

President — Mrs. B. F. Wiltse, 3822 Fairmount av. 
Secretary— Mrs. C. L. Springer, 803 N. 26th st. 

Alternate Wednesdays, 2:30 p. m. 
Early's hall, 1321 Arch street. 

Banner Div. No. 6, 

Toledo, Ohio. 

President— Mrs. Jas. McMillan. 

Secretary— Mrs. J. Powers. 1405 Indiana av. 

First “and third Fridays, 2:30 p. tu. 

I. O. O. F. Temple, Jefferson at Erie §ts» 

Newark Div. No. 7, 

Newark, Ohio 

President— Mrs J. Doyle, 128 Vallandingham st 
Secretary — Mrs. J. W. Perry, 150 s Third st. 

Second and fourth Fridays. 2 30 p. m 

O. R. C. Hall. 17^ S Side Pub. Sq 

Eastern Star Div. No 8, 

Sunbury, Pa. 

President — Mrs. Mary E. Shafer. 

Secretary — Mrs. J. B. Vandyke. 

Second and 4th Wednesday, 2:30 p. m. 

Snyder's Hall E. Market st- 

New Jersey Division No. 9, 
Camden, N. J. 

President — Mrs. Maggie Ludlow. 

Secretary — Mrs. Ella Elms, 527 Bridge ave. 

Alternate Tuesdays, 2:30 p. m. 

0 . R. C. Hall, Fourth and Market $u. 

Easter Lily Dtv. No. 10, 

Frankfort, Ind. 

President — Mrs. J Haselton. 

Secretary— Mrs. R. F. Clark. 

Second and Fourth Wednesday, O. R 
C. rooms on Main st.. 2:30 p.m 

Si. Louis Div. No. 11, 

St. Louis, Mo. 

President— Mrs. F. Gillen, 1323 Grattan st. 
Secretary — Mrs Dell Robison. 1300 Dohnan st. 

First and third Thursdays. 2:30 pT m 
Anchor Hall. cor. Park and Jefferson 

Autumn Leaf Div. No. 12, 
Bellevue, Ohio. 

President— Mrs. Myers. 

Secretary— Mrs. L. C. Brown. 

2d and fourth Thursdays, 2:30 p. so. 

K. of P. Hall 

DeSoto Div. No. 13, 

DeSoto. Mo. 

President — Mrs. C. W. Fletcher. 

Secretary— Mrs. A. A. Corneau. 

Meets 1st and 3d Fridays, 3:30 p. m. 

P. of P. Hal l 

Enterprise Div. No. 14, 

Ottumwa. Iowa. 

President — Mrs. J. O. West. 1015 Locust st. 
Secretary— Mrs. P. A. Miller. 

2d & 4th Tuesday, 2:30 p. m. 

K. of P. hall, Main nnd Gtnoga 

Galesburg Div No. 15, 

Galesburg, 111 . 

President— Mrs. Mrs. O. N. Marshall. 231 w. n. st. 
Secrejary— Mrs. C E. Smith. 708 e. Brooks st. 

2d & 4th Tuesdays, 2:30 p. m. 

Erie Div. No. 16, 

Huntington, Ind. 

President — Mrs. S. Harlow. 

Secretary — Mrs. A. B. Spach. box 460. 

1st & 3d Wednesday. 

Benevolent Div. No. 17, 

St. Joseph, Mo. 

President— Mrs. Sarrah Sims. 

Secretary — Mrs. E. N. Foote, 1204 S. 9th st. 

1st & 3d Wednesday, 2:30 p. m. 

O. R. C. bftB 

Leap Year Div. No. r8. 

Andrews. Ind. 

President- Mrs. F. W. Wells. 

Secretary — Mrs. T. E. Hockaday. 

Meets 2d and 4th Thursdays. 

B. of L. HtU: 

Excelsior Div. No. 19. 

Des Moines, la. 

President— Mrs. O. T Johnson, 712 19th st. 
Secretary — Mrs. E. W. Agnew, 1433 n 5th st. 

2d and 4th Wednesday. 

Continental building 

Springer Div. No. 20. 

Wilkes Barre, Pa. 

President — Mrs. L. Winder. 

Secretary— Mrs. J. H. Keithline, 235 South st. 

1st anti Wednesday. 

Ousterbottt Building' 

Golden Rule Div. No. 21. 

Oneonta. N. Y. 

President — Mis. J. K. Baldwin. 

Secretary— Mrs. W. C. Gurne\. 

1st and 3d Wednesdays, 2 xntx nx. t 
Odd FcikmfHMtt, 

Friendship Div. No. 22. 

Butler. Ind. 

President — Mrs. M. L. Little 

Secretary — Mrs H. B. Oatinan. 

tst and 3d Thursdays. 2:30 p. no, 

O. R C Hill 

Denver L)iv. No 23 

Denver. Colo. 

President— Mrs. J. J. Bresnahan. 

Secretary— Mrs. A. M. Ladd. 

Second and Fourth Friday, 

Pikes Peak Div. No. 24. 
Colorado Springs, Col. 

President Mary J. Moody. 2 22 so Weber st. 

| Secretary— Stella C. Robinson, h 4 S so. Platt st. 


Myrtle Div. No. 25. 

Chicago Junction, O 

1 President— Mrs. C. A. Crass. 

| Secretary — Mrs. D. E. Hilgartncr, p. 0. box 243. 

First and Third Thursdays in O, 8. C 
Hall, 2 p. m 

Aura Div. No. 26. 

Collinwood. O. 

Preside!. t — Mrs. W. H. Moulton. 

! Secretary— Mrs. G. B. Carmer. 

First and Third Thursday. 

Lima Div. No. 27. 

Lima. O. 

! Presicent — Mrs. E. H. Mattice. 

[ Secretary— Mrs. A. N. Ridenour, 135 e Elm st. 

Meets 2d and 4th Tbursdajni ^^ 1 * 

Turner Div. No. 2S. 

Denison, Tex. 

President— Mrs. C. S. Williams. 

Secretary— Mrs. Chas. Bledsoe, x 2 1 e. Lears st. 

tst and 3d Thursdays. 

LO O. F 

Bluff City Div. No. 29. 

Memphis, Tenn 

President — Mrs Sam Dustan. 

Secretary — Mrs. G. A. Robinson. 

Meets 2d and 4th Sundays of month. 
No. 13 Hernando st. Memphis. Tenc 

Prospect Div. No. 30. 

Garett, Ind. 

President — Mrs. T. Squires. 

Secretary— Mrs. P. Rice. Garett. Ind. 

2d and 4th Thursdays, 2:00 p. im 

Chevenne Div. No. 31. 

Chayenne, Wyo. 

President— Mrs. S. H. Woodmansee. 

Secretary — Mrs. E. B. Bond, 1721 House st. 

, l7 Pd hvCooqJe _ 


fUE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 15 


NAME, NO. AND LOCATION. 

OFFICERS. 

TIMS AND PLACE OF MEETING. 

Michigan Div. No. 32. 

Port Huron, Mich. 

President— Mrs. Helen McIntyre. 

Secretary— Mrs. Minnie Woodward, 723 Garfield 
[st. N. Port Huron. 


Western Div. No. 33. 

Topeka, Kan. 

President— Mrs. 1 . S. Kelly, 227 Taylor st. 
Secretary— Mrs. Belle Foster, 309 Madison st. 

1st and 3d Thursdays. 

O. R. C. Hall, 620 Kan. Ave. 

Madonna Div. No. 34. 

Baraboo, Wis. 

President— Mrs. A. W. Squires. 

Secretary— Mrs. J. R. Degan. 


Mt. Tacoma Div. No. 35. 

Tacoma, Wash. 

President— Mrs. W. J. Millican. 

Secretary — Mrs. C. H. Dow, 1710. Yakima st. 


Cascade Div. No. 36. 

Ellensburg, Wash. 

President — Mrs. Sarah Dunlap. 

Secretary— Mrs. L. M. Smith. 

2d and 4th Wednesdays. 

Columbia Div. No. 37. 

Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

President- 

Secretary— Mrs. James McPartland, 220 S. 7th st. 


Gloria Div. No. 38. 

Marion. Iowa. 


1st and 3d Wednesdavs. 

' I. O. O. F. Hall. 

Ideal Div. No. 39. 

Jackson, Tenn. 

President — 

Secretary— Mrs. Perry Callahan, 370 N. Royal st. 


Columbian Div. No. 40. 

Buffalo, N. Y. 

President — Mrs. A. Keating, 458 s. Division st. 
Secretary— Mrs. B. Zimmerman, 132 Sidway st. 

First and third Thursdays. 

O. R. C. hall, 120 Seneca st. 

Arkansas Valley Div. No. 
41. Pueblo, Col. 

President— Mrs. J. L. Dalton, 225 Polk st. 
Secretary — Mrs. F. W. Leland, 24 block Q. 

1st and 3d Saturdays. 

Bridge City Div. No. 42, 

Logansport, Ind. 

President— Mrs. F. C. Murphy, 1*630 High st. 
Secretary— Mrs. Mary Hamilton, 18x4 Broadway. 


Golden Rod Div. No. 43. 

Atlanta, Ga. 

President— Mrs Julia Harris. 

Secretary— Mrs. D. S. Walraven. 



The Cosmopolitan Magazine 

AND 

The Railway Conductor 

BOTH FOR $2.00 A YEAR ! 


The Great Illustrated Monthlies have in the past sold for $4.00 
a year. It was a wonder to printers how The Cosmopolitan, with 
its yearly 1536 pages of reading matter by the greatest writers of 
the world and its 1200 illustrations by clever artists, could be fur- 
nished for $3.00 a year. In January last it put in the most perfect 
magazine printing plant in the world, and now comes what is really 
a wonder: 


We will Cut the Price of the Magazine in Half for Yon 

Think of it, 128 pages of reading matter, with over 120 illus- 
trations — a volume that would sell in cloth binding at $1.00, 

FOR ONLY IQ 1 

IZ2 CENTS. 

We will send you THE COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE, 
which has the strongest staff of regular contributors of any 
existing periodical, and 

THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR, 


Both for Only $2,00 a Year. 


Invariably in Advance , 

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l6 


The Raiwau Conductor 



Offers its ‘subscribers full value 
for their investment in 
the shape of 

Good Reading for fill. 

It is published especially for the 
benefit of 

Railway Train Conductors, 

Aqd as all Conductors 
need a good 

LANTERN 

Which can be depended upon 
at all times, we offer each 
one an opportunity of 
getting one 

flt the Cost of a Little Effort. 

Full amount of subscriptions, 
in advance must be sent with 
list of names in every instance. 

For 50 subscribers at $1 each 
we will give you an 

ADAMS & WESTLAKE 

“Queen” Lantern. 

Silver plated with globe half 
green or blue and your 
name engraved 
thereon. 


When Writing to Advertisers Mention 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR 

For 40 subscribers at $1 each 
we will give you an 

ADAMS & WESTLAKE 

“Pullman” Lantern, 

Silver plated, with globe half 
green or blue and your name 
engraved thereon; an 

ADAHS & WESTLAKE 

“QUEEN” LANTERN, 

Nickel plated, with same globe 
or a Henry C. Hart MTg 
Company’s 

"Boss” or "Bell” Lantern. 

Craig silver with globe half 
green, blue or ruby. 

For 30 subscribers at $1 each 
we will give you an 

Adams & Westlake “Pullman’' 
Lantern, 

Nickel plated with globe half 
green or blue and your name 
engraved thereon, or a 

Henru G. Hart MTq Gompanu’s 
“Boss” or “Bell” Lantern, 

Nickel plated with globe half 
green, blue or ruby. 



PULLMAN. 


The name of either of the firms 
manufacturing these lanterns is a posi- 
tive guarantee that the goods offered 
are as good as are made. The ' ‘Queen” 
lantern can be bad in close or skeleton 
bottom as you wish Now is the time 
to begin and you can easily secure the 
necessary number of .‘■ubscribers from 
among your friends and associates to 
secure you a lamp which will be a 
"thing of beauty” consequently "a joy 
forever ” Subscription blanks will t>« 
sent on application. i by VjOOQIC 



When Writing to Advertisers Mention 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


YANKEE HILL 


'T19THCJS THr OOLDCV 
HU VSl 


LKOKirO 


t- 


. Even as in the wilderness, the life glv- 

[in'? log water flowed from the smitten rock 

when Moses ypake, so the golden stream 
begins to flow. 

Frcm every quarter of the mountains 
of Colorado it comes pouring down and 
before the fateful year of 1898 was closed 
_i lhe K reat #tate °* Colorado had added $3,- 

p . UJ# ^ ^ 000,000 to the gold volume or the world. 

„ \Whm Regions that a few months ago had net- 

b <r .4m r.“C;r»"3d,,7^ 

^ CENTW Sunder of the dropping stamps. It is a 

w &i/ t XITY wonderful story— this golden legend 

^S’l/f/hr'n 




^WHALE 


to 


J % 


K 






ft 




na«S 


■M 

i BLACK 
HAWK 


SPRJll(rS| 


FORKS^ 

CREEK* 


*>% 


S4R Cj 








ent points ore bodies yielding $400 to $500 in 
gold are reported. Capital is coming In and 
by the first of June 8,000 people will be on the 
ground. 

The Whale, the General Ives and Alio e 
groups of gold mines belonging to the Orphan 
Boy Extension M. & M. Co. lie in tho very 
center of this wonderful new gold camp. The 
largest and richest body of ore yet uncovered 
In the camp is at the bottom of the 40-foot 
shaft on the Whale lode — eight feet of ore 
between the walls. 

The systematic development of this mine 
alone will be sufficient to establish the claim 
ol Yankee Hill to the first place among the 
new gold camps of the state. 

Have we interested you? Do you want to 
know more about gold and gold mines? Do 
you want to get In on the ground floor, before 
stock advances, and ever after receive divi- 
dends in gold) If so, send for a copy of the 
Gold Nugget. Address, 

Tns Orphan Boy Ext. M. A M. Co., 

29 uud 80 Klttredge Building. Denver, Cola 


of 

Colorado. 

Every one should read it. The Gold 
Nugget tells all about it— replete with 
strangely fascinating stories of the mlnet| 
tells of the wonders of Cripple Creek, pro- 
ducing $300,000 a month; of the gold belt 
of Leadvllle, with its monthly output of 
$200, 000, and of Gilpin yielding $5,000,000, 
and of Yankee Hill, the orown of Gilpin, 
teeming with possibilities. Three months 
ago It was only a name; to-day It is a 
fact; to-morroi^ Yankee Hill will be di- 
viding honors with Cripple Creek. And 
year henee men will say, “In those 
swift days we made our millions.” 

Three towns have sprung up like magie 
In the distrlet; fifty stamps are already 
pounding on its ores. Shafts and drifts 
are running In every direction. Strikea 
are reported almost dally ; at three difisi* 




£ i .jp»£ 1 87iiW^ 
Pa cy 


it 'IM 


kCtlOH 


'C 


Mfir 






YANKEE HIP. 

Miles 

DENVER 


^Golden 


V/ war 

/ 


0^ 


17 


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When Writing to Advertisers Mention 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR 


18 



Above is exact representation of Calculi referred to in 
this statement. The largest ones are retained by physicians 
and cannot be shown here; one of them is described as being 
the size and shape of an almond. 


A 

Prominent 


Manufacturer 


OF 

New England 

writes: 

I suffered severely for four years from 
Stone in the Bladder, and tried many reme- 
dies and spent much money in my efforts to 
get cured, but without success. After becom- 
ing almost discouraged of ever recovering my 
usual health I heard of • 


BUFFALO LITHIA WATER, 


begaD to take it, and in a short time had passed a large number of stones, about one-half of which 
I send you herewith. Theflargest ones were retained by different physicians hereabouts, as they 
said they were the largest stones they had ever seen passed. I can sincerely recommend Buffalo 
Lithia Water to fellow sufferers, as the test I gave it was a most severe one. 

RUFUS H BRIGHAM. 

Huron. Mass., November 16th, 1893. 


DR. WM R. TOWLES, Professor of Anatomy 
and Materia Medica in the Medical Department 
of the University of Virginia, former Resident 
Physician, Hot Springs, Va., says: 

"I feel no hesitancy whatever in saying that in 
Gout, Rheumatic Gout, Rheumatism, Stone in 
the Bladder, and in all Diseases of Uric Acid 
Diathesis, I know of no remedy at all comparable 
to BUFFALO LITHIA WATER. 

"Its effects are marked in causing a disappear- 
ance of Albumen from the urine. In a single 
case of Bright’s Disease of the Kidneys I wit- 
nessed decided beneficial results from its 
use, and from its action in this case I should have 
great confidence in it as a remedy in certain 
stages of this disease ” 


DR. M. H. HOUSTON, 9 Physician: to Ran 
dolph Macon College, Ashland, Va., writes: 

‘ ‘There is at least one quality of Buffalo Lithia 
Water to which sufficient attention has not been 
heretofore directed. This is its power as a gentle 
excitant of the Nervous System and as a 
Powerful and Permanent Nerve Tonic. To 
this particular property I am disposed to attribute 
much of its efficacy in the relief of many chronic 
diseases. Other mineral waters, with exhilerating 
properties, are sparkling in their appearance, and 
their exciting qualities are due to the gases which 
are disengaged and which are consequently evanes- 
cent in effect. The Buffalo Lithia Water is with- 
out such impregnation of gases, and its effects are 
much more permanent.” 


Prominent physicians in every part of the United States prescribe Buffalo Lithia Water and 
pronounce it of the greatest value in Bright s Disease, Rheumatism, Rheumatic Gout, Diabetes and 
Nervous Prostration Dr. Wm. A. Hammond says it is better than any other lithia water. 

WATER IN CASES OF ONE DOZEN HALF-GALLON BOTTLES. $5 .00 F. O B HERE. 

Descriptive Pamphlets Sent Free 


Thomas F. Goode, Proprietor, Buffalo Lithia Springs, Va, 


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When Writing to Advertisers Mention . 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


19 


Assets Over $200,000, December 31, 1890. 

IiIABUjITISIS NONB. 


We donl talk against other companies but we attend to our own business and 

PAY CLAIMS. 

The strongest Mutual Accident Association in the United* States is the 


^RAILWAie- 


OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYES’ 

ACCIDENT ^SSOOI-A/X’XOaST, 
Indianapolis , - - Indiana . 


OFTEN 


BECOMES 


The 

Wheel 

of 

Progress. 



/NDIAfJAPOilSJhlD. 


WVK.BELUS, Sec. 


The 

Wheel 

of 

Misfortune- 


to wmcn ne was entitled ror 

Ml VI LITE. 


SAMUEL HARMON, passenger conductor on the C. H. AS. R'y, lost one of bis legs by falling ini vh th« 
whbbls, on March 21, last. He was insured with the RAILWAY OFFICIALS and EMPLOYES ACCIDENT AS- 
SOCIATION of Indianapoiis foi fjooo, tnd on March 25, upon receipt of the r ews, a draft for fe 2500 was sent to 
Superintendent H. O. Pond to be delivered to Conductor Hannon, this being HALF THE FACE OF HIS POLICY, 
to which he was entitled _for the loss of one arm or one leg. 

Not long ago two men were killed on the Denver A Rio Grande railropd. They were 
both insured in the Railway Officials' and Employes' Accident Association, of In- 
dianapolis, Indiana A night message was sent to W. K. Beilis Jan. a6th. received 
27th, notifying him of the death of O. H. Cutler, and immediately , on receipt of thw 
ame, he wired a funeral benefit to the widow in care of W. A. Duel, superintendent of the Denver A Rio Grande 
railway, Pueblo, Colorado. And the same day a draft for the balance was mailed to R. L. Willard, their agent at 
Denver, to hand to the widow. 

Brakeznan Ralph St »tes died in the Salida hospital on the morning of February 1, from injuries sustained In 
wreck a week earlier; and his remains were shipped to North Platte, Nebraska. Mrs. States, his widow, was o 
the depot by R. L. Willard, and the funeral benefit, $350.00 handed her at 5:45 p. m. same day he died, Willard 
ing received same by wire from Indianapolis, through the First National Bank of Denver, in three honrs ‘1 
ime the message was sent. — From the Western Railway t March* t Hot 

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tVheo Writing to Advertisers Mention 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR 




polishes the stove better and quicker 
Samples by mail 35c. a set. Address NEW ENGLAh 
NOVELTY MANUFACTURING CO., 24 Portland St, 
De pt. F., Boston. Ma*s. 


i perfectly c 
than a brush or rag. 


Joseph Leicester Atkins , 

PATENT LAWYER 

AND 

Solicitor of U. S. and Foreign 

PATENTS, 

Atlantic Building, 930 F 91m Washington, D. C. 



The New Method 

Cures Piles. Fistula, etc,, without 
Cutting, Caustic. Clamp, In- 
jection, Ligature. Pain 
or Blood. 

Immediate Relief ! 

Pay when cured Investigate. 

TBS MEDILt PXLX *0.. 
Chicago office 189 W. Madison St. 


0 Blood Poison ! I5H 

■ permanently cured in 15 to 35 days. || 1 
NB we eliminate all poison from the sys- N" J 
fTl tern, so that there can never be a B 
INI return of the disease in any form. |r.l 
Parties can be treated at home as Mill 
well as here, (for the same price and BflN 
HI under the same guarantee,) but with 
n. M those who prefer to come here, we 

□ will contract to cure them or refund 
all money and pay entire expense of 
doming, railroad rare and hotel bills. 

OurMagicRemedy^o^nd 

Never Failed to cure the most ob- 
stinate cases. Wecliallenge the world 
for a case we can not cure. Since the 
history of medicine a true specific for 
BLOOD POISON has been sought 
for but never found until our Matrlc 
Cyphilene was discovered. We solicit 
the most Obstinate cases and 
challenge the world for a 
case we cannotcure. Thisdis- 
ease has always led the skill 

of mosteminent physicians. 
$500,000 CAPITAL 

behind our unconditional guarantee, j 
Absolute proofs sent sealed on | 
application. Address. 

COOK REMEDY CO., 

lot .*U>7 Mn*pnlf Tenipl*. fhlnrn, III. 



Wo will send vou 

tli.HAKVIJAX'N 
mid I Nt'AILDid 

French Preparation, 

CALTHOS 

Free, and a le^nl y 
executed cm»nint<« 
that CALTHOS will 
Restore your 

II FA I.TII. 

STHF.XiTH 
und UOOH. 


1 


Use it £ pay if satisfied. 

Von Mohl Co.. Importers. Cincinnati, Ohio. 


positively rprr 

Our New ORGAN and PIANO BOOR 

Colored Portraits, Special Offers, and 

full Particulars of all our famous 

orcTSIiS and 

f SoITTiTanyone at wholesale price, for 

('ash nr on Terms to Suit. 
^Organs 827.50. Pianos 8175.00. 
Vrlte to.(Iay for this VALUABLE BOOK.'ii* 
PTIQNIQU P PH WASHINGTON. new jerky. 
UUmH ion at LU. K»tabH»hfd -7 Yoirr. 






COOK REM 


Whooping Cough 
Croup 

Violent Coughs 

Tested over 40 Years. 

EFFECTUAL AND 1IARMLE88. 
50c. per hot, at druggists, or expressed from 6th 
and Wood 8ts„ Philadelphia, to any address 60c. 

REMEDY 

mwiMowT S< SYfUiP G j 
FOR CHILDREN TEETHING -j 

‘ 1 For sale by alt l r«i£cl«t». v.> v enl« a bottle. | 



nUC^®S»5Ibe. 

1 per mouth 


1 M 


harmless herbii^N 
* remedies that do not in-*. . 1 
^ure the health or interfere with one's business or 
pleasure. It builds up and improves the central 
health, clears the skin and beautifies the complexion 
No wrinkles or iiabbiness follow this treatment 
Endorsed by physicians and leading society ladic* 
PATIENTS TREATFD BY MAIL CON FID Elf UAL 

Hunolosi . No Starr Inf. S*Da 6 cent* In fttAmp* for portieaUn W 

» 0. «. r. limit. miciErimmi, ciicicl iu 



When Writing to Advertisers Mention 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


21 


HIGH 


FREE TRIAL 

ii ua s in your own hom •« 

(Oft l>n«uml Murt lnf for - (L'4.10 

• SO Arlington Machine for • g'JO.iO 
Standard Hlnirrra, . 80, ? 1 5. iO. 

_ 817 . 80 , and 27 other styles. We 
g . HhlpfiraU’lusjtmaehinesun " here 
J-f toanv one inuny quantity at whole. 
*|ale prim. All Atlachmenta FKKK 
■£.* Lnteet Improvement**. We pay the 
3 freight No Money required In 
advance. Send atonce f**r catalogue ana testimonial*! 
FMEK Address (In full) CASH BUYER'S UNION. 
168-164 W. Van Buren St.. Dept. 224 Chicago, IIL 



The readers of this paper will be pleased to learn that 
that there is at least one dreaded disease that science has 
been able to cure in all its stages, and that is Catarrh. 
Hall's Catarrh Cure is the only positive cure now known 
to the medical fraternity. Catarrh being a constitutional 
disease, requires a constitutional treatment. Hall’s Ca- 
tarrh Cure is taken internally, acting directly upon the 
blood and mucous surfaces of the system, thereby de- 
stroying the foundation of the disease, and giving the pa- 
tient strength by building up the constitution and assist- 
ing nature in doing its work. The proprietors have so 
much faith in its curative powers that they offer One 
Hundred Dollars for any case that it fails to cure. Send 
for list of Testimonials. 


ASTSoId 


F. J. CHENEY & CO., Toledo, O. 
by Druggists, 75c. 


BLOOD TOISON 

W hen Mercury Iodide of Potassium find 
Hot Springs fail tocure, we will imttranter 
u cure or no pay. (’an be no fuilure. Cure 
in 20 10 90 days. Will contract to pay rail- 
road fare and hotel bills If we fail. We 
are incorporated, with lnrge capital. Re- 
fer t«* Hnirist reel's. Everything sent seal- 
ed, in plain envelopes. Write for refer- 
ences and proofs fr*e. Can worjk during treatment. 

GUARANTEE REMEDY GO. 

51 & 52 Dexter Building, 
CHICAGO, ILL. 


9 SIHTs 


CAVtAI 0. 1 n/UJL MARKs^M 
’AF COPYRIGHTS.^ 

CAN I OBTAIN A PATENT? Fora 
prompt answer and an honest opinion, write to 
MI'NN A: CO., who have had nearly fifty years’ 
experience in the patent business. Communica- 
tions strictly confidential. A II a 11 <1 hook of In- 
formation concerning Patents and bow to ob- 
tain tbem sent free. Also a catalogue of mechan- 
ical and scientific books sent free. 

Patents taken through Mucn & Co. receive 
special notice in the Scientific American, and 
thus are brought widely before the public with- 
out cost to the inventor. This splendid paper. 
Issued weekly, elegantly Illustrated, has bv far the 
largest circulation of any scientific work in the 
world. S 3 a year. Sample copies sent free. 

Bonding Edition, monthly, * 2.50 a vear. Single 
copies, cents. Every number contains beau- 
tiful plates, in colors, and photographs of new 
bouses, with plana, enabling builders to show the 
latest designs and secure contracts. Address 
MUNN Jc CO., New York. 301 Broadway. 


Asthma 


The African Kola Plant. 

discovered in Congo, West 

- - — - — ^ -Africa, is Natures Sure 

Cure for^Asthma._ Cure Guaranteed or No 


rjmj. Export Office. 1164 Broadway, NewTVorkT 

For Uuwe Trial Case* FREE by Mail* address 
SOUL IMFORTXHO CO.. 183 Vint 8t. .Cincinnati. OuT 



By W. M. Tkvloar. Solo fl.OOt Pilot. fl.&O; Chorea, 38 crate; 
Whistle, S& rents, Hand Pnds; id rent*. A new piano piece, rep- 
resenting a day's journey on a train. Synopses: Train Whistles.' 
Bell Bln**- All Aboard. The Start. Twenty Minutes for Dinner, 
dong. The Menu. Dinner over they again mart on their Journey, 
passing through Fields and Meadows, nntll they reach " Home,. 
Sweet Home.” It Is a great exhibition piece. Send $1 for the Sole, 
and receive gratis a Whistle, Sand Pads and Thoms .part. Mention 
this Journal. THELOAK MIMIC CO., Mexico, Mo. 


RHEUMATISM 

Perfectly and Permanently 
CURBS 

BV USING ONE BOTTLE 

YELLOW PINE COMPOUND. 

Price S2.co; by Express 82.25. Send for treatise 
YELLOW PIN* XXTfiAS? CC., 

For sale by all druggists. Allegheny, Pa. 


Fortunes for Railroad Men! 

Enormous prices are paid for many varieties of United 
States and Foreign coins dated before 1869. Railroad 
men who keep their eyes open can make a small fortune 
if they run across the proper coin. There are good 
sized premiums also on Confederate and Fractional cur- 
rency as well as old stamps. There are many dealers 
who buy the above. One of the most reliable concerns in 
the United States is the Nation'll Coin Co., 835 Y Ex- 
change Building. Boston, Mass. By sending stamps to 
them you can get a 16 page illustrated pamphlet full of 
interesting and valuable information, which if taken ad- 
vantage of, mav make you many dollars wealthier. It 
will show you how toke~p your eyes pealed. 


tfAA A Mortgage Gold Payment Bond, f tAA 
fDllJU Nets 6 per cent, semi-annually. 

GUARANTEED BY A CITY. 

Getter than a Savings Bank. 

Better than a Real Estate Mortgage. 
Better than Idle Money. 

Your “Uncle?” He will always take it. 

Address, II. W. BAIRD, 

No. 1001 Society for Savings, Cleveland, O hio 




World s Fair Highest Awards 

Medal and Diploma w 
on our INCUBATOR and 
BROODLR Combined. 

' Old Reliable” 

If yon intererted In Poultry, It 
|**y you to «-rul 4 wnu In for 

,72 pa«u Riving valuable p* 

| on Poultry Culture. Addrras 

Reliable I n cubat o r and B rood er Co. Quincy, III 



Ul ICC CANNOT SEE HOW YOU DO 
Wirt IT AND PAY FREIGHT. 

CIA cn Any Um Oxford Improved SING EH 8ew- 
i I U*QU lag Machine, with n complete eet of el 
UcWnente nnd guaranteed for 10 year*. Shipped nay 
•here 00 30 dupe* trial. No mtm*y reqvirod in ad- 
vane*. 76.<jOO now In uee. World's Fair Model swarded. 
Buy frotn factory, save dealers' and agents’ proSt. 
Writs to-day for our LARGE FREE CATALOGUE 

Oxford Hfg. Co., 342 Vabash Are., Chicago, III 


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When Writing to Advertisers Mention 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 



CONDUCTORS: 

When you order your Uniforms insist upon having your Tailors 
furnish BURLINGTON MILLS CLOTH. Burlington Goode 
do not wear White on the seams. For Winter, use Style 824: 
For Summer, use Style 4016. 

Write us if you cannot get them from your Tailor. 


Will You be on Time ? 

ARE YOU A RAILWAY CONDUCTOR? 

If so, why do you pav two prices for your Accident Insurance, in companies doing a promiscuous business, when 
the PREFERRED MASONIC MUTUAL ACCIDENT ASSOCIATION of Detroit, Mich., will furnish it at ‘’Pre- 
ferred” rates? A Passenger Conductor can procure a LIFE INSURANCE POLICY of any regular company in this 
country at the same rate as a bank president. Why. then, should he be required to pay twice as much for his Acci- 
dent Insurance’ Experience has shown that the Passenger Conductor is as good a risk as the Commercial Trareler. 
and this statement is borne out by any experienced passenger conductor. 

The Preferred Masonic Mutual Accident Association is the FIRST and ONLY Company rating Conductors in the 
Preferred class, and giving them the advantage of the Preferred Rate of Premiums. Our business is confined ex- 
clusively to Master Masons engaged in Preferred Occupations. Agents wanted. 

For tui tlier information address A. C. MILLER, Secretary, Detroit, Mich. 

JAS. T. FLAHERTT, 

General Agent (Chicago District.) 607 Chamber of Commerce, Chicago, till 


CONDUCTORS: 

PULL THE BELL ROPE ! 

You are exposed to sudden drafts, changes of temperature, and injuries. Look Out I 

ST. JACOBS OIL 

Cures RHEUMATISM, 

SPRAINS, BRUISES, CUTS, WOUNDS, SORENESS, STIFFNESS, 
SWELLINGS, BACKACHE, NEURALCIA, SCIATICA, 

BURNS. 

A PROMPT AND PERMANENT CURE. 



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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR 


23 


Cold ! Cold ! Cold ! 

The Whale Mining and Milling Company owns twelve 
mining claims on the crest of th- Yankee Hill, Gilpin Co., 
Colo., with a developed vein eight feet wide, four feet free 
milling gold ore worth $30.00 per ton. 

For particulars and prices os stock wrije 

FRANK C. SMITH, 

No. 523 Mining Exchange, Denver , Colo. 



Railway Watches 

Hampden 17-jewel adjusted movement in Dueber filled open faoe case, warranted 20 years, 
$20.90. Sent by express prepaid on receipt of amount or sent C. O. D Examination allowed on 
receipt of 50 cents. 

Solid 14- Karat Gold Chain, $ 10 . 

CHICAGO WATCH CO 281 Wabash Are., Chicago, III. 



I — ELY’S CREAM BALM -Cleanses the Nasal I 

Passages, Allays Pain and Inflammation. Heals « M) 

the Sores, Restores Taste and Smell, ana Cures 

_ 

Gives Relief at once for Cold in Head. 

I Apply into the Nostrils. It is Quickly Absorbed. 

50c. Druggi-t* or by mail. ELY BROS., 50 Warren St., N. Y.| 


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24 


When Writing to Advertisers Mention 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


Times are Changed. 

Even old Father Time 
has found it necessary 

and purchase a lawn 
mower and to shelve 
his hour glass and buy 
a Fahys Monarch 14 
Karat Gold Filled 
Watch 

his movement in. 
“ Why ? ” Because it 
is the most durable 
case made, better pro- 
tection to the movement 
than any other. It is guaranteed to wear 
21 years by a maker who has been in 
business since 1857. And, finally, it’s as 
handsome as any gold case made. That’s 
why F ather Time has a case made by 
Your jeweller keeps 
them. Look out for this 
trade-mark. 

All styles and sizes; hunting and 
open face. Send for free pamphlet 
“From A to Z of a Watch Case. 

'Joseph Fahys CF Co , New York . 




Case to keep 


to hang up his scythe 



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SAFFORD’S 

Automatic Draw Car. 

Ntv«r Has Been Even Equaled in Freight Service. 


Over 21,000 made this year, all the slan- 
ders to the contrary notwithstanding. “A 
uniform link and pin coupler, automatic, 
— is the best ever used with air brakes in 
freight service.” 

F. W. PARSONS, Pres. 

J. B. SAFFORD, Treas. 
1324 Monadnock Building , Chicago, III. 


For the Finest, Handsomest and 
Lowest-Priced 



FOR THE 


Order of 

Railway 

Conductors, 

WRITE TO 

The M. G. Lilley & Co., Columbus, 0. 

The Largest Manufactory of Secret Society 
Goods in the World 


Every : : 

Railroad Man > - 

Will be interested in the 
* new and beautifully illus- 
trated : : : 

Midland Monthly, 

Published at ONLY 

Des Moines, Iowa. $1.50 per year. 


The first of a series of Railroad 
Stories, Sketches, etc., all illus- 
trated with elegant drawings 
and ngravings, will appear in 
the February number-.-a ro- 
mantic and exciting story of 
railroading in Northwestern 
Iowa. 


Send Si. 50 for a year's subscription to The 
Midland Monthly, Des Moines, Iowa; or, inclose 
14 cents in postage for the January number and 
secure the first installment of a charming Loais- 
iana tale, by Alice Ilgenfritz Jones, entitled "Bea- 
trice, a story of Bayou Teche." 

Conductors’ Wives and Daughters ! 
Sheet Music for You. 

There are numerous offers of cheap music this season, 
but here is the cheapest and best of all. The small sum 
of ten cents will bring you our charming musical and liter- 
ary magazine three months on trial. Von will also re- 
ceive abolutely free 1O3 pieces of popular sheet music, in- 
cluding That is Love, After the Ball, You Will Never 
Know a Mother’s Love Again, ’Twixt Love and Duty, 
Ever Faithful, Old Madrid, Sweet Heather Belle, Two 
Little Girls in Blue, Better Bide a Wee, Comrades, Ta- 
Ra-Ra-boom-de-ray, Little Fislier Maiden, Fussy Cat, 
Annie Rooney, Bob Up Serenely, I Whistle and Wait for 
Katie, Bonnie Doon, Stop Dat Knocking, Kissing over the 
Garden Wall, Five O’clock in the Morning, Let Me 
Dream Again, When Red Leaves Fall. In a Cottage by the 
Sea, Speak to Me, Maiden’s Vow, Brave Old Oak, She 
Wore a Wreath of Roses, Take Back the Heart, Love 
Among the Roses, Anvil Chorus, Daddy Wouldn't Buy 
Me a Bow-wow, Think of Me Nevermore, Lullaby, Old 
Zip Coon, On to the Field of Glory, Swiss Boy, Oh Day of ‘ 
Joy. Douglas. Tender and True. Annie Laurie, The Parting 
and many others. In addition to the 3*months’ subscription 
and 163 songs, (words and music) we will send an elegant 
art production in 8 colors (worth $1.00) entitled, “The ln- 
teri option. ” All the above will cost you only 10 cents. 
Get the uiost for the least money by sending a silver dime 
to Amkkican Nation Company, 325 B Washington Street, 
Boston, Mass. 


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Dueber 
Hampden 
17 Jewel 
Watches, 

“The best 
What there is.” 
A Second 
May mean 
The loss of 
Thousands. 
May mean 
Life or Death. 
Therefore, 

It is a 
Necessity 
For the 
R. R. Boys, 

And all 
Who want to 
Be on time, 

To own a 
Dueber 
Hampden 
17 Jewel 
Watch. 


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GEO. WESTINGHOUSE. Jr., President. JOHN CALDWELL. Treasurer. 

T W WELSH, Superintendent. W. W. CARD Secretary. 

H. H. WESTINGHOUSE, General Manager 


=3353 T :££ E 2=355= 

Westinghouse Air Brake Company, 

PITTSBURGH , PA., U. S. A. 

' MANUFACTURERS OF THE 

Westinghouse Automatic Brake. 


The WESTINGHOUSE AUTOMATIC BRAKE ’is now in use on 24,000 engines and 325,000 
cars. This includes (with plain brakes) 232,000 freight cars, which is about 23 per cent off 
the entire freight car equipment of the country, and about 80 per cent of these are engaged in 
ater-state traffic, affording the opportunity of controlling the speed of trains by their use on 
railways over which they may pass. Orders have been received for 173,000 of the improved 
quick action brakes since December. 1887. 


The best results are obtained in freight train braking from having all the cars in a train fitted 
with power brakes, but several years' experience has proven conclusively that brakes can be suc- 
cessfully and profitably used on freight trains where a portion of the cars are so equipped. 


E. L ADREON, Manager. JOHN B. GRAY, Agent. C. C. HIGHAM Gen ‘1 Supt. 

THE 


American C ompany, 

The Westinghouse Air Brake Co., Lessee. 

New York Office: Chicago Office: 

i 5 e Broadway, John B. Gray. Agent. Grand Pacif« Hotel 

MANUFACTURERS OF 

LOCOMOTIVE BRAKES 


General Offices, St. Leult, Me.,11. S. A 


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When Writing to Advertisers Mention 1 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. \ 


FOR CONDUCTORS. 

Buffalo, N. Y. 

It has long been my desire to make a statement of my cure to the 
Brothers, not only for the benefit of those in my own Brotherhood of 
Locomotive Engineers, but for all those pei*sons who have suffered in like 
manner. I had a rupture that was very large and difficult to hold in place. 
Trusses of all kinds were tried. They were painful and would not hold it. 
The rupture would come down constantly when at my engine and $ive me 
fearful pain. I was cured at Dr. Pierce’s Invalids’ Hotel and Surgical In- 
stitute, Buffalo, N. Y., by a treatment that is safe and certain. 

My cure has been permanent, although I have worked steadily at my 
engine. Your sincerely, 

JAMES M. KEACH, 

No. 66 Bissell Avenue. 

Ahum hint references, by permission of those whom we have cured, will be 
furnished to any one wishing to call upon or write them. 

I niinTMnp I Hernia (Breach) or Rupture, even if old and large, is 
RlJPllJRE. I speedily and radically cured in every case undertaken by our 
hmhhhhmhmJ specialists, without dependence upon trusses, and without 
danger. 967 cases of Rupture cured by us, at the Invalids’ Hotel, in 1893. 

There is on longer any need of wearing clumsy, awkward, chafing old trusses. 
There is no safety in any kind of a truss, for there is constant danger of 
the Hernia suddenly becoming strangulated and resulting in death. 

Varicocele, or false rupture, and Hydrocele are 
permanently cured by new and painless methods. 

An illustrated Treatise on Rupture, Varicocele, or 
Hydrocele, 6ent to any address on receipt of ten cents. 

Kgr Address all letters to 

WORLD’S DISPENSARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, 

No. 663 main Street, BUFFALO, N. V 


| VARICOCELE. 



James M. Kf.acil Esq. 



It steadies the nerves and 
nourishes the body . 

W. Baker Sl Co/s 

Breakfast 
Cocoa 

Absolutely jmre 
and soluble . 

NO ALKALIES or OTHER 
CHEMICALS or DYES 



are used in its preparation. It has more 
than three times the strength of Cocoa 
mixed with Starch, Arrowroot or Sugar, 
and is far more economical, costing less 
than one cent a cup . It is delicious, 
nourishing, and easily dioested. 


Sold by Grooer8 everywhere. 

W. BAKER & CO., Dorchester, Mass. 


To the Members ofO. R. C. 



/V 

* OF EVERY DESCRIPTION 

Rp&h % Sltfe? 

jStyPbtS'^ JX '■ SW0R DS 

Uniform If Mb *. 

Iiome Flies 

...- EtcEtc 

COMPLETE OUTFITS 

FORHEV/ SO(IETlESj\ SPECIAL]} 


Boston Office No. 7 Temple Flare. 
WRITE FOR PRICKS. 


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When Writing to Advertisers Mention 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


ESTABLISHED IS77. 



J. 8. TOWNSEND, 


Railroaders’ Jeweler, 

1554 Wabash Ave., CHICAGO. 


We carry one of the finest stocks in the coun- 
try, Diamonds, Watches, Jewelry and elegant 
novelties for presentations. Goods shipped to 
any address C. O. D. approval. Satisfaction 
gnarantede, 

Our 400 page illustrated catalogue sent on ap- 
plication. oend ioc for agents terms, etc. 

Lappel buttons, emblems and Brotherhood 
goods of every description. 

Special agent for John J. McCrane Locomotive Engine 
Clock, Sxa.oo. “The President" B. of L. Watch Move- 
ment, $50.00, Magic Case. Write for Townsend's Rail- 
wmymen’s Mica Eye Protectors, 50c pair in case. 

J. 8. TOWNSEND, 

X554 WABASH AVB.| CHICAGO 



5EALOFNORTHCAROLINA 


^-PlugCut — 

The undisputed leader of plug cut smoking 
tobaccos throughout the world. 

MARBURG BROS. 

The American Tobacco Co., Successor, 
Baltimore, Md. 



LEVEUtNDSI 

A Woman 


can throw out with atea- 
U spoon more than her hus- 
D band can throw in with 
a shovel. A good many 
wives are made better 
g housewives by using 


(fcvsaiKfc 

g ^BdringPOwfer 

t This claim is based on 
economy. Cleveland’s 
§ saves a little each time; 
g besides, everything is 
© light, sweet and appetiz- 
ing. No soggy biscuit 
or cake to be thrown 



away. 

Pure & Sure. 

BAKING-POWDI 


o 1 THE RAILROAD MANS HOME 
o IS MADE SWEETER BY THE 
o | MUSIC FROM A 

F^. XT. 



Many a Brotherhood man, in whose homes our 
Organs can be found, will heartily testify to the 
truth of this. 

If your local dealer does not have them, write 
direct to 


Farrand & Voteu Oroan 60., 

DETROIT, HICH. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


^WORTH^MI^ 

The Favourite of 

All Railroad Men. 

A Standard Remedy the World over 

FOn ALL 

BILIOUS AND NERVOUS 

DISORDERS, 

Such as Sick Headache, 
Weak Stomach, 

Impaired Digestion, 

Liver Complaint, 
^Constipation, 
and all Similar Ailments. 

Covered with i Tasteless and Soluble Coating. 
CM all druggists. Price, 25 cents a box. 
New York Depot, B. F. Allen Co., 

365 Canal St. 

pn«tal for our valuable book. '•OonatlnaHon.'* 


‘‘MAN WANTS 

BBT LITTLE BERE BELOV.” 
But he wants to be free from 

Rash, 

Chapped Hands, 

Sore Hands, 

Scalded Hands, 

Open Sores and Cuts. 

And for such there is no such soothing and heal- 
. 1 ing remedy as a simple wash with 

[Glenn's Sulphur Soap. 

It is suited for all the wants of railroad men, 
as well as his wife or children, for the immedi- 
ate relief of all skin troubles. It removes grease 
and dirt, yet heals at the same time. Your drug- 
gist keeps it. 


N. B. — Beware of vile imitations, 
and obtain (Heim's Sulphur Soap. 


Ask for 


RuBYjEWELED =5^7-"' 

ElqiN % 

„ l^Jsvteled /ff A>K ^ 
p.W.I^rrvprs^.’jj) /o\irJeW<d$r for 


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2 


When Writing to Advertisers Mentiov 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


BOYS, Do you wish Good Coffee ? 



2E Tea Strained Clear as Crystal ? 

Then troy the Standard "Dripless" Strainer 

[The only Dripless Strainer in the World. 

No drip to soil table linen. No wires to clog spout. No falling off. 

Used and endorsed by such Brotherhood men as F. P. Sargent, 
E. E. Clark, John T. Wilson, A. D. Thurston, etc., etc. 

Ask your dealer for the STANDARD STRAINER. If he 
does not keep them send as cents to 

Standard Strainer Co., 

Special inducements to unemployed 34 IHAIDEN LANE, 
railroad men to act as our agents. NEW YORK. 


How’s This ? 

We offer One Hundred Dollars Reward for any case of 
Catarrh that cannot be cured by Hall’s Catarrh Cure. 

F. J. CHENEY & CO., Props., Toledo, O. 

We the undersigned have known F. J. Cheney for the 
last is years, and believe him perfectly honorable in all 
tmsiness transactions and financially able to carry out 
any obligation made by their firm. 

West & Truax, Wholesale Druggists, Toledo, O. 

W aiding, Rinnan & Marvin, Wholesale Druggists, To- 
ledo, O. 

Hall's Catarrh Cure is taken internally, acting directly 
npon the blood and mucous surfaces of the system. Price 
75 c. j5er bottle. Sold by all druggists. Testimonials free. 


Of interest to Railroad Men and 
. . their Families. . . 


IT. 8 . CENSUS, 1880. REPORTS 


35.000 DEATHS 

CANCER^ 


The IOLA SANITARIUM 

is an institution thoroughly equipped for the treat - 
merit of Cancer, Tumors and all malignant grow th 
w ithout the use of the knife, and effects a permanen 
cure where the circumstances are at all fa vn rati, 
for treatment. References on application 

Address PR. GEO. PALE. Tola. Wisconsin. 


The largest manufacturer of Artificial Legs in the World. And also the largest manufacturer of 
Artificial arms in the World without any exceptions. 

MARKS’ PATENT ARTIFICIAL LIMBS. 

WITH RUBBER HANDS AND FEET are natural in action, noiseless in motion, durable in con- 
struction and the most comfortable to wear. 



To A. A Marks: 

Dear Sir. — I was a professional tight 
rope walker and aeronaut before I lost 
my leg and I do not allow the loss of a 
leg to compel me to seek another occu- 
pation. With your patent artificial leg 
I can walk a tight rope nearly as well 
as I ever could. I feel safe and sure on 
my rubber foot, no matter where I 
place it. I consider your invention of 
the rubber foot the most valuable and 
important to persons who have Jost 
their natural limbs. 

Respectfully yours, 

Prof. F. E. Jacoby, 

Waterbury, Conn. 


Over 15,000 in use, scattered in all parts 
of the world. Eminent surgeons and com- 
petent judges commend the rubber foot 
and hand for their many advantages. 

Received 24 awards Including highest award 
at the World's Columbian Exposition. 

Endorsed and purchased by the U S . 
Government aid many -foreign govern* 
ments 

A treatise containing 430 pages, with 300 
illustrations sent free, also a formula for 
taking measurements, by which limbs can 
be made and sent to all parts of the world 
with fit guaranteed. Address, 

A. A. MARKS, 

701 Broadway, New York City. 

Established 41 years. 


Note. — The above cut was made from a photograph of Prof. Jacoby while performing on * 
tight rcpe. He is balancing entirely on bis artificial leg, bis natural foot is off the rope and is is 
the act of passing forward to take the next step. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR 


3 




ON 

GENUINE DIAMONDS 


WE CAN SAVE YOU MONEY. 


WHY? 


LOOK 


Because we buy the loose stones direct from the cutters and save brokers' 
Commissions. 

Because we buy in large quantities and, by paying cash , secure bottom figures. 

Because we make all our own mountings and save the manufacturing 
jeweler's profit. 

Because we bought an immense stock before the new tariff law went into 
effect and save you the present 25 per cent. duty. 

Because we sell more diamonds than any other concern in the country and 
can afford to do business on a small percentage of profit. 

at our prices. You would not ask lower figures than we quote even if we 
offered to sell the goods 

AT YOUR OWN PRICE! 


i Karat Diamond. 382 X Karat Diamond. 
» 75 Each. $3 85 Each. 


685 Karat Diamond. 688 Karat Diamond. dtn* 
$3 75 Each. $6 25 Each. 


387 a 1 *. A Karat Diamond. 
$1 95 Each 


. ,, K u .«t Diaiuon l 

$10 15 Each. 


4il ,> Karat Diamond. 415 ^ K.irat Diamond. 
$16 25 Each. $17 55 Each. 


410 u Karat Diamond. 
$17 55 Each. 


14K SOLID GOLD MOUNTINGS. 


A RFMARif ARI F OFFFR We buy back any diamond bought from us at 
l\L/nnmvnPLL l/l I Ll\» an y time within one year from date of sale and 

will pay for same the amount paid us, less ten per 
cent., which we charge as rent and as part of the expense of resetting the stone. We 
expect to make our money out of such a transaction from the increase in the value of the 
diamond and by increasing our sales through making such an offer. 

Any of the above goods will be sent C. O. D. subject to examination on receipt of 50 
cents as a guarantee of good faith, and if not satisfactory may be returned. They are 
selected from our large illustrated catalogue for 1895. Copy sent free on request. 

Moore & Evans, 


WHOLESALE JEWELERS. 


MASONIC TEMPLE, 

CHICAGO. 

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When Writing to Advertisers Mention 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR 




The specific and universal opinions, condensed, 
are as follows: 

“You deserve great praise, and the gratitude 
of the reading world— that portion of it, at least, 
that is fortunate enough to read THE GREAT 
DIVIDE. Having a field entirely ita own, it is 

intensely American in cast and character.” 

It is useless for us to say, the illustrative 
features and typography are superb- equal in 
quality and unusualn* ss to the fascinating and 
strange contents that fill our columns. 

TEN CENTS a copy; ONE DOLLAR a year. 
Your newsdealer has it, if not, send to 

THE CREAT DIVIDE, Denver, Col 




Diplomas Awarded. Courses in other trades, all in- 
cluding thorough instruction in Mathematics and Physics. 
Send for FREE circular, stating subject you wish to study, 
to The Cor* eapondem-e School of mechanics, 
Scranton, Pa. 


$12 TO $35 
Per Week 

>Iy employed. T1 


Can be made working for ua. 

Parties preferred who can give 
their whole time to the business 
Spare hours, though, may be profit- 
ably employed. This announcement is of especial inter 
est to stirring men who wish to rise in the world. Good 
openings for town and city work as well as country dis- 
tricts. B. F. JOHNSON A CO., No. 3 So. mb 
St., RICHMOND. VA. 


CONDUCTORS, 

ALL ABOARD! 


The Preferred Masonic Mutual Accident Association is the FIRST and 
ONLY Company rating Conductors in the Preferred class, and giving them the 
advantage of the Preferred Rate of Premiums. Our business is confined exclu- 
sively to Master Masons engaged in Perferred Occupations. £5,000 with £25.00 
weekly indemnity costs £17 first year and £13 thereafter. Agents wanted. For 
further information address, A. C. MILLER, Secretary, 

DETROIT, niCH. 


FREE TO SUFFERERS. 

Why waste time.money and health with ,, docto^9/’wonderful"cu^c-all8, , • 
specifics, etc., when when I w ill send FREE the prescription of anew 
and positive remedy for n prompt lasting cure. Lack of strength, 
vigor and manhood quickly restored in young or old man. I send this 
prescription FKEE of charge, and there Is no humbug or advertis- 
ing catch about it. Any good druggist or physician enn put it up for you. 
as every thing is plain and simple. I can not afford to advertise anu 
give away this splendid remedy unless you do me the favor of buying 
j a small quantity from me direct or advise your friends to do so. But 
you may do as you please about this. You will never regret having 
writteifme, as this remedy cured me after everything else hod failed. 
Correspondence strictly confidential, and nil letter* sent in jdnin sealed envelope. Enclose 



stamp if convenient. Address 


K. II. HUNGEKFORD. Box A 310, Albion, Mich. 


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When Writing to Advertisers Mention 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


5 




ACCIDENT A SSOCI ATION 

•INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 

WE PAY AGENTS TO REPRESENT US AND NOT TALK 
a r.n ikict nTUTR COMPANIES. 



Nearly 

One Hillion 
and a Half 
Dollars 
Disbursed | 


I 


.Almost every man tbinks that he is the one who will escape the misfortunes which he sees happen- 
ing to thqse around him; but it is the unexpected which happens, and Prudent Persons 
Provide Protection against the Freaks of Fate by a policy in the 

^RAILWA^ 

OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYES’ 

A-OCrDEaSTT iLSSOCIA-TIOlT, 

The following Prudent Conductors thus protected themselves and families against disaster, and 
rxnany a home was saved, and wife and children provided for thereby. 

The following are some of the Death and Disability claims paid to Train Conductors: 

DEATH CLAIJTS. 


P. M. Thompson. 

Columbus, 

Ohio. 

C. H. V. & T. Ry.. 

$5,000.00 

T. H. McIntosh, 

Tekoa, 

Wash., 

U. P. Ry , 

5.000 00 

•Charles Herring, 

Montgomery, 

Ala., 

L. & N. Ry., 

5,000.00 

James McCreery. 

Huntington, 

W. Va., 

H. & P. S. Ry., c: 

4,000 00 

J. W. McGinty, 

Atlanta. 

Ga., 

E. T. V & G. Ry., 

4 000.00 

Wm. Plumb. 

La Grande, 

Ore., 

U. P. Ry., 

4 000 .00 

-Oliver H. Cutler, 

Pueblo, 

Col., 

D. & R. G. Ry., 

3,000 00 

J. A. Johnson. 

Wymore, 

Neb., 

P. & M. Ry., 

2.500.00 

Thos. J. Judd, 

Ashland, 

Ky., 

O. & B. S. Ry.. 

2.000.00 

R. D. George, 

Atlanta, 

Ga.. 

E. T. V. & G. Ry., 

2.000.00 

-O. D. Smith, 

Marshalltown, 

Icwa, 

Iowa Central Ry.. 

2,000.00 

J. B. Wetherbee, 

Toledo. 

Ohio. 

C. H. & D. R y. 

2,00000 

•Grant Norton, 

Lincoln, 

Neb. 

B. & M. Ry.. 

2,000 00 

Wm. J. Crow, 

Hinton, 

W. Va. 

C. & O. Ry., 

2.000.00 

Edward C. Hurley, 

Wymore, 

Neb. 

B. & M. Ry.. 

1,500.00 

Cephos J. Guyton, 

Central 

S. C. 

R. & D. Ry.. 

1.500 00 

Albion W. Snodgrass, 

Chattanooga. 

Tenn. 

C. N. O.&T. P. Ry. 

. x . 500 00 

Andrew Somerville, 

St. Paul, 

Minn. 

St. P. & D. Ry., 

1 , 000.00 

Jno. F Stanton, 

McAllister, 

Ind. Ter. 

C. C. & R. Ry. 

1,000.00 

Edmond R. Daugherty, 

Trinidad, 

Col. 

U. P. Ry., 

1,000 00 

J. W. Lyons, 

Hinton, 

W. Va., 

C St O. Ry. 

1,000 00 

J. W. Carter. 

Hinton, 

W. Va., 

C. St O. Ry, 

1 , 000.00 

J. S. Vawter, 

W. Indianapolis, Ind., 

I. U. Ry., 

x.ooo 00 


James L. Litton, 
Wm. Bollinger. 
*Geo. C. Peifer, 

J. C. Schening, 
Wra. Gallagher, 
Henry J. McBride, 
Sam'l M. Harmon, 
A. C. Saul, 


DISABILITY CLAIiTS. 

Springfield. Mo., St. L. & S. F. Ry., arm off, $2,500 oo 

Sanborn, Iowa, C. M. Sc St. P. Ry., leg off. 750 00 

Jefferson Line, Pa., S. C. Ry., arm off, 1,000 00 

Chicago, III., L. N. A. & C. Ry., leg off i. 000.00 

Carlton, Minn., St. P. & D. R’y., leg off. 1,500.00 

Jackson, Neb., U. P. Ry.. arm off, 2.000.00 

Zanesville. Ohio, C. S. & H. Ry., leg off, 2,500.00 

Hinton, W. Va., C. St O. Ry., leg and arp off, x.ooo 00 


If yon want protection, Address. 

Wm. K. BELL1S, Sec. and Gen. flgr., 

Lock Box 93, Indianapolis, Ind. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


PUN0S>90RGAN$!=1?,?h 


Oar New 
Catalogue 


Write for it 


lv Organs! $27.50 

Cash or on Easy Payments. 

CORNISH a CO., 

Washington, N. J. 


S GOLD 



WATCH 


®flOO 




ONLY TO IHTROnrCK THEM. REGULAR RETAIL PRICE 925.00. RrT FOB «0 DAYS OHLT. 
THE SOLID GOLD FILLED WATCH AND 100 10-CTIfT CIGARS FOR $5,957 
CUT THIS OCT »Dd s**tid it to q> with your name and addre»». fNo Boovv Rrqolrrd in ad ranee) and we 
will lend to you by express, same day we receive vonr order. 100 of oar Flne*t Perfceto 10e. Cigars 
and in the tame package a Solid Gold Filled Wateh, Ladle,* or Gent*’ .Ixe, stem winder and wttor, 
fine extra jewelled nickel movement, carefully adjusted and timed, beautiful finish, enamel dial, nnbreak- 
able mainspring, splendid timekeeper, elegant engraved cases, warranted by Special Certificate 20 year*. 
You examine the goods at the express office and if satisfactory, pay the express agent *5.95 and express 
charges, and the box of 100 Cigars and Gold Filled Watch are your*. This offer is made solely to Introduce 
our famous cigars, aud to protect ourselves against dealers and speculators ordering In large quantities 
we will Dot tell more than .1 bo*e» and 3 watches to any one person. We prepay express and finve free a 
gold plated chain when cash, $6.95, Is sent with order. Write to-dav. 

WESTERN UNION MFC. CO.. 281 Wa&aah Ave., Chicago, III. 


“PULL YOUR LEG.” 

Is less to fear with R. R. Men than to lose your 
leg. In the latter case you surely want 
to replace it with a 

Patent Adjustable Slip Socket. Warranted not to Chafe 
the Stump. 

Received the Gold Medal and the Diploma at the 
World’s Fair. 

Also the Gold Medal. Bronze Medal and Diploma at 
t the California Mid Winter International Exposition. 

Largest Firm in ihe United States. 

/\/r The Inner Socket, seen outside 
the limb in cut, is made over a 
plaster cast of the stump, giving 
an exact tit, being hela perma- 
nently upon the stump by elastic 
fastened to lacer above, and in 
act of walking moves up and 
down in the Outer Socket, bring- 
ing all the friction between the 
two sockets, instead of between 
the stump and the socket as is 
the case in all single and wooden 
socket limbs. With our SLIP 
SOCKET the most tender and 
sensitive -dump can be fitted and 
limb^ worn with perfect ease and 

Endorsed and purchased by U. 
S. Government. 

Send for our new 1893 Catalogue 
with illustrations. 

The Winkley Artificial Limb Co.. 

3»3 Nicollet Ave., MINNEAPOLIS, IYIINN, 

RRANCH OFFICES. 

84 Adams St., Dexter Building Chicago. 

1 16 Jones St., San Francisco, Cal. 


■■PAT FOLKS REDUCED 

from 15 to 251 bs._permonthbya 

HARMLESS TREATMENT. 

?V&E k O?- 

BByni K S is Years* Successful Practice. 

TREATMENT BY MAIL, 
far! For particular* callon.or ad- 

Jfo L dress with 6 cents in stamps. 

O. \Y. I . SNYDER. ill. !>., 

m ETRin Chicago, ill. 

■- IN U 247 McVicker’s Theater Bldg. 


\P cMAISJ HAUL MARKER 

COPYRIGHTS.^ 

CAN I OBTAIN A PATENT? For* 
prompt answer and an honest opinion, write to 
Dll/NN dk CO., who have had nearly fifty years* 
experience In the patent business. Communica- 
tions strictly confidential. A Handbook of In- 
formation concerning Patents and bow to ob- 
tain them sent free. Also a catalogue of mechan- 
ical and scientific books sent free. 

Patents taken through Mucn k Co. receive 
special notice fn the Scientific American, and 
thus are brought widely before the public with- 
out cost to the inventor. This splendid paper, 
issued weekly, elegantly illustrated, has by far the 
largest circulation of any scientific work in the 
world. 83 a year. Sample copies sent free. 

Building Edition, monthly, fll.aO a vear. Single 
copies, 25 cents. Every number contains beau- 
tiful plates, in oolors, and photographs of new 
houses, with plans, enabling builders to show the 
latest designs and secure contracts. Address 

MUNN A CO, N*w York. 3«1 Broad WAT. 


MRS. WINSLOW'S 

FOR CHILDREN TEETHING - 
t Per sale by all t'rtigt?l«t». On u a bottle. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR 


j f|« til v|« v|« r«« v|« V|i V|i v|« vyi v|« r|* ^ 

Three Big Watch Bargains. 

A GRAND HOLIDAY OFFER! 



First Bargain:— 

ONLY $7.43. 

(Ladles’ or Gents’ Size.) 

SPECIAL OFFER. 

We have a 

BEAUTIFUL CALENDAR WATCH. 

which not only tella the tlmo like ordinary 
first-class watches, but ALSO TELLS the 
LAY OF THE WEEK, THE LATE OF 
THE MONTH, THE MONTH AND 
CHANGES OF THE MOON, as you see 

by the accompanying correct likeness of 

the watch, which shows the exact size. 

This watch is an exquisite gem, with 

fancy porcelain dial, to which no descrip- 
tion can do justice. You must see It to 
Judge fairly. It Is an elegant and reliable 

timepiece in every way 18 Jeweled stem- 

winder). and is furnished by a Nassau btreet 

firm, whose factory isln Switzerland. Each 
w uch 1 * guaranteed by them. The watch 
will not only be Invaluable to you, but It 
will make an •* .* 

ELEGANT CHRISTMAS GIFT. 

We offer it f>r sale at the remarkably low price of $7.49. You need send no money In advance 
unless you prefer. The watch will be sent G. O. D, by express. Yon can examine it, and. If satis- 
factory, pay the $7.43 to the Express Co. If you do remit In advance you save express charge', 
as we send by registered mall, prepaid, when remittance accompanies order. The regular price Is 
$ 12,001 Cheaper watches than this are offered of course, but this is the Owlt Calxitdab Watch. 
It will not only oe fouud In every way a reliable timepiece for daily use. but In appearanco it com- 
mends itself to the most refined and genteel taste, and It would be regarded anywhere as a costly 
ornament* .* ,* .* .* 

f _g r\ • IN ADDITION to this < 

Second Bor^oin i ^ « vF k l lYX « n w vrc. __ , 

VBR CASE (beautifully ornamented) stem-winder, guaranteed a correct timekeeper, and a de- 
sirable watch In cverv respect, which we will s«.ud to any address, by registered mail, prepaid, 
on receipt of $h 60 . Tills is an unusual chance to get a genuine so' •*! silver ladles' watch . W nr 
fool awat moxkv on the claptrap watches that a e offued so widely at what seems a cheaper 
price, but which are not worth having at any price? .* ,* 

rang • A F> • If you want a good watch (which Is not a Calendar 

I r|fl |Yl Ivl fwa f fl • Watch) for yourself or your boy, we can send you an 

* **a* a* gum* excellent timekeeper (stem- winder), warranted to be 

far above anything else of the kl^d la the market, for $$.45, sent by registered maiLprepald. 
This Is no cheap nickel watch. Ills .* .* .* .* 

A Beautiful Watch in Appearance, Having a Fashionable 

ebonlzed steel case, elegant and genteel, and you will wonder how we can afford to sell It for less 
than double the money. Every one of our watches Is guaranteed in every respect. 
f 3 T If you want both the (julendar Watch and the Ladles' Solid Silver Chatelaine Watch, we 
will send you the two together, C. O. L., for $10.55, or we will send them, transportation pre- 
paid, on receipt of this price. If you do not want the Ladles' Chatelaine Watch, but want the 
i aieodar Watch and the Ebonlzed ste«*l Case Watch, we will send those two together, C. O. D., for 
$10 40. or wo will se d the a* transportation prepaid, on receipt of price, if you want all three 
(and you cat certainly put them to good use at this season of gifts) we will send all three together, 
<\ O. D . for $18.50, or we will send them, transportation prepaid, on receipt of price. Neverln 
the history of the Jewelry trade has so much good value been offered for so little money. 

Remember every watch we sell Is guaranteed; wo sell you our goods at a low price to secure 
your future orders sand we will stand by every representation wc make, and warrant that we will 


your future orders : and we will stand by every reoreseni 
succeed in giving the most complete satisfactl- n noaslble. 
Tills lot of watches has been secured by us for dlspo# 


^ * disposal through our other dealings with the firm 

that manufactures them, and this sale is an extraordinary one. ion t fu.l to order at once, bue 
whether ladles' or gents' size is dc Ired. Adorers 

WATCH DEPARTMENT, Homes aod Hearths Co., New York. 



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3 


When a Railroad Man Buys a Lantern He 
Generally Wants the BEST. 

We make a specialty of the finest class of work, both for everyday ser- 
vice and for presentation purposes — all at reasonable prices 


Send for our Catalogue of popular styles in BRASS, GERMAN SIL- 
VER, NICKEL and SILVER PLATE. 

Lanterns in Solid Silver or in Gold 
Plate Made to Order. 

M. M. BUCK & CO., 



210, 212, 214 North 3d Street. 


ST. LOUIS, MO. 


FREE! 


Our large 24-page catalogue* of Or- 
guns, ai>o our new and elegant cat- 
alogue of Pianos, containing 16 pp. 

ifa 


m 




We have the largest manufactory 
In the world, from which we sell 
direct to the consumer at whole- 
sale prices, thus saving the profits 
of the dealer and the commissions 
of the agents. We furnish a llrst- 
class Organ , war- , , 
ranted 20 years, £% O O 

with btoof anJ JS // %r 
book, for only A*, a 
1 o money required until Instru- 
ment has been thoroughly tested in 
your own bouse. Sold on instal- 
m< nU. Easy payment. 

'» c po> itively guarantee every 

Organ and Piano twenty year's. ... 

Send for catalogue at once if you want to obtain the greatest bargain ever | 
offered on earth. Write your name and address plainly, and we will send 
by mail same day letter is received. 

As an advertisement, we j m h? 00 Stool, Book and Cover 

| will sell the first Piano of a Free. 

' our make in a place for only yjj 1 £ Regular price, $350.00. 

Beethoven Piano a nd Organ Co.,! 

j P. O. Box 577 Washington, N. J. 


Study Law 
At Home. 

The following is what 
the well-known ex-ben- 
eral Master Workman 
of the Kniffhtsof Labor, 
who has just been ad- 
mitted to practise, and 
is one of our students, 
says: 

“Scranton, Pa., Oct. 15, 1894. 
“1 advise every student to enter upon a 
course with THE SPRaOUE CORRESPOND- 
ENCE SCHOOL OF LAW. Its discipline Is 
perfect. Its plan is admirable, and its lessons 
learned are so Impressed upon the memory 
that they cannot readily be forgotten. I would 
advise every young man, whether In an office 
with an attorney or not, to take the course. 

T. V. POWDERLY.” 
Address for particulars, 

J COTNER, Jr.. Sec’y, 

56 Telephone Bldg., DETROIT, MICH. 


McCLURE’S MAGAZINE 
FOR 1895. 

Volume IV begins December. 1894. A splen- 
didly illustrated life of NAPOLEON, the great 
feature of which will be Seventy-five Portraits of 
Napoleon, showing him from youth to death: also 
portraits of his family and contemporaries and 
pictures of famous battlefields; in all nearly 300 
pictures. Begins in November and runs through 
eight numbers. The Eight Napoleon Number^ 
ONE DOLLAR. 

TRUE DETECTIVE STORIES by authori- 
ty from the archives of the Pinkerton Detectiva 
Agency. 

Short stories and contributions from prominent 
writers of the day. 

Send three 2 -cent stamps for a sample copy to 
the publishers 

S. S. McCLURE, L’t'd, 

30 Lafayette Place, New York. 



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9 


DON’T TOBACCO 

SPIT AND SMOKE 

YOUR LIFE AWAY. , 

Life is shorty and the use of tobacco £ 
makes it shorter, so we want to talk to 
the man who wants to STOP AND CAN’T, 
without experiencing NERVOUSNESS, 
lost sleep, appetite, and a general all- Y 
gone feeling. This proves tobacco’s power Y 
over the nervous system, and that you are * 
compelled to feed the never-ceasing de- 
mand by nicotine, until at last you, like 
millions of other men, will have your 

Vitality Nicotinized! 

Tobacco Destroys Manhood 





m ions 

u iil 


islssllf 


'mm 


What’s your experience? Are 
you under the clouds of early de- 
cline, because NATURE, not EX- 
HAUSTED NATURALLY, but bur- 
dened with taking care of a tobacco- 
poisoned blood, succumbed to to- 
bacco’s frightful effects on the vital 
forces, that surely makes STRONQ 
MEN IMPOTENT AND DESTROYS 
THEIR MANHOOD? 









i!iff 


HO-TO-BJtC kills tobacco 

Yon ask for proof? Test No-To-Bac under onr 
absolute guarantee. Feel bow quick No-To-Bac kills the desire for tobacco, elimin- 
ates the nicotine, steadies the nerves, increases weight, makes the blood pure and 
rich, tingling with new life and energy. Gloomy days will be gone; the sunshine will bo 
brighter. THE WARBLE OF THE LITTLE BIRDS ALL SPEAK OF LOVE. The old 
man in feeling is made young again and— happy. 


OUR GUARANTEE 


! Wt, thepahllnhei^: 
I of thUpnpee* 1-now 
1 the fC lL. On. to be 


L n A AITrr IS PLAIN ANI> TO THE PO¥?*T, One box, Cl: three 
I Ci Ci boxes, thirty days’ treatment, £-.£C. IS GUARANTEED 
TO CURE THE TOBACCO HABIT in any lorn;, or money refund* <1. AVe don’t 
claim to cure everyone, but the percentage is so large. v. e can bettor afford to 
have the good will of an occasional failure, than his money. WE HAVE 
FAITH IN NO-TO-BAC. If you try No-To-Bac, you will find that it is to you 


2 the H. lL On. tu bet So you see No-To-Bac is not sold upon the UfOPTH ITS 
i rr- liable and do strength of tens of thousands of testimonial 1 ■■ ■ ■ w 

\tinv nereis Thi*f endorsements on file In our office, but upon ...p. ^ a I 

4 e 2 an absolute guarantee in each and every case. WClIiHT I IM icULP 

x fillARANTFF ♦ Book called ‘‘Don’t Tobacco Spit and Smoke 

i VUdnAnlLbil Your Life Away," mailed for the asking. Buy No-To-Bac from druggists, or 

mailed for price. Address THE STERLING REMEDY CO. f Chicago office. 46 
Randolph St.; New York office, 10 Spruce St.; Laboratory, Box aoo Indiana Mineral Springs, Indiana. 


WEIGHT IN COLD 


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. . LANTERNS 

. FOR . 

Conductors and Trainmen. 

We have added to our stock a complete line of 

ADAMS & WESTLAKE’S 
CELEBRATED RAILWAY LANTERNS. 

We make a specialty of fine presentation Lanterns. The 
“Queen" Lantern is used universally^by conductors. 


Write fur descriptive list and special 
prices to Conductors. 


147 and 149 Wabash Avenue, 


CHICAGO. 

- Bg p»or»)K for rg-E ggg. - - 

Protection of your Insurance. 


C. M. HOTCHKIN , President. 

HON. A. N. WA TERMAN , Vice President. A. B. MEAD , Vice President. 

J. F. H UNTOON, Secretary. D. A. MOULTON , Treasurer. 

J. W. BUR SON, General Manager. E. H. CORSE, S up t. of Agencies. 


k Union Trust and Security Co. 

Dexter Duilding, 84 Adams St., CHICAGO, ILL 


Offers to members of the J 1 UTUAL BENEFIT DEPARTMENT of the O. R. C. 
a RESERVE CONTRACT in which the Company, in consideration of the install- 
ment*payments contracts to pay ALL ASSESSMENTS on account of INSUR- 
ANCE and return to the holder of the Contract the ENTIRE SUM of the in- 
vestments in CASH together with the accumulated profits. 

The maturity value of each contract guaranteed — No probabilities. 

Every contract ABSOLUTELY SECURED by the TRUSTEES CERTIFICATE of 
THE ROYAL TRUST CO. of Chicago. 

For full information, write to J. W. BURSON, 

Reliable Agent* Wanted. General Manager. 


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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR. 


iz 



14 KARAT 


S noat Givfn Awar. 

■ OCTainl amd it 

14 karat Gold PI Vied 
by express for e*. 
ou examine it nt the 

itraordinari barga i , 

THE NATIONAL WFC.& IMPORTING COe f 

334 Dearborn Street, Chicago. Ill* 


mtininiHiu 

Yon should have a home in which to spend 
your declining- days. NOW is the time to com- 
mence to provide it, and WE have the plan by 
which you can do it. Many railroad men are 
taking advantage of It. Send us your name and 
address, and we’ll Bend you full details, free. 

FOSTER A, WOODSON, 

1206 Chamber or Commerce, CHICAGO. ILL. 



LIMBS 


BEST LEO (hCfl 

Wood or Jiubbcr Foot 

TDII00C0 Elastic Stocking, 
InUuoLU) Crutches, etc. 
Catalogue Free. State particulars. 

GCO.lLFULLEIi, f* 
U. 8. Government Mfr.Dcpt. ( 
Nc. A C KOCIIESTMi. N. Y. a. 



We will send you the MAR- 
VELOUS and I * FAILING! 
French Preparation, 

CALTH0S 

FREI^vOlIATE, and a 

legally executed guarantee 
that CALTHOS will 
RESTORE your 



HEALTH, STRENGTH AND VJGOR. 

Use it fypay if satisfied. 

Von Mohl Co., Importers, Cincinnati, Ohio- 


Blood Poison ! IH 

permanently cured in 15 to 35 days. 
We eliminate all poison from the sys- 
tem , so that there can never be a 
return of the disease in any form. 
Partlea can be treated at home as 
well as here, (for the same price and 
under the same guarantee.) but with 
these who prefer to come here, we 
will contract to cure them or refund 
all money and pay entire expense of 
coming, railroad rare and hotel bills. 

OurMaglcRemedy^v^ 

Never Failed to cure the most ob- 
stinate cases. VVe challenge the world 
for a case we can not cure. Since the 
history of medicine a true specific for 

BLOOD POISON has beensought 
for but never found until our Magic 
Cyphllenewas discovered. We solicit 
the most obstinate cases and 
challenge the world for a 
case we cannotcure. This dis- 
ease has always baffled the skill 
of most eminent physicians. 

$300,000 CAPITAL 
behind our unconditional guarantee. 
Absolute proofs sent sealed on 
application. Address, 

COOK REMEDY CO., 
R«»« 307 IfMinle Temple, fhluw, III. 


COOK REMEDY CO, 


The Premium Supplement of the 

. . Weekly Pioneer Press . . 

Just issued contains some of the most liberal propositions 
we have ever seen. Articles which ordinarily cost more 
than (he price of a year’s subscription are given free. 
This is an admirable opportunity to obtain holiday pres- 
ents for nothing in connection with a year’s subscription 
to one of the best weekly papers wc know of. Send 
postal card for sample copy of the Weekly and Premium 
List to the Weekly Pioneer Press. St. Paul, Minn. 


THE NATIONAL M’F’C 
& IMPORTING CO., 

331 Dearborn St.. Chicago. 111. 


hla paper. 

Cul this out and send It to ua with 
full name and addreaa, and w» 
you one of these elegant, 
jeweled, gold tiulahed watches 
exnrraa for examination, and if 
you think tt is equal in appearance to 
anv$y.V<N> gold watch pa\ our sample 
price. #3.26, and ilia yours. Weaend 
with the watch our guarantee that 
you cun i cm rn it at any time within 
une 'ear if not satisfactory, ami if 
vou sell or cause the sale of six *< 
Will uive »ou One tree. Write si 
once, aa we shall send out aarn^-l. - 


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When Writing to Advertisers Mention 
THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR.^ 



A year’s suascription to Scribner’s Magazine will 
bring into your home twelve monthly num- 
bers, aggregating over 1500 pages of the 
best and most interesting reading 
and more than 700 beautiful 
illustrations. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS. 

GEORGE W. CABLE will begin in the January 
number a romance entitled "John March 
Southerner.” 

Two other important serials have been engaged: 
J. M. BARRIER, author of the famous "Little 
Minister,” has written a new novel, the first 
since that famous story, GEORGE MERE 
DITH, the great English nouelist, has in 
preparation a novel entitled "The Amazing 
Marriage.” 

SHORT STORIES will be abundant. 

W. D. Howells. Miss Elliot, W. H. Bishop, 
Ludovic Halevy. Paul Bourget, Joel Chandler 
Harris and many new writers will contribute. 

STUDIES OF AMERICAN LIFE will be an im- 
portant feature, including Newport, Bar Har- 
bor, Lenox, etc., and the West. 

THE ILLUSTRATIONS will be even more 
numerous and beautiful than ever. A series 
of Frontis-pieces chosen by Philip Gilbert 
Hamerton will be especially notable. 
Complete Prospectus sent on request. 

x 

SPECIAL OFFER. 

The numbers for 1893. and a subscription 

for 1894. - - - $ 4.50 

The same with back numbers, bound in 

cloth, - - - 6.00 

Sample Copy, 10 cents. 

CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS, 

743 Broadway, - - New York. 


The St. Louis Republic free. — Special offer to 
readers of this paper. — A great Metropolitan 
Paper. — Is indispensable now. 

The "Tw ice a- week” St Louis Republic will be 
sent free for one year to any person sending, be- 
fore January 31, 1895. a club of three new yearly 
subscribers, with $3 to pay for the same. 

Already the clans are gathering for the fray in- 
1896, and 1895 will be full of interesting events. 
The skirmish lines will be thrown out. the maneu- 
vering done and the plans of campaign arranged 
for the great contest in ’96. 

The remaining short session of the Democratic 
Congress, to be followed shortly by a Republican 
Congress with a Democrat in the Presidential 
chair will be productive of events of incalcuable 
interest. 

In fact, more political history will be construct- 
ed during 1895 than in any year since the founda- 
tion of the Government, and a man without a 
newspaper will be like a useless lump in the 
movements of public opinion. 

You can get three new subscribers for the Re- 
public by a few minutes effort. Remember in 
The Republic subscribers get a paper twice-a 
week for the price of a weekly — only $x a year. 
Try it, at once, and see bow easily it can be done. 
If you wish a package of sample copies, write for 
them. Cut out this advertisement and send with 
your order. Address, 

THE ST. LOUIS REPUBLIC. 

St. Louis, Mo. 


= HOOSAC TUNNEL ROUTE ^ — 

Superb Equipment, Excellent Train Service. 
Fast Time, and Courteous Employes 
make the 

Fitchburg Railroad. 

The Favorite Line. 

Fast Express Trains 

With elegant PALACE PARLOR and SLEEP- 
ING CARS to and from 

CHICAGO and BOSTON, 

AND 

ST. LOUIS and BOSTON, . 

VIA 

Niagara Falls, 

without change. 


The Popular Route for all points in Northern New 
fork, Vermont, and Canada. 

The Only Line runniug through cars, without change, 
from Boston to Rutland, Brandon, Middlebury, Vergen- 
nee. and Burlington, Vt. 

Tne Picturesque Route from Boston to St. Alhana, St. 
Johns, Ogdenebnrg, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec. 

Elegant Palace Sleeping Cars to and from 

MONTREAL and BOSTON without change. 


For Time Tables, etc*, apply to any Agent of the Fitch* 
burg Railroad. 

J. B. WATSON. 

Gen’l Pass. Agent, Boston, Rlass, 
C. A. NINIIflO, 

Gen’l West. Pass, Agt., Troy, N. Y. 


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CONDUCTORS: 

PULL THE BELL HOPE ! 

Im ar« eipoced to sudden drafts, changes of temperature, and Injuries- Look Out 9 

ST. JACOBS OIL 

Cures RHEUMATISM, 

SPRAINS, BRUISES, CUTS, WOUNDS, SORENESS, STIFFNESS. 
SWELLINGS, BACKACHE, NEURALGIA, SCIATICA, 

BURNS. 

A PROMPT AND PERMANENT CURE. 



For the Finest, Handsomest and 
Lowest-Priced 



FOR THE 


Order of 

Railway 

Conductors, 

WRITE TO 

The M. C. Lilley & Go., Columbus, 0. 

j The Largest Manufactory of Secret Society 

* Goods in the World 



SAFFORD’S 


Automatic Draw 3ar. 

Never Has Been Even Equaled in Freight Service. 

Over 21,000 made this year, all the slan- 
ders to the contrary notwithstanding. “A 
uniform link and pin coupler, automatic, 
— is the best ever used with air brakes in 
freight service.” 

F. W. PARSONS, Pres. 

J. B. SAFFORD, Treas. 
1324 Afonadno^k Building, Chicago, III 


1 


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Union 


4 


Pants 



Made 


AMD 

Overalls 


If your clothing dealer does not keep these goods, or will not get them for you, drop us a postal card ana 
we will send you samples of cloth, self-measurement blank and tape measure, and mind you, if you do 
this, you will never wear SCAB clothing again. 

MANUFACTURED BY 

HAMILTON CARHARTT & CO., 

On Their Own Premises, 479 to 485 Michigan Ave., Detroit, Mich. 

The Mabley & Carew Co., Sole Agents for Cincinnati, Ohio. 



After a Run or a day's work 

there is nothing that will so thoroughly 
refresh and clean you up as a wash with 

Kirk’s Dusky Diamond Tar Soap. 

It is the greatest of all grease, paint 
and dirt removers. Sold by grocers 
everywhere. 



MAIL 

PQ_ H 

NO NERVES QUAK1N6. 

NO HEART PALPITATING. 
NO DYSPEPTIC ACHING 


ANTI 


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